JCPSLP Vol 21 No 2 2019 DIGITAL Edition

Credibility To ensure credibility of the research process, participants were invited to engage in member checking. Three participants did so, returning no amendments or additions. Results Survey In this section we report the results in two sections: normative data and velar stop mastery, and target selection. Normative data and velar stop mastery The survey respondents were asked to indicate their view on the use and adequacy of normative data for velar stop sounds, and also their perceptions on mastery of these sounds. Of the respondents ( n = 54), 50% believed Australian norms for speech sound acquisition were inadequate, while 37% said they were adequate (13% neither agreed nor disagreed on this construct). Similarly, 57.4% thought Australian norms for elimination of phonological processes inadequate. Nonetheless, around 94% of respondents believed norms were useful in target selection in SSD, with 57.4% saying they consulted norms first when choosing targets, accessing a range of sources (see figure 1).

Fifty-one respondents agreed that velar fronting was typical among Australian children, and around 57% saw available Australian norms for velar fronting as variable, with over 50% considering them inadequate. When asked to assign approximate ages at which /k/ and /g/ were mastered (phonetically), and the age of elimination of velar fronting, most based their responses on their knowledge of normative data and their clinical experience (see figure 2). Almost half (44.4%) disagreed that there were adequate Australian norms for the phonetic mastery of /k/ and /g/, and 15 of these respondents believed that /k/ and /g/ were acquired later than norms suggest. Drawing on their clinical experience, all but two respondents believed that at age 5 years, fewer than 25% of children were yet to master velars. The remaining two believed this to be between 25% and 50%. Of the 54, over 80% were of the view that if /k/ and /g/ were not remediated by 5;0, it was probably due to difficulties with phonological organisation. Other proposed descriptions of the difficulties children exhibit in acquiring /k/ and /g/ included other sound substitutions ( n = 5), atypical processes ( n = 1), “favourite” sounds ( n = 2), articulation difficulties ( n = 1), and childhood apraxia of speech ( n = 1). Target selection Survey respondents were asked to comment on rationales for target selection and prioritisation related to the velar

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Acquisition /k/ /g/ Remediation of velar fronting

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No. respondents

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Websites

Clinical experience

Textbooks

Journal articles

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Source of information

Figure 1. Source of information for acquisition of velars, and remediation of velar fronting

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Acquisition /k/ Acquisition /g/ Remediation velar fronting

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0 Percentage of respondents <3;0

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Age of acquisition/Remediation

Figure 2. Participant views on age of acquisition /k/ and /g/, and remediation of velar fronting

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JCPSLP Volume 21, Number 2 2019

Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology