The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Western Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2023 Apr 12;66(4):1173-1191. doi: 10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00441. Epub 2023 Mar 20.
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between speech perception, speech production, and vocabulary abilities in children with and without speech sound disorders (SSDs), analyzing the data both by group and continuously.
Sixty-one Australian English-speaking children aged 48-69 months participated in this study. Children's speech production abilities ranged along the continuum from SSDs through to typical speech. Their vocabulary abilities ranged along the continuum from typical to above average ("lexically precocious"). Children completed routine speech and language assessments in addition to an experimental Australian English lexical and phonetic judgment task.
When analyzing data by group, there was no significant difference between the speech perception ability of children with SSDs and that of children without SSDs. Children with above-average vocabularies had significantly better speech perception ability than children with average vocabularies. When analyzing data continuously, speech production and vocabulary were both significant positive predictors of variance in speech perception ability, both individually in simple linear regression and when combined in multiple linear regression. There was also a significant positive correlation between perception and production of two of the four target phonemes tested (i.e., /k/ and /ʃ/) among children in the SSD group.
Results from this study provide further insight into the complex relationship between speech perception, speech production, and vocabulary abilities in children. While there is a clinical and important need for categorical distinctions between SSDs and typically developing speech, findings further highlight the value of investigating speech production and vocabulary abilities continuously and categorically. By capturing the heterogeneity among children's speech production and vocabulary abilities, we can advance our understanding of SSDs in children.
本研究旨在探讨言语感知、言语产生和词汇能力在有和无言语障碍（SSD）儿童之间的关系，分别对组内和连续数据进行分析。
61 名 48-69 个月大的澳大利亚英语儿童参与了这项研究。儿童的言语产生能力在 SSD 到正常言语的连续体上变化，词汇能力在正常到高于平均水平（“词汇早熟”）的连续体上变化。除了常规的言语和语言评估外，儿童还完成了一个澳大利亚英语词汇和语音判断实验任务。
按组分析数据时，有 SSD 儿童的言语感知能力与无 SSD 儿童的言语感知能力无显著差异。词汇量高于平均水平的儿童的言语感知能力明显好于词汇量平均水平的儿童。连续分析数据时，言语产生和词汇量均为言语感知能力的显著正预测因子，无论是在简单线性回归中还是在多元线性回归中结合使用时。在 SSD 组中，有四个目标音位中的两个（即/k/和/ʃ/）的感知和产生之间存在显著的正相关。
本研究的结果进一步深入了解了儿童言语感知、言语产生和词汇能力之间的复杂关系。虽然在 SSD 和正常发育的言语之间进行分类区分具有临床和重要意义，但研究结果进一步强调了连续和分类调查言语产生和词汇能力的价值。通过捕捉儿童言语产生和词汇能力的异质性，我们可以深入了解儿童的 SSD。
