Pilot Project, Year 5
Navajo children with and without speech sound disorders
Progress in the field of speech-language pathology has been made within the culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) population; however, the American Indian (AI) population is still “ostracized” in regard to speech and language research efforts. There are 574 federally recognized AI tribes in the United States, yet little to no research has occurred that specifically addresses the speech production characteristics of AI children with or without speech sound disorders (SSDs).
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, signed into law in 1975 and amended several times, mandates that all students be evaluated through a non-biased assessment and requires that students be assessed in their native language. However, there are no speech assessments that consider the speech production characteristics of Navajo children with and without SSDs, or AI children in general. Therefore, it is important to conduct research among the Navajo population.
Study aims
- To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation—Third Edition (Goldman & Fristoe, 2015) and the Khan-Lewis Phonological Analysis, Third Edition (Khan & Lewis, 2015) for Navajo children with and without SSDs.
- To describe speech production patterns of Navajo children with and without SSDs and determine how error patterns and observed phonological processes differ from those seen in children who speak mainstream American English.
Results of this project will help both Navajo and non-Navajo speech-language pathologists who work with this population to better understand patterns of typical and disordered speech production and to reduce misdiagnosis of SSDs.
Funding: The study is funded by NIMHD/NIH 5U54MD012388
About the investigators
Davis Henderson, PhD
