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Biomedical subjects

M Elbert

Publications and source records attributed to M Elbert.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Toward a technology of generalization: how many exemplars are sufficient?

This descriptive study examined the number of minimal-word-pair exemplars necessary for 19 phonologically impaired children to meet a generalization criterion. For 59% of the test cases, three exemplars were sufficient for generalization to occur. Five exemplars were sufficient in 21% of the test cases, and it was necessary to teach 10 different exemplars in 14% of the test cases. In 7% of the test cases, generalization did not occur despite treatment on 10 exemplars. Although generalization usually occurred following treatment using a small number of exemplars, there was substantial variability across individual subjects. There was no apparent relationship between specific sounds and the likelihood of generalization; however, the data from some children suggested that treatment on one sound enhances learning of subsequent sounds. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1991

Stimulability as a factor in the phonological generalization of misarticulating preschool children.

The relationship among six functionally misarticulating preschool children's phoneme-specific stimulability skills, the choice of treatment targets (i.e., stimulable or nonstimulable sounds), and generalization of correct sound production was explored in this prospective study. Each subject [age range of 4:11 (years:months) to 5:6] was taught to produce [r] and one other sound that was absent from his or her phonetic inventory using a contrasting-minimal-pairs production approach. A multiple baseline across behaviors single-subject research design provided experimental control. For 86% of the 28 monitored sounds, generalization was consistent with pretreatment stimulability skills; production of stimulable sounds tended to improve regardless of treatment target. These results suggest that nonstimulable sounds are likely to require direct treatment; thus, generalization probe responses may be maximized by treating nonstimulable sounds rather than stimulable sounds.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1990

Generalization to conversational speech.

Although changes in children's phonological systems due to treatment have been documented in single-word testing, changes in conversational speech are less well known. Single-word and conversation samples were analyzed for 10 phonologically disordered children, before and after treatment and 3 months later. Results suggest that for most of the children, there were system changes in both single words and in conversational speech. It appears that many phonologically disordered children are able to extend their correct production to conversation without direct treatment on spontaneous speech.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1990

Some constraints on functionally disordered phonologies: phonetic inventories and phonotactics.

The phonological systems of 40 functional misarticulators, ages 40 to 80 months were examined in terms of the nature and variation of phonetic inventories and phonotactic constraints. It was found that these properties of disordered systems were governed by severe constraints that yielded a typological characterization of such systems along with associated implicational laws. The principles governing disordered systems were also found to parallel closely the principles governing normal first language acquisition. The evidence suggests that at least these properties of disordered systems represent delays in the normal acquisition process and are not otherwise deviant. The assessment and treatment of functional disorders along with the projection of learning patterns can thus appeal to principles governing such phonological systems.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1990

Listeners' familiarity and perception of an idiosyncratic phonologic pattern.

Idiosyncratic production of [l] for target /j/ (for example, production of the word "less" for "yes") was observed in a phonologically impaired preschooler. Recordings of his apparently homonymous productions of minimal pairs contrasting /j/ and /l/ were presented in random order to the child's mother and to five adult listeners who were unfamiliar with the child. No difference was seen across the listeners in their ability to identify target /l/ words. The child's mother, however, correctly identified /j/ targets more frequently than did unfamiliar listeners suggesting that familiarity enhances one's ability to decode idiosyncratic phonologic error patterns.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1988

Evaluating the treatment effect of repeated probes.

This study investigated the effect of the administration of frequent and infrequent probe lists on generalization to novel stimuli. Four subjects with multiple functional articulation errors were taught to produce two different sounds, and generalization was measured on three probe lists. Two of the probe lists (one for each sound) were administered infrequently, and the third probe list (for one sound) was presented at each treatment session. The results indicated that the frequent rate of administration of probe lists did not produce any predictable effect on the extent of generalization or the occurrence of a practice effect. In general, the data continue to support the use of probe lists as an effective tool to measure generalization.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1987

A functional analysis of phonological knowledge and generalization learning in misarticulating children.

It has been suggested that a child's productive phonological knowledge may be one factor that potentially accounts for individual differences in generalization learning observed among phonologically disordered children (Dinnsen & Elbert, 1984; Elbert, Dinnsen, & Powell, 1984). This paper evaluates the hypothesis that productive phonological knowledge influences generalization. Three related studies involving 6 functionally misarticulating children were conducted. In the first study, a description of each child's phonological system was developed using procedures of standard generative analysis. Based upon these descriptions, each child's productive phonological knowledge of his or her own sound system was determined and then ranked on a continuum ranging from "most" to "least" knowledge relative to the adult target. The second study implemented an experimental treatment program based upon each child's productive phonological knowledge, with treatment sounds selected directly from each child's continuum of knowledge. The third study reassessed each child's productive phonological knowledge following treatment. The results of these three studies indicated that a child's productive phonological knowledge of the sound system influenced the overall amount of generalization learning. However, the extent of generalization learning was associated with the point on the knowledge continuum at which treatment was initiated. These findings are discussed with reference to individual differences in generalization learning.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1984

[Clinical aspects and observations on patients with lymphadenopathy syndrome].

