Abstract:Standardized tests and spontaneous speech sample analysis have been used to measure children's language abilities. However, standardized tests alone cannot provide complete information on each child's interaction skills. To obtain specific performance on interaction skills, spontaneous speech sample analysis is essential in clinical situations. Nevertheless, there is no standardized norm in spontaneous speech sample analysis. Thus, this study is designed to investigate performance in typically developing child… Show more
Objectives: Language sample analysis has been the "golden standard" in language assessment for children. The purpose of this study is to examine opinions of SLPs on their experiences with children's language analysis and to find alternatives that could make the analysis more useful and robust. Methods: Eight SLPs with experience in language sample analysis participated in in-depth interviews on the needs, implementation, and obstacles of language sample analysis in child language evaluation and intervention. Interviews were conducted individually with the first researcher based on the questionnaire developed by the researchers, and the interviews were recorded and transcribed and coded according to the qualitative research method. Results: As a result of qualitative analysis by transferring the contents of the interview, 2 topics and 8 sub-themes were derived for the current state of utterance analysis, and 4 topics for the alternatives to utterance analysis and 11 topics accordingly. Conclusion: All experts recognized the need for utterance analysis, but noted that there were practical difficulties in conducting utterance analysis in clinical settings. In order to properly realize the value of speech analysis in children's language evaluation, three things need to be developed; systematic sampling procedures, objective analysis using natural language processing technology, and norms and criteria through accumulation of sufficient language sample data for various age groups.
Objectives: Language sample analysis has been the "golden standard" in language assessment for children. The purpose of this study is to examine opinions of SLPs on their experiences with children's language analysis and to find alternatives that could make the analysis more useful and robust. Methods: Eight SLPs with experience in language sample analysis participated in in-depth interviews on the needs, implementation, and obstacles of language sample analysis in child language evaluation and intervention. Interviews were conducted individually with the first researcher based on the questionnaire developed by the researchers, and the interviews were recorded and transcribed and coded according to the qualitative research method. Results: As a result of qualitative analysis by transferring the contents of the interview, 2 topics and 8 sub-themes were derived for the current state of utterance analysis, and 4 topics for the alternatives to utterance analysis and 11 topics accordingly. Conclusion: All experts recognized the need for utterance analysis, but noted that there were practical difficulties in conducting utterance analysis in clinical settings. In order to properly realize the value of speech analysis in children's language evaluation, three things need to be developed; systematic sampling procedures, objective analysis using natural language processing technology, and norms and criteria through accumulation of sufficient language sample data for various age groups.
Objectives: Children with language delay have low competence in lexical, grammatical knowledge and pragmatic skills. The problems they have can affect their later academic performance and peer relationships. Therefore early intervention is highly recommended. One of the effective methods for early intervention is parental education. However, parents have difficulty in generalizing the strategies they have learned. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of using a smartphone application as a tool for increasing the effectiveness of parental education. Methods: Eight mothers and their children with language delay between 2 and 3 years old participated in this study. As a pretest researchers collected spontaneous language samples. After the pre-test, 6 sessions of parental education were conducted. During the parental education, four parents were asked to use the smartphone application during parent-child interaction. But, the rest of the parents were asked to keep a log of the duration of interaction instead of using the smartphone application. After the end of all sessions, a post-test was conducted in the same method as the pre-test. Each spontaneous speech sample was collected and analyzed for the number of utterances and initiation ratio. Results: The children in the experimental group, who used the smartphone application during parental education showed higher intervention effects than the control group. Conclusion: Parental education can modify parent-child interaction style in positive and effective ways. Additionally, smartphone applications can feasibly increase the effect of parental education.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.