Phonological awareness in Swedish-speaking children with complex communication needs

• Published in: Journal of intellectual & developmental disability 2008-03, Vol.33 (1), p.22-35
• Main Authors: Larsson, Maria, Sandberg, Annika Dahlgren
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Articulation (Speech); Articulation Disorders - diagnosis; Articulation Disorders - psychology; Articulation impairments; Articulatory ability; Awareness; Beginning Reading; Cerebral Palsy; Cerebral Palsy - diagnosis; Cerebral Palsy - psychology; Cerebral Palsy - rehabilitation; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Children with disabilities; Communication; Communication Aids for Disabled; Communication Disorders; Communication Disorders - diagnosis; Communication Disorders - psychology; Communication Disorders - rehabilitation; Communication problems; complex communication needs; Disabilities; Education, Special; Europe; Evaluation; Female; Foreign Countries; Health Services Needs and Demand; Humans; Intellectual Disability - diagnosis; Intellectual Disability - psychology; Language Development Disorders - diagnosis; Language Development Disorders - psychology; Language Development Disorders - rehabilitation; Language disorders; Language Tests; Literacy; Literacy education; Literacy skills; Male; Memory; Metalinguistics; Phonemic Awareness; Phonetics; Phonological awareness; Psychomotor skills; Reading; Reading Difficulties; Reading Skills; Rhyme; Speech; Speech disordered children; Speech disorders; Speech Impairments; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Studies; Sweden; Swedish; Tests
• ISSN: 1366-8250; 1469-9532
• DOI: 10.1080/13668250701829613

Background Children with complex communication needs (CCN) often experience problems achieving literacy. The aim of this project was to study phonological awareness, a central predictor for literacy achievement, in children with CCN, and to compare their performance to a group of children with natural speech. Method One group of 15 Swedish children with CCN and cerebral palsy (CP), and one group of 15 children with natural speech, matched for gender, linguistic age and mental age, were administered nine phonological awareness tasks, testing onset rime and phonemic awareness. Results Overall, children with CCN showed good levels of phonological awareness. However, on the one task that did not include any verbal support from the experimenter, the children with CCN performed at a significantly lower level. Conclusion Phonological awareness does not seem to depend on overt articulation, although the lack of speech might affect the children's ability to manipulate linguistic material that is not verbally presented.