Transcibing the Speech of Young Children

Assessing the phonological skills of young children, or of older children with delayed speech, is difficult because limited vocabulary and low intelligibility often preclude the use of a standardized articulation test. This article provides a framework for collecting and analyzing speech samples from this population with particular attention to phonetic transcription of these samples. A protocol for transcription is provided along with a discussion of the use of diacrities. The article includes a description of “fuzzy speech” and offers advice on how to deal with transcription of speech that falls into this category.