Since November 1982, patients with symptoms suggesting a lymphadenopathy syndrome (LAS) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), as well as their contacts and persons in high risk groups were examined as out-patients. The examinations have now been concluded in 101 patients. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to clinical symptoms and the OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio: 30 patients with normal ratio (group I), 59 patients with LAS and a ratio of less than 1 (group II) and 12 patients with fully developed AIDS (group III). During a follow-up time of 18 months, 3 patients of group I developed LAS and 1 patient in group II developed toxoplasma encephalitis. In a further 2 patients with LAS, uncharacteristic symptoms such as fever, tiredness and loss of weight increased, while at the same time the number of OKT4+ cells and thus the ratio fell significantly. In 4 cases the immunological parameters and the clinical picture improved. In 52 patients the clinical picture and the laboratory findings did not change. The demonstration of retrovirus HTLV III would seem to provide the cause of LAS and AIDS. Nonetheless, follow-up observation of contacts and patients with LAS remain important.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1984

Generalization following the remediation of early- and later-developing consonant clusters.

Three pairs of matched subjects, ages 4:4 to 6:3 (yrs:mos), who consistently misarticulated word-initial consonant clusters were taught to produce either earlier-developing (stop + liquid) clusters or later-developing (fricative + liquid) clusters. Sixty untrained probe items were administered imitatively during baseline and periodically throughout treatment to assess articulation change over time. Five of the six subjects performed with essentially equal accuracy on both cluster categories during the final probe administration regardless of the nature of their treatment. Additional analysis revealed the liquid segment [( r] or [l]) as the apparently decisive factor in four subjects' learning patterns.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1984

Untrained acquisition of /s/ in a phonologically disordered child.

The untrained /s/ productions of a phonologically disordered child were followed over a period of several months as she produced /s/ in imitated words and in spontaneous connected speech. For this child, as has been reported in the literature for children acquiring phonology normally, /s/ occurred earliest in the word-final position, appearing in word-initial position only several weeks later. Two word-medial, or intervocalic, contexts were compared: (a) monomorphemic words in which /s/ is word- and morpheme-medial (e.g., lasso); and (b) bimorphemic words in which /s/ is word-medial but morpheme-final (e.g., missing). In this latter group, a grammatical inflection or morpheme was added to a morpheme that ends with /s/. Correct responses to the intervocalic position where /s/ occurred at a morpheme boundary (i.e., in inflected morphemes) occurred earlier and more frequently than responses to single-morpheme intervocalic position. The variability of the child's productions over time is examined and discussed.

Child Language↗
PubMed1984

On the prediction of phonologic generalization learning patterns.

The purpose of this study was to obtain information on six children's misarticulation of consonant clusters in order to illustrate how certain factors influence generalization learning patterns. While all subjects evidenced generalization, individual differences in learning patterns did emerge. These patterns were explained in terms of the following three factors: (1) information about the children's unique knowledge about the phonologic system, (2) the linguistic relationships among sounds, and (3) the interaction of these factors with the treatment target. The implications of this explanation are discussed as they relate to the selection of treatment targets that will facilitate generalization.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1982

Temporal characteristics of "functionally" misarticulated /s/ in 4- to 6-year-old children.

This paper reviews instrumental studies of "functional" misarticulations in children and reports an experiment involving acoustic measures of the duration of normally articulated and misarticulated /s/. Three subject groups (n = 7 in each group) included normally articulating adults, normally articulating children, and children who misarticulate the /s/ sound. Multiple repetitions of nonsense sequences containing /s/ were obtained from each subject, and group and individual subject comparisons were based on means, standard deviations, and the derived coefficient of variation associated with /s/ duration. Results indicate that /s/ durations of misarticulating children are significantly more variable than those of normally articulating children, and that this difference is more striking in /s/-stop clusters than in the case of singleton /s/. The possibility is raised that the variability differences between the two child groups may reflect differences in speech motor control capabilities. It is suggested that such control differences should predict temporal variability differences between the two child groups for sounds which are articulated correctly by children in both groups. In addition, these variability differences should be observed for the spectral dimension of speech sound production, since this measure is sensitive to control of articulatory configuration.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

A computer program for distinctive feature analysis.

A computer program is described that will accomplish a distinctive feature analysis for speech misarticulations. The program, which is written in FORTRAN, is interactive in nature and is straightforward in design. It greatly facilitates the use of distinctive feature analysis in articulation training, as it reduces the time necessary to complete such an analysis from several hours to approximately 15 min.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted↗
PubMed1981

Criteria for phonological process analysis.

Investigators have proposed that children with functional articulation disorders should be relabelled phonologically disordered. To support this proposal, evidence has been presented in the literature demonstrating that children's error patterns reflect the operation of phonological processes. No quantitative or qualitative criteria have been offered to differentiate these processes from surface error patterns. The purpose of the present descriptive study was to determine if differences would be found when two kinds of process analyses were employed: a nonquantitative criteria analysis as conducted in the studies reported in the literature, and a quantitative criteria analysis. Speech samples were obtained from 13 children with functional articulation problems. Their errors were submitted to the two analysis procedures. Results indicated that the number of identified processes were reduced when minimum quantitative criteria were used from the number identified when no quantitative criteria were imposed. The decrease occurred in individual children's patterns as well as across the patterns of the 13 children. It is suggested that there is a need to establish reasonable quantitative and qualitative criteria for phonological process identification.

Articulation Disorders↗