Deck 6: Childrens Speech Acquisition

Question 1

What is the difference between cross-sectional and longitudinal methods for studying speech acquisition?

Answer 1

The difference between cross-sectional and longitudinal methods for studying speech acquisition lies in the way data is collected and analyzed.

Cross-sectional studies involve collecting data from different individuals at a single point in time. This allows researchers to compare different age groups and observe how speech acquisition varies across different stages of development. However, cross-sectional studies do not provide information about individual changes over time.

On the other hand, longitudinal studies involve collecting data from the same individuals over an extended period of time. This allows researchers to track individual changes in speech acquisition and observe how these changes unfold over time. Longitudinal studies provide a more detailed understanding of the developmental trajectory of speech acquisition, but they require a significant investment of time and resources.

In summary, cross-sectional studies provide a snapshot of speech acquisition at different ages, while longitudinal studies provide a more in-depth understanding of individual developmental patterns over time. Both methods have their own strengths and limitations, and researchers often use a combination of both to gain a comprehensive understanding of speech acquisition.

Question 2

List the areas of clinical practice informed by an understanding about children's speech acquisition.

Answer 2

1. Speech-Language Pathology: Speech-language pathologists work with children to assess and treat speech and language disorders, including delays in speech acquisition. They use their understanding of children's speech acquisition to develop individualized therapy plans to help children improve their communication skills.

2. Pediatric Medicine: Pediatricians and other healthcare professionals who work with children use their knowledge of speech acquisition to monitor children's development and identify any potential speech or language delays. They may refer children to speech-language pathologists for further evaluation and intervention if necessary.

3. Early Childhood Education: Educators who work with young children use their understanding of speech acquisition to create developmentally appropriate activities and interventions to support children's language development. They may also collaborate with speech-language pathologists to address any concerns about speech acquisition in their students.

4. Child Psychology: Child psychologists use their knowledge of speech acquisition to assess children's overall development and to understand how speech and language skills may impact their social and emotional well-being. They may also work with speech-language pathologists to support children with speech and language disorders.

5. Parent Education and Support: Parents of young children benefit from understanding typical speech acquisition milestones and how to support their child's language development. They can use this knowledge to identify potential concerns and seek appropriate intervention if needed.

Question 3

Review Appendix 6-1 of McLeod and Baker (2017) and identify the most common sample type used in research studying English-speaking children's speech acquisition.

Answer 3

The most common sample type used in research studying English-speaking children's speech acquisition, as identified in Appendix 6-1 of McLeod and Baker (2017), is not specified in the question. The information needed to answer this question accurately would be found in the mentioned appendix of the specified source.

Question 4

Review Table 6-2 of McLeod and Baker (2017). Would expect to see a typically developing English-speaking male toddler aged 30 months to have acquired the affricates /ʧ, ʤ/?

Question 5

Review Table 6-2 of McLeod and Baker (2017). List 10 consonants likely to be present in an English-speaking female toddler's phonetic inventory by 36 months?

Question 6

Review Table 6-6 of McLeod and Baker (2017). Describe the trends in preschool children's speech acquisition, according to natural manner classes of speech sounds (plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals, glides, and liquids).

Question 7

Using the normative data by Dodd et al. (2003) and Grunwell (1987) in Table 6-9 of McLeod and Baker (2017), list the phonological processes likely to be present in the speech of children aged 48 months.

Question 8

By what age to children learning to speak Cantonese learn tones? Refer to Table 6-12 of McLeod and Baker (2017) for information.

Question 9

Using your knowledge of speech acquisition from

Question 10

When do children usually acquire the consonant /ɹ/?

Question 11

What does it mean that a child has typically developing speech?

Question 12

Compare and contrast children's acquisition of liquids across languages. What factors might influence cross-linguistic differences in speech acquisition?

Question 13

Discuss the role of sex, socioecononmic status, maternal education, and language ability on children's speech acquisition.

Question 14

How might lexical factors such as neighborhood density, age-of-acquisition of words, word frequency, and vocabulary size influence speech acquisition in toddlers?

Question 15

Why are some speech sound acquired earlier and some acquired later?

Question 16

Is it possible for children born with a cleft palate or profound sensorineural hearing loss to show typical speech acquisition? Why or why not? Examine recent evidence to support your answer.

Question 17

Select a method for studying speech acquisition and discuss the benefits and limitations of that method. Exemplify your response with data from peer reviewed published speech acquisition research.

Question 18

Discuss how metalinguistic awareness develops from infancy through to school years.

Question 19

Why do you think maternal education has been identified as a factor influencing children's speech acquisition and paternal education has not?

Question 20

Do children learning more than one language, take a longer time to learn the speech sounds of the languages they are learning? Examine the research on monolingual and multilingual speech acquisition to support your answer.

