Tambyraja Sherine R, Farquharson Kelly, Justice Laura M
Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
School of Communication Science and Disorders, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2023 Jan;58(1):15-27. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12764. Epub 2022 Aug 30.
Children with speech sound disorder (SSD) are at increased risk of reading difficulties due to poor phonological processing skills. However, the extent to which children with SSD demonstrate weaknesses on specific or all phonological processing tasks is not well understood.
To examine the phonological processing abilities of a clinically identified sample of children with SSD, with and without reading difficulties. To determine the extent to which the proportion of children with concomitant SSD and reading difficulties exhibited weaknesses in specific areas of phonological processing, or a more general phonological deficit.
METHODS & PROCEDURES: Data were obtained from 157 school-aged children (M = 77 months, SD = 7.01) in receipt of school-based speech therapy. Approximately 25% of the sample was identified as poor readers, based on a standardized measure of word decoding. We compared the proportion of children who scored at or below 1 SD below the mean, or the bottom 16th percentile, on measures of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming and verbal short-term memory among those identified as poor readers and good readers.
OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Children with SSD demonstrated a range of phonological processing difficulties, particularly on the measure of verbal short-term memory. No specific skill differentiated groups of children with SSD with and without reading difficulties; however, those classified as poor readers on the word-decoding measure exhibited more widespread difficulties, even after controlling for language ability.
CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Results support a cumulative risk model such that children with SSD and reading difficulties are likely to demonstrate generally poor phonological processing abilities.
What is already known on the subject Children with SSD are at heightened risk of reading difficulties, particularly if their SSD persists into school age. However, not all children with SSD experience reading problems. Research aimed at determining which children are at the highest risk is mixed as to how best to identify which children with SSD are most likely to experience reading difficulties. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The study used a multiple case study approach to determine if performance on phonological processing skills might differentiate children with SSD who were poor readers from those who were good readers. As a group, children with SSD exhibited poor verbal short-term memory but relatively intact rapid automatized naming skills. No one phonological processing skill differentiated children who were poor readers from good readers. However, children with reading difficulties appeared to experience more general difficulties across phonological processing tasks, even after controlling for language abilities. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? A single deficit (i.e., speech sound production) is not sufficient data to make a complete diagnosis or treatment decisions. Multiple sources of data, including several aspects of phonological processing, should be obtained to understand reading risk in children with SSD.
由于语音处理技能较差，患有语音障碍（SSD）的儿童出现阅读困难的风险增加。然而，SSD儿童在特定或所有语音处理任务上表现出弱点的程度尚不清楚。
研究一组经临床诊断的患有或未患有阅读困难的SSD儿童的语音处理能力。确定同时患有SSD和阅读困难的儿童在语音处理的特定领域或更普遍的语音缺陷方面表现出弱点的程度。
数据来自157名接受学校言语治疗的学龄儿童（M = 77个月，SD = 7.01）。根据一项标准化的单词解码测试，约25%的样本被确定为阅读能力差。我们比较了在语音意识、快速自动命名和言语短期记忆测试中得分低于平均值1个标准差或处于第16百分位以下的儿童在阅读能力差和阅读能力好的儿童中的比例。
患有SSD的儿童表现出一系列语音处理困难，尤其是在言语短期记忆测试中。没有特定技能能区分患有和未患有阅读困难的SSD儿童组；然而，即使在控制了语言能力之后，在单词解码测试中被归类为阅读能力差的儿童表现出更广泛的困难。
结果支持累积风险模型，即患有SSD和阅读困难的儿童可能普遍表现出较差的语音处理能力。
关于该主题的已知信息患有SSD的儿童出现阅读困难的风险更高，特别是如果他们的SSD持续到学龄期。然而，并非所有患有SSD的儿童都会出现阅读问题。旨在确定哪些儿童风险最高的研究在如何最好地识别哪些患有SSD的儿童最有可能出现阅读困难方面存在分歧。本文对现有知识的补充该研究采用多案例研究方法，以确定语音处理技能的表现是否能区分阅读能力差的SSD儿童和阅读能力好的SSD儿童。作为一个群体，患有SSD的儿童表现出较差的言语短期记忆，但快速自动命名技能相对完好。没有一种语音处理技能能区分阅读能力差的儿童和阅读能力好的儿童。然而，即使在控制了语言能力之后，患有阅读困难的儿童在语音处理任务中似乎经历了更普遍的困难。这项工作的潜在或实际临床意义是什么？单一缺陷（即语音产生）不足以作为做出完整诊断或治疗决策的充分数据。应该获取多个数据源，包括语音处理的几个方面，以了解患有SSD的儿童的阅读风险。
