Children with phonological problems often come in contact with a speech and language pathologist for intervention. The intervention can be based on different theoretical frameworks, whereof non-linear phonology is one. The present study was carried out as a multiple single-case study with three participants aged 4;3-4;4 years. They had all been diagnosed with speech sound disorder but not yet been given any treatment. Before the intervention was started, three baseline measurements were made with the Swedish phonology test LINUS. The intervention took place once a week for five weeks and ended with two follow-up measurements. The first follow-up measurement occurred in connection to the last intervention and the other one after three weeks. The children’s caretakers filled in a questionnaire about their perception of the intervention at the last follow up measurement. Correctly produced segments and clusters in the words in LINUS were calculated and compared to the children’s productions at the base-line measurements. Percentage Phonemes Correct and Reliable Change Index were calculated to check whether any change was reliable. The targeted segments and clusters improved to a greater extent than other segments. Clusters demonstrated greater result regarding to the segments. The RCI-index was >1,96 for all participants indicating that the results were reliable in terms of improved phonological ability. In the parental questionnaire, it was indicated that the caretakers thought that the treatment was valuable, that they perceived improvements in their children’s speech and that the children thought that the treatment was funny. The study shows that an intervention based on a nonlinear phonological analysis is effective and can be used clinically. / Barn som har fonologiska svårigheter kommer ofta till en logoped för utredning och eventuell intervention. Den logopediska utredningen och efterföljande intervention kan utgå från olika teoretiska ramverk, varav icke-linjär fonologi är ett. Föreliggande studie var en multipel fallstudie med tre deltagare i åldern 4;3-4;4 år. Deltagarna hade fått diagnosen fonologisk språkstörning men ännu inte erhållit någon behandling. Före interventionsstart gjordes tre baslinjemätningar med det svenska fonologiska bedömningsmaterialet LINköpingUnderSökningen (LINUS). Interventionen gavs sedan en gång i veckan i fem veckor och avslutades med två uppföljande mätningar. Den första uppföljande mätningen skedde i samband med sista behandlingstillfället och den andra uppföljande mätningen skedde efter tre veckor. Vårdnadshavarna till barnen fick vid sista uppföljande mätningen även fylla i en utvärdering om hur de upplevde behandlingen. Korrekt producerade segment och kluster i orden i LINUS beräknades och jämfördes med barnens produktion vid baslinjemätningarna. Percentage Phonems Correct och Reliable Change Index för deltagarnas samtliga bedömningar beräknades för att ta reda på om eventuell förändring var reliabel. De segment och kluster som utgjorde mål för interventionen förbättrades mer än andra segment och kluster. Kluster förbättrades i högre grad än enskilda segment. RCI-index var >1,96 för samtliga deltagare, vilket innebär att förbättringen var reliabel. Baserat på vårdnadshavarnas utvärdering framkom det att behandlingen varit värdefull för dem, att de hörde en förbättring hos barnen samt att de upplevde att barnen fann behandlingen rolig. Studien visar att en intervention baserad på en icke-linjär fonologisk analys är effektiv och med fördel kan användas kliniskt.

