Retrospective study of early characteristics (Overby et al., 2019)

Purpose: Studies of infants’ early vocalizations have proven helpful in describing the developmental characteristics of various communication disorders. However, few studies have addressed the early vocalizations of infants and toddlers who were later diagnosed, as older children, with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). We refer to these infants and toddlers as LCAS. Extant studies also often lack a comparison group of infants and toddlers who were later diagnosed, as older children, with a speech sound disorder (SSD). We refer to these infants and toddlers as LSSD. We aimed to compare the volubility, consonant emergence, and syllabic structure from birth to age of 2 years, as observed in home videos, among 3 groups of infants and toddlers: LCAS, LSSD, and typically developing (TD).Method: We assessed the speech-language skills of 17 children (3.5–8.8 years old; 7 with CAS, 5 with SSD, and 5 TD) and transcribed home videos (obtained from parents) of these same children from birth to age of 2 years. Early vocalizations were coded as nonresonant or resonant. Nonresonant vocalizations could not be transcribed with the International Phonetic Alphabet. Resonant (speechlike) vocalizations were broadly transcribed, and resonant consonants were categorized by place, manner, and voicing.Results: Effect size comparisons revealed LCAS infants and toddlers were less voluble, used fewer resonant consonants, had a less diverse phonetic repertoire, and acquired resonant consonants later than either the LSSD or TD participants. For LSSD infants and toddlers, means for these dependent variables were lower than the means demonstrated by the TD group, but effect size were not strong due to LSSD variability.Conclusions: Findings imply there might be clinical “red flags” that could assist the identification of infants and toddlers at risk for later diagnosis of CAS. Data did not support red flags for identifying infants and toddlers at risk for later diagnosis of SSD. Because of significant study limitations, results obtained should be considered preliminary.Supplemental Material S1. Individual phonetic inventories by month from birth to age 24 months for LCAS participants. Supplemental Material S2. Individual phonetic inventories by month from birth to age 24 months for LSSD participants. Supplemental Material S3. Individual phonetic inventories by month from birth to age 24 months for TD participants. Overby, M. S., Caspari, S. S., & Schreiber, J. (2019). Volubility, consonant emergence, and syllabic structure in infants and toddlers later diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech, speech sound disorder, and typical development: A retrospective video analysis. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62, 1657–1675. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-S-18-0046

研究目的：对婴儿早期语音的研究已被证明有助于描述各种沟通障碍的发展特征。然而，关于后来被诊断为儿童构音障碍（CAS）的婴儿和幼儿的早期语音研究却为数不多。我们将这些婴儿和幼儿称为LCAS。现有的研究往往也缺乏一组后来被诊断为儿童语音障碍（SSD）的婴儿和幼儿作为对照。我们将这些婴儿和幼儿称为LSSD。本研究旨在比较出生至2岁期间，在家录像中观察到的LCAS、LSSD和典型发展（TD）三组婴儿和幼儿的语音丰富度、辅音出现和音节结构。研究方法：我们评估了17名儿童（3.5-8.8岁；其中7名患有CAS，5名患有SSD，5名典型发展）的言语语言技能，并转录了从出生至2岁期间父母获取的这些儿童的家用视频。早期语音被编码为非共振或共振。非共振语音无法用国际音标转录。共振（类似语音）语音被广泛转录，共振辅音按发音部位、发音方式和发音强度进行分类。研究结果：效应量比较显示，LCAS婴儿和幼儿的语音丰富度较低，使用的共振辅音较少，语音库的多样性较低，并且比LSSD或TD参与者更晚获得共振辅音。对于LSSD婴儿和幼儿，这些因变量的均值低于TD组，但由于LSSD的变异性，效应量并不显著。研究结论：研究结果暗示，可能存在临床‘红旗’标志，有助于识别有后来被诊断为CAS风险的婴儿和幼儿。数据不支持识别有后来被诊断为SSD风险的婴儿和幼儿的‘红旗’标志。由于研究存在重大局限性，所获得的结果应被视为初步的。补充材料S1：从出生至24个月的LCAS参与者按月分的个人语音库。补充材料S2：从出生至24个月的LSSD参与者按月分的个人语音库。补充材料S3：从出生至24个月的TD参与者按月分的个人语音库。Overby, M. S., Caspari, S. S., & Schreiber, J. (2019). 婴儿和幼儿在后续被诊断为儿童构音障碍、语音障碍和典型发展中的语音丰富度、辅音出现和音节结构：一项回顾性视频分析。言语、语言和听力研究杂志，62，1657–1675. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-S-18-0046