Accuracy of Speech Sound Analysis: Comparison of an Automatic Artificial Intelligence Algorithm With Clinician Assessment.

Purpose: Automatic speech analysis (ASA) and automatic speech recognition systems are increasingly being used in the treatment of speech sound disorders (SSDs). When utilized as a home practice tool or in the absence of the clinician, the ASA system has the potential to facilitate treatment gains. However, the feedback accuracy of such systems varies, a factor that may impact these gains.

The Effect of Hand Gesture Cues Within the Treatment of /r/ for a College-Aged Adult With Persisting Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

Purpose: Despite the widespread use of hand movements as visual and kinesthetic cues to facilitate accurate speech produced by individuals with speech sound disorders (SSDs), no experimental investigation of gestural cues that mimic that spatiotemporal parameters of speech sounds (e.g., holding fingers and thumb together and "popping" them to cue /p/) currently exists.

Parental experiences and perceptions related to childhood apraxia of speech: Focus on functional implications.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the functional implications of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) as experienced by children and their parents.

Method: Using a mixed qualitative/quantitative design, 40 parents responded to two Likert-scale questionnaires and four phenomenological questions about their personal experiences and their perceptions of their children's (ages 3-16 years) experiences of living with CAS.

Result: Quantitative data indicated that although parents reported concern about their children's speech production as expected, they also expressed that CAS affected their children's every day activities and social interactions.

Data-driven subclassification of speech sound disorders in preschool children.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine whether distinct subgroups of preschool children with speech sound disorders (SSD) could be identified using a subgroup discovery algorithm (SUBgroup discovery via Alternate Random Processes, or SUBARP). Of specific interest was finding evidence of a subgroup of SSD exhibiting performance consistent with atypical speech motor control.

Method: Ninety-seven preschool children with SSD completed speech and nonspeech tasks.

Effects of prosody and position on the timing of deictic gestures.

Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated the hypothesis that the perceived tight temporal synchrony of speech and gesture is evidence of an integrated spoken language and manual gesture communication system. It was hypothesized that experimental manipulations of the spoken response would affect the timing of deictic gestures.

Method: The authors manipulated syllable position and contrastive stress in compound words in multiword utterances by using a repeated-measures design to investigate the degree of synchronization of speech and pointing gestures produced by 15 American English speakers.

Consonant accuracy after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury: a prospective cohort study.

Purpose: The authors sought to describe longitudinal changes in Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised (PCC-R) after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI), to compare the odds of normal-range PCC-R in children injured at older and younger ages, and to correlate predictor variables and PCC-R outcomes.

Method: In 56 children injured between age 1 month and 11 years, PCC-R was calculated over 12 monthly sessions beginning when the child produced ≥ 10 words. At each session, the authors compared odds of normal-range PCC-R in children injured at younger (≤ 60 months) and older (> 60 months) ages.

Distinct developmental profiles in typical speech acquisition.

Three- to five-year-old children produce speech that is characterized by a high level of variability within and across individuals. This variability, which is manifest in speech movements, acoustics, and overt behaviors, can be input to subgroup discovery methods to identify cohesive subgroups of speakers or to reveal distinct developmental pathways or profiles. This investigation characterized three distinct groups of typically developing children and provided normative benchmarks for speech development.