Thursday was another lab day for me, so I went in to ASU with my dad that morning. Since I had already worked with Dr. Ingram for two days before, I had a better idea of what was going on and what exactly I was doing. Specifically, I entered the analysis I performed on Tuesday from the tests on children with cleft palates into a spreadsheet, and started looking at transcribing their language in IPA. Also, Dr. Ingram showed me an intriguing case of a child with abnormal language development. This child could produce some more difficult sounds such as r and l, but not sounds that children generally acquire first such as s and sh. Dr. Ingram hypothesized that this might be due to an auditory deficit, since r and l are both generally louder sounds than s or sh.
As I mentioned before, Quince has been pretty sick, so he didn't go to any therapy sessions on Friday. Instead, my mom and I took him to the zoo. One of the things we've been working on with him is the names of different animals and the sounds they make. I tried to keep track of what he said while we were there, and to practice my phonetics, I have listed both the words and a transcription of how Quince pronounced it in IPA below. For words with prompting, I counted responses to questions that my mom or I asked him, such as "what animal is that?", as well as echoing. For example, if Quince repeated the word "monkey" after my mom said "this is a monkey," I would count that as an echoed response. Spontaneous words occur when he says something without anyone encouraging him to do so. An example of this is when he got tired of walking, Quince grabbed my hand and said "up."
Words with prompting:
- Zoo (zu)
- Lion (leɪə)
- Roar (wʌ)
- Monkey (mʌnkʌ)
- Giraffe (gʌræf)
- Pig (pʌ)
- Otter (ɒtʌ)
- Lizard (lɪzə)
Spontaneous words:
- Up (ʌp)
- Casey (kʌkʌ)
- Hi (hʌ)
- Pop (pɑp)
- Bye (bʌbʌ)
While I was transcribing these words, I noticed something interesting. In many cases, Quince seems to be saying the first consonant sound followed by ʌ (pronounced like the u in cup) instead of the actual word. This is probably ʌ is a relatively easy sound to shape, and his apraxia makes motor control of his mouth difficult.
Here is a video that provides an example of how I interact with Quince. In this scenario, he is eating cake and an apple core, and I am trying to get him to talk to me. Usually, I ask him some question and/or make some commentary on what he's doing, leaving long pauses in between to catch anything he might say. If he does say something, I respond so that any attempts to talk are recognized. In the video, I persist in trying to make him say bye-bye, because I know that's something he can say easily.
Does Dr. Ingram focus on a specific obstacles to language acquisition or just the field in general? You mentioned children with cleft palates, who I think would require different types of therapies than Quince. Is IPA at all related to the pronunciation keys in dictionaries? I know that at least for the Oxford dictionary, ʌ is pronounced the same way as you said it is in IPA.
ReplyDeleteHe looks at language acquisition in a wide variety of children, including children with speech impairments as well as typically developing children. So yes, the field in general. I believe that the pronunciation keys in dictionaries use IPA, but I'm not sure about that.
DeleteI've really liked reading about your speech therapy with quince so far! Just a quick question though. Why is it important to distinguish between words with prompting and those without?
ReplyDeleteQuince's language development is pretty different from your average kid. Most kids pick up words from the world around them, but Quince doesn't do this as much. We have to teach him every word we want him to say, forcing him to practice each one over and over until they are easier for him to say. So we prompt him to teach him the words, which eventually become words that he can use to communicate with others without requiring this prompting. I distinguished between the words he said with prompting and those without because the words without prompting are words that Quince is working on, in a sense, while those without he has mastered, or at least is more comfortable with. This is significant because it allows us to track his practical communicative abilities. Say, for example, if you were talking to Quince, the only words he could use to communicate with you would be those that he can say without prompting. A major goal for Quince is to expand the number of words he would be able to use in such a conversation. This is why we phase out the prompting as he learns the words.
DeleteThe IPA looks interesting, although kinda hard to get at first just because of all the odd symbols that you dont see in regular writing. I also liked the video with quince eating, although its a shame we didnt get to hear much talking, maybe next time ?
ReplyDeleteYes, it is a bit difficult, especially all the vowels. Hopefully I will get more talking next time.
DeleteThe IPA looks interesting, although kinda hard to get at first just because of all the odd symbols that you dont see in regular writing. I also liked the video with quince eating, although its a shame we didnt get to hear much talking, maybe next time ?
ReplyDelete