•Evidence shows interaction between manipulative hand movements and movements of mouth in a vocal and non-vocal context.•In particular, motor planning for grasping and articulatory gestures appear to ...tightly integrated.•The article proposes novel views about how these hand-mouth connections can contribute to speech development and evolution.
Mounting evidence shows interaction between manipulative hand movements and movements of tongue, lips and mouth in a vocal and non-vocal context. The current article reviews this evidence and discusses its contribution to perspectives of development and evolution of speech. In particular, the article aims to present novel insight on how processes controlling the two primary grasp components of manipulative hand movements, the precision and power grip, might be systematically connected to motor processes involved in producing certain articulatory gestures. This view assumes that due to these motor overlaps between grasping and articulation, development of these grip types in infancy can facilitate development of specific articulatory gestures. In addition, the hand-mouth connections might have even boosted the evolution of some articulatory gestures. This account also proposes that some semantic sound-symbolic pairings between a speech sound and a referent concept might be partially based on these hand-mouth interactions.
Introduction. The relevance of the problem presented in the article is due to the need to develop the speech of younger preschoolers. Of particular importance in solving this problem is the use of ...reasonably organized musical activity, since the spontaneous development of speech in children causes lagging behind modern requirements for accelerated formation of intellect. In this regard, a pedagogical analysis of domestic and foreign approaches to the study of the role of musical activity of preschool children was carried out, which showed that a special study of the speech development of younger preschool children in the process of musical activity has not been previously conducted. The purpose of the article is to identify the most effective types of musical activity in the speech development of younger preschoolers.Materials and methods. The leading methodological approach to solving the research problem is the activity approach. In the course of the study, the following methods were used: speech therapy examination (auditory attention, speech understanding, vocabulary volume), conversation with parents and caregiver, observation of children in natural conditions and during assignments, questioning of parents. Methods were used to assess the understanding of colloquial speech, sound culture, connected speech, the vocabulary of a child, the formation of his speech activity and communication culture: a method for diagnosing the speech development of preschool children (F.G. Daskalova), a method for studying the level of speech communication (V.I. Yashin). Particular attention is paid to the educational process according to the principle: I hear – I realize – I reproduce, as well as the role of types of musical activity in the speech development of younger preschoolers. The study was conducted on the basis of Municipal budgetary preschool educational institution "Kindergarten No. 215" and Municipal budgetary preschool educational institution "Kindergarten No. 426" in Chelyabinsk (the experiment began in September 2017, and the end was in May 2018).Results. The result of the study was the implementation of the author’s program “Musical Activities in the Speech Development of Younger Preschoolers”, which includes musical games, exercises, children's songs, tales with music, playing children's instruments, exercises in vocal sound extraction, imitation of the voices of birds and animals.Discussion and Conclusion. In the course of the study, the most effective types of musical activity in the speech development of younger preschoolers were identified. An analysis of the results of experimental work is presented, confirming the effectiveness of the use in the preschool educational organization of the types of musical activity identified in the research process in the speech development of younger preschoolers. The use of music in the speech development of younger preschoolers helps to achieve more effective results (musical games, round dance songs that are accompanied by movement). Thus, the experiment confirmed that the implementation of the program "Musical activity in the speech development of younger preschool children" provides a more effective speech development of younger preschool children.Highlightsit was proved that the younger preschool age is both a critical and sensitive period of speech formation as a means of communication, which makes it necessary to develop stage speech, auditory attention and musical activity;the types of musical activity that affect the development of speech of younger preschool children are characterized;the main indicators and means of speech development of younger preschoolers in the process of musical activity were identified;the influence of musical activity on the development of the general speech culture of younger preschool children has been proved;the results of a diagnostic study are presented.
Phonological theories commonly analyze speech utterances as composed of hierarchically organized units, such as features/gestures, segments, moras, and syllables, but it is not well understood why ...this hierarchical organization is observed. Moreover, current phonological theories and speech production models fail to explain cross-linguistic and developmental variation in the organization of units. This paper presents the selection-coordination theory of speech production, which attempts to unify our understanding of developmental and cross-linguistic variation in phonological structure. The theory holds that hierarchical organization emerges from a recurring trend in speech development whereby children acquire coordinative regimes of control over articulatory gestures that were previously competitively selected. In this framework, segments, moras, and syllables are understood as differently-sized instantiations of the same type of motor planning unit, and cross-linguistic and developmental phonological patterns are derived from distinguishing competitive and coordinative regimes of articulatory control. Evidence for the theory is drawn from research in motor control, speech development, and phonological and phonetic patterns in speech.
