Department of Applied Human Sciences

Comprehensive Description

The Templin Archive: A Prospective Longitudinal Data Set for Researchers

Prepared by Ann Bosma Smit, Ph.D.
Updated July 5, 2004

In 1960, Mildred Templin, Ph.D., initiated a longitudinal study of four-year-olds living in Minneapolis, MN. Her initial goal was to determine which children identified as having speech difficulties just before kindergarten would need intervention in grade 2. When it turned out that many children had not normalized by grade 2, she extended the study through grade 4. Later she returned to assess the children when they were in grade 11.

Templin grouped the participants based on phonological performance and then assessed the children twice yearly through fourth grade and again in eleventh grade, for a total of 12 assessment periods. Assessments covered many areas, including written and spoken language, cognition, reading, spelling, visual and auditory perception, personality, and parental and teacher input. The grants that funded this project came from what was then the Bureau of Research, Office of Education, in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. These previously unpublished data will be archived and made accessible to researchers. It should be noted that the archive has already served as the basis for seven follow-up studies involving some of the participants (Carmichael & McGue, 1994; Felsenfeld, Broen, & McGue, 1992; Felsenfeld, Broen, & McGue, 1994; Felsenfeld, McGue, & Broen, 1995; Finkel & McGue, 1993; Parlour & Broen, 1989; Parlour & Broen, 1991).

The Participants

The selection of participants was related to aspects of articulation that could possibly be important for prediction of articulation development. All participants were selected from among 1500 children whose articulation was tested during the spring before they started kindergarten (Spring 1960) in 45 Minneapolis elementary schools. Working from lists kept by the publica schools of children who would enter kindergarten in fall, 1960, Dr. Templin invited parents to bring these children in to their public school for articulation screening. Once the children were selected for the longitudinal study, by agreement with the Minneapolis Public Schools, none of the participants was offered therapy until second grade (which was also customary policy in the early 1960s).

The 1500 children were assessed using a specially devised single-word test of articulation, first by picture-naming and then by imitation. Nine subgroups of children were formed, based on their articulation in kindergarten. Five "Percentile" subgroups were defined as clustering around the 7th, 15th, 30th, 50th, or 98th percentile of the original 1500 children who were tested. A "Shift" group was defined as children whose imitative articulation test differed from the picture-naming articulation test by 0.4 standard deviation. The "Phoneme" subgroups were defined as having many errors on /r/, /l/, or /s/, but few errors on the other two phonemes.

The Assessments

Table 1 (pdf) shows the assessments that were performed over the course of the study. All assessments were administered by professionals. Speech-language pathologists with the Master’s degree carried out all articulation testing and many of the other assessments. The cognitive testing was administered by trained psychometrists or psychologists. Scores (and often subscores) are available for all assessments except those that are asterisked.

The Plan for the Archive

At present the archive consists of many boxes of data and printouts. At one time most of the data had been entered into computer files, but those storage tapes were degraded and not usable. Based on a printout listing all the available scores or measures on all the participants, that aspect of the data set is being put into digital form. In subsequent phases of the project, the measures that have not yet been scored or entered into the data set will be added. The electronic data set will be made available to researchers in several different formats. However, researchers interested in item analyses and participant histories, for example, how each child produced each target phoneme over time, will need to consult the relevant printouts.

Of particular interest are the transcripts of the recordings of conversations. Reel-to-reel audiotapes are available for the session 3 and session 12 recordings. Unfortunately, the session 9 recordings were made with technology that quickly became obsolete (the Audograph). Transcripts (glosses) are available for the session 9 and session 12 recordings. Only a few of the session 3 tapes have been transcribed. The quality of the tapes in general will permit language analysis but probably not phonetic transcription or digital analysis. The audiotapes need to be digitized, the remaining session 3 samples need to be transcribed, and SALT or other analyses need to be carried out on all the data.

References

  • Carmichael, C. M., & McGue, M. (1994). A longitudinal family study of personality change and stability. Journal of Personality, 62, 1-20.
  • Felsenfeld, S., Broen, P.A., & McGue, M. (1992). A 28-year follow-up of adults with a history of moderate phonological disorder: Linguistic and personality results. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 1114-1125.
  • Felsenfeld, S., Broen, P.A., & McGue, M. (1994). A 28-year follow-up of adults with a history of moderate phonological disorder: Educational and occupational results. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37, 1341-1353.
  • Felsenfeld, S. McGue, M., & Broen, P.A. (1995). Familial aggregation of phonological disorders: Results from a 28-year follow-up. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 1091-1107.
  • Finkel, D., & McGue, M. (1993). Twenty-five year follow-up of child-rearing practices: Reliability of retrospective data. Personality and Individual Differences, 15, 147-154.
  • Parlour, S. F., & Broen, P. A. (1989, June). Familial risk for articulation disorder: A 25-year follow-up. Paper presented at the convention of the Behavior Genetics Association, Charlottesville, GA.
  • Parlour, S. F., & Broen, P. A. (1991, November). Environmental factors in familial phonological disorders: Preliminary HOME scale results. Paper presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Templin, M.C. (February, 1968). Longitudinal study through the fourth grade of language skills of children with varying speech sound articulation in kindergarten. Final Report, Project No. 2220, Contract OE 3-10-129.