"Developmental
Phonological Disorders, also known as phonological disability
or phonological disorders, are a group of language disorders that
affect children’s ability to develop easily understood speech
by the time they are four years old, and, in some cases, their
ability to learn to read and spell. Therefore, Phonological disorders
involve a difficulty in learning and organizing all the sounds
needed for clear speech, reading and spelling". (Bowen,
C. (1998). Developmental phonological disorders: A practical guide
for families and teachers. Melbourne: The Australian Council for
Educational Research Ltd.)
Individuals
with this Communication Disorder of childhood demonstrate impairment
in their ability to produce sounds as expected for their developmental
level.
Failure to use developmentally expected speech sounds that are
appropriate for age and dialect (e.g., errors in sound production,
use, representation, or organization such as, but not limited
to, substitutions of one sound for another [use of /t/ for target
/k/ sound] or omissions of sounds such as final consonants).
The difficulties
in speech sound production interfere with academic or occupational
achievement or with social communication.
"Some
children with developmental phonological disorders have other
speech and language difficulties such as immature grammar and
syntax, stuttering or word-retrieval difficulties. However, many
of them just have a 'pure' developmental phonological disorder,
involving:
A problem with speech clarity in the preschool years, with no
subsequent reading and spelling problems, or
A problem with speech clarity in the pre-school years, and, in
the early school years, difficulty learning to read, and difficulties
with reading comprehension, or
Speech and reading problems as described above, plus difficulty
with spelling, or
Speech and spelling problems (i.e., no reading difficulties),
or
Speech clarity problems in the pre-school years, and difficulties
with written expression in primary school." (Bowen,
C. (1998). Developmental phonological disorders: A practical guide
for families and teachers. Melbourne: The Australian Council for
Educational Research Ltd.)
Associated
Features:
Expressive
Language Disorder
Mixed Receptive-Expressive
Language Disorder
Differential
Diagnosis:
Some disorders have similar symptoms. The clinician, therefore,
in his diagnostic attempt, has to differentiate against the following
disorders which need to be ruled out to establish a precise diagnosis.
Mental
Retardation
Cause:
The cause
of phonological disorder in children is largley unknown. It has
been suggested that this disorder has a genetic component due
to the large proportion of children who have relatives with some
type of similar disorder. However there is no available data to
support this observations.
Some researchers
have indicated that the disorder is more common in boys and affects
approximately 10% of children below eight years old and 5% of
those above eight years old have this disorder. By age 17 the
incidence of phonological disorder reduces to 0.5 %. Again there
is no reliable data to support these observations.
"Developmental
phonological disorders may occur in conjunction with other communication
disorders such as stuttering,
specific language impairment (SLI), or developmental apraxia of
speech." (Bowen,
C. (1998). Developmental phonological disorders: A practical guide
for families and teachers. Melbourne: The Australian Council for
Educational Research Ltd.)
Treatment:
"No matter what combination
of difficulties a child with a developmental phonological disorder
has, appropriate speech-language pathology treatment is usually
successful in eliminating or at the very least, reducing the problem."
(Bowen,
C. (1998). Developmental phonological disorders: A practical guide
for families and teachers. Melbourne: The Australian Council for
Educational Research Ltd.)
