Theoretical constructs in fluency development

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN,MASLP

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

INTRODUCTION:

Fluency refers to the effortless production of long continuous utterance at a rapid rate, be it the first or second language. - Stark Weather (1980)

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Initially, the speech of children lacks fluency. When demand from the society fluency

It with in age i.e. as the child matures his fluency improves. If the child is capable of meeting the demands of the society, the speech becomes fluent.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

The growing ability to talk more easily stems from several capacities: Increasing control over articulatory movement Co-ordinate the articulatory movement Rhythm The increased demands for fluency come from many sources, both internal and external.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

One of the growing demands for fluency is language development in terms of: Syntactic ability Semantic Phonology Pragmatics

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

DEVELOPMENT OF FLUENCY

The development of fluency entails periods of disfluency.

Starkweather (1987) describes this in terms of continuity, rate, rhythm and effort of speech production and there is a research focus on the acoustic phonetic properties (Dalton & Hardcastle 1989).
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Yairi (1981) describes how the amount and frequency of disfluency decreases in the preschool years.
Between approximately 18 m and 4 years normal disfluencies (known as normal-nonfluency (NNF) can increase markedly and cause parents anxiety.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

This disfluency is temporary but is often very difficult to differentiate from early stuttering leading to controversies about management.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Nelson (1985) proposes that a reason for NNF may be that between the ages of 2 and 4, children are learning new words and linking them together in sentences.
They are also learning to ask questions requiring different word order.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

1) Development of Speech Continuity: Continuity is a factor affecting fluency.

Kowal & Sabin(1975) studied 168 normal children from KG to 12th grade. The most common dysfluencies were, Pauses Repetitions false start parenthetical remarks
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Frequency of dysfluencies - no change from KG to 12th grade children. false starts, repetitions & pauses steadily from KG to 12th grade.
There was a sudden grade. in false starts at 4th

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

It was speculated that, at this age as children were formally trained in terms of grammatical knowledge, they might be over conscious of their speech and would try to apply their grammatical knowledge. Hence, a number of false starts would occur.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Parenthetical remarks increased steadily from KG to 12th standard. This was believed to give continuity to their speech.
There was no developmental trend seen in terms of dysfluencies.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

The repetitions and false starts which are immature dysfluencies were commonly seen in younger age. Later they are substituted by parenthetical remarks which are sophisticated dysfluencies.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Dejoy & Gregory (1975) studied children between 3 - 5yrs of age. They reported that repetitions of words, phrase, part word, incomplete phrases & dysrhythmic phonation were more commonly seen in 3yr old than 5yr old.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Yairi (1981) studied 33 normal children of 2433mths .

He found that part word & small word repetition are most commonly seen in young children.
Revisions & incomplete phonations did not show any developmental trend 2-4yrs.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Repetitions, tense phrase, dysrhythmic phonation decline steadily from 2-4yrs. Interjections & repetitions of words & phrases decline steadily with increase in age.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Yairi (1981) studied children from 29 mths to 33 mths to 37 mths. Discontinuities declined from 6.5% to 5.1% o 4.1%.
Kowal and Sabin found that KG and first grade childrens speech is approximately 2% more discontinuous than that of high school children.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Wexler and Mysak (1982) studied 2yr old children.

They found that there was a tendency of producing more continuous speech of 2yr old as compared to 4-6yr old.
They found that revisions do not decline or slightly decline from 2 6 yrs.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Repetitions, tense pause and dysrhythmic phonation declined steadily from 2 4 yrs (though not noticed at 4-6yrs)
Interjections and repetitions of words and phrases decline steadily with increase in age.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

2) Development of Rate: Rapid rate is an aspect for fluency . Many researchers have studied rate by the following ways, # measuring duration of pauses # measuring syllables per second # measuring duration of segment (length of utterances) From the studies, it has been reported that, there is a clear cut trend in development.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Duration of pauses:

Kowal & Sabin (1975) reported that development of rate shows there is a dramatic development of fluency. rapid change in terms of duration of pauses from KG 2nd grade children.
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males have longer unfilled pauses as compared to females & duration of pauses decrease with increase in age.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Syllables per second :

Kowal & Sabin (1975) reported that there is a short increment in terms of syllables per second from KG 2nd grade children. leveled at 4th grade. A steep increase is seen between 4th & 8th grades. From 8th grade onwards, not much increase is seen.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Therefore, rate of speech in terms of syllables/sec shows a steady increase in school age children. Black & Walker (1950) reported an adult speaker is able to speak at an average of 5-6 syllables/sec. Armster (1984) reported that, rate of speech show a clear cut developmental trend in pre-school children.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Duration of Segment/Utterance :

Speaking slowly & precisely is one of the characters of children speech.

