Comparison of Phonological Awareness Skills and Home Early Literacy Environments of Children with Speech Sound Disorders

Dilara Derin Maral Yeşilyurt
Abstract

Purpose: It is known that preschool children with speech sound disorders (SSD) are at risk for having reading difficulties in the future. Phonological awareness (PA) skill is also an important skill of early literacy and allows to predict the success of future literacy skills. Understanding how much preschool children with SSD are exposed to literacy at home might suggest that examining home early literacy environments and their PA levels are important in terms of providing insight into emerging literacy skills. For these reasons, within the scope of this study, it was aimed to identify and compare the PA skills and home early literacy environments of children with and without SSD. Method: 20 children with and without SSD (40 in total), aged between 60 to 72 months, participated in the study. The research was carried out in a special education and rehabilitation center, various kindergartens, and homes of the participants in the city of Sakarya, Turkey. Data were collected between November 2022 and January 2023.The research sample was formed by considering that the children did not have any mental, neurological, auditory or physiological disabilities; exhibited typical language development and spoke Turkish as their native language. The Turkish Articulation and Phonology Test was used to include the participants in the SSD group. The Turkish version of the Test of Early Language Development-Third Edition was used to identify that language skills were average or above in terms of typical language development. The PA sub-test of the Early Literacy Test and Home Early Literacy Environment Scale were used to collect data. Results: As a result, no significant relationship was found between PA skills and home early literacy environments in children with SSD. There was a statistically significant, positive, and moderate relationship between PA scores and reading scores in the group without SSD. The PA skills and home early literacy environments of children with SSD were significantly lower than their peers without SSD. As a result of this study, it was revealed that preschool children with SSD performed poorly in PA skills compared to their peers without SSD, and home early literacy environments were also disadvantageous compared to their peers. Conclusion: It is suggested that targeting the assessment and treatment of PA skills as part of the therapy sessions with children diagnosed with SSD will prevent future literacy problems and contribute to the remediation of existing speech sound problems. It is recommended to educate parents on activities related to interactive book reading as well as phonological and print awareness skills in the context of organizing home early literacy environments.


Keywords

early literacy, home literacy environment, phonological awareness, speech sound disorder


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