Thesis defense Leenke van Haaften (Donders series 456)
17 December 2020
Promotor: prof. dr. B. Maassen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)
Co-promotors: dr. L. van den Engel-Hoek, dr. B. de Swart
Profiling typical and disordered speech production in children using the Computer Articulation Instrument (CAI)
A major task for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) is to differentiate children with a typical, delayed or disordered speech development. To be able to correctly diagnose children with speech sound disorders, it is important to have reliable and valid assessment tools with representative normative data. Currently available tests don’t provide this information. Based on these premises, the Computer Articulation Instrument (CAI) was developed. Psychometric evaluation revealed that the CAI is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of speech development in Dutch children aged between 2;0 and 7;0 years. The assessment procedure of the CAI provides SLPs the opportunity to describe different aspects of speech production and a complete speech profile can be obtained. The CAI can be used to identify and classify speech sounds disorders. The results of a series of large normalization and clinical studies provide the background for interpreting clinical test results of children with diverse developmental disorders.