Spoken vocabulary outcomes of toddlers with DD (Walters et al., 2021)

Purpose: Early intervention using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) supports both receptive and expressive language skills. However, many parents and clinicians still worry that augmented language intervention might delay or impair speech development. This study aimed to (a) characterize and analyze the speech sound development of toddlers with developmental delay who participated in a parent-implemented language intervention; (b) examine the accuracy of speech sounds among toddlers who participated in an augmented language intervention using speech-generating devices and toddlers who participated in a traditional, spoken language intervention; and (c) examine the relationship between baseline factors (i.e., receptive and expressive language skills, vocal imitation, and number of unintelligible utterances) and the number of spoken target vocabulary words after intervention.Method: This study used extant data from two randomized control trials of parent-implemented language interventions using AAC or spoken language. Out of 109 children who completed the intervention, 45 children produced spoken target vocabulary words at the end of the intervention. We identified and phonetically transcribed spoken target vocabulary words for each child and then classified them based on Shriberg and Kwiatkowski’s (1982) developmental sound classes.Results: Children’s speech sound accuracy was not significantly different across intervention groups. Overall, children who produced more words had more speech sound errors and higher baseline language scores. Intervention group and baseline receptive and expressive language skills significantly predicted the number of spoken target vocabulary words produced at the end of intervention.Conclusions: Participation in AAC intervention resulted in significantly more spoken target vocabulary words and no statistically significant differences in speech sound errors when compared to children who received spoken language intervention without AAC. Results support using AAC interventions for very young children without the fear that it will delay speech or spoken language development.Supplemental Material S1. Missing data: Descriptive statistics between raw and transformed data.Walters, C., Sevcik, R. A., Romski, M. (2021). Spoken vocabulary outcomes of toddlers with developmental delay after parent-implemented augmented language intervention. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-20-00093

目的：通过辅助性及替代性沟通（AAC）的早期干预，旨在支持儿童接受和表达语言技能的发展。然而，许多家长和临床医生仍担忧，增强语言干预可能延缓或损害语言发展。本研究旨在：（a）描述和分析参与由家长实施的AAC语言干预的发育迟缓幼儿的语音发展；（b）检验使用语音生成设备参与增强语言干预的幼儿与参与传统口语语言干预的幼儿在语音准确性方面的差异；（c）检验基线因素（即接受和表达语言技能、声音模仿能力和无法理解的语句数量）与干预后口语目标词汇词数之间的关系。方法：本研究利用了两个随机对照试验中家长实施的AAC或口语语言干预的现有数据。在完成干预的109名儿童中，有45名儿童在干预结束时产生了口语目标词汇。我们为每位儿童识别并音标转录了口语目标词汇，然后根据Shriberg和Kwiatkowski（1982年）的发展语音类别进行分类。结果：不同干预组儿童的语音准确性没有显著差异。总体而言，产生更多词汇的儿童在语音错误方面更多，基线语言分数也更高。干预组和基线接受和表达语言技能显著预测了干预结束时产生的口语目标词汇数量。结论：与仅接受无AAC口语语言干预的儿童相比，参与AAC干预的儿童产生了显著更多的口语目标词汇，且在语音错误方面没有统计学上的显著差异。结果支持了对极年轻儿童使用AAC干预，无需担心会延迟语言或口语发展。补充材料S1：缺失数据：原始数据和转换数据的描述性统计。Walters, C., Sevcik, R. A., Romski, M. (2021). 发育迟缓幼儿在家长实施增强语言干预后的口语词汇结果。美国言语-语言病理学杂志。在线预发表。https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-20-00093