Language Intervention and AAE Speaking Children: Issues and Preliminary Data

Differentiating Speech Sound Disorders From Phonological Dialect Differences

Implications for Assessment and Intervention

Velleman, Shelley L. PhD; Pearson, Barbara Zurer PhD

Author Information

Department of Communication Disorders, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Corresponding Author: Shelley L. Velleman, PhD, Department of Communication Disorders, 358 N Pleasant St, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003 ([email protected]).

This study was supported by National Institute of Health contract N01-DC-8-2104 (Harry Seymour, principal investigator) and National Science Foundation Award BCS-0318135 (Shelley Velleman, principal investigator). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

The authors thank The Psychological Corporation and the speech–language pathologists who assisted them in collecting the data, a host of dedicated graduate and undergraduate students, our colleagues in the University of Massachusetts NIH Working Groups on AAE, and, of course, the participants and their families.

Topics in Language Disorders 30(3):p 176-188, July/September 2010. | DOI: 10.1097/TLD.0b013e3181efc378

Abstract

B. Z. Pearson, S. L. Velleman, T. J. Bryant, and T. Charko (2009) demonstrated phonological differences in typically developing children learning African American English as their first dialect vs. General American English only. Extending this research to children with speech sound disorders (SSD) has key implications for intervention. A total of 148 children (4–12 years) with SSD, 72 learning only general American English and 76 learning African American English first, took the Dialect Sensitive Language Test (DSLT; H. Seymour, T. Roeper, & J. G. de Villiers, 2000) phonology subtest. Mismatches to target forms were categorized as phonotactic vs. segmental. The scores of the children with SSD were below Dialect Sensitive Language Test norms; overall dialect differences in mismatch frequency were not identified. However, individual consonants were mastered in different orders by dialect, even among children with SSD. Phonotactic vs. segmental dialect differences were emergent but nonsignificant at age 6 years. Intervention targets should be chosen per dialect-specific segmental orders of acquisition and phonotactic priorities.

© 2010 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

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