Communicative profile of children with normal phonological development and phonological disorders

Abstract

Purpose: Purpose: To evaluate and compare the communicative profile of children with normal phonological development and of those with phonological disorder. Methods: The subjects were 150 children, male and female, with chronological age ranging from 6 to 6:8 years, matriculated in first grade. The subjects were divided in two groups: Group I (GI) with 75 children without phonological disorder and Group II (GII) with 75 children with phonological disorder mild-moderate. The children were assessed with Pragmatics Test proposed by Fernandes (2004). Results: It was observed that the children of GI showed percentage average of eight communicative acts per minute and preferential utilization of the verbal communicative way. The children of GII presented percentage average of five communicative acts per minute, and used the verbal and gestures communication quantitatively similar. Conclusion: Children with phonological disorders have fewer communicative acts per minute than children with normal phonological development. This occurs because the phonological disorders have reduced speech intelligibility, and to understand the child’s speech, the adult takes more communicative space with requests for repetitions and additions. Moreover, children with phonological disorders tend to use gestural associated with verbal means in order to enhance the communicative activity.