Embora o papel da consciência fonológica na aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita em línguas alfabéticas já esteja bem estabelecido por uma grande quantidade de estudos, as relações entre as demais habilidades envolvidas no processamento fonológico (memória de trabalho fonológica e nomeação automatizada rápida) e o desempenho em leitura e escrita têm sido menos estudadas, havendo controvérsias sobre a contribuição específica e independente da memória de trabalho fonológica para o desempenho em leitura e escrita. Por outro lado, apesar de o desempenho em tarefas de nomeação automatizada rápida ter se mostrado relacionado às habilidades de leitura e escrita, encontram-se na literatura dúvidas sobre se essa relação estaria baseada no processamento de estímulos fonológicos ou no processamento de padrões visuais. Dessa maneira, o presente trabalho investigou a contribuição das habilidades de consciência fonológica, memória de trabalho fonológica, nomeação automatizada rápida e processamento visual para o desempenho em leitura e escrita de crianças em processo de alfabetização, analisando ainda a possível interação entre essas habilidades. Participaram desta pesquisa 50 crianças, de ambos os sexos, alunos de três classes de 3º Ano (2ª série) do Ensino Fundamental, de uma escola da rede pública de educação, localizada no interior do estado de São Paulo. Foram utilizados instrumentos padronizados para a avaliação das habilidades de leitura, escrita, consciência fonológica, memória de trabalho fonológica, nomeação automatizada rápida e processamento visual. Os dados foram analisados através de técnicas correlacionais e de análise de regressão, visando identificar a relação entre as variáveis estudadas e a contribuição das variáveis consideradas preditoras (consciência fonológica, memória de trabalho fonológica, nomeação automatizada rápida e processamento visual) sobre as habilidades de leitura e escrita da amostra estudada. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que, dentre as habilidades avaliadas, a consciência fonológica e a memória de trabalho fonológica são as que mais contribuem para o desempenho inicial em leitura e em escrita. Por outro lado, dentre as habilidades de nomeação automatizada rápida, apenas a nomeação de letras demonstrou correlação significativa com a leitura e a escrita. Por fim, não houve correlação das habilidades de leitura e escrita com o processamento visual. Resultados de uma análise fatorial exploratória sugerem ainda o agrupamento das variáveis preditoras em três fatores, relativamente independentes, sendo o primeiro formado pelas habilidades de memória fonológica e consciência fonológica, o segundo pelas habilidades de nomeação automatizada rápida e o terceiro pelo processamento visual, corroborando assim com os resultados de pesquisas que consideram a nomeação automatizada rápida como uma habilidade relativamente independente do processamento fonológico. Os resultados obtidos contribuem para a compreensão dos processos psicológicos envolvidos na aprendizagem da leitura e escrita, podendo oferecer subsídios para a elaboração de metodologias de alfabetização mais eficientes, tanto no que se refere ao âmbito do ensino, quanto à prevenção e remediação das dificuldades de aprendizagem. Suscitam também a necessidade de novas pesquisas para esclarecer melhor as relações entre os processos psicológicos envolvidos na nomeação seriada rápida e no processamento visual e as habilidades iniciais de leitura e escrita. / Although the role of phonological awareness in reading and writing learning in alphabetic languages is already well established by a lot of studies, the relationship among the other skills involved in phonological processing (phonological working memory and rapid automatized naming) and reading and writing performance have been less studied. There are controversies about the specific and independent contribution of phonological working memory for reading and writing performance. Moreover, although the performance in rapid naming tasks have been shown to be related to reading and writing skills, there are in the literature doubts about if this type of processing is mainly based on phonological stimuli processing or visual patterns processing. Thus, this study intended to investigate the contribution of phonological awareness, phonological working memory, rapid automatized naming and visual processing to the performance in reading and writing of children in the literacy process, still analyzing the possible interaction between those skills. Participated in this study 50 children of both sexes, students from three classes of 3rd Year (2nd series) of a public elementary school, located in the state of São Paulo. Standardized instruments were used for the assessment of reading, writing, phonological awareness, phonological working memory, rapid automatized naming and visual processing skills. Data were analyzed quantitatively through correlational techniques and regression analysis, to identify the relationship between the studied variables and the contribution of the variables considered predictors (phonological awareness, phonological working memory, rapid automatized naming and visual processing) on reading and writing skills of the sample. The results suggest that among the evaluated skills, phonological awareness and phonological working memory are those that contribute most to the initial performance in reading and writing. On the other hand, among the skills of rapid