An Exploratory Study of Phonological Awareness and Working Memory Differences and Literacy Performance of People that Use AAC

• Published in: The Spanish journal of psychology 2010-11, Vol.13 (2), p.538-556
• Main Authors: Taibo, María Luisa Gómez, Iglesias, Pilar Vieiro, Raposo, María del Salvador González, Méndez, María Sotillo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Awareness; Biological and medical sciences; Cerebral palsy; Cerebral Palsy - psychology; Cerebral Palsy - rehabilitation; Communication; Communication Aids for Disabled; Communication Disorders - psychology; Communication Disorders - rehabilitation; Dyslexia - psychology; Dyslexia - rehabilitation; Educational Status; Female; Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy; Humans; Literacy; Male; Medical sciences; Memory; Memory, Short-Term; Miscellaneous; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Phonetics; Phonology; Psicología; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reading; Semantics; Short-term memory; Skills; Spelling; Verbal Learning; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1138-7416; 1988-2904
• DOI: 10.1017/S1138741600002237

Twelve cerebral palsied adolescents and young adults with complex communicative needs who used augmentative and alternative communication were studied. They were classified according to their working memory capacity (high vs. low) into two groups of 6 participants. They were also divided into two groups of 6 participants according to their high vs. low phonological skills. These groups were compared on their performance in reading tests –orthographic knowledge, a word test and a pseudoword reading test- and in the spelling of words, pseudowords and pictures' names. Statistical differences were found between high vs. low phonological skills groups, and between high and low working memory groups. High working memory capacity group scored significantly higher than low working memory group in the orthographic and word reading tests. The high phonological skills group outperformed the low phonological skills group in the word reading test and in the spelling of pseudowords and pictures' names. From a descriptive point of view, phonological skills and working memory, factors known to be highly predictive of literacy skills in people without disabilities, also hold as factors for the participants that used AAC in our study. Implications of the results are discussed. En nuestro estudio participaron doce adolescentes y adultos jóvenes con parálisis cerebral con necesidades comunicativas especiales, usuarios de comunicación aumentativa y alternativa. Éstos fueron clasificados según su capacidad de memoria operativa (alta vs. baja) en 2 grupos de 6 participantes, y en otros dos, también de 6 participantes de acuerdo a sus habilidades fonológicas (altas vs. bajas). Todos ellos fueron comparados según sus habilidades lectoras (conocimiento ortográfico, lectura de palabras, de pseudopalabras, capacidad de deletreo de palabras, de pseudopalabras y deletreo de nombres de dibujos. Los resultados mostraron diferencias significativas entre los grupos de altas y bajas capacidades fonológicas así como entre los grupos de alta y baja capacidad de memoria en algunas de las medidas estudiadas. Los sujetos con alta capacidad de memoria obtuvieron puntuaciones significativamente mejores en la tarea ortográfica y en la lectura de palabras. Por otra parte, los sujetos con mejores habilidades fonológicas rindieron significativamente mejor en las tareas de lectura de palabras, deletreo de pseudopalabras y de nombres de dibujos. Desde un punto de vista descriptivo, podemos afirmar que l