The speech of an adult is faster & has many overlapping co-articulatory movements. Studies have shown that, duration of segment increase with increase in age.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

With increase in age, there is a decrease in duration of individual sounds, so fluency of speech increases. Duration of /s/ in word initial position is brief in 7yr old as compared to 5yr old children. Duration of /p/ when surrounded by /i/decreases with increase in age.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Duration of sound is shorter in longer utterances/words, unstressed words & sounds in initial position. Smith (1984) reported that 2-4yrs is the critical period for duration of segment development. So there is rapid change taking place in terms of duration of segment/ utterances.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Kari J. Lokken 1989 elicited conversational samples from 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old normalspeaking children.
Speech rates were measured per age group No statistically significant differences in speaking rate were observed across the three age groups.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

3) Development of Ease of Speech:

Effortless speech is an influential factor in maintaining fluency. The effort may be mental or physical: - the amount of time an individual takes in planning an utterance reflects in the amount of mental effort required in fluent speech. - the amount of time taken in executing an utterance reflects on the amount of physical/muscular effort required for fluent speech production.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

In younger children, rate is slower indicating that the amount of time spent in executing an utterance is more .therefore, physical effort is more.
In adults, rate of speech is faster because time spent in executing an utterance is less & so, physical effort is less.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Presence of pauses & repetitions indicates the amount of time spent in planning & therefore, mental effort taken with increase in age, there is a decrease in mental & physical effort.
Co-ordination: articulators & the 3 systems are important for production of fluent speech.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Researchers have shown that, DDK rate increases in age & continues till 18-20yrs.

Fast rate of repetition shows steady increase from 6-19yrs.

Variability seen in terms of speech production usually decreases with increase in age.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Researchers have shown that, good speech motor control capacity like adults is acquired from 8-12yrs.
They also found that as the nervous system develops till adolescent speech motor development also takes place till that time.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

4) Development of rhythm:

Young children are unable to imitate sentences lacking normal rhythm.

At the end of 2 word stages of development, children typically do not produce syllable sequences with stress contrast, substituting stressed for unstressed syllables.
The first words of babies are arrhythmic
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Speech rhythm must be based on the pattern with which stressed and unstressed syllables occur Beyond the 2 word stage, there is gradual development of the ability to produce unstressed syllables.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

By the time they reach 4 word utterances, most children are using the right no: of syllables and have a clear understanding of speech rhythm, even though their phonological processes are still in the process of development.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Since stuttering occurs exclusively on stressed syllables, its important to understand the distinction between stressed and unstressed syllable develops. Also it is typically at this same point in development that some children begin to produce long part word repetitions
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Rhythm seems to be directly related to fluency in 3 differences:

unstressing increases rate the structure of rhythm make it easier to produce speech faster rhythm is related to gesture which is related to fluency
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

The sense of rhythm develops and makes it easier for a child to anticipate the movement of speech production. one of the growing demands is the child's development of language skills. Increased syntactic, semantic, phonologic & pragmatic knowledge contributes to this demand for fluency.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

As the childrens syntax develops, their sentences become longer & structurally more complex.
Because, the length of utterance is correlated with the rate of speech, the children must deal with a demand to increase the speed with which the vocal tract parts move.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

As the childs knowledge of the rules of phonology increases they become interested in using longer words & phrases and more difficult combination of sounds to express intentions. Childs pragmatic knowledge also grows and this also places a demand on the fluency of speech.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

The speech of young children is characterized by a spout of anxiety at 2 or 3yrs of age, their speech is a verbalization of their current thought or activity. With increased maturity speech becomes more controlled and directed to more specific purposes.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Growth in pragmatics seems to diminish the spout anxiety of childrens speech. It is not only the rules of language but also the people whom the child communicates place demands on them. These people include parents, sibling etc.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Children have a tendency to use speech & language that is similar to that used by those they are talking to- when parents talk to their children using sophisticated language, syntactically complex and with an advanced vocabulary, the children try to use the same form.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Some children do not develop the capacity for fluent speech as rapidly as others, and at times the demand for fluency made by their environments are too much for them to handle.

When this is the case, fluent speech breaks down.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

These frequent episodes are likely to cause the children to try harder- to get words out faster particularly words that have been produced discontinuously to struggle with them, forcing and pushing with increased air pressure and to tense the speech musculature so that is stiff, slow moving, un co-ordinated and tremulous.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

This is likely to slow the rate at which such children produce information. During the period of development of speech behavior, child learns how to talk semi automatically.
When the patterns of struggle tension and emotional reaction have become habitual and semi-automatic, stuttering has developed
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

INDIAN STUDIES RELATED TO DEVELOPMENT OF FLUENCY:

Naga Poornima (1990) studied Kannada speaking normal children between the age range of 3-4yrs.
Story telling & picture description were used. Dysfluencies noticed were pauses, repetitions, false starts & parenthetical remarks.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Unfilled pauses, false starts were observed maximally during picture description.

