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Purpose: To carry out the cross-cultural adaptation of the Instrument Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills- Brazilian Portuguese (PEEPS-BP) - Expanded list, performing content validation., Methods: Cross-cultural, quantitative and cross- sectional adaptation study, considering psychometric criteria. A study was carried out on the list of 423 words from the Communicative Development Inventory - MacArthur - Words and Sentences, adapted to Brazilian Portuguese. The method was divided into four steps. The list was judged by expert judges (JE) and non-specialist judges (JNE), considering as a criterion the familiarity of the word for a child aged between 24 and 36 months, and the representativeness of the word with toy/object, contemplating Steps 1 and 2. The child judges analyzed, in a data collection situation, the familiarity and representativeness of the stimulus-words, presented in Step 3. Afterwards, the pilot study - Step 4, was carried out with the selected stimulus-words. In the statistical analysis by expert and non-specialist judges, the Fleiss' Kappa and Gwet Concordance index was used. In the analysis of the responses of the child judges and in the Pilot Study, the analysis was made in relation to the type of response of the child, specifically scoring the spontaneous naming of the toy/object, scoring qualitatively., Results: The result of Steps 1 and 2, and the agreement of the statistical tests for the Familiarity and Representativeness criteria was 45.7% for JE and 76.4% for JNE, and a result of 100% for the agreement of Representativeness. A total of 122 words were analyzed, resulting from previously established criteria, totaling 34 words (exclusion of one word by the researchers), totaling 33 stimulus-words. In Stage 3, of the 33 stimulus-words applied, nine presented spontaneous naming scores below expectations, being retested for Step 4, the Pilot Study. The result of the Pilot Study showed that of the nine retested stimulus-words, four of them still had a score below, being excluded from the study. Therefore, with the application of the Pilot Study, the expanded list of PEEPS-BP resulted in 29 words., Conclusion: The PEEPS-BP - Expanded List showed satisfactory evidence of content validity for the cross-cultural adaptation of the test.

Purpose: To present the sensitivity and specificity and establish cutoff points (receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve) for the PraxiFala Battery., Method: The sample included 308 Brazilian-speaking children aged 3;0-7;11. Twenty-one children had motor speech disorders (MSD), 58 children had phonological disorder (PD), and 229 had typical speech (TS) development. Participants were administered the PraxiFala Battery, which contains verbal (word and sentence production), nonverbal (orofacial praxis), and diadochokinetic tasks. The sensitivity and specificity of items in each task were then calculated using ROC curves., Result: Total scores on the verbal (word production), nonverbal (orofacial praxis), and diadochokinetic tasks had good sensitivity and specificity. The only scores with poor sensitivity and specificity in differentiating between TS, PD, and MSD were consistency and prosody in the verbal tasks (sentence production), and item /ta/ in the diadochokinetic task. Area under the ROC curve (AUC) values were greater than 0.7 for most items in the comparison between TS vs. MSD and PD vs. MSD. AUC values were poor or fair among children with TS and PD, suggesting that this instrument may not be accurate in identifying these groups., Conclusion: The verbal, nonverbal, and diadochokinetic tasks in the PraxiFala Battery had good sensitivity and specificity.

Purpose: To develop and validate an experimental verbal episodic memory task in Spanish., Methods: Six encoding blocks were elaborated, three deep and three superficial, each one with different demands of cognitive effort. The blocks were reviewed by four expert judges and tested in a pilot application. The agreement was assessed on whether the task allowed combined processing level and cognitive effort to be manipulated during incidental encoding of words, as well as clarity of instructions, examples, and workflow., Results: Variables such as lexical availability, metrics, and strength of association were useful to differentiate the cognitive effort between each block. The judges agreed that the processing blocks allowed a combined manipulation of the level of processing and cognitive effort and that the instructions are precise. After the pilot, the participants agreed that the instructions, examples, and way of working were easy to understand and perform., Conclusion: The results provide evidence of validity related to the content for the proposed experimental task, thus becoming a viable alternative to consider in research aimed at identifying environmental factors that contribute to compensating the defects shown by episodic memory with age.

Background: AIMS: To describe typical phonological development of Brazilian Portuguese (BP)-speaking children, considering the following parameters: age of customary production, acquisition and mastery., Methods & Procedures: Data were collected from 857 children aged between 3 years and 8 years 11 months with typical language and speech development. The sample was grouped into 6-month age bands. The data were analysed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Games-Howell post-hoc tests., Outcomes & Results: Stops (/p, b, t, d, k, g/), nasals (/m, n, ɲ/) and some fricatives (/f, v, s, z/) were mastered before the age of 3 years (age of mastery). The age of acquisition for phonemes /ʃ, ʒ/ was 3;6, though both were only mastered at 4;0 years. The liquid /l/ was acquired at 3;0 and mastered at age 3;6, while /x/ was acquired and mastered at age 3;6. The phoneme /ʎ/ was acquired at 7;0 and mastered at age 8;6. The tap /ɾ/ was acquired between the ages of 4;0 and 4;6, and mastered at 4;6. In coda position, /n, l/ were acquired at 3;0, while /s/ was mastered at 4;6 and /ɾ/ between 4;6 and 5;0 years. Clusters involving /ɾ/ were acquired at 6;0, while those with /l/ were acquired between the ages of 6;6 and 7;0., Conclusions & Implications: This study presented acquisition for consonants in BP and can be used as a reference for the assessment of developmental speech disorders. In this study, stops and nasals were acquired first, followed by fricatives and, lastly, liquids. This finding is corroborated by previous studies in BP and other languages., What This Paper Adds: What is already known on the subject What this paper adds to existing knowledge What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?, (© 2021 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.)

