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Syracuse University Speech Production Lab
Dr. Jonathan Preston, Lab Director
Posts by @megancleece and @niccab

We got the long-awaited Lake Effect storm about 12

We got the long-awaited Lake Effect storm about 12 hours after we were expecting it. Kids have a snow day and I have to wait for the plows to come through my neighborhood before I can leave the house. Oh well, gives me some time to finish up our Valentine's week series. Lots of fun ones in here. Where are our free resources? Besides our IG feed, you can check out our lab website for links and other info/goodies. 🔗speechproductionlab.syr.edu/resources❤️❤️❤️

We took a few minutes to day to write out our Vale

We took a few minutes to day to write out our Valentine's Day cards. I think the biofeedback one is my favorite!!❤️❤️❤️

We are halfway through the week (and apparently ha

We are halfway through the week (and apparently halfway through the expected weather). We've had 2 decent snowfall events in the past 4 days and are expecting one tonight and one on Saturday. My computer is currently telling me that we're already under a Lake Effect Warning. 🙃Today's post highlights the candy heart version of some of our favorite /ɹ/ cues. Some - like cueing "raise sides" - are things you've heard us say before. Others - like "tap & lift" - might be new to you. During therapy, we try to take advantage of facilitating co-articulatory contexts as much as possible. In those instances, we use features of sounds (that already exist) to help /ɹ/ emerge.In our previous work, we know that kids who have /ɹ/ errors often depress or lower the front of their tongue (true for most distortions and /w/ substitutions). By emphasizing "tap [on the alveolar ride] and lift [up into the dental arch]" we are attempting to discourage that lowered tongue position that results in a substitution or distortion. Similarly, using sounds like /i/ (that has an element of lateral bracing) to help elicit /ɹ/ can be a helpful strategy, but you have to move the tongue root back (to achieve tongue root retraction) and you may have to narrow the space between the elevated sides (the "get skinny" part). If you want other examples of our favorite cues, look for the gray "Tip Tuesday" posts in our feed!You got this. ❤️❤️❤️

As Forrest Gump opined, "Life is like a box of cho

As Forrest Gump opined, "Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get."The same is true with cueing /ɹ/ errors. There are lots of different tongue shapes that yield a correct /ɹ/ sound. While these shapes can be broadly characterized as bunched or retroflex, there are also shapes that are more of a hybrid mix of both. What matters in treatment is finding a shape that works for your client, not trying to force them into a shape that might not be ideal for their individual vocal tract.Just like you may have a preference for milk chocolate over dark, your client may respond better to cues that elicit a bunched shape than they respond to cues for eliciting retroflex. Try out lots of things so they can find the flavor of /ɹ/ they like best!You got this!❤️❤️❤️

Happy (early) Valentines Day from all of all of us

Happy (early) Valentines Day from all of all of us at the Speech Production Lab. If you're looking for a target for your kids working on /ɹ/ this week, try the word "heart." "Heart" has a surprising number of features may be considered facilitative. The low-back vowel can encourage tongue-root retraction while the complex coda (-rt) can encourage anterior elevation. A vowelized error (e.g., "hawt") may indicate a total lack of lateral bracing OR may indicate that the contact is happening but that it's too horizontal. Encourage your clients to elevate the sides of the tongue and press the sides toward the middle (I sometimes describe this as "Make your tongue more like a taco, and less like a nacho").❤️❤️❤️

As we start our holiday break, it’s a great time

As we start our holiday break, it’s a great time to reflect on the past year. We’ve had a great year in the Speech Production Lab - these are just some of our highlights. We’re off until the new year. May this holiday season bring you the rest you deserve, the relaxation you need, and the energy to embrace what lies ahead.

Not able to join us in Seattle this year at ASHA20

Not able to join us in Seattle this year at ASHA2024? For those who couldn't attend or who want to revisit the highlights, we've compiled our presentation materials on our website. 🔗https://speechproductionlab.syr.edu/2024/12/09/asha-convention-wrap-up/Highlights:Links to our handouts, slide decks, resources, and associated articles. Also: a link to @bitslabstart's lab webpage where she has the same info for the Biofeedback talk Tara/Elaine gave on Friday PM.

