Diagnostic Impressions
Lily produced 200 complete and intelligible utterances in this sample, and her mean length of utterance was 4.63 morphemes. Lily's sample was compared to a data base of 30 children with normal hearing (age range 2.8 to 3.5) who were matched on a number of utterances in the sample. When matched on this dimension, Lily's scores were one standard deviation above the mean on utterance length and complexity and number of different words used. This is an encouraging finding, supporting the impression that Lily is using complex utterances that include varied vocabulary terms. She was comparable to the normative sample on intelligibility of spontaneous utterances; 97% were fully intelligible to the transcriber.
The table below lists the types of bound morphemes that were used spontaneously by Lily, along with error rates. Lily is using a variety of word endings, including some that are particularly complex for her age (e.g. friendly, passer, Mister Beary). A total of 10 morpheme omissions were observed in the sample, and the most common omission involved the contracted copula or auxiliary (she/'s not feeling well; I think that one/'s too big). Lily asked a variety of questions, that involved use of auxiliary/modal verb forms (e.g. Can we take off her diaper? Should we put on the clothes in here? Do you want some more dessert? Won't we go with Mister Beary?). Later in the session, Lily asked a "Why" question, and demonstrated that auxiliary inversion in complex questions is still emerging (e.g. Why it has claws?). She appropriately answers Why questions starting with "because" and providing reasons. Occasionally, she showed word order differences when using particles (e.g. She turned off it). In general, Lily demonstrates strong grammatical development for a child of her age. An example of one of the most complex utterances produced was: Maybe we can go to Omaha after we go to the doctor/z with you. This sentence was produced during a pretend sequence, and included a temporal conjunction.
Number Occ. - Number Omit - % of Oblig. Content
- /'D - 1 - 0 - 100
- /'LL - 2 -0 - 100
- /'M - 11 - 1 - 91
- /'NT - 1 - 0 - 100
- /'S - 15 - 6 - 71
- /3S - 7 -1 - 87
- /ED - 0 - 1 - 0
- /ER - 1 - 0 - 100
- /EZ - 1 - 0 - 100
- /ING - 15 - 0 - 100
- /LY - 1 - 0 - 100
- /S - 16 - 2 - 88
- /Y - 1 - 0 - 100
- /Z - 3 - 0 - 100
Lily also demonstrated advanced development on the PLS-4. This measure was administered across two sessions. Lily scored well above average for her age on both subtests. Standard scores were 138 for auditory comprehension and 142 for expressive communication (average = 100 with a standard deviation of 15). On the receptive scale, she demonstrated emerging understanding of the concept of rhyming, and clear ability to identify words that share initial sounds. It was encouraging to see her practice (/s/ - /s/...sun!). She also demonstrated recognition of agrammatical sentences and an ability to modify them. A particularly impressive aspect of her performance on the expressive scale was her responses to story retell opportunities. For example, after listening to the Buddy Story, she started her retell with, "Once upon a time, there was a puppy named Buddy and one night..." She appears to be developing well in terms of narrative skills.
As noted earlier, Lily has progressed well in speech production, resulting in spontaneous utterances that are easily understood most of the time. She often fronts the back sounds [k/g], producing them as [t/d]. This phonological process is often observed in children of this age. Sometimes when Lily is formulating multi-word sentences, she produces each word with similar timing, resulting in a staccato rhythm. Her mother reported that this is observed only occasionally at home, and appears to be when she is really thinking about what she is trying to say.
Lily's mother provides rich input to her daughter throughout their interactions. Complex pretend episodes with sequences and role assignments are observed when they play. Use of mental state terms (e.g. pretend, think, know, remember) was seen often in both mother and child talk. In summary, Lily is making excellent progress in all aspects of spoken language development. She scored above age expectations of the majority of measures gathered in these sessions. It is encouraging to see the impressive changes in Lily's understanding and use of spoken language.
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