Purpose: To present and analyze the acquisition segmental curve of Brazilian Portuguese in simple and complex onset position and coda position., Methods: 857 children with typical phonological acquisition participated in it, aged between 3:0 and 8:11, divided into age groups every 6 months. Participants were assessed using INFONO phonological assessment software. After analyzing the results, acquisition curves were drawn up for the segments analyzed in the different structures (simple and complex onset position and coda position)., Results: It was noted that, in simple onset position, some segments were acquired before 3:0 (stops, nasal and fricative, /f, v, s, z/. The /ʃ/ and /l/ segments were acquired at 3:0, /ʒ/ and /x/ at 3:6, /ʎ/ at 4:0, /r/ at 4:6; in coda position /N/ and /L/ were acquired before of 3:0, /S/ at 3:6 and /r/ at 4:6; in complex onset position, the structures composed by Fricative + /r/ and Stop + /r/ were acquired at 5:0, Stop + /l/ at 5:6 and Fricative + /l/ at 6:0., Conclusion: Analyzing the acquisition curve is essential, as it provides a reference on the age of acquisition of segments in different syllabic structures. The acquisition curve contributes to the early identification of delays in phonological acquisition process enabling a timely referral for speech therapy intervention.

Purpose: To describe the adaptation of verbal tasks (words) in the Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skills - DEMSS (Strand et al., 2013; Strand & McCauley, 2019) for subsequent inclusion in an analogous instrument in Brazilian Portuguese (BP)., Methods: The adaptation process consisted of six steps. Step 1: Three professionals carried out the translation and back-translation of the test's instructions and background content. Step 2: Two speech-language pathologists (SLP) with expertise in speech-language selected new stimuli for the instrument to make it appropriate for BP. Step 3: Seven expert judges determined the adequacy of test stimuli. Step 4: Eight non-expert judges, children with typical speech development, indicated whether the stimulus words were part of their vocabulary. Step 5: the instrument was administered in 20 children with typical speech development (pilot sample). The results of steps 3, 4 and 5 were examined using Content Validity Ratio. Step 6: Administration of the BP version of the DEMSS in one case of Childhood Apraxia Speech (CAS)., Results: 269 words were selected by the expert SLP (Step 2). These words were submitted to evaluation for expert judges (Step 3) and 96 of them were considered adequate. These items were then submitted to the child judges (Step 4) to evaluate their knowledge and use of the words, and in the pilot sample (Step 5) to evaluate the production accuracy of a larger group of children. A total of 44 words were selected after analysis of the results of Steps 4 and 5. In Step 6 the patient completed the final version of the BP version of the DEMSS to determine the feasibility of its use in young children with CAS., Conclusion: The translation, back-translation and evaluations by nativespeaking expert judges during the cross-cultural adaptation process and the application in one children with CAS demonstrate the content validity of the adapted instrument. Then, the BP version of the DEMSS has adequate content validity for the assessment of motor speech skills., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Purpose: this study used the ultrasonography of the tongue movements and the dynamic models of speech production to characterize the articulatory gestures of in the production of /l/ at the Brazilian Portuguese in different age groups, comparing them between typical and atypical children., Methods: the sample consisted of 30 typical and 30 atypical children between ages of four and eight-years-old, who underwent speech-language and ultrasonographic evaluations. The evaluation was realized by recording words reproduction with the sound /l/ and the following vocalic contexts: /a/, /i/ and /u/, repeating six times for each word. The software for recording and analysis was Articulate Assistant Advanced (AAA). The quantitative analysis considered the 42 points that intercepted the tongue curves in each image to describe the articulatory gestures; the estimation of the mean lines of each curve and the confidence intervals between typical and atypical children groups; and the differences between the mean tongue contours curves according to age group., Results: the results presented a tongue tip elevation and dorsal and root retraction in /l/. Typical children, regardless of age, showed a greater refinement of articulatory tongue gestures than the atypical ones. In older children, there was more delimitation in the mean tongue contours from the tongue tip to the root., Conclusion: the ultrasonography of the tongue movements is a substantial implement to characterize the articulatory gestures of /l/, to the differentiation between typical and atypical productions in this sound, and observation of the development of the articulatory gestures.

Purpose: To analyze the recognizability and effectiveness of items in the Phonological Assessment Tool (Instrumento de Avaliação Fonológica - INFONO) at eliciting target words, as well as to evaluate the internal consistency of the instrument and compare performance between genders, school types and typical vs. atypical phonological development., Method: Participants were 48 children (n=26 with typical phonological development and n=22 with atypical development) categorized by age (6 age groups ranging from 3 years and 8 years 11 months), type of school (public vs. private) and gender (male vs. female). Data were collected by the spontaneous naming task of the INFONO. Recognition rates, scores, recognition difficulties and internal consistency were examined in 116 items. Performance in a final set of 84 items was also compared between genders, school types and typical/atypical phonological development., Results: Most target words achieved high recognition rates were considered suitable for use in the INFONO. Some images had to be redesigned to facilitate the spontaneous production of target words, while other items were excluded from the instrument altogether. The instrument demonstrated excellent internal consistency. There were no statistically significant differences between genders and school types, though differences were observed between typically and atypically developing children., Conclusion: The images in the INFONO were successfully recognized by participants and were effective at eliciting the target words. The final set of items contained the minimum number of target words which would allow for an assessment of all phonemes in Brazilian Portuguese in different word and syllable positions, and these items presented excellent internal consistency.

