The Effect of Maturation upon Defective Articulation in Elementary Grades

Abstract
1989 children in grades 1-6 from 9 Indiana school systems without speech instruction were tested by a modification of the Detroit articulation test. No attempt to classify children as speech-defective or normal was made. Every articulatory error was counted, if it was an omission, substitution, or was simply indistinct. Mean number of errors decreased from grade to grade; % of children making errors also decreased, but all errors possible were still represented in the 6th-grade group. Sound substitutions were most frequent. Consonants were graded in difficulty and the suggestion is made that the teaching of reading should begin with the least difficult sounds. No sex differences were found.

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