No abstract

A novel approach to classifying children with developmental speech delays (DSD) involving /r/ was developed. The approach first derives an acoustic classification of /r/ tokens based on their forced Viterbi alignment to a five-state hidden Markov model (HMM) of normally articulated /r/. Children with DSD are then classified in terms of the proportion of their /r/ productions that fall into each broad acoustic class. This approach was evaluated using 953 examples of /r/ as produced by 18 DSD children and an approximately equal number of /r/ tokens produced by a much larger number of normally articulating children. The acoustic classification identified three broad categories of /r/ that differed substantially in how they aligned to the normal speech /r/ HMM. Additionally, these categories tended to partition tokens uttered by DSD children from those uttered by normally articulating children. Similarities among the DSD children and average normal child measured in terms of the proportion of their /r/ productions that fell into each of the three broad acoustic categories were used to perform a hierarchical clustering. This clustering revealed groupings of DSD children who tended to approach /r/ production in one of several acoustically distinct manners.

PurposeActs of violent extremism have become more regular in the past decade. Little research has managed to analyse the interplay between the individuals who have carried out these acts and those who have experienced them. By bringing two such groups together in direct contact with each other, The Summit Against Violent Extremism (SAVE) offered a unique opportunity to explore the experiences of former violent extremists and victims of terrorist acts. This article aims to focus on this initiative.Design/methodology/approachThe article is designed to take the reader through the discussions of three senior psychologists who attended SAVE to offer support to all involved. Their experiences and insights were gathered, within a focus group, to develop themes with the aim to discuss and share.FindingsPsychologists outlined social development, self‐identity, family and peer groups as critical to the development of extremist views and to the de‐radicalisation of such views. It was reported that the summit gave survivors a chance to express their anger in a positive setting but that this setting could be improved for future summits. Challenges that faced the psychologists included the multi‐lingual environment and confidentiality issues.Practical implicationsThe summit was seen as a successful means for developing an understanding of those who have taken part in acts of extreme violence and terror. The psychologists provide practical suggestions for future de‐radicalisation of people in extremist groups.Originality/valueThe role of therapeutic psychologists in such a summit was viewed as critically important as a support to both formers and survivors.

Table 3. Percentage correct consonant classification from LDA analyses using Bark Cepstral coefficients. The first row shows data broken out by phoneme (/p/t/k percentages). The second row presents the average percentage correct classification overall phonemes. The four-parameter fit is shown in the 3 rd row. It covered all analysis frames and represents the percentage correct averaged over phonemes.Burst Only Burst+10 Burst+10+20 Burst+All Six parameter fit 74.0/63.2/63.7 87.9/81.6/75.8

No abstract