automatized naming, only the naming of letters showed significant correlation with reading and writing. Finally, there wasn´t correlation between reading or writing skills and visual processing. Results of an exploratory factor analysis also suggest the grouping of predictor variables on three factors, relatively independent, the first being formed by phonological working memory and phonological awareness skills, the second by rapid automatized naming skills and the third by the visual processing, supporting well the results of surveys that consider the rapid automatized naming as a relatively independent ability of phonological processing. The results contribute to the understanding of the psychological processes involved in reading and writing learning and can offer subsidies for the development of more efficient literacy methodologies, both with regard to teaching, as well the prevention and remediation of learning disabilities. They also raise the need of further research to clarify the relationship between the psychological processes involved in the rapid automatized naming and in the visual processing with regard to the initial skills of reading and writing.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-07-17T12:23:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Letícia Bello Staudt.pdf: 2668691 bytes, checksum: c288a68734098720415d12026bffdf6c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-17T12:23:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Letícia Bello Staudt.pdf: 2668691 bytes, checksum: c288a68734098720415d12026bffdf6c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-22 / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / A presente pesquisa traz reflexões acerca da incidência de desvios fonológicos na fala de crianças em processo de alfabetização e sua relação com a aquisição da escrita, mostrando a importância do estímulo à consciência fonológica para a superação das dificuldades fonológicas enfrentadas. O estudo foi desenvolvido em duas escolas públicas da região metropolitana de Porto Alegre. Foram acompanhados doze informantes, divididos em dois grupos: de acompanhamento e de intervenção. O grupo de acompanhamento, composto por quatro informantes com idades entre 8 e 11 anos, foi acompanhado durante um ano, porém, sem receber qualquer tipo de intervenção. O Grupo de intervenção, por sua vez, era composto por oito crianças, entre 6 e 8 anos. Para este grupo, foi desenvolvido um jogo de dados, intitulado Fonodado, que promovia o uso de fonemas e estruturas silábicas ausentes no inventário fonético das crianças, através de atividades que estimulavam a consciência fonológica e a escrita. As crianças participaram da atividade semanalmente, com sessões individuais de trinta minutos, por um período aproximado de dois meses Como resultado, observou-se na pós-testagem do grupo de intervenção efeitos positivos com relação ao desenvolvimento do nível de consciência fonológica testada pelo CONFIAS (MOOJEN et al., 2003), além da superação de todos ou parte dos desvios fonológicos observados na fala dos informantes.Da mesma forma, as crianças do grupo de intervenção demonstraram desenvolvimento da escrita, superando dificuldades de cunho fonológico na grafia de palavras. Em contrapartida, os indivíduos pertencentes ao grupo de acompanhamento mantiveram, em sua maioria, os desvios fonológicos observados no início do estudo, além de dificuldades na modalidade escrita da língua.A pesquisa procurou, ainda, refletir sobre o uso do termo desvio fonológico, trazendo considerações sobre as implicações do uso desse termo na identificação de crianças que apresentam tais características de fala, considerando-se aspectos relacionados à inclusão desses alunos no ambiente escolar. Dessa forma, propõem-se uma mudança no olhar frente ao desvio fonológico e sua implicação no desenvolvimento da criança, que depende, além de outros fatores, da atenção dispensada pelo educador às manifestações linguísticas de seus alunos e de uma diversificação na prática pedagógica, em busca de alternativas para a aprendizagem de todos. / This research presents reflections about the incidence of phonological disorders in children’s speech in the literacy process, and its relation to the acquisition of writing, showing the importance of the phonological awareness stimulation for overcoming the phonological difficulties. The study was developed in two public schools in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre. It was followed twelve informants, divided into two groups: monitoring and intervention. The monitoring group, consisting on four respondents, aged between 8 and 11 years old, were followed for one year, but not receiving any kind of intervention. The intervention group, however, was made up of eight children, between 6 and 8 years old. For this group, it was developed a dice game, entitled Fonodado, which promoted the use of phonemes and missing syllabic structure in the children’s phonetic inventory through activities that encouraged phonological awareness and writing. Children participated in the activity weekly in individual sessions that lasted thirty minutes for about two months. As a result, it was observed positive effects in the post-testing of the intervention group regarding the development of phonological awareness level tested by CONFIAS, beyond overcoming all or part of the phonological disorders observed in the informants’ speech. Similarly, children in the intervention group showed development of