Number of unfilled pauses decreased between 3-3.8yrs, but sudden increase was seen from 3.8-3.10yrs after which there was a decline between 3.10-4yrs.
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No developmental trends were observed.

Repetitions increased from 3-3.4yrs but decreased from 3.6-4yrs.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

False starts were seen more in the picture description tests in the word initial position. Parenthetical remarks were seen more in story-telling tasks. Frequency increased from 3-3.4yrs, decreased from 3.4-3.8yrs and again increased from 3.8-4yrs.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Indu (1990) :
Studied Kannada speaking children between 4-5yrs of age.

Connected speech was used.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Pauses, repetitions & parenthetical remarks were most commonly seen in content words than in function words. They were seen more in the initial position

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Yamini (1990) : Studied Kannada speaking normal children of 5-6yrs. She used 6 sets of picture cartoons

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Common dysfluencies observed are :

# filled & unfilled pauses # audible inspirations # parenthetical remarks # false starts # repetitions
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

These dysfluencies occurred more before nouns than other grammatical categories and is observed more in initial position.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Rajendraswamy (1991): Studied Kannada speaking normal children between the age range 6-7yrs. 6 sets of panchatantra stories were used. He found that increase in % age of dysfluency was present from 6-6.6yrs.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Common dysfluencies observed were : * filled pauses * false starts * repetitions * parenthetical remarks

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Less common dysfluencies were : * audible inspirations * broken words * unfilled pauses

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

More dysfluencies seen on/ before nouns, verbs, conjunctions & interjections. Less commonly seen on/before prepositions & adverbs.
Dysfluencies were reported to be mainly in initial position.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Sharma (1991) : Studied dysfluencies in Hindi speaking normal children between 6-7yrs. Percentage of dysfluencies decreased from 66.4yrs. Maximally occurring dysfluency was unfilled
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Filled pauses were seen maximally between 6.6-6.8yrs. Parenthetical remarks were seen between 6.66.8yrs
Prolongations were less commonly seen.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

No definite pattern was seen in the occurrence of dysfluencies. Dysfluencies were present mainly in the initial position.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Savitri and Anjana (2007) Studied 20 children (10 boys & 10 girls) of 56 yrs Used pictures, cartoons, pic containing panchatantra stories
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Result: sound rept mutisyllable word repetitions - predominant Least broken words & prolongations
dys : Boys > girls

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

JOURNAL ARTICLES
Pellowski MW, Conture EG 2002 studied speech disfluency and stuttering behaviors in 3- and 4-year-old children. Measures of speech disfluency appreciably differentiate CWS from CWNS and that 4-year-old CWS exhibit changes in non re-iterative forms of stuttering as a function of time since stuttering onset.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Boey RA, Wuyts FL, Van de Heyning PH, De Bodt MS, Heylen L. 2007 Compared the characteristics of stuttering-like disfluencies in a group of native Dutch-speaking children who stutter with a group of normally fluent children. Findings indicate that stuttering-like disfluencies exhibited by children who stutter are significantly more frequent, longer in duration and involve more physical tension when compared to those of normally fluent children.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Karin B. Wexler 1982 studied developmental Disfluency in 2-, 4-, and 6Year-Old Boys in Neutral and Stress Situations . 2-yr-olds higher disfluency frequencies for word repetitions and phrase repetitions higher frequency of dysrhythmic phonations
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Neutral stress

2-yr-olds

stress situation

higher frequency of average oscillation higher frequency of dysrhythmic phonations

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Carlo EJ, Watson JB 2003 examined the disfluent speech of 32 normally fluent monolingual, Spanish-speaking children of 3.5 5.5 yrs Revisions, interjections, and single-syllable word repetitions - most frequently observed speech disfluencies Broken words, blocks, and repetitions of more than one syllable - least frequent.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Kenneth J. Logan 2003 examined language and fluency characteristics of single utterance (SU) and multiple-utterance (MU) conversational turns produced by 15 preschoolers who stutter and 15 age- and sex-matched preschoolers who do not stutter.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

Results indicated that the childrens utterances from MU-turns typically served assertive functions and were significantly longer and more linguistically complex than their utterances from SU-turns.
Neither group showed a significant difference in disfluency rate for length-matched utterances from MU- and SU-turns.
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN, MASLP