| Abstract [eng] |
Relevance of the study. This study analyzes the phonological skills of preschool-aged children with developmental language disorder. The relevance of the study is determined by the lack of empirical studies on children’s phonological skills in the Lithuanian. Problem questions: What are the phonological skills of preschool-aged children with developmental language disorder – phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory and rapid automatized naming? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these phonological skill areas? The subject is the phonological skills of preschool-aged children with developmental language disorder. The aim of the study is to reveal the phonological skills of preschool-aged children with developmental language disorder. Objectives: 1. To analyze the theoretical concept of developmental language disorder and its key characteristics across different levels of language components. 2. To disclose the theoretical definition and structure of phonological skills and the characteristics of their informal assessment. 3. To assess the phonological skills of preschool-aged children with developmental language disorder – phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory, and rapid automatized naming – using informal assessment tasks. 4. To identify the strengths and weaknesses of phonological skills in preschool-aged children with developmental language disorder. Research methodology, methods, sample. A qualitative research approach was selected, applying a case study strategy. In the theoretical part, an analysis of scientific literature was conducted. In the empirical part, case analysis, document analysis, assessment of children’s phonological skills, analysis that allows the analysis of the manifestation of phonological skills, and qualitative analysis and descriptive quantitative data analysis were employed. The research sample was formed using purposive sampling. The study involved seven preschool-aged children with different levels of developmental language disorder. Research results. Simpler phonological awareness tasks at word and syllable levels and the repetition of shorter words were performed more successfully. The greatest difficulties emerged in rhyme and phoneme-level phonological awareness tasks, in the repetition of longer nonword forms, and in rapid automatized naming tasks, which were characterized by slow pace and frequent hesitation. The results reveal individual differences in phonological skills among children and confirm that phonological difficulties manifest in diverse ways. Keywords: developmental language disorder, phonological skills, preschool age. |