writing, overcoming difficulties caused by phonological nature in the spelling of words. In contrast, individuals in the monitoring group remained almost all the phonological disorders observed at baseline, as well as difficulties in the written form of the language. The research also aimed to reflect on the use of the phonological disorder term, bringing considerations about the implications of using this term in the identification of children with such speech characteristics, considering aspects related to the inclusion of these students in the school environment. Thus, it proposes a change in the way the speech disorder is understood and in its implication toward the child’s development, which depends, among other factors, on the attention given by the educator to the students’ linguistic manifestations and on diversifying the teaching practice, searching for alternatives to the learning of all.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:56:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sandra Puliezi.pdf: 2083109 bytes, checksum: 7554325d5167a5c7ef372db6b8373f0f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-09-26 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The research aimed to evaluate how three phonological processing skills (phonological awareness, phonological working memory and rapid naming) are related to the initial reading ability in a group of children in a first grade of the elementary school. Another objective was to assess whether variations in reading ability (good and poor readers) are related to changes in phonological processing skills. The participants were 28 students in a private school in Guarulhos city. The average age group was 6 years and 7 months. The procedure consisted of individual application tasks: word reading, rhyme and initial phonemes identifying, segmenting words into syllables, digits repetition, pseudo-word repetition and rapid naming of pictures. Data were expressed as points and subjected to statistical tests. The t-Test results, comparing good and poor readers, led us to conclude that good readers read faster than poor readers, and have better results in phonological awareness. In phonological working memory can be said that the difference between good and poor readers was not significant. In rapid naming, there is a significant difference between the groups in favor of good readers. The results of Pearson correlations allow us to conclude that performance in the initial reading is associated with the reading time. We can also say that the initial reading is associated with the three processing skills assessed: phonological awareness, phonological working memory and rapid naming / O objetivo da pesquisa foi avaliar como três habilidades de processamento fonológico (consciência fonológica, memória de trabalho fonológica e velocidade de nomeação) se relacionam com a habilidade inicial de leitura em um grupo de crianças do 1º ano do ensino fundamental. Também foi objetivo verificar se variações na habilidade de leitura (bons e maus leitores) estão relacionadas a variações nas habilidades de processamento fonológico. Participaram do estudo 28 alunos da rede particular de ensino do município de Guarulhos. A idade média no grupo era de 6 anos e 7 meses. O procedimento consistiu na aplicação individual de tarefas de: leitura de palavras, identificação de rima e fonema inicial, segmentação de palavras em sílabas, repetição de dígitos, repetição de pseudo-palavras e nomeação rápida de figuras. Os dados foram expressos em pontos e submetidos a testes estatísticos. Os resultados do Teste-t, comparando os grupos de bons e maus leitores, nos levou a concluir que os bons leitores leem mais rápido que os maus leitores, assim como possuem melhores resultados em consciência fonológica. Na memória de trabalho fonológica podemos dizer que a diferença entre os bons e maus leitores não foi significativa. Na velocidade de nomeação há uma diferença significatica entre os grupos a favor dos bons leitores. Os resultados das correlações de Pearson nos permitem concluir que o desempenho na leitura inicial está associado com o tempo de leitura. Também podemos dizer que a leitura inicial está associada com as três habilidades de processamento avaliadas: consciência fonológica, memória de trabalho fonológica e velocidade de nomeação

Embora o papel da consciência fonológica na aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita em línguas alfabéticas já esteja bem estabelecido por uma grande quantidade de estudos, as relações entre as demais habilidades envolvidas no processamento fonológico (memória de trabalho fonológica e nomeação automatizada rápida) e o desempenho em leitura e escrita têm sido menos estudadas, havendo controvérsias sobre a contribuição específica e independente da memória de trabalho fonológica para o desempenho em leitura e escrita. Por outro lado, apesar de o desempenho em tarefas de nomeação automatizada rápida ter se mostrado relacionado às habilidades de leitura e escrita, encontram-se na literatura dúvidas sobre se essa relação estaria baseada no processamento de estímulos fonológicos ou no processamento de padrões visuais. Dessa maneira, o presente trabalho investigou a contribuição das habilidades de consciência fonológica, memória de trabalho fonológica, nomeação automatizada rápida e processamento visual para o desempenho em leitura e escrita de crianças em processo de alfabetização, analisando ainda a possível interação entre essas habilidades. Participaram desta pesquisa 50 crianças, de ambos os sexos, alunos de três classes de 3º Ano (2ª série) do Ensino Fundamental, de uma escola da rede pública de educação, localizada no interior do estado de São Paulo. Foram utilizados instrumentos padronizados para a avaliação das habilidades de leitura, escrita, consciência fonológica, memória de trabalho fonológica, nomeação automatizada rápida e processamento visual. Os dados foram analisados através de técnicas correlacionais e de análise de regressão, visando identificar a relação entre as variáveis estudadas e a contribuição das variáveis consideradas preditoras (consciência fonológica, memória de trabalho fonológica, nomeação automatizada rápida e processamento visual) sobre as habilidades de leitura e escrita da amostra estudada. