Abstract
To determine the occurrence of phonological disorders by age, gender and school type, and analyze the phonological processes observed in typical and atypical phonological development across different age groups. The sample consisted of 866 children aged between 3:0 and 8:11 years, recruited from public and private schools in the city of Santa Maria/RS. A phonological evaluation was performed to analyze the operative phonological processes. 15.26% (n = 132) of the sample presented atypical phonological acquisition (phonological disorders). Phonological impairments were more frequent in public school students across all age groups. Phonological alterations were most frequent between ages 4 -to 6, and more prevalent in males than females in all but the youngest age group. The most common phonological processes in typical phonological acquisition were: cluster reduction; nonlateral liquid deletion in coda; nonlateral liquid substitution in onset; semivocalization of lateral liquids in coda; and unstressed syllable deletion. In children with phonological disorders, the most common phonological processes were: lateral and nonlateral liquid substitution in onset position; nonlateral liquid deletion; fronting of fricatives in onset position; unstressed syllable deletion; semivocalization of nonlateral liquid in coda; and nonlateral liquid deletion in coda position. Phonological processes were highly prevalent in the present sample, and occurred more often in boys than in girls. Information regarding the type and frequency of phonological processes in both typical phonological acquisition and phonological disorders may contribute to early diagnosis and increase the efficiency of treatment planning.
Highlights
Language - or phonological - acquisition is a gradual process which culminates in the mastery of all speech sounds in a given language
The sample consisted of 866 children, 84.6% (n = 733) of whom exhibited typical phonological acquisition, while the remaining 15.4% (n = 133) presented with phonological disorders
The present study found a mean prevalence of 15.26% for phonological processes, though values ranged from 8.26 to 20.63% depending on the age group
Summary
Language - or phonological - acquisition is a gradual process which culminates in the mastery of all speech sounds in a given language. As children grow, their phonological inventories become increasingly complete, and less susceptible to individual variability[1]. Phonological acquisition does not follow a uniform pattern across the population, with some children experiencing delays or deviations in the process[3]. Phoneme substitutions or even deletions, leading to the omission of a phoneme or even an entire syllable from a particular word, are a common part of phonological acquisition[4]. Over the course of typical development, children will gradually overcome these difficulties and fill out their phonological inventory. In some cases, these difficulties persist well beyond the expected time frame, for reasons ranging from impairments in speech motor planning (speech apraxia)(5), to articulatory distortions, or phonetic disorders[5,6]; to linguistic difficulties arising from the mental organization of speech sounds, or phonological disorders[6,7]
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