Purpose: To analyze the influence of gender, age, and types of school (public or private) on phoneme production, and provide normative data on phonological acquisition in Brazilian Portuguese (BP)., Patients and Methods: The sample consisted of 733 children (ages 3 years to 8 years and 11 months), all monolingual speakers of BP with typical phonological development. Participants were evaluated using the spontaneous naming task from the Phonological Assessment Tool (Instrumento de Avaliação Fonológica - INFONO). The children's speech production was audio-recorded, transcribed, and submitted to phonological analysis., Results: The effect of age was significant for all phonemes and syllable structures, especially when analyzed in combination with types of school and gender. Overall, phoneme production accuracy increased with age and varied depending on the types of school attended by the children, but did not differ between genders., Conclusion: Age had a greater impact on phoneme production. The normative data on phonological acquisition highlighted the differences between the ages of mastery for different phonemes, with elements such as the /r/ sound and complex onsets being acquired much later in development than some of the other phonemes analyzed., (© 2019 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Introduction: When identifying the auditory performance of children with phonological disorders, researchers assume that this population has normal peripheral hearing. However, responses at more central levels might be atypical., Objective: To investigate the effect of phonological disorders on Frequency-Following Responses (FFRs) in the time domain., Methods: Participants were 60 subjects, aged 5 to 8:11 years, divided into two groups: a control group, composed of 30 subjects with normal language skills; and a study group composed of 30 subjects diagnosed with Phonological Disorder (PD). All subjects were tested for Frequency-Following Responses., Results: In the group of children with PD there was an increase in the latency of all FFR components, with a significant statistical difference for components V (p = 0.015); A (<0.001); C (0.022); F (<0.001); and O (0.001). There was also a reduction in the Slope measure in the group with PD (p = 0.004)., Conclusion: The FFR responses are altered in children with PD. This suggests that children with PD present a disorganization in the neural coding of complex sounds. This could compromise specially the development of linguistic/phonological abilities, which can reflect in daily communication., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To verify and correlate the spelling errors present in the written productions to the performance in phonological awareness skills of children in different school years, with typical and atypical phonological development., Methods: The sample consisted of 50 children divided into two groups: with typical phonological development (TPD) and with atypical phonological development (APD); students from the early years (1st to 5th grades) of schooling and ages between 6:0 and 10:0 years old. The children were submitted to speech-language and audiological evaluations. Data were tabulated and statistical analyzes were performed using the Spearman Correlation Coefficient., Results: In relation to the number of spelling errors in writing, these were similar in the TPD and APD groups, except for the contextual-arbitrary errors that were greater for the APD. Still, it was observed that the number of written spelling errors decreased with the increase in schooling. Concerning the average performance in phonological awareness, the TPD performed better than the APD in syllabic and phonemic awareness. The children of 4th and 5th grades presented better performance in phonological awareness than those in grades 1st to 3rd., Conclusion: The correlation was inversely proportional between the phonological awareness performance and the number of spelling errors (those that alter the syllabic structure) for both groups, demonstrating that the more errors of this type, the lower the performance in syllabic, phonemic and total phonological awareness.

Purpose: Create a pseudowords list based on favorable environments and submit this to the judgment of expert judges, to obtain a validated list of pseudowords that can be used in therapy., Methods: A study that analyzed the favorable environments of all phonemes of Brazilian Portuguese was sought and, from their data, a pseudoword list for each phoneme, at different levels of favoring, was created. The judging sample of the list was composed of ten judges who reviewed thepseudowords. This analysis was performed in two distinct stages. In the first stage, five judges analyzed the bestpseudowords. In the second stage, the other five judges judged whether pseudowords were essential for therapy. The concordance analysis among the judges was performed through the Content Validity Ratio., Results: The judges of the first stage reviewed and considerably reduced the number ofpseudowords, from 4000 in total to 1547. And, with the statistical analysis used on the data obtained with the judges of the second stage, the pseudoword list with content validity was reduced to few options. The judges pointed to the simplicity in the structure of pseudowords as a selection criterion., Conclusion: The expert judges' judgment resulted in a small number of pseudowords that have content validity and can be used in phonological therapy.

Purpose: To present evidence of the validity and reliability of a phonological assessment tool developed to assess the phonological inventory of Brazilian Portuguese., Methods: The study included 866 children aged between 3 and 8:11 years, divided into three groups: typical, control and clinical. Participants were evaluated using a phonological assessment software, which prompted the spontaneous naming of a series of images. The children's responses were audio recorded and transcribed at the time of the assessment, by the software itself. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to evaluate the internal consistency of the instrument for reliability and validity purposes. Criterion validity was examined by comparing the performance of different groups using Student's t-test for independent samples. Intra- and inter-rater agreement were investigated using Kendall's tau. Results were considered significant at p ≤ 0.05., Results: The present study provided evidence of validity and reliability (internal consistency) for this phonological assessment tool, confirming the reliability of its items and demonstrating excellent agreement rates between examiners regarding its scoring (intra- and inter-rater reliability). The criterion validity assessment demonstrated that the control group outperformed the clinical group across all phonemes, showing that test scores were successful in identifying children with speech sound disorders (phonological disorders)., Conclusion: The present findings provide strong evidence of the validity and reliability of this phonological assessment tool.

Purpose: Analyze and compare the mean tongue contours and articulatory gestures in the production of the sound [j] in adults and children with typical and atypical speech development. The children with atypical development presented speech sound disorders., Methods: The diagnosis was determined by speech assessments. The study sample was composed of 90 individuals divided into three groups: 30 adults with typical speech development aged 19-44 years (AT), 30 children with typical speech development (CT), and 30 children with speech sound disorders, named as atypical in this study, aged four years to eight years and eleven months (CA). Ultrasonography assessment of tongue movements was performed for all groups. Mean tongue contours were compared between three groups in different vocalic contexts following the sound [j]. The maximum elevation of the tongue tip was considered for delimitation of gestures using the Articulate Assistant Advanced (AAA) software and images in sagittal plane/Mode B. The points that intercepted the language curves were analyzed by the statistical tool R. The graphs of tongue contours were obtained adopting a 95% confidence interval. After that, the regions with significant statistical differences (p<0.05) between the CT and CA groups were obtained., Results: The mean tongue contours demonstrated the gesture for the sound [j] in the comparison between typical and atypical children. For the semivowel [j], there is an articulatory gesture of tongue and dorsum towards the center of ​​the hard palate, with significant differences observed between the children., Conclusion: The results showed differences between the groups of children regarding the ability to refine articulatory gestures.

