What are speech and language differences?
People who speak a primary language other than English may experience interference during speech production. Interference occurs as features of the first language spillover onto the second, less-dominant language. This may result in certain sounds or grammatical structures being produced incorrectly while speaking English. Speech and language differences may include the following:
- substitution of sounds in the primary language that are close to the sounds in the second language
- suprasegmental difficulties related to stress and intonation differences for words and phrases
- word order differences in sentence formation
- differences in verb tense markers as well as other grammatical features
- general vocabulary deficits
- accent reduction therapy can help individuals improve speech and language production
What is the evaluation procedure?
During an evaluation for accent reduction, the number and types of interferences, as well as the ways in which the speaker reacts to and copes with English, are noted. Assessments to measure knowledge and use of the English language may also be administered.
What type of treatment do we provide?
Therapy for accent reduction consists of the following:
- The Compton Program, Pronouncing English as a Second Language
- replication of words and sentences to improve critical listening, pronunciation and prosodic features
- vocabulary bombardment
- sentence and grammatical structure drills