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que, dentre as habilidades avaliadas, a consciência fonológica e a memória de trabalho fonológica são as que mais contribuem para o desempenho inicial em leitura e em escrita. Por outro lado, dentre as habilidades de nomeação automatizada rápida, apenas a nomeação de letras demonstrou correlação significativa com a leitura e a escrita. Por fim, não houve correlação das habilidades de leitura e escrita com o processamento visual. Resultados de uma análise fatorial exploratória sugerem ainda o agrupamento das variáveis preditoras em três fatores, relativamente independentes, sendo o primeiro formado pelas habilidades de memória fonológica e consciência fonológica, o segundo pelas habilidades de nomeação automatizada rápida e o terceiro pelo processamento visual, corroborando assim com os resultados de pesquisas que consideram a nomeação automatizada rápida como uma habilidade relativamente independente do processamento fonológico. Os resultados obtidos contribuem para a compreensão dos processos psicológicos envolvidos na aprendizagem da leitura e escrita, podendo oferecer subsídios para a elaboração de metodologias de alfabetização mais eficientes, tanto no que se refere ao âmbito do ensino, quanto à prevenção e remediação das dificuldades de aprendizagem. Suscitam também a necessidade de novas pesquisas para esclarecer melhor as relações entre os processos psicológicos envolvidos na nomeação seriada rápida e no processamento visual e as habilidades iniciais de leitura e escrita. / Although the role of phonological awareness in reading and writing learning in alphabetic languages is already well established by a lot of studies, the relationship among the other skills involved in phonological processing (phonological working memory and rapid automatized naming) and reading and writing performance have been less studied. There are controversies about the specific and independent contribution of phonological working memory for reading and writing performance. Moreover, although the performance in rapid naming tasks have been shown to be related to reading and writing skills, there are in the literature doubts about if this type of processing is mainly based on phonological stimuli processing or visual patterns processing. Thus, this study intended to investigate the contribution of phonological awareness, phonological working memory, rapid automatized naming and visual processing to the performance in reading and writing of children in the literacy process, still analyzing the possible interaction between those skills. Participated in this study 50 children of both sexes, students from three classes of 3rd Year (2nd series) of a public elementary school, located in the state of São Paulo. Standardized instruments were used for the assessment of reading, writing, phonological awareness, phonological working memory, rapid automatized naming and visual processing skills. Data were analyzed quantitatively through correlational techniques and regression analysis, to identify the relationship between the studied variables and the contribution of the variables considered predictors (phonological awareness, phonological working memory, rapid automatized naming and visual processing) on reading and writing skills of the sample. The results suggest that among the evaluated skills, phonological awareness and phonological working memory are those that contribute most to the initial performance in reading and writing. On the other hand, among the skills of rapid automatized naming, only the naming of letters showed significant correlation with reading and writing. Finally, there wasn´t correlation between reading or writing skills and visual processing. Results of an exploratory factor analysis also suggest the grouping of predictor variables on three factors, relatively independent, the first being formed by phonological working memory and phonological awareness skills, the second by rapid automatized naming skills and the third by the visual processing, supporting well the results of surveys that consider the rapid automatized naming as a relatively independent ability of phonological processing. The results contribute to the understanding of the psychological processes involved in reading and writing learning and can offer subsidies for the development of more efficient literacy methodologies, both with regard to teaching, as well the prevention and remediation of learning disabilities. They also raise the need of further research to clarify the relationship between the psychological processes involved in the rapid automatized naming and in the visual processing with regard to the initial skills of reading and writing.