I have a couple of minutes while people are boardi

I have a couple of minutes while people are boarding the plane to tell you about Nina’s Friday presentations. This 2-part session focuses on helping speech-language pathologists (SLPs) understand how to critically assess AI and machine learning tools designed to assist with evaluating and treating speech sound disorders (SSD) in children with normal hearing. It aims to equip SLPs with the knowledge to judge the accuracy, reliability, and ethical implications of these tools.In Part 1, SLPs will learn key concepts and terminology needed to evaluate claims made by clinical speech technologies. Part 2 will focus on analyzing research to determine how effective these tools are in real-world clinical settings.Key Learning Outcomes:1️⃣Understand how concepts like validity, reliability, and ethics apply to AI in clinical practice.2️⃣Learn about the “V3 framework,” which includes hardware verification, analytical validation, and clinical validation for AI tools.3️⃣Gain skills to critically review recent research on clinical speech technologies.

Ready for a deep dive into kinematic data? Check o

Ready for a deep dive into kinematic data? Check out Nina’s technical research session. Note: this is an advanced level research-focused presentation. Limited to no info for (immediate) clinical takeaway. Collecting kinematic data, which tracks speech movements, is usually slow and expensive. However, a new machine learning tool called the Speech Inversion System can estimate this data from audio recordings, making it easier to study more speakers and speech movements. This research shows two key findings:1️⃣ The Speech Inversion software can accurately estimate speech movement data from audio. 2️⃣Using this estimated data, the researchers identified key differences between children with apraxia of speech and those with other speech disorders. Their method had a high accuracy rate (AUROC = 0.90).The study also highlighted the importance of coordination between the voice source (like the vocal cords) and the vocal tract (like the lips and tongue) for diagnosing speech disorders. When this coordination data was removed, the system’s accuracy dropped significantly.💡Learn how to use the Speech Inversion System to turn audio into kinematic data.

Attending ASHA in person? Join Jon, Megan, and Nin

Attending ASHA in person? Join Jon, Megan, and Nina as we represent the whole Speech Production Lab team to talk about how using Speech Motor Chaining to treat SSD helps you work within a principles of motor learning framework to maximize generalization. Our session will follow the opening keynote on Thursday (details in post). Attending virtually? Our session was selected by the program committee as a Visionary session and will be live-streamed. Join us in person or virtually!💚💚#asha #ashaigers #asha2024 #ashaelevate #ashaseattle24 #speechpathology #speechlanguagepathology #speechtherapyideas #slpa #schoolslp

Our fall project is redoing our bulletin board out

Our fall project is redoing our bulletin board outside the lab. We’re adding QR codes to link to some of our more popular resources to help students in the Gebbie Clinic (our in-house training clinic) find them. Not sure where to start with ultrasound biofeedback? Check out our materials we used to introduce ultrasound to our research participants in our C-RESULTS RCT. Ultrasound biofeedback can be used in treatment for a variety of lingual sounds, but the focus of C-RESULTS is rhotic errors. Team C-RESULTS includes us, @bitslabstart, and @clinicalbiofeedbacklab_msu Materials available for free at Open Science Framework. 🔗https://osf.io/z2bpe/

✨ Big News! ✨ We’re beyond excited to share

✨ Big News! ✨We’re beyond excited to share that our presentation, "Incorporating Principles of Motor Learning in Therapy for SSD with Speech Motor Chaining", has been named a Visionary Session at the 2024 ASHA Convention! 🌟This honor highlights sessions that have the potential to shape the future of the field. Out of over 3300 submissions, our session was chosen as one of only 150 for its innovative ideas, strong evidence, and impact on practice and research. If you can't attend ASHA in person, our session will also be broadcasted live as part of the Virtual Program. Thank you, ASHA, for this incredible recognition! #ASHA2024 #ElevateSpeech #VisionarySession #SLP

You can help us create AI models that are built on

You can help us create AI models that are built on a diverse set of speakers to promote equity. We are currently working on a research study to collect recordings of children with and without “s” misarticulations pronouncing words to help us train computers to recognize clear productions from unclear ones. Participants need to be between the ages of 8-17 yrs. We are looking for a diverse set of participants across the US/Canada who currently have "s" errors. Study consists of a ~90 min Zoom session to record child reading & imitating words. Up to $40 gift card. Parents must provide consent and complete study questionnaires. 🔗https://speechproductionlab.syr.edu/research/ichain_ss3_s/

