Relational Analyses

A relational analysis is an examination of a child’s speech productions in relation to the adult targets. Most typically, this process involves the comparison of a child’s productions to the adult targets. It describes the difference between what the child is trying to produce and what the child actually produces. This type of analysis contrasts with an [Page 1592]independent analysis, which describes a child’s abilities without reference to the adult targets. An independent analysis simply lists what a child produces. For example, for a child who produces the word cat (/kæt/) as [dæt], a relational analysis would indicate that the child produced the word inaccurately. Specifically, the child produced the prevocalic /k/ inaccurately and instead produced [d]. An independent analysis would simply describe what the ...