Comparative study of the phonology of preschool children prenatally exposed to cocaine and multiple drugs and non-exposed children.

Cocaine and multiple drug abuse among young adults has spawned research interest in fetal exposure and the sequela of that exposure during the formative developmental years. Previous study of the language development of exposed children has not specifically addressed phonological acquisition. In the present study, the speech of 25 children prenatally exposed to cocaine and multiple drugs was analyzed and compared to that of 25 children who were not prenatally exposed to determine if differences were evident in their phonological patterns. The children ranged in age from 22 months to 51 months. The number and type of phonological processes produced, number of utterances needed to produce a 50-word sample, number of unintelligible words produced, and Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) scores were recorded and analyzed. The use of cocaine and multiple drugs during pregnancy was associated with an increase in the use of phonological processes.

Standardized test performance of children with a history of prenatal exposure to multiple drugs/cocaine.

Twenty-four children, age 14 to 50 months, with a history of prenatal exposure to multiple drugs including cocaine, were matched by adjusted birth age and sex to 24 children with no history of drug exposure. All children had been living in stable, drug-free environments from at least the age of 11 months. Tests administered included the Sequenced Inventory of Communicative Development-Revised (SICD), the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R). Results indicated significant differences between groups and genders on the SICD when age was covaried and between groups on the Bayley. No groups or genders differed on the PPVT-R. Many (45.8%) of the children in the drug-exposed group qualified for intervention services according to Washington state criteria. Subject characteristics, other than age, did not play a significant role in the findings of group differences. It is concluded that, due to the cumulative effects of prenatal history, these children should be considered at risk for language delay.

Use of the Clark-Madison Test of Oral Language with the hearing-impaired: a content validity and comparative study.

This study examined the content validity of the Clark-Madison Test of Oral Language (CMTOL) as a measure of nonwritten expressive language with hearing-impaired children. Twenty severely hearing-impaired children were administered the CMTOL using total communication. All test administrations were considered valid. The content of the test was generally found to be valid. The content validity of selected items is discussed. A comparison of the performance of the hearing-impaired to a group of normal-hearing respondents revealed a different profile of strengths and weaknesses than did intragroup analysis.

The effects of a tracheostoma valve on the intelligibility and quality of tracheoesophageal speech.

In a listening experiment, speech samples obtained from a tracheoesophageal speaker were judged for intelligibility and general quality by inexperienced and experienced listeners. The speaker produced the speech samples using finger occlusion of the stoma and using a tracheostoma valve. Results showed no significant differences in intelligibility of speech between occlusion conditions for single words, 5-word sentences, and 10-word sentences. Conversational intelligibility was judged to be adversely affected by the tracheostoma valve, though quality of speech was not. No significant differences were found between the judgments of inexperienced and experienced listeners.

The effect of pictured visual cues on elicited sentence imitation.

In one experiment language-normal 6 1/2-year-old and 4 1/2-year-old children (N = 68) were asked to imitate sentences with or without pictured visual cues. In a second experiment groups of language-disordered children (N = 43) also 4 1/2 and 6 1/2 years of age were asked to imitate sentences with and without pictured visual cues. In both experiments there was no significant difference in the syntactical and grammatical quality of elicited imitations between conditions. Older children performed better than young children in both experiments. It was concluded that pictured visual cues do not affect the syntactical and grammatical quality of language-normal and language-disordered children's elicited sentence imitations.

Effects of presentation mode on discrimination skills of articulatory disordered children.

The speech-sound discrimination of 30 kindergarten children with problems in speech production and speech discrimination was examined under one of three experimental conditions, auditory, bimodal, and bimodal instructed. Children's discrimination skills in the bimodal-instructed group were superior to those of bimodal- and auditory-presentation groups. Stimulation of both the auditory and visual channels improved the discrimination scores over those achieved using the auditory channel alone.

Articulation error migration: a comparison of single word and connected speech samples.

In this study frequency and type of articulation error, including error migration, were compared between single word production and connected speech samples when vocabulary was held constant. Spontaneous single word and connected speech samples were obtained from 20 articulation disordered children ages 5-4 to 12-8 years. There were significantly more errors in connected speech samples than single word utterances. The difference between samples, i.e., error migration, is discussed, as is the predictive value for speech-language clinicians.

A survey study of resistance to discharge from speech-language therapy.

A survey was designed to investigate the previously unaddressed issue of resistance to discharge from speech therapy. One hundred and eighty-seven speech-language clinicians in clinical and hospital settings were sent a questionnaire based on research from the medical profession indicating that patients may become overly dependent on their physicians. Eighty-six percent of 159 usable respondents reported their clients resisted discharge. Many speech-language pathologists suggested techniques they have used to manage such clients.

Spontaneous remission of misarticulations.

Spontaneous remission of misarticulation remains a central professional concern to those responsible for much nonorganically based misarticulation in children. The present review attempts to consolidate research pertinent to the process of outgrowing errors of articulation. Relatively recent longitudinal studies of misarticulating school children supplement earlier investigations of prognostic indicators and developmental norms to contribute to a more complete understanding of spontaneous remission. The clinical implications of the reviewed research are presented and discussed.