Effect of dialect on identification and severity of speech sound disorder in Fijian children

ABSTRACT

Speech sound disorder (SSD), common in preschool and school-age children internationally, is recognised as a potential barrier to oral-language and literacy acquisition, and future social and academic success. Fiji is an island nation in the South Pacific with limited access to speech-language pathology services. In Fiji homes, Fijian and Fiji Hindi are spoken widely; however, at school, Fiji English is the dominant language. Given that Fiji English proficiency is aligned to academic success in Fiji, this study sought to investigate the incidence of SSD amongst Fijian children speaking different dialects of Fiji English and the impact of dialect on diagnostic decision-making. The study analysed Fiji English speech samples of 75 Fijian students (Year 1: n = 35, age range: 5;3–7;3; Year 4: n = 40, age range: 9;0–10;5). Descriptive and non-parametric statistical analysis were conducted to determine patterns of speech sound errors and the impact of conducting relational analysis with an external standard dialect on the identification of SSD. Some Fijian children presented with SSD in Fiji English upon and beyond school entry. However, the impact of dialect on diagnostic decision-making was significant. When Fiji English dialects were the target, instead of Australian English, mean percentage of consonants correct increased 10.20% and 24/26 students initially identified with SSD were reclassified. Speech-language pathologists and other communication specialists need to consider children’s dialect for valid identification of SSD in Fijian children who speak different dialects of Fiji English.

KEYWORDS:

• Speech sound disorder
• Fiji
• Fiji English
• speech pathology

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the children, teachers and parents who participated in the original study. The authors also thank Cen Wang for her invaluable support with data analysis and Elise Baker for her support to create a Fiji English version of the CHIRPA.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP180102848) to the third author.

Notes on contributors

Holly McAlister

Holly McAlister is a speech-language pathologist based in regional NSW. Holly completed her Bachelor of Speech-Language Pathology with Class 1 Honours at Charles Sturt University in 2020. Holly is passionate about providing culturally responsive speech pathology services to monolingual and multilingual individuals in regional, rural, and remote areas of Australia.

Suzanne C. Hopf

Suzanne C. Hopf, PhD is an Australian-Fijian and Course Lead for the blended online Master of Speech Pathology at Charles Sturt University. Suzanne is passionate about achieving equity in service provision for people in underserved regions of the world. Suzanne's research seeks to better understand how barriers and facilitators for supporting people with communication disability are created and reinforced by individual, community, and societal factors.

Sharynne McLeod

Sharynne McLeod, PhD is a speech-language pathologist and professor of speech and language acquisition at Charles Sturt University, Australia. She was an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, previous editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Life Member of Speech Pathology Australia, and received the Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Her research focuses on communication rights, children’s speech acquisition, speech sound disorders, and multilingualism and her Multilingual Children’s Speech website has resources in over 60 languages: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech.