Spontaneous and imtated utterances of children with phonological disorgers

The phonological relationship between spontaneous and imitated utterances has been discussed by many researchers in the past 30 years, yet it remains equivocal. The purpose of the present study was to investigate further this relationship so that researchers and clinicians in child phonology may interpret (assessment) data in a more valid and informed manner. Spontaneous and imitated single word utterances of 19 pre-school aged children with phonological disorders were compared for phonological differences in production. At a segmental level, utterances were analyzed in terms of percentage of consonants correct (PCC) in three word positions. At a prosodic level, productions were analyzed in terms of percentage of wordshapes matched (%WSM), and percentage of CVC and CVCV wordshapes matched for number of syllables (i.e. "length-match"). Overall group results revealed no significant differences between the speech modes, suggesting that a model of spontaneous speech production suffices to delineate the mechanisms underlying both spontaneous and imitated utterances at a group level. Despite this finding, a review of individual data, along with certain methodological issues, suggest that group results be interpreted with caution since differences may exist at an individual level and be masked due to methodological procedures. A significant age effect was found only for % WSM, where younger children (i.e. age 36 to 45 months) performed significantly better in spontaneous production than in imitation and older children (age 45 to 60 months) did not. This implies that younger children may use a different production strategy in imitation than do older children. Overall, the results of this study suggest that imitation may be used as a means of eliciting utterances during phonological assessment with the general expectation that such utterances will not differ significantly from most children's typical, or spontaneous productions. However, individual data should be inspected for differences between spontaneous and imitated utterances, as well as for variability in productions, in order that assessment results are validly interpreted.Medicine, Faculty ofAudiology and Speech Sciences, School ofGraduat