Hi, Is there a SALT around who can translate this for me?

[ZisforZebra]

My 5 year old son had his speech assessed this week and we've received a report through the post. Could anyone translate this for me please? I've bolded the bits I'm having trouble with

It says that a Phonological Assessment revealed several processes in operation in his speech, the main ones being voicing and stopping, but fronting, final consonant deletion, backing and cluster reduction were also present.

It also says that he uses some unusual substititions such as a palatal fricative for a final S sound and there is some vowel distorition. Also that "he was able to produce the sounds sh, f, t, s, the latter was produced with lateral airflow

I'd really appreciate any help anyone could offer with this, thanks.

I am bumping this as I can't help but wonder if there is anyone else around who can

you need Moondog.......

I think Moondog is one..

You need to asterisk each word.

If you can do this, I will send it to Moondog, who may be able to help.

Three replies in under two minutes, now that is impressive.

and I feel really good about surfing unanswered threads and bumping one while MN seemed busy

Ok, I'm a SALT but I work with adults - I'll do my best until moondog comes along!

Voicing - this means that sounds that are usually 'voiceless' like s (as in sit) are pronounced 'voiced' like z (as in zit). A sound is voiced when the vocal cords vibrate as the sound is made. Of all the sounds you can make, half are voiced, half voiceless. It sounds like your son is getting them mixed up.

Will post this so you can read while I work on the rest!

ba is voiced pa isn't- say it- to get an example. Somewhere I had a link about all of is. Written by an Oz Salt- Caroline something. Will search

IN the meantime this is a greatr source of info on speech problems.

Stopping - a 'stop' sound is one that is made by stopping the flow of air in the mouth then releasing it. Some sounds that are not made that way are being made into stops (also known as plosives). E.g. an 's' sound might be pronounced as a 'd'.
Fronting - sounds usually made at the back of the mouth are made at the front - e.g. 'cake' pronounced as 'take'
Backing is the other way around - sounds made at the front made at the back of the mouth, e.g. 'dog' comes out as 'gog'
Final consonant deletion - missing out the last sound of a word.
Cluster reduction - a cluster is a group of sounds together - e.g. spl as in 'splash'. Cluster reduction would mean the group of sounds is simplified, e.g. to 'pash' or 'plash'

Well I know what it all means but out of context it doesn't really mean anything iyswim.
Phonological assessment is an efficient way of unearthing the rules that govern disordered speech (the child/adult will invariably have devised their own rule system which is a t odds with that used by 'normal' speakers.

I am really surprised at this report. It obviously menas nothing to you so why is it sent to you?? I wouldn't dream of writing a report in such technical language (which is frustarting as technical language allows you to be precise in a concise way) because it just isn't accessible to a parent.

i would ring up and ask to be taken through it and given examples of each process.

Found it caroline bowen I've linked to a page that should be useful for you- but go to home and onto the speech development links and you'll find more.

Palatal fricative for final 's' sound. Think of the sound at the end of 'loch' the way a Scottish person would say it and that is a palatal fricative.
Vowel distortion - can't explain this one other that that vowel sounds aren't being made with the tongue in the right place so they are sounding odd.
Lateral airflow means the flow of air from the mouth is coming out of the side rather than the front!
I hope this helps, testing some vocabulary I haven't used in a while!

Agree moondog, it's all a bit technical isn't it?! I'm always telling students not to write in jargon!

lol yes Fibernie!

You learn all the jargon and feel so smug and clever, then when you leave college,realise that noone else has a clue what you're on about so then have to unlearn it all again!

Thanks for your help everyone!!! That's great. Sorry for the delay in replying.

Moondog - I was very surprised when I read it too. DS was prem and we've had a list of specialists for various things with both boys (physiotherapist, dermatologist, haemotologist, paediatricians) and I've never received a report so rich in technical terms before.

Fibernie - Thank you for explaining each bit. She's definately accurate in her assessment (now I know what she's talking about!)

Gess- Thanks for those links. The Caroline Bowen one is especially interesting. My younger son's (3.5) pre-school teacher has just advised that he be referred to a speech therapist too so I guess we're going to be doing this for a while.