A correlation between the perceptual judgment and the PCC indexes exists.

The frequency of the vowel /e/ was smaller in the Phonological Disorder Group. There was difference between the two groups regarding the means of intensity of vowels /a/, /e/ and /i/, smaller in the Phonological Disorder Group. No differences between the groups were found regarding the averages of jitter and shimmer.

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Some factors seem to infl uence speech impairment among phonologically disordered children. The aim was to compare severity indices with some correlated factors. DESIGN AND SETTING:Observational, analytical and cross-sectional study conducted within the Language-Speech-Hearing Sciences Course, Universidade de São Paulo. METHOD:Fifty phonologically disordered children with ages ranging from 4 to 11 years took part. The indices were calculated from phonology tests and were correlated with anamnesis and audiological data. Student's t test and Spearman's correlation were used to compare percentages of consonants correct (PCC) and process density index (PDI) for children with and without otitis, upper respiratory histories and audiological abnormalities, with regard to whether or not they were comprehended during assessment, their ages when they started to speak and their ages at the assessment. RESULTS:The higher the age at the assessment was, the higher the PCC (imitation: 0.468; naming: 0.431; Spearman's correlation) and the lower the PDI (imitation: 0.459; naming: 0.431); the later the child started to speak, the lower the PCC (imitation p = 0.064; naming p = 0.050) and the higher the PDI (imitation p = 0.067; naming p = 0.042). There were differences between groups with and without upper respiratory history (PCC: imitation p = 0.016, naming p = 0.005; PDI: imitation p = 0.014, naming p = 0.008). There was no difference between the groups regarding otitis, comprehension during the assessment and audiological data. CONCLUSIONS:Children with upper respiratory histories who began to speak later presented more severe speech impairment indices.

PURPOSE:To verify using 4 different tests the incidence of distortions inchildren with and without phonological disorders.METHOD: Forty children between 4 and 10.2 years of age, divided into 2 groups: 20 with normal development and 20 with phonological disorders. All children underwent the phonology tests of the Child Language Assessment ABFW and 2 spontaneous speaking tests to assess for phonologic alterations. After recording, the data were printed, analyzed, and classified according to the distortions. Nonparametric (Mann-Whitney) statistical analysis was performed with the significance level being set at P <.05. RESULTS:The phonological disorder group had significantly more occurrences of distortions in all tests compared to the control group (naming, P = .04; imitation P <.001; spontaneous speaking 1, P = .01; and spontaneous speaking 2, P = .002. The Pearson correlation coefficients of the distortion occurrences among the 4 tests were high. CONCLUSION:The phonological disorder group presented a greater number of distortions in all tests. The most frequent ones were /s, z, / and the variability found within the phonological disorder group was very high. The children in this group had unstable phonological systems and so presented a high number of different distortions. Regarding the evaluation of the phonologic system, all the tests were good evaluation methods since the correlations between them were high.