Accessing Children's Knowledge of Sociolinguistic Rules for Speech Therapy Lessons

Abstract

Eight dyads of misarticulating school children (M = 7:9 years) enrolled in clinical programs were videotaped while they role-played 5-min remedial articulation lessons. Analysis of lesson transcripts was carried out at selected levels (lesson management, roles, discourse contexts, communicative acts, discourse sequences, and topic introduction). The "clinicians" controlled the lesson tasks and topics and used communicative acts in a manner typical of adult clinicians. The "clients" role-played cooperatively and displayed the response patterns of children receiving remedial lessons. Hierarchical relationships among the selected levels of analysis suggested the use of a cohesive register appropriate for clinical teaching. It is suggested that children's sociolinguistic perspectives on remedial speech and language lessons should be taken into account when intervention lessons are planned and implemented.

Children's Perception of Roles in Intervention

“…To most effectively structure a language learning environment, we need to view intervention not only from an observer's vantage point and a clinician's participant view, but also from the child's perspective (Ripich & Panagos, 1985).…”

A profile of speech-language pathologists' prosody during language therapy

“…Becker and Silverstein, 1978;Prutting, Bagshaw, Goldstein, Juskowitz and Umen, 1978;Letts, 1985;Ripich and Panagos, 1985;Panagos, Bobkoff and Scott, 1986). These works have provided descriptions of what happens in and who speaks about what in therapy, thus providing insights about language and an impetus for further research.…”

“…For example, Crystal (1981Crystal ( , 1982 noted that prosody in clinical environments is unlike normal adult-directed speech AND unlike typical child-directed speech (CDS), and Panagos, et al (1986) labelled the prosodic characteristics of clinical discourse as being 'finer' in tone, louder, and slower than those found in nonclinical contexts, which they described as fast and lively. Additionally, Ripich and Panagos (1985) described instances in which children role-playing SLPs ('clinicians') modified prosody. Such 'clinicians' reportedly used slow rates, increased pitch variations, increased pitch levels, and increased loudness.…”

The nonverbal component of clinical lessons

“…We begin by assuming that the clinician's presuppositions about therapy are established through varied sociolinguistic experiences, producing refined intuition for the structures and forms of 'therapy talk' as dictated by the formalities of the setting and the role of speech therapist (Ripich, 1982;Ripich and Panagos, 1985). The presentation of material is descriptive: nonverbal elements are illustrated with descriptive statements derived from clinical observation, and with excerpts from transcribed videotaped lessons conducted by working clinicians (Bobkoff, 1982;Kovarsky, in press).'…”

“…Ripich (1982;Ripich and Panagos, 1985) reported that children enrolled in school therapy asked to role-play therapist and client were able to do so with great accuracy and facility. The children could mimic nonverbal behaviours quite perfectly.…”