Two-dimensional dynamic ultrasound appears to have potential utility for remediation of /r/ in speakers with residual /r/ impairment. Further research is needed with larger numbers of participants to establish the relative efficacy of ultrasound in treatment.

Speech-language pathologists gain opportunities to search for more effective assessment and intervention methodologies by deriving implications of significant developments within linguistics. This paper describes the application of some tenets of nonlinear phonology to the planning and execution of a phonological intervention programme with one child. The nonlinear analyses provided independent phonological therapy goals for both segmental and syllable structure (prosodic tier structure) development. Higher and lower level features in the feature hierarchy were contrasted in intervention. Prosodic constituents derived from moraic and onset-rime syllable theories were contrasted as facilitators in the attainment of syllable structure goals. A detailed analysis of the changes in the childs speech over two 6-week intervention blocks shows that the goals derived from the nonlinear analyses were logical and attainable. The data demonstrate a faster rate of acquisition for syllable structure (prosodic) goals in the first time block, some predictability for acquisition based on the feature hierarchy, and similarity of effectiveness of the use of different types of prosodic constituent stimuli.

Four adolescents with moderate to severe sensorineural hearing losses and moderately unintelligible speech participated in a 14-week speech therapy study using two dynamic visual feedback technologies, electropalatography and ultrasound imaging. Electropalatography provides information about tongue-hard palate contact points. Ultrasound displays images of tongue shape and movement in two dimensions from the tip to the root. Treatment targets for all participants included a sibilant place contrast (/s/ versus /[symbol: see text]/), liquids /l/ and /[symbol: see text]/, and the tense-lax vowel contrast with the high vowels. Trained listener evaluations of pre- and post-treatment transcripts are reported in this paper. Significant improvements in speech production were noted across students and targets. Treatment targets improved significantly more than non-treatment test targets overall. Students showed greatest gains on consonants that were absent or marginal in their speech pre-treatment. No particular advantage of one technology over the other was evident in this sample.

The present paper comprises an overview of techniques using ultrasound in speech (re)habilitation. Ultrasound treatment techniques have been developed for English lingual stops, vowels, sibilants, and liquids. These techniques come from a series of small n studies with adolescents and adults with severe hearing impairment, residual speech impairment or accented speech at the Interdisciplinary Speech Research Laboratory at the University of British Columbia. Ultrasound allows excellent visualization of tongue shape features, which is especially useful for feedback during speech (re)habilitation. Further research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of ultrasound in speech (re)habilitation.

Early language skills vary considerably across children, especially before the age of about two years. Thus, it can be difficult to distinguish between `late bloomers' and children who show a language delay or impairment. Here we present the results of a longitudinal study wherein toddlers' performance on a looking-time-based `Switch' task of word-object association (Stager & Werker, 1997) was related to the children's later language skills. Word-object association performance at 17 or 20 months was significantly related to scores on some standardized tests of language comprehension and production up to two and a half years later. The implications of these results for further early identification research are discussed.

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For the past 20 years the field of linguistics has provided a basis for assessment and treatment methods for speech and language disorders. Since Goldsmiths (1976) dissertation showing tone as an independently functioning autosegment, new and robust phonological frameworks have become available, i.e. nonlinear phonological frameworks. This paper outlines major aspects of nonlinear phonology and its developmental implications. Based in generative phonology, nonlinear frameworks adhere to many of the tenets of the generative grammar tradition, such as markedness and autonomy of linguistic components. The major difference between classical and nonlinear generative phonology is the latters emphasis on representation rather than on rules or processes. This enriched representation is hierarchical and multitiered, rather than being strictly sequential as in classical generative phonology, and includes syllabic structure and segmental information. Phonological rules or processes result from, and are constrained by, principles of association between the various autonomous levels. If a child comes to the language-learning situation with a representional framework, a set of universal 'templates' are then available to utilize for decoding and encoding. The incorporation of both syllabic (prosodic level) and segmental information in representation suggests that the child will come to the language-learning process primed with expected syllable structure bases as well as with an expected segmental 'feature inventory'. The concept of autonomy implies possible independent learning for information on the various tiers, e.g. between the prosodic and segmental levels. The concept of hierarchy suggests that prominent system units in tree structure may have developmental precedence over deeply embedded units. These and other concepts are developed in the following pages.

Ultrasound appeared to facilitate the acquisition of /r/ for the participant. Large-scale studies are needed to evaluate ultrasound further.