<p>Cochleaimplantat (CI) är ett hörselhjälpmedel som kan ge barn med grav hörselnedsättning eller dövhet möjlighet att höra och utveckla talat språk. Svenska grundskolebarn med CI har tidigare visats ha en något nedsatt prosodisk förmåga och fonologiskt arbetsminne även om stora individuella variationer förekommer.</p><p>Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka prosodisk förmåga och fonologiskt arbetsminne hos svenska förskolebarn med CI. Vidare undersöktes samband mellan prosodisk förmåga och fonologiskt arbetsminne. I studien deltog sex förskolebarn med CI och totalt 18 normalhörande kontroller, varav sex var ålders-, köns- och dialektmatchade med barnen med CI.</p><p>Barnen med CI i föreliggande studie uppvisade som grupp signifikant lägre resultat än de normalhörande barnen på test avseende prosodisk produktion på ord-, fras- och diskursnivå samt på test som undersöker fonologiskt arbetsminne. Gällande receptiv prosodisk förmåga förekom inga signifikanta skillnader. Vid jämförelse med svenska grundskolebarn med CI framkom att både yngre och äldre barn med CI har svårigheter med prosodi på samtliga nivåer. Vidare jämförelser indikerar att en utveckling av receptiv prosodisk förmåga sker under förskole- och skolåren. Korrelationsberäkningarna tyder på att det föreligger ett samband mellan prosodisk förmåga och fonologiskt arbetsminne.</p><p>Barnen med CI i föreliggande studie är en heterogen grupp och några barn uppvisade på vissa deltest likvärdiga resultat som sina matchade kontroller, vilket visar att CI ger goda förutsättningar att utveckla prosodiska förmågor och talad kommunikation.</p> / <p>Cochlear Implant (CI) is a hearing device that can enable deaf children or children with severe hearing impairment to hear and to develop spoken language. Research has shown that Swedish school aged children with CI have poor prosodic abilities to some extent, as well as poor phonological working memory. However, there are large individual differences.</p><p>The aim of the present study was to investigate prosodic abilities and phonological working memory in Swedish preschool children with CI. Moreover, the relation between prosodic abilities and phonological working memory was examined. Six preschool children with CI participated in the study. The control group consisted of 18 children with normal hearing, out of which six children were matched for age, sex and regional dialect to the children with CI.</p><p>In the present study the children with CI as a group demonstrated significantly lower results compared to the children with normal hearing on tests concerning prosodic production abilities at word, phrase and discourse level and tests concerning phonological working memory. No significant differences emerged regarding receptive prosodic abilities. In comparison to Swedish school aged children with CI it was shown that both younger and older children with CI have difficulties at all prosodic levels. Furthermore, the comparisons indicate that receptive prosodic skills develop during preschool and school years. Results also indicate a connection between prosodic abilities and phonological working memory.</p><p>The children with CI in the present study is a heterogeneous group and a few children demonstrated equivalent results as their matched controls on some parts of the tests, which show that CI provides a good foundation for developing prosodic abilities and spoken communication.</p>

<p>Cochleaimplantat (CI) är ett tekniskt hörselhjälpmedel som används av personer med grav hörselnedsättning eller dövhet. Ett CI ger barn med medfödd dövhet möjlighet att höra och utveckla talad kommunikation. CI ersätter inte normal hörsel och det finns stora individuella variationer i språk och talfärdighet hos personer med CI. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att studera kognitiva och språkliga förmågor hos barn med CI med fokus på läsförmåga. I studien deltog 57 barn i åldrarna 7;3-10;4 år. Sju av barnen hade CI. För att besvara frågeställningarna användes utvalda delar av SIPS (Sound Information Processing System), Fonemtest, TOWRE, Ortografiska val, Ortografisk inlärning, Woodcock och Blockmönster ur WISC III. Testresultatet analyserades på grupp- och individnivå och jämfördes med resultat från en kontrollgrupp med normalhörande barn. Barnen med CI presterade som grupp i nivå med normalhörande barn på majoriteten av testen. På de fonologiska testen presterade barnen med CI lägre än normalhörande men hade generellt en avkodningsförmåga i nivå med normalhörande barn. Barn med CI i årskurs 3 hade även en läsförståelse i nivå med normalhörande medan barnen med CI i årskurs 1-2 presterade signifikant lägre än normalhörande barn. Resultaten i studien indikerar att varken sen implantation, taluppfattningsnivå eller kommunikationssätt behöver leda till sämre läsförmåga.