[Phoneme discrimination test material for preschool children: development and preliminary assessment].

BACKGROUND

Several tests have been developed to probe phoneme discrimination. However, little is known about the reliability and validity of discrimination abilities in preschool children as assessed by these tests. Based on previous results we now developed a test material based on minimal pair presentation.

METHODS

Prospective study; 30 preschool children (5;1 to 6;3 years old, 17 boys, 13 girls); descriptive statistics and correlational analysis; items: 60 minimal pairs consisting of real words and nonsense words.

RESULTS

Empirical testing confirmed prediction of normal distributed phoneme discrimination errors. No gender specific effects were found. Results correlated with the degree of phoneme opposition and with phonological loop capacity.

DISCUSSION

These results indicate that the test material developed is suitable for testing phoneme discrimination in preschool children. However other normative assessments using larger test populations are warranted. Phoneme discrimination tasks appear to include testing of sensory as well as linguistic-cognitive functioning.