A Qualitative Analysis of Parent Observations of Children Diagnosed with a Developmental Speech Delay

The present study used qualitative (phenomenological) research methodology to obtain and analyze the "personal stories" of mothers of children with had received a diagnosis of either developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) or developmental phonological disorder (DPD). Using a semi-structured interview, six mothers of children with DAS and five mothers of children with DPD were asked to reflect on specific aspects of the development of their child over time, with emphasis on communication development and communication challenges. In addition to providing rich descriptions of performance, the present study addressed the proposition that DPD and DAS are separate disorders by examining the distinctiveness of the narratives obtained from the two parent groups. Developmental "threads" (e.g., motor development, behavior, characteristics of verbal output) were followed across three early developmental stages: the baby stage (infancy to age 2;0), the toddler stage (ages 2;1 to 3;11), and the preschool stage (ages 4;0 to 6;11). The results of the present study provide support for the perspective that the two diagnoses describe different sets of children. This difference can best be captured as additional deficits more commonly reported in DAS rather than problems that are unique to each subtype. That is, children who receive these diagnoses share many characteristics, particularly when young. However, for children considered to have DAS, additional problems, many outside of speech, are reported more frequently by mothers.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Speech-Language Pathology (SLP)

Year dc:date.available

2005

Author dc:creator

• Patrick, Diana

Contributors dc:contributor

• Susan Felsenfeld
• Caterina Staltari
• Perri Stern
• Ravi Nigam

• developmental apraxia of speech
• mothers
• phonological disorder
• qualitative methods
• speech delay

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1026

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-2042