This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.Normal speech production as observed in infants, toddlers, children and adolescents signifies the attainment of a broad range of developmental capacities, including cognitive, perceptual, social, linguistic, and physiologic proficiencies. Physiologic proficiencies, such as improved control and organization of muscle activity for speech, promote the acquisition of new skills and abilities for coordinating movements during the act of speaking. Among these areas of speech development, physiology remains the least described and understood primarily because of the challenge of maintaining experimental control while obtaining accurate physiologic measures with infants, toddlers, and very young children.A paucity of information regarding the essential capacities underlying speech development precludes a complete model of communicative development for both normal and disordered speech. A primary objective of this research is to identify those physiologic proficiencies underlying the typical development of motor control for speech and to compare these data with atypical speech development. This information may detect early symptoms and describe atypical coordination noted for a given developmental speech disorder.Coordinated movements across the respiratory, laryngeal, and oromandibular systems is quite organized during the isolated production of speech sounds, such as /p/ (e.g., pat) and /b/ (e.g., bat). Isolated productions of these speech sounds by adults reveal differences in coordination that can be measured. This current study is designed to investigate differences in coordination between children and adult speakers producing similar American-English speech sounds. The development of this normal model of coordination during specific productions of speech will be used for future investigations of disordered speech productions.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 325 publications