Aspects of phonological acquisition during articulation training

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistics

Background:

• Accurate production of the /s/ sound is a common challenge in speech development.
• Understanding the acquisition process in children with speech sound disorders is crucial for targeted interventions.
• Previous research highlights patterns in normal phonological development, providing a baseline for comparison.

Purpose of the Study:

• To longitudinally examine the acquisition of correct /s/ sound production in children with speech sound disorders.
• To compare the developmental trajectory of /s/ acquisition in these children with patterns observed in typically developing children.
• To identify potential linguistic mechanisms underlying the observed production changes during learning.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of five children with misarticulation of /s/.
• Session-by-session analysis of /s/ production in untrained syllables.
• Comparison of individual child data with established norms for normal phonological acquisition.

Main Results:

• Misarticulating children often exhibited a shift from correct to incorrect /s/ productions during the acquisition phase.
• This pattern may be linked to competing linguistic rules, analogous to those in morphological acquisition.
• Variability in the time to acquire correct /s/ production was observed, consistent with normal development.
• Individual learning strategies in consonant cluster production were identified, aligning with proposed developmental stages.

Conclusions:

• The acquisition of /s/ in children with speech sound disorders can involve temporary regressions, possibly due to rule competition.
• The learning process for /s/ shares similarities with broader phonological and morphological development.
• Individual differences in learning strategies and acquisition timelines are characteristic of both disordered and normal speech development.