UC researcher seeking to improve childhood speech disorder
UC researcher seeking to improve childhood speech
disorder
December 9, 2012
A
University of Canterbury (UC) study is looking at how best
to improve the literacy and education achievements of New
Zealand children who struggle with speech
disorders.
UC senior literacy lecturer Dr Brigid
McNeill is conducting a national study by following 54
children aged five to seven years with suspected childhood
apraxia of speech.
Childhood apraxia of speech is a
poorly understood speech disorder. There are huge gaps in
knowledge about how to diagnose it properly, what aspects of
communication and literacy development are likely to be
affected and how best to support children with the
disorder.
``Traditionally, the disorder has been
thought of as a purely ‘motor’ impairment with
children’s difficulty pronouncing sounds thought to be due
to difficulty planning movements for speech,’’ Dr
McNeill said today.
``More recently, concerns over
the language and literacy development of those affected have
received attention in the literature. Such findings
implicating language and literacy development in those
affected have cast some doubt over whether this can be
viewed as a purely ‘motor planning’ disorder.
``My current project is the first study of its
kind to explore the broad profile of children with the
suspected disorder over time with a large sample. Children
in the study participate in a comprehensive speech, language
and literacy assessment five times during the two year
study.
``Speech production, oral movements,
vocabulary knowledge, listening comprehension, storytelling,
grammatical skill, reading and spelling are among the areas
of development monitored. The study draws participants from
Northland to Dunedin. Data collection for the project is
nearing completion, with the participants undergoing their
final assessment in the next three months.’’
Dr
McNeill said initial analysis of the results showed
participants were generally affected in their motoric,
language and literacy development. More than 75 percent of
children in the study required support in at least one area
in addition to speech production.
More work was
needed to be done to enhance the literacy and educational
achievement of children with the disorder in New Zealand,
she said.
``Children with severe speech difficulty
are usually referred for speech and language therapy support
in the pre-school years. There’s a lot we could be doing
to facilitate early literacy development in this group
rather than waiting for difficulties to be recognised later
on.
``These findings have huge implications for the
selection of speech therapy approaches for the group. It
seems that it is not enough to work on ‘output’ or
speech movement skills alone for many children with the
disorder. Such an approach is likely to ignore the broader
underlying difficulty and do little to enhance early
literacy development.
``The results show a need to
integrate speech therapy and educational support for
children with speech disorder. Such a model has the best
chance of seeing children affected by such difficulties meet
their communication and academic potential,’’ she said.
About five percent of New Zealand children are
affected by some form of speech disorder. Dr McNeill’s
project has received $300,000 from a Marsden Fund fast start
research grant for excellent early career
researchers.
ENDS