Question 21

Diary studies have been used in the study of children's speech acquisition to:

A) provide normative data about when a population of children master the articulation of specific consonants.
B) offer insight into variable productions across a group of children at one point in time.
C) provide detailed speech samples and analyses for generating and testing theories about speech acquisition.
D) provide information about the mean, standard deviation, and average age of consonant acquisition.

Question 22

The type of study considered the most important source of information for comparing a child's speech acquisition to what is expected for a child of a similar age, sex, and context is:

A) longitudinal study.
B) diary study.
C) cross-sectional study.
D) comparative study.

Question 23

Vygotsky's (1978) concept of the zone of proximal development, refers to:

A) the level that a child can attain without assistance up to the level that the child can attain with assistance from others.
B) the period of time in development when children are learning to refine their hand-eye coordination.
C) the point at which a child can perform a skill without assistance.
D) the level that the child is unable to perform a skill without assistance or assistance from others.

Question 24

The oral mechanism of a newborn baby is different from an adult's because newborns have:

A) larger tongues relative to the size of their oral cavity, they can breath and swallow at the same time, their epiglottis and soft palates are in approximation, and the larynx is higher.
B) smaller tongues relative to the size of their oral cavity, their epiglottis and soft palates are in approximation, and the larynx is higher.
C) they can breath and swallow at the same time, their Eustachian tube lies in a horizontal position, and the larynx is lower.
D) larger tongues relative to the size of their oral cavity, they have smaller and more retracted jaws and their larynx is lower.

Question 25

Angus is 25 months. On a diadochokinesis (DDK) task, you would expect that he:

A) can produce between six and eight syllables per second.
B) can produce between one and two syllables per second.
C) is unable to complete repeated strings of syllables.
D) can produce between three and four syllables per second.

Question 26

Lachlan is 2 months old. We would expect that he cries for an average of:

A) 10 minutes per 24 hours.
B) 30 minutes per 24 hours.
C) 240 minutes per 24 hours.
D) 90 minutes per 24 hours.

Question 27

Rosie is a typically developing 10-week-old infant. At this age, you would expect Rosie to produce the following types of vocalizations:

A) cooing, laughing and making vowel-like sounds.
B) crying and burping but not laughing.
C) cooing and producing variegated babble.
D) consonant- and vowel-like sounds in marginal babble.

Question 28

Elijah (18 months old) is a typically-developing English-speaking child. Which of the following phonetic inventories of consonants in word-initial position would be most likely for Elijah?

A) [b, d, m, n, h, w]
B) [b, d, m]
C) [t, p, k, f, s, w]
D) [p, b, t, d, , k, m, n, s, h, w,]

Question 29

Sebastian (3;10 years) is a typically-developing English-speaking child. At this age, which of the following productions of the word train would be likely?

A) [tet]
B) [tete]
C) [gen]
D) [twen]

Question 30

Lincoln (24 months old) is a typically developing English-speaking child. Lincoln's percentage of consonants correct (PCC) would most likely be around:

A) 80-100%.
B) 60-80%.
C) 20-40%.
D) 10-20%.

Question 31

Matthew (4;3 years) is a typically-developing English-speaking child. On a maximum phonation task you would expect that Matthew could sustain /a/ for approximately:

A) 2 seconds.
B) 4 seconds.
C) 8 seconds.
D) 16 seconds.

Question 32

Jordan (3;11 years) is a typically-developing English-speaking child. Which of the following productions of the word through // would be the most acceptable for Jordan's age?

A) [fwu]
B) [ku]
C) [bu]
D) []

Question 33

Hugo (3;10 years) is a typically-developing English-speaking child. Which of the following productions of the word shoe would be acceptable for Hugo's age?

A) [hu]
B) [ku]
C) [nu]
D) [su]

Question 34

Which of the following consonants form Shriberg's (1993) early-8 consonants correct in conversational speech?

A) [m, b, j, n, w, d, p, h]
B) [m, b, k, n, w, l, p, h]
C) [m, b, j, , f, d, p, h]
D) [m, b, j, n, w, d, p, g]

Question 35

Heidi (4;5 years) is a typically-developing English-speaking child. Heidi's percentage of consonants correct (PCC) would most likely be around:

A) 60-70%.
B) 80-90%.
C) 30-50%.
D) 50-60%.

Question 36

Toby (3;10 years) is a typically-developing English-speaking child. Which of the following pronunciations of the word butterfly would be the most typical for Toby's age?

A) []
B) []
C) []
D) []

Question 37

Studies of speech acquisition of children across the world suggest that the sound classes to emerge first are:

A) nasals and approximants.
B) plosives and nasals.
C) plosives and fricatives.
D) liquids and nasals.

Question 38

Universally, you would expect typically developing 5-year-old children to produce consonants correctly at least:

A) 70% of the time.
B) 50% of the time.
C) 90% of the time.
D) 60% of the time.

Question 39

Nuan (8;4 years) is a typically-developing Cantonese-speaking girl. She would have acquired tones by:

A) 1;0 year.
B) 4;0 years.
C) 3;0 years.
D) 2;0 years.