</p> / <p>A cochlear implant (CI) is a technical hearing device used by individuals with severe to profound hearing impairment. CI can provide children with congenital hearing impairment the abilities to hear and develop speech and language outcome. CI does not replace normal hearing and there are great individual variations in language and verbal skills in persons with CI. The aim of this study was to examine the cognitive and linguistic abilities in children with CI with focus on reading ability. In the present study 57 children between the ages of 7;3-10;4 participated.  Seven of the children had CI. SIPS (Sound Information Processing System), Phonological Output, TOWRE, Orthographic Choices, Orthographic Learning , Woodcock and Block Design Test from WISC III were selected to answer the question at issue. The results were analyzed both at a group and at an individual level and were compared with results from a group with normal hearing children. Children with CI performed as a group at the level of normal hearing children on the majority of the tests. The children with CI had lower performance levels than the normal hearing children in tasks of phonological skills but they generally had a decoding ability within the normal range for hearing children. Children with CI in grade 3 also demonstrated a reading comprehension within the normal range for hearing children whereas children with CI in grade 1-2 had lower performance level than normal hearing children. The results of the present study indicate that late implantation; neither speech perception nor means of communication have to result in poorer reading ability.</p>

Cochleaimplantat (CI) är ett hörselhjälpmedel som kan ge barn med grav hörselnedsättning eller dövhet möjlighet att höra och utveckla talat språk. Svenska grundskolebarn med CI har tidigare visats ha en något nedsatt prosodisk förmåga och fonologiskt arbetsminne även om stora individuella variationer förekommer. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka prosodisk förmåga och fonologiskt arbetsminne hos svenska förskolebarn med CI. Vidare undersöktes samband mellan prosodisk förmåga och fonologiskt arbetsminne. I studien deltog sex förskolebarn med CI och totalt 18 normalhörande kontroller, varav sex var ålders-, köns- och dialektmatchade med barnen med CI. Barnen med CI i föreliggande studie uppvisade som grupp signifikant lägre resultat än de normalhörande barnen på test avseende prosodisk produktion på ord-, fras- och diskursnivå samt på test som undersöker fonologiskt arbetsminne. Gällande receptiv prosodisk förmåga förekom inga signifikanta skillnader. Vid jämförelse med svenska grundskolebarn med CI framkom att både yngre och äldre barn med CI har svårigheter med prosodi på samtliga nivåer. Vidare jämförelser indikerar att en utveckling av receptiv prosodisk förmåga sker under förskole- och skolåren. Korrelationsberäkningarna tyder på att det föreligger ett samband mellan prosodisk förmåga och fonologiskt arbetsminne. Barnen med CI i föreliggande studie är en heterogen grupp och några barn uppvisade på vissa deltest likvärdiga resultat som sina matchade kontroller, vilket visar att CI ger goda förutsättningar att utveckla prosodiska förmågor och talad kommunikation. / Cochlear Implant (CI) is a hearing device that can enable deaf children or children with severe hearing impairment to hear and to develop spoken language. Research has shown that Swedish school aged children with CI have poor prosodic abilities to some extent, as well as poor phonological working memory. However, there are large individual differences. The aim of the present study was to investigate prosodic abilities and phonological working memory in Swedish preschool children with CI. Moreover, the relation between prosodic abilities and phonological working memory was examined. Six preschool children with CI participated in the study. The control group consisted of 18 children with normal hearing, out of which six children were matched for age, sex and regional dialect to the children with CI. In the present study the children with CI as a group demonstrated significantly lower results compared to the children with normal hearing on tests concerning prosodic production abilities at word, phrase and discourse level and tests concerning phonological working memory. No significant differences emerged regarding receptive prosodic abilities. In comparison to Swedish school aged children with CI it was shown that both younger and older children with CI have difficulties at all prosodic levels. Furthermore, the comparisons indicate that receptive prosodic skills develop during preschool and school years. Results also indicate a connection between prosodic abilities and phonological working memory. The children with CI in the present study is a heterogeneous group and a few children demonstrated equivalent results as their matched controls on some parts of the tests, which show that CI provides a good foundation for developing prosodic abilities and spoken communication.