Purpose: To determine the occurrence of phonological disorders by age, gender and school type, and analyze the phonological processes observed in typical and atypical phonological development across different age groups., Methods: The sample consisted of 866 children aged between 3:0 and 8:11 years, recruited from public and private schools in the city of Santa Maria/RS. A phonological evaluation was performed to analyze the operative phonological processes., Results: 15.26% (n = 132) of the sample presented atypical phonological acquisition (phonological disorders). Phonological impairments were more frequent in public school students across all age groups. Phonological alterations were most frequent between ages 4 -to 6, and more prevalent in males than females in all but the youngest age group. The most common phonological processes in typical phonological acquisition were: cluster reduction; nonlateral liquid deletion in coda; nonlateral liquid substitution in onset; semivocalization of lateral liquids in coda; and unstressed syllable deletion. In children with phonological disorders, the most common phonological processes were: lateral and nonlateral liquid substitution in onset position; nonlateral liquid deletion; fronting of fricatives in onset position; unstressed syllable deletion; semivocalization of nonlateral liquid in coda; and nonlateral liquid deletion in coda position., Conclusion: Phonological processes were highly prevalent in the present sample, and occurred more often in boys than in girls. Information regarding the type and frequency of phonological processes in both typical phonological acquisition and phonological disorders may contribute to early diagnosis and increase the efficiency of treatment planning.

Purpose: We sought to provide valid and reliable data on the acquisition of consonant sounds in speakers of Brazilian Portuguese., Method: The sample comprised 733 typically developing monolingual speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (ages 3;0-8;11 [years;months]). The presence of surface speech error patterns, the revised percentage consonants correct, and the age of sound acquisition were evaluated using phonological assessment software. The normative values for these variables were reported using means and standard deviations., Results: Age had a significant impact on phoneme production. Increasing age was generally associated with an increase in correct phoneme production, a reduction in error patterns, and an increase in scores on revised percentage consonants correct. Phonological error patterns persisted for a longer time in consonants and consonant clusters acquired later in development. The 2 youngest age groups differed from the remainder of the sample on the frequency of the following phonological patterns: cluster reduction, liquid gliding, fricative deletion-coda, and weak-syllable deletion. Performance was similar between groups starting at 5;0 years old., Conclusion: This study confirmed that nasal and stop consonants are acquired first, followed by fricatives and, finally, liquids. We suggest that future studies replicate our investigation in larger samples and younger age groups.

Purpose: To analyze the use of electropalatography and ultrasonography regarding speech therapy through literature narrative review., Research Strategies: A literature review was conducted at PubMed and Scielo databases, using descriptors as electropalatography, electropalatography AND evaluation, electropalatography AND therapy, electropalatography AND ultrasonography, electropalatography AND speech., Selection Criteria: The research criteria selected in the database were: studies in the past five years and studies in humans. In the pre-selection, studies that were duplicate, not fully available, and have shown no direct relation with electropalatography in speech-language therapy were discarded., Data Analysis: Data analysis was performed descriptively, following subdivisions: title, area, year, subject, implementation, and conclusion of the study., Results: Twenty one papers were selected, eight of them using the term electropalatography, two with the keywords electropalatography AND evaluation, six with the keywords electropalatography AND therapy, three of them with the keywords electropalatography AND ultrasonography, and two papers with the keywords electropalatography AND speech., Conclusion: Different types of research involving the use of electropalatography in the field of speech-language therapy were found and analyzed. Few researches have concomitantly used electropalatography and ultrasonography.

Purpose: To correlate the peripheral oxygen saturation with gestational age and the level of oral feeding skills in the introduction of oral feeding in preterm infants., Methods: This is a cross-sectional, quantitative study whose sample was composed of 169 clinically stable preterm infants. Peripheral oxygen saturation was assessed before and after introduction of oral feeding. The preterm infants were stratified into three groups based on their gestational age at birth: 26-29, 30-33, and 34-36 weeks. The preterm infants were classified into four levels according to their oral feeding skill and resistance., Results: No differences in oxygen saturation were observed between the strata of gestational age and between the levels of oral feeding skill. Differences were observed in the groups of preterm infants aged 30-33 weeks (p=0.04) and 34-36 weeks (p=0.02) and on the level I of oral feeding skills (p=0.04) when oxygen saturation was compared at pre- and post-first oral feeding. Significant correlations (p<0.001) were found between gestational age and the levels of oral feeding skills (r=0.38); in Group A, between gestational age and oxygen saturation before the first oral feeding (r=0.83); in Group B, between the level of oral feeding skill and oxygen saturation before the first oral feeding (r=0.26) and between level of oral feeding skill and gestational age (r=0.26)., Conclusion: Correlation was found for peripheral oxygen saturation when compared with gestational age and with the level of oral feeding skills.

Purpose: To correlate cardiorespiratory parameters with gestational age and level of oral feeding skills in the first oral feeding in preterm infants., Methods: Study participants were 37 clinically stable preterm infants. Cardiorespiratory rate was assessed before and after introduction of oral feeding. The newborns were divided into three strata according to gestational age at birth. Oral skill was classified into four levels: I - low oral skill and low resistance to feeding; II - low oral skill and high resistance to feeding; III - high oral skill and low resistance to feeding; IV - high oral skill and high resistance to feeding., Results: No difference was observed in heart and respiratory rate between the strata of gestational age at birth and between the levels of oral skill. Comparison between pre- and post-cardiorespiratory rates within each level of oral skill and stratum of gestational age showed difference between heart rate in the strata of gestational ages of 30 to 33 weeks and of 34 to 36 weeks, as well as between oral skill of levels I, II, and IV. With regard to the comparison between pre- and post- respiratory rates, difference was found in the oral skill of level I., Conclusion: Differences were observed between pre- and post-prandial cardiorespiratory rates regarding the first oral feeding, as well as between strata of gestational age at birth and levels of oral feeding skills.

