Phonological Awareness in Preschoolers With Spoken Language Impairment: Toward a Better Understanding of Causal Relationships and Effective Intervention. A Constructive Comment on Rvachew and Grawburg’s (2006) Study

2008 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 1215-1218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich Hartmann
2000 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail T. Gillon

Purpose:This study investigated the efficacy of an integrated phonological awareness intervention approach for children with spoken language impairment (SLI) who demonstrated early reading delay. Ninety-one, 5- to 7-year-old New Zealand children participated in this study: 61 children with SLI and 30 children with typically developing speech and language skills. All of the children with language impairment exhibited expressive phonological difficulties and some also had delayed semantic and syntactic development.Method:The children with SLI participated in either: (a) an integrated phonological awareness program, (b) a more traditional speech-language intervention control program that focused on improving articulation and language skills, or (c) a minimal intervention control program over a 4 1/2-month time period.Results:Effects of the interventions on phonological awareness ability, reading performance, and speech production were examined. The children who received phonological awareness intervention made significantly more gains in their phonological awareness ability and reading development than the children receiving the other types of speech and language intervention. Despite significant delays in phonological awareness prior to training, children who received the phonological awareness intervention reached levels of performance similar to children with typically developing speech and language skills at post-test assessment. The phonological awareness intervention also improved the children's speech articulation.Clinical Implications:The findings suggest that integrated phonological awareness intervention may be an efficient method to improve phonological awareness, speech production, and reading development of children with SLI. Findings are discussed with reference to a speech-literacy link model.


2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karyn L. Carson ◽  
Gail T. Gillon ◽  
Therese M. Boustead

PurposeDespite strong investment in raising literacy achievement for all children, significant inequalities in literacy outcomes continue to exist among some of the world's most advanced economies. This study investigated the influence of a short, intensive period of phonological awareness (PA) instruction implemented by classroom teachers on raising the literacy achievement of children with and without spoken language impairment (SLI).MethodA quasi-experimental design was employed to measure the PA, reading, and spelling development of one hundred twenty-nine 5-year-olds. Thirty-four children received 10 weeks of PA instruction from their teachers. Ninety-five children continued with their usual reading program, which included phonics instruction but did not target PA.ResultsChildren who received PA instruction demonstrated superior literacy outcomes compared to children who followed the usual literacy curriculum. Children with SLI showed significant improvements in PA, reading, and spelling but had a different pattern of response to instruction compared to children with typical language. Importantly, the number of children experiencing word decoding difficulties at the end of the program was 26% among children who followed the usual literacy curriculum compared to 6% among children who received the PA instruction.ImplicationsA short, intensive period of classroom PA instruction can raise the literacy profiles of children with and without spoken language difficulties.


Author(s):  
Margaret J. Snowling

‘How to learn to read (or not)’ looks at the stages through which a child must progress on the journey to literacy and the demands of learning to read. It argues that literacy builds on a foundation of spoken language and emphasizes the importance of the skills a child brings to reading. It also discusses the alphabetic principle, phoneme awareness, learning to spell, reading for meaning, and learning to read in different languages. In summary, a ‘triple foundation’ of symbol knowledge, phonological awareness, and rapid naming ability appears to underpin reading development universally. However, there are also additional predictors that are language-specific.


2020 ◽  
pp. 074193252091885
Author(s):  
Krystal L. Werfel ◽  
Stephanie Al Otaiba ◽  
Young-Suk Kim ◽  
Jeanne Wanzek

The purpose of this study was (a) to compare the single-word spelling performance of first graders across four groups that varied by speech and language status; and (b) to determine the linguistic predictors of first-grade spelling for children with speech and/or language impairment compared to children with typical development. First-grade children ( N = 529) completed measures of spelling, early word reading, expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness, and morphosyntactic knowledge. Children with language impairment, with or without speech impairments, demonstrated lower spelling performance than children with typical development; children with speech impairment only did not differ from children with typical development. In addition, early word reading and phonological awareness predicted spelling performance, regardless of group. Study findings indicate that language status, but not speech status, is a risk factor for low spelling performance in first grade, and that first-grade spelling instruction should focus on developing early word reading and phonological awareness.


Neurology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 88 (10) ◽  
pp. 970-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara B. Pillay ◽  
Jeffrey R. Binder ◽  
Colin Humphries ◽  
William L. Gross ◽  
Diane S. Book

Objective:Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) was used to localize impairments specific to multiword (phrase and sentence) spoken language comprehension.Methods:Participants were 51 right-handed patients with chronic left hemisphere stroke. They performed an auditory description naming (ADN) task requiring comprehension of a verbal description, an auditory sentence comprehension (ASC) task, and a picture naming (PN) task. Lesions were mapped using high-resolution MRI. VLSM analyses identified the lesion correlates of ADN and ASC impairment, first with no control measures, then adding PN impairment as a covariate to control for cognitive and language processes not specific to spoken language.Results:ADN and ASC deficits were associated with lesions in a distributed frontal-temporal parietal language network. When PN impairment was included as a covariate, both ADN and ASC deficits were specifically correlated with damage localized to the mid-to-posterior portion of the middle temporal gyrus (MTG).Conclusions:Damage to the mid-to-posterior MTG is associated with an inability to integrate multiword utterances during comprehension of spoken language. Impairment of this integration process likely underlies the speech comprehension deficits characteristic of Wernicke aphasia.


2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (11) ◽  
pp. 2169-2192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen L. Breadmore ◽  
Andrew C. Olson ◽  
Andrea Krott

The present study examines deaf and hearing children's spelling of plural nouns. Severe literacy impairments are well documented in the deaf, which are believed to be a consequence of phonological awareness limitations. Fifty deaf (mean chronological age 13;10 years, mean reading age 7;5 years) and 50 reading-age-matched hearing children produced spellings of regular, semiregular, and irregular plural nouns in Experiment 1 and nonword plurals in Experiment 2. Deaf children performed reading-age appropriately on rule-based (regular and semiregular) plurals but were significantly less accurate at spelling irregular plurals. Spelling of plural nonwords and spelling error analyses revealed clear evidence for use of morphology. Deaf children used morphological generalization to a greater degree than their reading-age-matched hearing counterparts. Also, hearing children combined use of phonology and morphology to guide spelling, whereas deaf children appeared to use morphology without phonological mediation. Therefore, use of morphology in spelling can be independent of phonology and is available to the deaf despite limited experience with spoken language. Indeed, deaf children appear to be learning about morphology from the orthography. Education on more complex morphological generalization and exceptions may be highly beneficial not only for the deaf but also for other populations with phonological awareness limitations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1085-1096
Author(s):  
Alisha P. Springle ◽  
Peggy P. Hester

Purpose The impact of visual- and movement-specific intervention techniques for developing grammatical morphemes in the spoken language of two 6-year-old female children with language impairment was measured. Method An adapted alternating treatment single-subject study examined the grammar outcomes from the use of Shape Coding (i.e., using shapes, colors, and arrows to teach grammatical rules; Ebbels, van der Lely, & Dockrell, 2007 ) and an equivalent researcher-designed kinesthetic-/movement-based set of cues. Results Interventions were successfully provided by novice clinicians with limited training. Results indicated improvement across both students and were differentiated between students and intervention techniques. Conclusion These positive findings support the use of Shape Coding and movement-based interventions targeting language improvement. School-based clinicians should consider multiple modalities for therapeutic instruction with children with language impairment. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9454127


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