Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Speech therapy;
Abstract
Training in speech sound discrimination may be an important part of some speech therapy and language development programs. In order to determine the nature of the training required, it is necessary to evaluate an individual's ability to discriminate between speech sounds. A variety of tests have been designed for this purpose. A review of the tests indicates that in one type of test the responses are based on the concepts "same" and "different". Recent studies suggest that the ability of an individual to perform at these tests may be affected by the use of the concepts. This study explored the effects of the concepts "same" and "different" upon speech sound discrimination test performance. Normal speakers of three different ages (four years seven months, six years seven months, and eight years six months) were asked to perform two discrimination tasks on the same stimuli, twenty-five pairs of nonsense syllables. In one the subject had to decide whether the pair of stimulus syllables was the ''same" or "different". In the other the subject was asked to imitate the pair of syllables.
The results of the study indicated that:
1. There was an improvement in the ability to perform at the same/different task with increasing age.
2. There was no relationship between age and the ability to perform at the imitation task.
3. Children with a mean age of four years seven months performed better at the imitation task than at the same-different task.
4. Children with a mean age of six years seven months and eight years six months performed approximately the same at both tasks.
From the results one could conclude that the ability of children to perform on a speech sound discrimination test based on the concepts "same" and "different" was related to their ability to comprehend and apply these concepts rather than to their ability to discriminate between speech sound stimuli. One could also conclude that within the age limits of the study, speech sound discrimination was not a function of age. The findings of this study suggest that a speech clinician should ascertain if a child can understand the concepts "same" and "different" before administering a speech sound discrimination test based on these concepts. The study implies that it would be beneficial to study further the nature of speech sound discrimination tasks, the nature of the responses required in the tasks, and the possible relationship between the two.
Year of Submission
1971
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Speech
First Advisor
Roy Eblen
Second Advisor
Lois S. Potter
Third Advisor
Myra R. Boots
Date Original
1971
Object Description
1 PDF file (60 leaves)
Copyright
©1971 Barbara Beving
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Beving, Barbara, "A Study of the Effects of the Concepts “Same” and “Different” upon the Speech Sound Discrimination Test Performances of Children of Various Ages" (1971). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2072.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2072
Comments
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