ERIC Number: EJ776263
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Oct
Pages: 15
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0161-1461
EISSN: N/A
Teachers' Perceptions of Students with Speech Sound Disorders: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
Overby, Megan; Carrell, Thomas; Bernthal, John
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, v38 n4 p327-341 Oct 2007
Purpose: This study examined 2nd-grade teachers' perceptions of the academic, social, and behavioral competence of students with speech sound disorders (SSDs). Method: Forty-eight 2nd-grade teachers listened to 2 groups of sentences differing by intelligibility and pitch but spoken by a single 2nd grader. For each sentence group, teachers rated the speaker's academic, social, and behavioral competence using an adapted version of the Teacher Rating Scale of the Self-Perception Profile for Children (S. Harter, 1985) and completed 3 open-ended questions. The matched-guise design controlled for confounding speaker and stimuli variables that were inherent in prior studies. Results: Statistically significant differences in teachers' expectations of children's academic, social, and behavioral performances were found between moderately intelligible and normal intelligibility speech. Teachers associated moderately intelligible low-pitched speech with more behavior problems than moderately intelligible high-pitched speech or either pitch with normal intelligibility. One third of the teachers reported that they could not accurately predict a child's school performance based on the child's speech skills, one third of the teachers causally related school difficulty to SSD, and one third of the teachers made no comment. Conclusion: Intelligibility and speaker pitch appear to be speech variables that influence teachers' perceptions of children's school performance. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Student Attitudes, Behavior Problems, Evaluation Methods, Speech Skills, Sentences, Rating Scales, Academic Achievement, Grade 2, Qualitative Research, Speech Impairments, Interpersonal Competence, Teacher Attitudes, Speech Communication, Statistical Significance, Intonation, Student Evaluation
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Tel: 800-638-8255; Fax: 301-571-0457; e-mail: subscribe@asha.org; Web site: http://lshss.asha.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 2
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A