Articulatory Accuracy and Variability by Word Familiarity and Phoneme Difficulty in Children with and without Speech Sound Disorders

Abstract

This study aims to examine the articulatory accuracy and variability according to word familiarity and phoneme difficulty in children with speech sound disorders (SSD) and typically developing children. Methods: The participants were 10 children with SSD and 14 typically developing children aged from 2 years 6 months to 2 years 11 months. The 20 target words were selected according to word familiarity and phoneme difficulty. Each child was asked to produce each target word three times and the percentage of correct phonemes and variability scores were obtained. Results: The results showed that articulatory accuracy of children with SSD was significantly lower and their articulatory variability was significantly higher than those of typically developing children. There was no significant difference in articulatory accuracy according to word familiarity, but there was a significant difference in articulatory variability. Significant differences were found in articulatory accuracy as well as variability according to phoneme difficulty. Conclusion: This study suggested that phoneme difficulty affects articulatory variability in children with and without SSD aged 2:6-2:11. The articulatory variability and the related significant factors were discussed from the perspective of normal and delayed/abnormal speech acquisition processes. The study has useful implications for diagnosis and intervention for young children with SSD below 3 years old.