Phonetic and Phonological Systems Analysis

“A fully comprehensive analysis is not required for every child. A systematic, principled analysis is, however, necessary in all cases since it forms an integral part of the clinical decision-making process.”  Bates & Watson (2012, p 105)

The PPSA is a tool designed by Dr Sally Bates (Marjon) and Dr Jocelynne Watson (QMU) to aid a straightforward and linguistically principled organisation of phonetically transcribed speech data. Once completed, the PPSA provides a graphic representation of the child’s consonant system allowing us to quickly and easily identify:

• natural phonological processes and atypical patterns, both structural (eg final consonant deletion) and segmental (eg velar fronting)
• patterns of phoneme collapse
• areas of most and least productive phonological knowledge (PPK)

It also provides an ‘at-a-glance’ appreciation of the number of times a given consonant (or consonant cluster) has been tested, highlighting the strengths and limitations of the speech sample and facilitating calculation of percent consonant correct (PCC) scores.

The PPSA Analysis Sheet (English) can be used with rhotic accent systems such as Scottish English as well as non-rhotic systems (eg Southern British Standard).   Separate analysis sheets are also available for working with Welsh and Polish speakers (see below).  We hope to add further different language versions as they become available.

Please see the PPSA User Guide for instructions on how to chart the data.  This also includes worked examples of completed PPSAs for two children to illustrate how the PPSA can give us confidence that we have:

• a real understanding of the child’s consonant system at a particular point in development
• a solid evidence base for principled clinical decision-making with regard to diagnosis, identifying intervention targets, justifying therapy approach and measuring outcome.

All materials are free to download.  (The conditions of use are described under the Creative Commons License at the bottom of this page.)

Please see the page for CAV-ES to access information and materials relating to vowel assessment.