Automatization of correct production at two levels of articulatory acquisition

This study investigated the assumption that children who are in the process of acquiring correct production of a misarticulated phoneme are also in the process of developing automatization of correct production. Using the McDonald Deep Test of Articulation, children's articulation was tested under two conditions: Condition 1 without masking and Condition 2 with 85 dB SLP of competing speech masking. Children were classified into one of two levels of articulatory acquisition according to their performance during Condition 1. Children scoring below 80% correct were classsified as demonstrating low acquisition. Children scoring above 80% correct were classified as demonstrating high acquisition. Only children with /s/ or /r/ misarticulations were studied. Results indicated that the correct articulation of children demonstrating low acquisition was significantly more affected by the auditory masking than the correct articulation of those children demonstrating higher levels of acquisition. There was no significant difference in the performance of the children with the /s/ or /r/ misarticulations. The results support the concept that articulatory acquisition and automatization of correct articulation relate in a predictable manner.