Introduction Phonological development occurs in a gradual manner until the age of 7 years. The phonological system is constructed in a similar way for all children, despite presenting some variations in terms of age, paths taken, or repair strategies used. Objective To compare the orofacial praxis abilities of children with typical phonological development (DFT), children with phonetic-phonological impairment (DFoFe), and children with phonological impairment (DF), using two tests to assess the orofacial praxis abilities. Methods The sample consisted of 82 subjects between 4 and 8 years of age who attended public schools (from preschool to the second year of secondary school) in the city of Santa Maria, Brazil. Of these, 29 were diagnosed with DFT, 29 with DF, and 24 with DFoFe; much of this sample was male. Two tests of praxis abilities and assessment of the stomatognathic system were administered. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test, with a significance level of 5%. Results Generally children with DFoFe underperformed in tests of praxis when compared with subjects with DF and DFT. Conclusion The results showed that children with DFoFe have more difficulty in orofacial praxis abilities than subjects in the other groups studied. This result could be expected, because subjects with DFoFe show changes in both phonetic and phonological levels of speech.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of oral motor skills of premature infants on their oral feeding performance and growth, during neonatal hospitalization., Methods: Fifty-one newborns hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in Southern Brazil, between July 2012 and March 2013, were evaluated. The evaluation of oral feeding skills, according to Lau and Smith, was applied after prescription for starting oral feeding. The oral feeding performance was analyzed using the following variables: days taken to start independent oral feeding and hospital discharge. Growth was measured by weight, length, and head circumference, using the curves of Fenton, at birth, first and independent oral feeding, and hospital discharge., Results: At birth, 71% preterm infants were proper for gestational age, most of them were males (53%), with average of 33.6 (±1.5) weeks of gestational age. The gestational age in the assessment did not influence the oral feeding performance of the premature infant and did not differ between levels. Time of transition from tube feeding to oral feeding and hospital stay was shorter when the oral skills were higher. At birth, there was a tendency of low weight and low oral feeding performance. Level IV premature infants in the release of oral feeding presented higher weights., Conclusion: The level of oral skills of the premature infant interfered positively on time of feeding transition from tube to independent oral feeding and hospital stay. Growth, represented by weight gain, was not affected by the level of oral skill.

Purpose: To present recent studies that used the ultrasound in the fields of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology, which evidence possibilities of the applicability of this technique in different subareas., Research Strategy: A bibliographic research was carried out in the PubMed database, using the keywords "ultrasonic," "speech," "phonetics," "Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences," "voice," "deglutition," and "myofunctional therapy," comprising some areas of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology Sciences. The keywords "ultrasound," "ultrasonography," "swallow," "orofacial myofunctional therapy," and "orofacial myology" were also used in the search., Selection Criteria: Studies in humans from the past 5 years were selected. In the preselection, duplicated studies, articles not fully available, and those that did not present direct relation between ultrasound and Speech Language Pathology and Audiology Sciences were discarded., Data Analysis: The data were analyzed descriptively and classified subareas of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology Sciences. The following items were considered: purposes, participants, procedures, and results., Results: We selected 12 articles for ultrasound versus speech/phonetics subarea, 5 for ultrasound versus voice, 1 for ultrasound versus muscles of mastication, and 10 for ultrasound versus swallow. Studies relating "ultrasound" and "Speech Language Pathology and Audiology Sciences" in the past 5 years were not found., Conclusion: Different studies on the use of ultrasound in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology Sciences were found. Each of them, according to its purpose, confirms new possibilities of the use of this instrument in the several subareas, aiming at a more accurate diagnosis and new evaluative and therapeutic possibilities.

Introduction Speech articulation disorders affect the intelligibility of speech. Studies on therapeutic models show the effectiveness of the communication treatment. Objective To analyze the progress achieved by treatment with the ABAB-Withdrawal and Multiple Probes Model in children with different degrees of phonological disorders. Methods The diagnosis of speech articulation disorder was determined by speech and hearing evaluation and complementary tests. The subjects of this research were eight children, with the average age of 5:5. The children were distributed into four groups according to the degrees of the phonological disorders, based on the percentage of correct consonants, as follows: severe, moderate to severe, mild to moderate, and mild. The phonological treatment applied was the ABAB-Withdrawal and Multiple Probes Model. The development of the therapy by generalization was observed through the comparison between the two analyses: contrastive and distinctive features at the moment of evaluation and reevaluation. Results The following types of generalization were found: to the items not used in the treatment (other words), to another position in the word, within a sound class, to other classes of sounds, and to another syllable structure. Conclusion The different types of generalization studied showed the expansion of production and proper use of therapy-trained targets in other contexts or untrained environments. Therefore, the analysis of the generalizations proved to be an important criterion to measure the therapeutic efficacy.

Introduction:  Treatment of phonological disorders considering extra-linguistic and linguistic variables are important to ensure that the alteration is resolved promptly and in the best manner as possible., Aim:  To analyze therapeutic advances (phonetic inventory, phonological system, and distinctive features) in children with phonological disorders by considering the therapeutic approach used, the severity of the phonological disorder, age, and the number of therapeutic sessions., Methods:  We conducted a case series study of 94 children aged 3 years, 9 months through 8 years, 5 months. The children were divided into groups based on the therapeutic approach used (Modified Cycles, Maximal Oppositions, ABAB-Withdrawal, and Multiple Probes), the severity of their phonological disorder, age, and the number of therapy sessions with each individual. Phonetic inventory, the phonological system, and the number of altered distinctive features were analyzed., Results:  The greater the number of therapy sessions, the greater the number of sounds acquired. The number of sounds present in the phonetic inventory and phonological system increased and the severity of the phonological disorder decreased with all of the therapeutic approaches studied. There was also a reduction in the incidence of altered distinctive features., Conclusion:  There was a favorable evolution in phonetic inventory and phonological system acquisitions as well as a reduction in the number of altered distinctive features for all 3 therapeutic models regardless of the severity of the phonological disorder, age, or number of sessions.

