Test-retest reliability of independent measures of phonology in the assessment of toddlers' speech.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the temporal stability of 5 independent measures of phonological skill: phonetic inventory (initial, final), word shape, syllable structure level, and the index of phonetic complexity.


METHODS
Ten toddlers with typical development participated in two 20-min play sessions within a 1-week period. Test-retest reliability for each measure was determined.


RESULTS
Syllable structure level and index of phonetic complexity achieved high test-retest reliability. Word-final phonetic inventory and word shape analyses had moderate but not significant reliability. Word-initial phonetic inventory was not reliable.


CONCLUSIONS
Twenty-minute conversational speech samples were insufficient to obtain reliable results for all measures. Practitioners may want to obtain more extensive sampling when using a phonetic inventory for diagnosis or progress monitoring purposes. Reliable measures within the constraint of a 20-min session, syllable structure level and index of phonetic complexity provide summarized information concerning the phonetic and syllabic characteristics of a child's speech. Syllable structure level places less emphasis on accurate phonetic transcription, making it a good option for speech that is difficult to transcribe.
Northern Illinois University, Department of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA. srmorris@niu.edu
Sherrill R
SR
Morris
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D011578:Psycholinguistics / Q000379:methods*; D013060:Speech; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014825:Vocabulary