MOTIVATION: The purpose of this study is to examine the role of speech production as it relates to behavioral risk for dyslexia. The study aims to go beyond simple speech production measures by examining speech production accuracy in complex, multisyllabic words. This study examines preschool-aged children, which is the age at which speech sound disorders are typically identified. Additionally, this study seeks to understand the association between speech production and other key speech and language sub-skills, ultimately contributing to early identification and intervention for children at risk for dyslexia.
METHODS: Fourteen preschool-aged children (four at risk for dyslexia) completed assessments of phonological processing, articulation, receptive vocabulary, and oral language, along with a multisyllabic word repetition task. Within the multisyllabic word production task, phonetic accuracy, suprasegmental accuracy, and various error types were examined. Statistical analyses examined relationships between speech and language subskills and multisyllabic word production accuracy. Exploratory analyses investigated speech production characteristics among children with versus without risk for dyslexia.
RESULTS: Speech production (i.e., total phonetic accuracy, Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised (PCC-R)) was significantly correlated with phonological awareness.Participants without risk for dyslexia show an overall pattern of higher PCC-R and total phonetic accuracy when compared to participants at risk for dyslexia. Participants at risk for dyslexia also showed more substitution errors relative to those without risk.
CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary findings suggest significant relationships between complex speech production accuracy and phonological awareness, a key predictor of dyslexia. The study reveals the need for a larger-scale investigation to further examine the relationship between these factors in children with and without dyslexia risk, and to examine a sample of children with more heterogeneous language profiles to address the potential implications for individuals with low language performance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/48758 |
| Date | 14 May 2024 |
| Creators | Tewksbary, Natalie Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Zuk, Jennifer |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
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