Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2023 Sep 11;32(5):2297-2310. doi: 10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00093. Epub 2023 Aug 25.
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of sentence length on intelligibility in two groups of older children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.
Nine children diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) and eight children diagnosed with Down syndrome (DS), between the ages of 8 and 17 years, repeated sentences varying in length from two to seven words. Three hundred forty adult listeners (20 listeners per child) provided orthographic transcriptions of children's speech, which were used to calculate intelligibility scores.
There was a significant main effect of sentence length on intelligibility for children with CP. Intelligibility significantly increased from two- and three-word sentences to four-, five-, and six-word sentences, then significantly decreased from four-, five-, and six-word sentences to seven-word sentences. There was a main effect of sentence length on intelligibility for children with DS. Intelligibility significantly increased from two-word sentences to four-, five-, and six-word sentences.
The primary findings of this study include the following: (a) Unlike in typically developing children, sentence length continues to influence intelligibility well into adolescence for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, and (b) sentence length may influence intelligibility differently in children with CP than in children with DS; however, other factors besides the type of neurodevelopmental disorder (e.g., severity of speech motor involvement and/or cognitive-linguistic impairment) could play a role in the relationship between sentence length and intelligibility and must be investigated in future studies.
本研究旨在考察句子长度对两组神经发育障碍的大龄儿童言语可懂度的影响。
9 名被诊断为脑瘫（CP）的儿童和 8 名被诊断为唐氏综合征（DS）的儿童，年龄在 8 至 17 岁之间，重复长度从两个到七个单词的句子。340 名成年听众（每个孩子 20 名听众）提供了孩子言语的正字法转录，用于计算可懂度得分。
CP 儿童的句子长度对可懂度有显著的主效应。可懂度从两个词和三个词的句子显著增加到四个词、五个词和六个词的句子，然后从四个词、五个词和六个词的句子显著下降到七个词的句子。DS 儿童的句子长度对可懂度有显著的主效应。可懂度从两个词的句子显著增加到四个词、五个词和六个词的句子。
本研究的主要发现包括以下几点：（a）与正常发育儿童不同，句子长度对神经发育障碍儿童的可懂度的影响一直持续到青春期；（b）句子长度对 CP 儿童的可懂度的影响可能与 DS 儿童不同；然而，除了神经发育障碍的类型（如言语运动参与和/或认知语言损伤的严重程度）等其他因素外，句子长度和可懂度之间的关系中可能发挥作用，在未来的研究中必须进行调查。
