Assessing vocal development in infants and toddlers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in prelinguistic vocal productions during the first 20 months of life. Vocalizations were classified into 23 mutually exclusive and exhaustive types, and grouped into five ascending levels using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R). Data from 30 typically developing infants, aged 0-20 months, show that older infants attained higher developmental levels on the SAEVD-R than younger infants. Infants 0-2, 3-5, and 6-8 months of age primarily produced vocalizations from Levels 1 (Reflexive), 2 (Control of Phonation), and 3 (Expansion). Infants 9-20 months of age also produced vocalizations from Level 4 (Basic Canonical Syllables). Only infants from 16-20 months of age produced Level 5 (Advanced Forms) vocalizations in significant quantities. The outcomes indicate that the SAEVD-R is a valuable instrument for evaluating prelinguistic vocal development.

Cochlear implantation under the first year of age—The outcomes. A critical systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The evaluation of preverbal skills is also of critical importance to document the link between the auditory and prelinguistic domains of infant development, as they are considered natural precursors of language development in all children, whether normally hearing or deaf [39]. Observational methods, such as the Tait video-analysis, which examines the development of communicative behaviours of implanted infants in their home environment, have proven relatively reliable in monitoring preverbal behaviours in infancy [40].…”

Diagnostic challenges and safety considerations in cochlear implantation under the age of 12 months

“…Indeed, the examination of complex prelinguistic vocalization types by measures of vocal development is necessary to document the progress of children who are expected to acquire speech at later-than-typical ages (such as infant implantees) [23], even though the nature of prelinguistic vocalizations itself has long been a subject of speculation and model building [24]. Such assessments, however, can only be considered as adjunctive to formal audiologic evaluation, and provide only indirect information with regard to implant candidacy.…”

Quantitative Measurement of Communication Ability in Children with Angelman Syndrome

“…Pre-speech attempts by the child were transcribed phonetically by a graduate student in speech-language pathology and then categorized into five different types of vocalizations using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R) (Nathani et al 2006). This five-point scale categorizes the child's utterances into non-speech and pre-speech sounds (protophones), as well as vowels, consonants and syllables.…”