Cochleaimplantat (CI) är ett tekniskt hörselhjälpmedel som används av personer med grav hörselnedsättning eller dövhet. Ett CI ger barn med medfödd dövhet möjlighet att höra och utveckla talad kommunikation. CI ersätter inte normal hörsel och det finns stora individuella variationer i språk och talfärdighet hos personer med CI. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att studera kognitiva och språkliga förmågor hos barn med CI med fokus på läsförmåga. I studien deltog 57 barn i åldrarna 7;3-10;4 år. Sju av barnen hade CI. För att besvara frågeställningarna användes utvalda delar av SIPS (Sound Information Processing System), Fonemtest, TOWRE, Ortografiska val, Ortografisk inlärning, Woodcock och Blockmönster ur WISC III. Testresultatet analyserades på grupp- och individnivå och jämfördes med resultat från en kontrollgrupp med normalhörande barn. Barnen med CI presterade som grupp i nivå med normalhörande barn på majoriteten av testen. På de fonologiska testen presterade barnen med CI lägre än normalhörande men hade generellt en avkodningsförmåga i nivå med normalhörande barn. Barn med CI i årskurs 3 hade även en läsförståelse i nivå med normalhörande medan barnen med CI i årskurs 1-2 presterade signifikant lägre än normalhörande barn. Resultaten i studien indikerar att varken sen implantation, taluppfattningsnivå eller kommunikationssätt behöver leda till sämre läsförmåga. / A cochlear implant (CI) is a technical hearing device used by individuals with severe to profound hearing impairment. CI can provide children with congenital hearing impairment the abilities to hear and develop speech and language outcome. CI does not replace normal hearing and there are great individual variations in language and verbal skills in persons with CI. The aim of this study was to examine the cognitive and linguistic abilities in children with CI with focus on reading ability. In the present study 57 children between the ages of 7;3-10;4 participated.  Seven of the children had CI. SIPS (Sound Information Processing System), Phonological Output, TOWRE, Orthographic Choices, Orthographic Learning , Woodcock and Block Design Test from WISC III were selected to answer the question at issue. The results were analyzed both at a group and at an individual level and were compared with results from a group with normal hearing children. Children with CI performed as a group at the level of normal hearing children on the majority of the tests. The children with CI had lower performance levels than the normal hearing children in tasks of phonological skills but they generally had a decoding ability within the normal range for hearing children. Children with CI in grade 3 also demonstrated a reading comprehension within the normal range for hearing children whereas children with CI in grade 1-2 had lower performance level than normal hearing children. The results of the present study indicate that late implantation; neither speech perception nor means of communication have to result in poorer reading ability.

The PhonicStick is a joystick which has been developed as a communicative device to be used by people with severe physical disabilities. During the developmental phase the possibility of using this device in order to train the phonological awareness of 6 – 8 year old children was examined. The studies conducted did not show any statistical difference in phonological awareness when this was tested with current tests after the children had trained with the PhonicStick. One explanation for this could be that the children had already begun to read and write in school. Therefore, a part of the present study was aimed at investigating if a difference in results on the norm referenced tests could be obtained if the children were 4-5 years old instead of 6-8. Parts of a norm referenced test for phonological awareness and an adapted test material for the PhonicStick were used for this evaluation. The 10 examined children were equally divided into a test and a control group.In addition, a meta study was performed, where all the studies relevant to phonological awareness and the PhonicStick were evaluated. Data from these studies were summarized, and processed statistically. Only two statistically significant (p&lt;0.05) differences could be shown after the training with the PhonicStick: both the test group and the control group obtained better results in the posttest in the test of “phoneme identification” and the test group performed better at the test “word production” then the control group. A possible interpretation of the results could be that there might be an intuitive phonological awareness that can not be tested with the current tests for phonological awareness. / The PhonicStick är en joystick som utvecklas med avsikt att bli ett kommunikationshjälpmedel att användas för människor med grava fysiska funktionsnedsättningar. Under utvecklingsarbetet undersöktes om det även kunde användas för att träna fonologisk medvetenhet hos 6-8-åringar. Undersökningarna visade inte någon statistisk skillnad i fonologisk medvetenhet när detta undersöktes med gängse normerade tester efter träning med the PhonicStick. En förklaring kunde vara att dessa barn redan tränats i att läsa och skriva i skolan. Därför undersöktes i en delstudie i detta arbete om en skillnad i resultat på de normerade testen kunde hittas om barnen var 4-5-år istället för 6-8. Delar av ett normerat test för fonologisk medvetenhet och ett bearbetat testmaterial för the PhonicStick användes vid utvärderingen. De 10 undersökta barnen var jämt fördelade på testgrupp och kontrollgrupp. Dessutom utfördes en metastudie, i vilken alla inom området fonologisk medvetenhet relevanta studier med the PhonicStick utvärderades. Data från dessa studier sammanfattades och bearbetades statistiskt. Endast två skillnader kunde med statistiskt säkerhet (p&lt;0,05) visas efter träning med the PhonicStick: både testgruppen och kontrollgruppen var bättre på posttestet i deltestet ”fonemidentifiering” och testgruppen presterade bättre på deltestet ”ordproduktion” än vad kontrollgruppen gjorde. En möjlig tolkning av resultaten kan vara att det kan finnas en intuitiv fonologisk medvetenhet som inte kan testas med gängse test för fonologisk medvetenhet.