The Multiple Oppositions Approach is described as an alternative model for the treatment of children with the severe phonological disorders. The aim of this study was to analyze the therapeutic progress of five children with phonological disorder, submitted to the Multiple Oppositions Approach, regarding the phonetic (sounds) and phonological (phonemes and altered distinctive features) inventories. Participants were five children with phonological disorder, with mean age of 6 years and 1 month. Speech data were collected through phonological assessment, and the Multiple Oppositions Approach was used during 25 sessions of intervention. Changes in the phonetic and phonological inventories (number of phonemes and altered distinctive features) of the subjects were analyzed. It was verified an increase in the number of sounds in the phonetic inventory and phonemes in the phonological inventory, as well as a decrease in the number of altered distinctive features. The Multiple Oppositions Approach allows adequate progress in the treatment of subjects with phonological disorders, providing an expansion in the phonetic (acquisition of sounds) and phonological (acquisition of phonemes and decrease in the number of altered distinctive features) inventories.

This study aimed to compare the phonological changes due to the application of a speech therapy approach based on distinctive features, using two types of target sounds (the ones which emphasize the contrast, and others which reinforce the distinctive features) in the treatment of phonological disorder. The sample was constituted by seven children with phonological disorder (four boys and three girls), with ages between 3 years and 10 months and 6 years and 9 months. The children were classified according to the severity of the phonological disorder and then underwent treatment based on the Modified Maximal Oppositions Model. Two subjects were grouped for each degree; one subject was treated by "contrast" and the other one by "reinforcement" of the distinctive features in which they showed difficulties. The moderate-severe degree was the only one to include only one subject. After 20 therapy sessions, the phonological changes before and after the treatment were analyzed, considering the type of stimulus presented ("contrast" or "reinforcement"). All subjects, either treated by "contrast" or "reinforcement", showed an increase in their Percentage of Consonants Correct (PCC), in the number of acquired sounds and of generalizations in their phonological inventories. It was verified that both groups presented changes in their phonological inventories. On the comparative analysis between the groups, it was observed that both groups, treated by "contrast" and by "reinforcement", demonstrated differences regarding the types of generalizations studied.

Purpose: To determine the most frequent errors of children with phonological disorders in an auditory discrimination test, and to correlate their performance with age, gender and severity of phonological disorder., Methods: The sample consisted of 82 children with phonological disorders, of both gender, with ages between 4 years and 7 years and 11 months. All subjects were submitted to the Phonological Assessment of Child (Avaliação Fonológica da Criança) in order to establish the severity of phonological disorder, and to the auditory discrimination test. Data were statistically analyzed., Results: It was found that 38% of the subjects had poor results on the test, and the most frequent errors were: posteriorization, devoicing of stops, and semivocalization of liquid consonants. Moreover, it was observed that auditory discrimination difficulties were less frequent in older subjects, and more severe according to the severity of the phonological disorder., Conclusion: Great part of the children with phonological disorders has difficulties in auditory discrimination. However, these difficulties were less frequent in older subjects and more severe according to the severity of the disorder. Male subjects seem to have more difficulty in discriminating speech sounds.

This study had the aim to analyze both the phonological changes and the generalization obtained in the treatment with rothics in two models of phonological treatment. The sample consisted of four subjects diagnosed with phonological disorder, with ages between four and six years. All of them were assessed before and after the phonological therapy. Two groups were established for the treatment with rothics. One group was treated with ABAB - Withdrawal and Multiple Probes Model, and the other group with the Maximal Opposition Model. The phonological system and the occurrence of generalizations before and after the treatment were analyzed. It was found that none of the subjects acquired the rothics that were practiced in the treatment, however, the occurrence of generalization to untreated items was observed only in the subjects treated by the ABAB - Withdrawal and Multiple Probes model. The other types of generalization occurred in both models. The Maximal Opposition Model provided greatest changes in the phonological system of the subjects, which can have been favored by the other target-sound of the pair.

Unlabelled: Phonological speech disorders are characterized by abnormal development towards the adult target pattern; its etiology is unknown. It is thought the this condition results from auditory processing disorders involving the abilities required for human beings to understand what is heard., Aim: To investigate the relationship between auditory processing and the acquisition of disordered or normal speech, drawing comparisons between these profiles., Material and Method: A prospective, contemporary, cross-sectional study comprising a sample of 44 subjects aged 5 to 7 years; two groups were formed: a study group (SG) comprising children with disordered speech acquisition, and a control group (CG) consisting of children with normal speech acquisition. A simplified evaluation of auditory processing was undertaken: the PSI test in Portuguese; the speech-in-noise test; the binaural fusion test; the dichotic digit test; and the staggered spondaic word test (SSW)., Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups; the SG scored worse than the CG in all the tests. The PSI test only - with a 100% success rate - scored equally in both groups., Conclusion: Auditory processing may affect speech development.

