Interview with Fred Berg, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Utah State University
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Linda Schreiber: Today, I'm interviewing Dr. Fred Berg, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah State University. Dr. Berg is the author of a text by Plural Publishing titled Speech Development Guide for Children with Hearing Loss. Fred, what caused
Linda Schreiber: Today, I'm interviewing Dr. Fred Berg, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah State University. Dr. Berg is the author of a text by Plural Publishing titled Speech Development Guide for Children with Hearing Loss. Fred, what caused you to write this book about the speech development of children with hearing loss?
Fred: For many years I have been interested in finding a way to dramatically improve the teaching of speech to the deaf. Most deaf children have unintelligible speech. The professions of deaf education and speech-language pathology have not broken this barrier. Deaf education remains largely sign based. Yet, speech is our main vehicle for expressing our thoughts and feelings to other people. It is a multifaceted and yet learnable system, even for children who are deaf. I have written this book because I believe we now have sufficient aids and tools to teach intelligible, even fluent speech, to young deaf children before they enter school. Now I need to get the word out about the book I have written to help accomplish this.
Linda: Tell me a little about the book. What can readers expect to find?
Fred: The book is a concise and highly illustrated guide. It covers how we speak, sensory clues and aids for the deaf, and speech lessons for the shaping and transfer of vowels, diphthongs, consonants, and consonant blends. It includes speech and spoken language guidelines for parents.
Linda: The illustrations are helpful because you've included real photos of the shape of the mouth and a photo of a real object or item for drill. In addition, you have included illustrations of the sound production. These are helpful remediation tools. Does the book also address assessment?
Fred: Very much so. It is data-based throughout. It includes a Speech Shaping Target and Recording Form for tracking isolated speech sound acquisition, and a Word Test and Recording Form for tracking sound and consonant blend acquisition. The latter recording form, together with the lessons, provide stimuli for assessing speech articulation performance from baseline to any point in speech development. Assessment of speech performance in syllables and more than 1000 additional words are also included.
Linda: What would you say is the main focus of the book?
Fred: The focus is on precision of speech articulation, but voice control and prosody instruction are also included since they contribute to the intelligibility, naturalness, and fluency of speech.
Linda: Who is your target audience? Are you targeting just speech-language pathologists or are there other professionals who would find the book useful?
Fred: Auditory-verbal therapists, auditory-oral educators, Cued Speech specialists, speech-language pathologists, and educational audiologists in general will find this book useful. Since cochlear implants are being fit on so many deaf babies and infants today, there is a need for many more speech-language pathologists to become involved in the habilitation of these children.
Linda: Which areas of hearing loss do you address in the book?
Fred: Mainly the deaf but also hard of hearing children who are delayed in speech development.
Linda: Although you focus on children with hearing impairment, I think speech-language pathologists would find the illustrations and photos useful for children with expressive phonological disorders of all types. The illustrations and photos are very helpful. Where will readers find this book?
Fred: The book is available from Plural Publishing, 5521 Ruffin Road, San Diego, CA 92123. Also order online: www.pluralpublishing.com, or call toll free: 866-758-7255.
Linda: Fred, anything else you want readers to know.
Fred: Yes, a computer software program for Lissajous (circular) patterns, which allows deaf children to readily learn to visually perceive acoustic features of speech sounds they cannot hear, will soon be available for a fraction of the cost of the Vocal Scope shown in the book to display them. I consider this a breakthrough.
Also, I will present a short course based on this topic on Friday, November 21, 1:30-4:30, at the upcoming ASHA convention in Chicago. I am also available for workshop presentations elsewhere. For further information, I can be reached at: fredsvenberg@comcast.net
Linda: In addition, Fred, you have written an article that will be posted at this website www.speechpathology.com on October 13 and another article that will appear in the Fall issue of the Educational Audiology Review.
Linda: Thank you, Fred, for creating this needed resource and for the interview today.
Fred: For many years I have been interested in finding a way to dramatically improve the teaching of speech to the deaf. Most deaf children have unintelligible speech. The professions of deaf education and speech-language pathology have not broken this barrier. Deaf education remains largely sign based. Yet, speech is our main vehicle for expressing our thoughts and feelings to other people. It is a multifaceted and yet learnable system, even for children who are deaf. I have written this book because I believe we now have sufficient aids and tools to teach intelligible, even fluent speech, to young deaf children before they enter school. Now I need to get the word out about the book I have written to help accomplish this.
Linda: Tell me a little about the book. What can readers expect to find?
Fred: The book is a concise and highly illustrated guide. It covers how we speak, sensory clues and aids for the deaf, and speech lessons for the shaping and transfer of vowels, diphthongs, consonants, and consonant blends. It includes speech and spoken language guidelines for parents.
Linda: The illustrations are helpful because you've included real photos of the shape of the mouth and a photo of a real object or item for drill. In addition, you have included illustrations of the sound production. These are helpful remediation tools. Does the book also address assessment?
Fred: Very much so. It is data-based throughout. It includes a Speech Shaping Target and Recording Form for tracking isolated speech sound acquisition, and a Word Test and Recording Form for tracking sound and consonant blend acquisition. The latter recording form, together with the lessons, provide stimuli for assessing speech articulation performance from baseline to any point in speech development. Assessment of speech performance in syllables and more than 1000 additional words are also included.
Linda: What would you say is the main focus of the book?
Fred: The focus is on precision of speech articulation, but voice control and prosody instruction are also included since they contribute to the intelligibility, naturalness, and fluency of speech.
Linda: Who is your target audience? Are you targeting just speech-language pathologists or are there other professionals who would find the book useful?
Fred: Auditory-verbal therapists, auditory-oral educators, Cued Speech specialists, speech-language pathologists, and educational audiologists in general will find this book useful. Since cochlear implants are being fit on so many deaf babies and infants today, there is a need for many more speech-language pathologists to become involved in the habilitation of these children.
Linda: Which areas of hearing loss do you address in the book?
Fred: Mainly the deaf but also hard of hearing children who are delayed in speech development.
Linda: Although you focus on children with hearing impairment, I think speech-language pathologists would find the illustrations and photos useful for children with expressive phonological disorders of all types. The illustrations and photos are very helpful. Where will readers find this book?
Fred: The book is available from Plural Publishing, 5521 Ruffin Road, San Diego, CA 92123. Also order online: www.pluralpublishing.com, or call toll free: 866-758-7255.
Linda: Fred, anything else you want readers to know.
Fred: Yes, a computer software program for Lissajous (circular) patterns, which allows deaf children to readily learn to visually perceive acoustic features of speech sounds they cannot hear, will soon be available for a fraction of the cost of the Vocal Scope shown in the book to display them. I consider this a breakthrough.
Also, I will present a short course based on this topic on Friday, November 21, 1:30-4:30, at the upcoming ASHA convention in Chicago. I am also available for workshop presentations elsewhere. For further information, I can be reached at: fredsvenberg@comcast.net
Linda: In addition, Fred, you have written an article that will be posted at this website www.speechpathology.com on October 13 and another article that will appear in the Fall issue of the Educational Audiology Review.
Linda: Thank you, Fred, for creating this needed resource and for the interview today.