🎉New Article Alert!🎉 Dr. Benway has a new ar

🎉New Article Alert!🎉Dr. Benway has a new article in AJSLP that summarizes the final portion of her dissertation. What happens when we use an artificial intelligence classifier to rate the overall correctness of learner's productions of /ɹ/? Does accuracy on practiced words improve? Does practicing with the AI system help with generalization? Do the ratings from the AI system agree with an experienced SLP's ratings? Learn more by reading the open-access article. Download and save at the link below.🔗https://pubs.asha.org/doi/epdf/10.1044/2024_AJSLP-23-00448(Note from us: sorry for the typo in the visual abstract, there were 5 participants, not 4).

Nina and Jon are heading to Kos Island, Greece for

Nina and Jon are heading to Kos Island, Greece for Interspeech 2024. While there Nina will be presenting on a full day panel called “Responsible Development and Translation of Clinical Speech Analysis” along with this line up of amazing researchers from around the globe. She’s also:-session co-chair and panel moderator for “Connecting Speech-science and Speech-technology for Children’s Speech”-presenting a “show and tell” paper about ChainingAI (the gamified version of her dissertation) with J. Preston, N. Preston, and N. Prestopnik-presenting a paper on a reanalysis of a 2020 Perspectives article with J. Preston and C. Espy-WilsonPhew! Good luck to Nina, Jon and the amazing lineup of coauthors.

🎉New Publication🎉 Announcing a new CAS publ

🎉New Publication🎉Announcing a new CAS publication that was written with a team of researchers from our lab along with @clinicalbiofeedbacklab_msu and Thomas Jefferson University. Our #researchbestie Dr. Michelle Turner Swartz, from Thomas Jefferson University, led our team in looking at social-emotional data we collected from caregiver-child dyads as part of our larger CAS treatment RCT (Preston et al., 2023). Most studies of the wellbeing of children with CAS have collected data from the caregiver's perspective. While those studies provide important information, they do not necessarily reflect the lived experience of the child with CAS. Exploring the well-being of children with CAS, our study highlights that there may be a disconnect between caregiver and child perspectives. Caregivers often perceive a greater impact on communication and social interactions than the children themselves. These findings suggest the need for better dialogue and counseling to bridge this gap, ensuring both voices are heard in the development and execution of treatment approaches. A holistic, interdisciplinary approach may be essential for truly supporting the well-being of children with CAS. 🌟 50 Free Downloads are available from the publisher!🔗https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2024.2364808#ChildHealth #CAS #SpeechTherapy #CaregiverSupport #Wellbeing

Our recent funding announcement was shared by our

Our recent funding announcement was shared by our SU News team! Check it out here. 🔗 https://artsandsciences.syracuse.edu/news-all/news-2024/as-professor-receives-nih-grant-to-study-biofeedback-technologies-for-speech-therapy/

Our research team has created 7 /ɹ/ GIFs and 1 /s

Our research team has created 7 /ɹ/ GIFs and 1 /s/ GIF to help supplement verbal descriptions for your clients working on those sounds. You can download and use these GIFs under a Creative Commons license. Basically: use them as-is (no derivations), for educational/clinical purposes (non-commercial), and cite them. 🔗https://osf.io/nqzd9Link also on our LinkTree (in bio) and in our highlights.

Level up your Speech Motor chaining sessions. Us

Level up your Speech Motor chaining sessions. Use your keyboard to enter accuracy ratings on the Speech Motor Chaining website! This makes “No feedback” trials truly no feedback (which encourages generalization). Try using your keyboard during sessions!

We have an infographic that summarizes the Preston

We have an infographic that summarizes the Preston et al., 2020 Motor-based Treatment of /ɹ/ Distortions tutorial. You can download it, print it, hang it on the wall, share it with kids!We recently updated the infographic to use the correct IPA /ɹ/, but it moved the link. If you previously had it bookmarked (or attended a presentation where we provided the link) here is the updated info!Team C-RESULTS is here to support you! Thanks to teammates @bitslabstart and @clinicalbiofeedbacklab_msu 💙💜♥️

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