Purpose: When assessing phonemic awareness (PA) ability, tasks that require verbal (oral) responses are often used. If verbal (oral) answers contain speech sound errors, it may be difficult for the evaluator to determine accuracy of PA skill. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between speech sound production and PA in first and second grade children with and without speech sound disorders (SSD) using a nonverbal (non-oral) response format. Methods: Thirty children with SSD (M age=7;3; SD=0.6) and 30 children with typical development (TD) (M age=7;3; SD=0.6) were given measures of speech sound production and phonemic awareness. Two measures of PA were administered: (1) a static assessment of phoneme deletion that required a verbal (oral) response and (2) a dynamic assessment of phoneme deletion that did not require a verbal (oral) response. Results from the two PA tasks and a speech sound production measure were compared. Results: Results showed that performance on measures of speech sound production and PA were significantly correlated (r=0.59) and a strong correlation between a verbal (oral) measure of phoneme deletion and a nonverbal (non-oral) measure of phoneme deletion using a dynamic format (r=−0.75). Children with SSD scored more poorly than did the TD children on PA skills (p<0.01). Conclusions: This study strengthens the findings of other researchers who found significant correlations between speech sound production and PA and that children with SSD have more difficulties with PA skills than TD children.
Purpose: When assessing phonemic awareness (PA) ability, tasks that require verbal (oral) responses are often used. If verbal (oral) answers contain speech sound errors, it may be difficult for the evaluator to determine accuracy of PA skill. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between speech sound production and PA in first and second grade children with and without speech sound disorders (SSD) using a nonverbal (non-oral) response format. Methods: Thirty children with SSD (M age=7;3; SD=0.6) and 30 children with typical development (TD) (M age=7;3; SD=0.6) were given measures of speech sound production and phonemic awareness. Two measures of PA were administered: (1) a static assessment of phoneme deletion that required a verbal (oral) response and (2) a dynamic assessment of phoneme deletion that did not require a verbal (oral) response. Results from the two PA tasks and a speech sound production measure were compared. Results: Results showed that performance on measures of speech sound production and PA were significantly correlated (r=0.59) and a strong correlation between a verbal (oral) measure of phoneme deletion and a nonverbal (non-oral) measure of phoneme deletion using a dynamic format (r=−0.75). Children with SSD scored more poorly than did the TD children on PA skills (p<0.01). Conclusions: This study strengthens the findings of other researchers who found significant correlations between speech sound production and PA and that children with SSD have more difficulties with PA skills than TD children.
INTRODUCTION METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION CONCLUSIONS
