Comparison of Articulation Ability According to the Speaking Rate and Length of Sentences in 4-Year-Old Children with and without Articulation Disorders

Hong, Sae-Mi; Sim, Hyun-Sub

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 2011;16(3): 324-334.

Sae-Mi Hong^` , and Hyun-Sub Sim^`

홍새미(Sae-Mi Hong)| 심현섭(Hyun-Sub Sim)

ABSTRACT

Background & Objectives
The purpose of the present study was to investigate how the speech rate and sentence length influence the number of articulation errors in children with and without articulation disorders.
Methods
The participants were four-year-old children, 20 with articulation disorders and 20 age-matched children without articulation disorders. Children were asked to repeat 15 sentences with three different sentence length. Each sentence was controlled at one of the three different rates: baseline rate, 50% faster than baseline, and 50% slower than baseline. The number of articulation errors was calculated for each condition. The results were analyzed with three-way ANOVA. Significant ANOVA results were followed up with one-way ANOVA and post-hoc measures.
Results
Both groups showed an increase in the number of articulation errors when the speech rate was faster or slower than the baseline rate. However, there was no significant difference between two groups in the degree of error rate. Additionally, both groups showed a significant increase in the number of articulation errors as the sentences were longer. There was an interaction effect between sentence length and group. Discussion & Conclusions: The results from this study indicates that the speech motor control ability of four-year-olds is still in the development stage. This study also supports the hypothesis that there are trade-off effects between syntax and phonology which is discussed within a limited capacity framework.