A Study of Classroom-Based Phonological Awareness Training for Preschoolers with Speech and/or Language Disorders.

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology

Volume

7

Issue

3

Publication Date

1998

First Page

65

Last Page

76

Abstract

Sixteen preschool children with speech and/or language disordersreceived phonological awareness training for a period of 9 months.Eight children attended a preschool classroom, and 8 childrenattended a pre-kindergarten classroom. The classrooms were locatedin a private school for children with speech and language disorders.A group of older children with speech and/or language disordersserved as a nontreatment comparison group. Children in the treatmentgroups received 15 minutes of small-group lessons twice eachweek for two semesters. Classroom-based treatment focused onrhyming the first semester and on phoneme awareness the secondsemester. Rhyming and phoneme awareness activities were adaptedfrom the literature on the development of phonological awarenessin typically-achieving children. Results revealed that preschoolchildren with speech and/or language disorders made significantimprovement in rhyming and phoneme awareness. Comparisons withthe non-treatment group indicated that gains in phoneme awarenesswere likely a result of the treatment rather than maturationor other aspects of the curriculum. We recommend the inclusionof some form of phonological awareness training, particularlyphoneme awareness training, in intervention programs for preschoolers.

Comments

Published by American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Publisher PDF is available through link above. Publisher requires a subscription to access article.

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