Background: Auditory processing (AP) and phonological awareness (PA) in children with and without phonological disorders., Aim: To compare the performance of children with and without phonological disorders in a PA test; to verify the possible relationship between performances in distinct tasks of this test with the performance in the AP evaluation., Method: Participants were 44 children with and without the diagnosis of phonological disorder, aged between 5:0 and 7:0 years, of both genders. After speech samples were gathered, subjects were divided into two groups: a study group (SG), composed by children with phonological disorders, and a control group (CG) with children without phonological disorders. PA was assessed through the Protocol Task Awareness Test (PTAT), and through the simplified AP evaluation (screening)--Disyllabic change--Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW), dichotic listening test and the binaural fusion test., Results: In both PA and AP assessments, children of the CG obtained better results. When correlating the results of AP and PA, a greater number of correlations were observed for the SG., Conclusion: A significant relationship between the performance in the AP evaluation and success in PA tasks exists for children with phonological disorders.

Background: There are many options of phonological disorder treatments that aim at improving children's communication., Aim: To analyze the Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised, the number of acquired phonemes in the phonological system and the types of generalizations obtained in treatment, comparing different therapy models in subjects with different severity levels of phonological disorder., Method: Participants were 21 children, mean age 5:7 years. All subjects underwent speech, language and hearing evaluations and additional exams. Children were then divided into groups according to therapy model and severity level of phonological disorder. The Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised, the number of acquired phonemes and the types of generalizations were analyzed and compared within and between each therapeutic model, considering pre and post therapy evaluations., Results: It was possible to observe improvement in the three analyzed therapy models. When comparing the therapy models, the greater improvement in percentage terms was observed for the ABAB-Withdrawal and Multiple Probes Model and the Maximal Oppositions Model, even though the statistical analysis indicated no significant difference., Conclusion: The three therapy models were effective for the treatment of children with phonological disorder because they all of them provided an increase in the Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised, in the number of acquired phonemes and in the types of analyzed generalizations.

Background: hearing discrimination abilities in children with phonological disorders., Aim: to investigate the ability of hearing discrimination in children with Phonological Disorders who received or were receiving phonological treatment; to verify if the altered phonemes were the same as those which were not discriminated in the Picture Test for Hearing Discrimination (adapted for Portuguese language by Mota et al 2000, based on "The Boston University Speech Sound Discrimination Picture Test") and to verify if the ability of hearing discrimination is related to gender, age and the phonological disorder severity level., Method: 41 children, 16 females and 25 males, with ages ranging between 4 and 8.2 years were evaluated. Data used for analyses were taken from the results obtained in the Picture Test for Hearing Discrimination and from the Phonological Assessment., Results: no statistically significant difference between genders Statistical analyses also indicated that the performance in the Picture Test for Hearing Discrimination was correlated to age. The more severe the phonological disorder the higher the number of phonemes that were not discriminated., Conclusions: hearing discrimination inability can be a causative or aggravating factor of phonological disorder, although this rule does not apply to all cases.

Background: relapse in phonological performance., Aim: to verify relapse in the phonological performance related to sound production in the treatment of phonological disorder., Method: three subjects with phonological disorders, aged 6:0, 7:0, 7:0 years, were treated for phoneme /r/ using the ABAB-Withdrawal and Multiple Probes Model. After a cycle of treatment, the phonemes that presented relapse in terms of production percentage were compared., Results: the results indicate that relapse occurred in the phonological system of all subjects. The involved features were mainly related to the main category., Conclusion: a relationship between the features of the treated phoneme and the ones that presented relapse was observed for all of the studied cases.

Background: expressive vocabulary and auditory processing in children with phonological disorder., Aim: to compare the performance of children with phonological disorder in a vocabulary test with the parameters indicated by the same test and to verify a possible relationship between this performance and auditory processing deficits., Method: participants were 12 children diagnosed with phonological disorders, with ages ranging from 5 to 7 years, of both genders. Vocabulary was assessed using the ABFW language test and the simplified auditory processing evaluation (sorting), Alternate Dichotic Dissyllable - Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW), Pitch Pattern Sequence (PPS) and the Binaural Fusion Test (BF)., Results: considering performance in the vocabulary test, all children obtained results with no significant statistical. As for the auditory processing assessment, all children presented better results than expected; the only exception was on the sorting process testing, where the mean accuracy score was of 8.25. Regarding the performance in the other auditory processing tests, the mean accuracy averages were 6.50 in the SSW, 10.74 in the PPS and 7.10 in the BF. When correlating the performance obtained in both assessments, considering p>0.05, the results indicated that, despite the normality, the lower the value obtained in the auditory processing assessment, the lower the accuracy presented in the vocabulary test. A trend was observed for the semantic fields of "means of transportation and professions". Considering the classification categories of the vocabulary test, the SP (substitution processes) were the categories that presented the higher significant increase in all semantic fields., Conclusion: there is a correlation between the auditory processing and the lexicon, where vocabulary can be influenced in children with deviant speech acquisition.

Background: Phonological therapy in subjects with phonological disorders., Aim: To compare the efficacy of three contrastive approach models in three different severities of phonological disorder., Method: Participants of the study were nine subjects with phonological disorders, with ages ranging between 4:2 and 6:6 years. All subjects were evaluated prior to and after phonological therapy. Three groups, with three subjects each, were determined for treatment. Each group presented one individual with severe, one with moderate-severe and one with mild-moderate phonological disorder. Each group was treated using a different therapy model--Minimal Opposition, Maximal Oppositions/Empty Set and Multiple Opposition. Results were analyzed according to the Friedman Test, considering p < 0.05; a descriptive analysis was also performed among the models., Results: There was no statistical difference among the models considering the severity of phonological disorder. The Minimal and Maximal Oppositions/Empty Set approaches favored a greater number of sound acquisitions in the phonetic inventory of subjects with severe and moderate-severe disorder. On the other hand, the Multiple Oppositions approach favored a better performance of sound acquisition in the phonological system and a decrease in the impaired distinctive features in severe and moderate-severe disorder., Conclusion: The models of therapy were effective in the treatment of different severities of phonological disorders observing the best performance in children with severe and moderate-severe disorder.