•The selection-coordination theory of speech production is presented.•Competitive and coordinative control are related through feedback internalization.•Hierarchical phonological structure emerges from control transitions.•The theory explains cross-linguistic variation in phonological patterns.
Objective:
To determine whether timing of palatoplasty (early, standard, or late) is associated with speech and language outcomes in children with cleft palate.
Design:
Retrospective case series.
...Setting:
Tertiary care children’s hospital.
Participants:
Records from 733 children born between 2005 and 2015 and treated at the Cleft Craniofacial Clinic of a tertiary children’s hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Exclusion criteria were cleft repair at an outside hospital, intact secondary palate, absence of postpalatoplasty speech evaluation, syndromes, staged palatoplasty, and introduction to clinic after 12 months of age. Data from 232 children with cleft palate ± cleft lip were analyzed.
Interventions:
Palatoplasty.
Main Outcome Measures:
Speech/language delays and disorders at 20 months and 5 years of age based on formal hospital or community-based testing or screening evaluation in the Cleft Craniofacial Clinic; additional speech surgery.
Results:
Median age at palatoplasty was 12.6 months (range: 8.8-21.9 months). Age at palatoplasty was classified as early (<11 months, n = 28), standard (11-13 months, n = 158), or late (>13 months, n = 46). Late palatoplasty was associated with increased odds of speech/language delays and speech therapy at 20 months, and language delays at 5 years, compared with standard or early palatoplasty (P < .05 for all comparisons). However, speech sound production disorders, velopharyngeal incompetence, tube replacement, and hearing loss were not significantly associated with age at palatoplasty.
Conclusions:
Late palatoplasty may be associated with short- and long-term delays in speech/language development. Future studies with standardized surgical technique/timing and outcome measures are required to more definitively describe the impact of age at palatoplasty on speech/language development.
Objective
This study investigates whether the use of acellular dermal matrix (ADM) affects the long-term speech outcomes in patients undergoing primary palatoplasty with radical intravelar ...veloplasty.
Design
Retrospective cohort study.
Setting
Tertiary university-affiliated hospital.
Participants
A consecutive cohort of 112 patients who underwent primary palatoplasty with radical intravelar veloplasty from August 2014 to March 2018 were included.
Main outcome measures
A 2 × 2 cm-sized ADM was incorporated as an interpositional graft between the oral and nasal lining at the soft-hard palate junction. The perceptual analysis of hypernasality and articulation was performed when the age of the patient reached at least 36 months. Cleft-related characteristics and surgical factors affecting the speech outcomes were investigated.
Results
The ADM was applied in 57 patients with a mean follow-up of45.76 months (SD, 10.69), while no ADM was used in 55 patients with a mean follow-up of 48.43 months (SD, 14.98). Regarding the hypernasality outcome, 33.3% (19 of 57 patients) of the ADM group and 27.3% (15 of 55 patients) of the control group showed a greater than mild-to-moderate degree. The distribution of hypernasality and articulation grade showed no significant difference between the two groups. After controlling for potential risk factors that may affect the speech outcomes, the use of ADM showed no significant relationship with velopharyngeal insufficiency.
Conclusion
The use of ADM use in primary palatoplasty with radical intravelar veloplasty is not associated with the alteration of speech function in early childhood.
The inaugural Cleft Summit aimed to unite experts and foster interdisciplinary collaboration, seeking a collective understanding of velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) management.
An interactive ...debate and conversation between a multidisciplinary cleft care team on VPI management.
A two-hour discussion within a four-day comprehensive cleft care workshop (CCCW).
Thirty-two global leaders from various cleft disciplines.
Cleft Summit that allows for meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Ability to reach consensus on a unified statement for VPI management.
Participants agreed that a patient with significant VPI and a dynamic velum should first receive a surgery that lengthens the velum to optimize patient outcome. A global, multicenter prospective study should be done to test this hypothesis.
The 1st Cleft Summit successfully distilled global expertise into actionable best-practice guidelines through iterative discussions, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and paving the way for a transformative multi-center prospective study on VPI care.
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