Preschool Speech Error Patterns Predict Articulation and Phonological Awareness Outcomes in Children With Histories of Speech Sound Disorders

Abstract

Purpose To determine if speech error patterns in preschoolers with speech sound disorders (SSDs) predict articulation and phonological awareness (PA) outcomes almost four years later. Method Twenty-five children with histories of preschool SSDs (and normal receptive language) were tested at an average age of 4;6 and followed up at 8;3. The frequency of occurrence of preschool distortion errors, typical substitution and syllable structure errors, and atypical substitution and syllable structure errors were used to predict later speech sound production, PA, and literacy outcomes. Results Group averages revealed below-average school-age articulation scores and low-average PA, but age-appropriate reading and spelling. Preschool speech error patterns were related to school-age outcomes. Children for whom more than 10% of their speech sound errors were atypical had lower PA and literacy scores at school-age than children who produced fewer than 10% atypical errors. Preschoolers who produced more distortion errors were likely to have lower school-age articulation scores. Conclusions Different preschool speech error patterns predict different school-age clinical outcomes. Many atypical speech sound errors in preschool may be indicative of weak phonological representations, leading to long-term PA weaknesses. Preschool distortions may be resistant to change over time, leading to persisting speech sound production problems.

Investigating Phonological Awareness in Persian-Speaking Children With Phonological Disorders

“…This finding is consistent with the results from Raitano et al (14), Holm et al (22), and Peterson et al (15). Corresponding to other studies (12,16,31), this study has also shown that the children had more atypical error patterns in their speech have more problems with their PA skills.…”

When does speech sound disorder matter for literacy? The role of disordered speech errors, co‐occurring language impairment and family risk of dyslexia

“…A follow‐up at 12 years old (Leitao & Fletcher, 2004) showed that most of the sample continued to have literacy difficulties, and that the children with disordered speech at school entry were particularly impaired. These longitudinal findings were replicated in an independent sample of preschoolers with SSD: children who made disordered speech sound errors were more likely to have weak literacy skills at the age of 8 (Preston, Hull, & Edwards, 2013). …”

“…Leitao & Fletcher, 2004) and we found no strong evidence that disordered (rather than immature) speech errors are indicative of more serious deficits in phonological awareness and literacy (cf. Holm et al., 2008; Leitao & Fletcher, 2004; Leitão et al., 1997; Preston et al., 2013). The situation is different when SSD co‐occurs with language impairment as it frequently does: language impairment carries a strong risk of literacy difficulties affecting both word reading and reading comprehension skills.…”

Polysyllable productions in preschool children with speech sound disorders: Error categories and the Framework of Polysyllable Maturity

“…In light of previous research (e.g. Preston et al, 2013;Rvachew et al, 2007), future research should also consider children's atypical speech errors when exploring links between polysyllable accuracy and literacy development. The data analysed using the WAP (Masso, 2016a) was only based on one single-word assessment task at one point in time.…”

“…Children's productions of polysyllables are associated with phonological awareness and literacy abilities at school-age (Larrivee & Catts, 1999), and may assist with the identification of preschool children with speech sound disorders (SSD) who may be at risk of future literacy difficulties (Preston et al, 2013). Before further research into the association between polysyllable accuracy and literacy development can be conducted with preschool children with SSD, three issues need to be investigated: (1) task/s appropriate for sampling polysyllable productions of preschool children, (2) methods used to analyse and categorise error productions, and, (3) a framework to interpret the errors and polysyllable maturity of preschool children with SSD.…”