Background: intelligibility of phonological disorder., Aim: to compare the intelligibility of phonological disorder analyzed by three distinct groups of judges., Method: the research consisted of two samples: one sample was composed by 30 individuals with phonological disorder (assessed individuals) and the other sample was composed by the judges (speech-language therapists, laypeople and mothers). The spontaneous speech of children (i.e. three narratives of logical sequences) was analyzed by the different judges according to instructions given for intelligibility identification. For the data analysis, the mode of 90 sets of narratives was performed. The Kappa Concordance Analysis was then used to investigate statistical significance., Results: the statistical analysis indicates greater concordance between the judges for the end assessment possibilities (good and insufficient). Concordance among all judges was substantial in the identification of good intelligibility. Judgment of regular intelligibility was the most difficult., Conclusion: it was observed that the more unintelligible the speech, the more severe its classification by the groups of judges.

Background: phonological therapy., Aim: to evaluate the effectiveness of three different therapy models regarding changes in the phonological system of subjects with different phonological disorder (PD) severity levels., Method: the research group was composed by 66 subjects, 43 males and 23 females, with ages between 4:4 and 8:2 years, who were part of a school clinic database. All subjects were evaluated, before and after a period of 15 to 25 sessions of phonological therapy, using the Child's Phonological Assessment. Based on this assessment, the severity level of the PD was determined using the Percentage Consonants Correct - PCC, and by calculating the number of Non-Acquired Segments -NAS and the percentage of Acquired Segments (AS) after treatment. The subjects were treated using the following approaches: ABAB-Withdrawal and Multiple Probes, Modified Maximum Opposition and Modified Cycles Models. For the statistical analysis the T-Test was used with a significance level of 5%., Results: the statistical analysis indicated an increase in the PCC and in the percentage of AS, as well as a reduction in the number of NAS for all groups. These results were statistically significant for the majority of the groups., Conclusion: the results indicate that the three therapy approaches were effective in the treatment of children with PD, and were effective in treating different severity levels. Besides that, most of the changes occurred in the phonological system of the groups with more severe PD.

Background: Working memory, phonological awareness and spelling hypothesis., Aim: To verify the relationship between working memory, phonological awareness and spelling hypothesis in pre-school children and first graders., Method: Participants of this study were 90 students, belonging to state schools, who presented typical linguistic development. Forty students were preschoolers, with the average age of six and 50 students were first graders, with the average age of seven. Participants were submitted to an evaluation of the working memory abilities based on the Working Memory Model (Baddeley, 2000), involving phonological loop. Phonological loop was evaluated using the Auditory Sequential Test, subtest 5 of Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA), Brazilian version (Bogossian & Santos, 1977), and the Meaningless Words Memory Test (Kessler, 1997). Phonological awareness abilities were investigated using the Phonological Awareness: Instrument of Sequential Assessment (CONFIAS - Moojen et al., 2003), involving syllabic and phonemic awareness tasks. Writing was characterized according to Ferreiro & Teberosky (1999)., Results: Preschoolers presented the ability of repeating sequences of 4.80 digits and 4.30 syllables. Regarding phonological awareness, the performance in the syllabic level was of 19.68 and in the phonemic level was of 8.58. Most of the preschoolers demonstrated to have a pre-syllabic writing hypothesis. First graders repeated, in average, sequences of 5.06 digits and 4.56 syllables. These children presented a phonological awareness of 31.12 in the syllabic level and of 16.18 in the phonemic level, and demonstrated to have an alphabetic writing hypothesis., Conclusion: The performance of working memory, phonological awareness and spelling level are inter-related, as well as being related to chronological age, development and scholarity.

Background: phonological therapy in children with phonological disorders., Aim: to verify changes in the phonological system of children with phonological disorders, based on the comparison of number of acquired phonemes, number of sounds in the phonetic inventory and altered distinctive features, before and after therapy, and to verify differences between therapy models: Modified Cycles, Maximal Oppositions and ABAB--Withdrawal and Multiple Probes., Method: the research group was composed of 21 subjects, 15 male and 6 female, with phonological disorders, who had already completed speech-language treatment. The initial and final phonological assessments were compared taking into consideration the number of phonemes in the phonological systems, the number of sounds in the phonetic inventory and the altered distinctive features. Phonological changes that resulted from the application of the three therapeutic models were also compared., Results: statistically significant differences were observed between the initial and final assessments in all of the three therapeutic models considering the number of acquired phonemes and the altered distinctive features, whereas in the phonetic inventory a statistically significant difference was observed only between the ABAB--Withdrawal and Multiple Probes and the Maximal Oppositions model. No statistical difference was observed between the therapy models., Conclusion: the three therapy models were effective in the treatment of children with phonological disorders, once all of the children presented improvement of their phonological system, phonetic inventory and altered distinctive features. No significant statistical difference was found between the models

Background: Phonological awareness and literacy., Aim: to verify the influence of phonological awareness therapy in the literacy process., Method: 46 children were submitted to an assessment involving the reading and writing of words and non-words and of phonological awareness. The experimental group was submitted to therapy., Results: Therapy had a positive influence in the performance of the children in the experimental group (76.47%) regarding tasks of phonological awareness and regarding their performance in reading and writing; only literate children were able to perform tasks involving phonemic awareness., Conclusion: Phonological awareness therapy facilitates the acquisition of the alphabetic code.

Background: Generalization based on implicational relations., Aim: To analyze generalization based on implicational relations in subjects with mild-moderate phonological disorder, who underwent therapy based on the Maximal Oppositions Model., Method: The initial phonological system of four subjects was analyzed, taking in consideration sounds that were not completely acquired and their changes in probes. A final phonological assessment was made., Results: All subjects presented generalizations based on implicational relations and expanded their phonological systems., Conclusion: The Maximal Oppositions Model favored generalizations based on implicational relations.