Development of the Digital Speech Assessment Instrument

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to develop a Digital Speech Assessment Instrument to evaluate the phonological and motor speech skills of Brazilian Portuguese–speaking children and adolescents through six tasks: (a) word naming, (b) word imitation, (c) pseudoword imitation, (d) word repetition, (e) pseudoword repetition, and (f) diadochokinesis. Method: The assessment instrument was developed and validated in a seven-step process, beginning with stimulus selection and ending with Pilot Study 1 (involving children and adolescents with typical speech development) and Pilot Study 2 (involving children and adolescents with speech sound disorders [SSDs]). Participants of the study included expert and nonexpert judges, children, and adolescents. Results: The Digital Speech Assessment Instrument contains 91 real words (61 in the naming task, 51 in the imitation task, and five in the repetition task), 26 pseudowords (26 in the imitation task and four in the repetition task), and six stimuli for diadochokinesis. The test contains stimuli in the form of images as well as audio and video recordings and allows for the analysis and storage of participant data in a virtual database. Conclusions: This study described the development of the Digital Speech Assessment Instrument, available in Brazilian Portuguese for the evaluation of several aspects of speech production (including word and pseudoword naming, imitation, and repetition and diadochokinesis). The test was developed for children aged 2;0 (years;months) to 17;11 and is administered fully online. In the future, the instrument can be used to provide a timely and accurate diagnosis of SSDs.