System and method for expressive language assessment

A method of assessing a key child's expressive language development, comprising:

• receiving a plurality of audio segments that correspond to the key child's vocalizations;
• determining a distribution for each of a plurality of phone categories for the audio segments, wherein each of the phone categories corresponds to a pre-defined speech sound;
• selecting an age-based model, wherein the selected age-based model corresponds to the key child's chronological age and the age-based model includes a weight associated with each of the phone categories;
• and
• using the distribution in the selected age-based model to assess the key child's language development.

A method of assessing a key child's expressive language development, comprising:

• receiving a plurality of audio segments that correspond to the key child's vocalizations;
• analyzing the audio segments, independent of content, to determine a distribution for each of a plurality of phone categories for the audio segments, wherein each of the phone categories corresponds to a pre-defined speech sound;
• selecting an age-based model, wherein the selected age-based model corresponds to the key child's chronological age;
• and
• using the distribution in the selected age-based model to assess the key child's language development.

A system for of assessing a key child's language development, comprising:

• a processor-based device comprising an application having an audio engine for processing an audio recording taken in the key child's language environment to identify segments of the recording that correspond to the key child's vocalizations;
• an adult automatic speech recognition phone decoder for processing the segments that correspond to the key child's vocalizations to identify each occurrence of each of a plurality of phone categories, wherein each of the phone categories corresponds to a pre-defined speech sound;
• and
• an expressive language assessment component for determining a distribution for the phone categories and using the distributions in an age-based model to assess the key child's expressive language development, wherein the age-based model is selected based on the key child's chronological age and the age-based model includes a weight associated with each of the phone categories.