Phonological Processing Disorders

Phonological processing is the use of the sounds in one'slanguage to process spoken and written language. The broad category of phonological processing includes phonological awareness, phonological working memory, and phonological retrieval. All three components of phonologicalprocessing are important for speech production as well as the development of spoken and written language skills.Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the spoken and writtenlanguage development of children with phonologicalprocessing difficulties.

A phonological processing disorder affects a child'sproduction and/or mental representation of speech sounds. A phonological disorder is commonly misdiagnosed as an articulation disorder; however, it is very different. Aphonological disorder affects how a child organizes thesounds and understands the speech rules of a language. It isestimated that phonological disorders affect roughly 10% of preschool-age children. Usually, there is no known cause. Evidence suggests that children with phonological processing disorders often have significant delays in expressive/receptive language skills, reading, andspelling.

Highlights

• Components of phonological processing and howthey work together for speech production and language development
• Distinguish between articulation andphonological disorders when writing treatment plans andtherapy goals

Target Audience: Speech-Language Pathologists