Developing Speech and Language Skills - Noel's ESL eBook Library

Speech development and speech impairmentsHow to help children with a phonological disorder who use non-developmental patternsconsistently● Ways to support children like Ben in school are provided in Chapter 5 withinformation sheets provided on the CD.● He may also benefit from some of the listening activities in this book.● Teaching staff should be aware that he might have difficulties with acquiring literacyand provide early intervention.● Collaboration with a speech and language therapist (SLT) is highly recommended.Phonological disorder: inconsistent speech patternsThis group of children do not have a consistent and predictable phonological system.The way they say a word can be unlike the children discussed above. A sound like ‘s’might be produced as ‘s’, ‘t’, ‘d’, ‘h’, or omitted, and variations on how the words aresaid might also occur, perhaps depending on what the child is saying. Words that thechild uses often or words that are learnt in a rote way, such as numbers, might be moreaccurate.How common is this?Children with inconsistent phonological disorders are less common than the othergroups with only one in nine children with speech impairments showing such a profile(Broomfield and Dodd 2004a). This group has been shown to benefit from a differentapproach to therapy than that described in this book. They need to practise a fewwords at a time to learn to produce each one in a predictable way.Example of a child with a phonological disorder who is using inconsistent patternsTable 4.11 Examples of utterances from a child with a phonological disorder whosespeech patterns are inconsistentWhat Kris meansfishblackopenspiderhellozebrashoppingelephantpurpleWhat Kris saysfi, fi , fifpwa , ba bwa, bwa , buhlao e, obe, opebiber, bi er, bideredo, ellodeba, veba, febwafoti, fopiefe, e efadur uh, duhpuh, purpuh49