Phonological Processing and Reading in Children With Speech Sound Disorders

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the relationship between phonological processing skills prior to kindergarten entry and reading skills at the end of 1st grade, in children with speech sound disorders (SSD). Method: The participants were 17 children with SSD and poor phonological processing skills (SSD-low PP), 16 children with SSD and good phonological processing skills (SSD-high PP), and 35 children with typical speech who were first assessed during their prekindergarten year using measures of phonological processing (i.e., speech perception, rime awareness, and onset awareness tests), speech production, receptive and expressive language, and phonological awareness skills. This assessment was repeated when the children were completing 1st grade. The Test of Word Reading Efficiency was also conducted at that time. First-grade sight word and nonword reading performance was compared across these groups. Results: At the end of 1st grade, the SSD-low PP group achieved significantly lower nonword decoding scores than the SSD-high PP and typical speech groups. The 2 SSD groups demonstrated similarly good receptive language skills and similarly poor articulation skills at that time, however. No between-group differences in sight word reading were observed. All but 1 child (in the SSD-low PP group) obtained reading scores that were within normal limits. Conclusion: Weaknesses in phonological processing were stable for the SSD-low PP subgroup over a 2-year period.

Association between AVPR1A, DRD2, and ASPM and endophenotypes of communication disorders

“…SSD is often co-morbid with language impairment (LI) (Shriberg, Tomblin, & McSweeny 1999) and may be a precursor to reading disability (RD) (Lewis, Freebairn, & Taylor 2000a). These three communication disorders are also associated with similar deficits of cognitive skills or “endophenotypes” such as phonological memory, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and appreciation of sound-symbol relationships as required for reading decoding (DeThorne et al 2006;Lewis et al 2011;Rvachew 2007). …”

Effect of dialect on identification and severity of speech impairment in Indigenous Australian children

“…However, most Western research investigating speech impairment has focused chiefly on Caucasian, middle class, urban, English-speaking children who speak the standard variety of English in their specific geographical region (Bernhardt, Ball, & Deby, 2007) and exclude multilingual and multidialectal children (e.g. Beitchman, Nair, Clegg, & Patel, 1986;Tomblin, Records, Buckwalter, Zhang, Smith, & O'Brien, 1997;Shriberg, Tomblin, & McSweeny, 1999;Raitano, Pennington, Tunick, Boada, & Shriberg, 2004;Archibald & Gathercole, 2006;Rvachew, 2007;Sices, Taylor, Freebairn, Hansen, & Lewis, 2007;McGrath, Hutaff-Lee, Scott, Boada, Shriberg, & Pennington, 2008). Subsequently, the results and recommendations presented within the literature may not clearly reflect or assist culturally diverse groups.…”

Phonological Awareness and Types of Sound Errors in Preschoolers With Speech Sound Disorders

“…These representations include the constituent phonemes and phoneme combinations and possibly the associated phonetic specifications of the segments. Weaknesses in phonological representations have been discussed as a basis for both SSDs and poor PA, and, by extension, poor literacy skills (Elbro et al, 1998; Larrivee & Catts, 1999; Perfetti & Hart, 2002; Rvachew, 2007; Rvachew & Grawburg, 2006; Sutherland & Gillon, 2005; Swan & Goswami, 1997). …”