Resumen de Speech perception: Oral language and perceptionskills in children with language delay
This study aims to contribute to the expansion and reorganization ofknowledge regarding the relation between oral language perception and thespeech of children that present multiple processes of simplification that can beincluded in the category of Language Delays. Perception of human speech coversa vast universe, which can be analyzed regarding both its formal structure as wellas conceptual. This study focuses on the laborious learning of phonology in thePortuguese language with children that recurrently adulterate phonology in bothconducted and spontaneous productions. Speech perception occurs as the resultof the interference of numerous brain functions, amongst which is the ability toregister the perceptive subtleties in the sound chain to which belong the sociolinguisticpatterns that the speaker is part of, phonology being one of their firstlevels of apprenticeship. This study compares phonologic productions and taskperformances related to auditory perception in general and speech in particular.The sample is constituted by 16 subjects – 8 in group A (children with difficulties inoral production), and 8 in group B (children without difficulties in oral production)– with ages raging between 4 and 5 years old. The subjects in both groups attendkindergarten and none present auditory sensorial, motor, cognitive or behavioraldeficits. The instruments used for the final evaluation in both groups were: a) Testof Phonological Assessment of Syllabic Formats (PAFFS) and b) Assessment ofAuditory Perception test of Reynell and Peabody. Results indicate that there areclear differences between the 2 groups: in group A there is a larger number oferrors in every auditory perception ability for verbal and non-verbal sounds.Simultaneously, significant differences were found in the levels of linguisticcomprehension. A statistical significant correlation was found between the type ofspeech simplification processes and the performance in some of the auditoryperception skills. The results obtained suggested the necessity to explore theknowledge that children have regarding auditory perception skills, related with theproduction of oral language (sequential memory and auditory synthesis, auditoryanalysis and discrimination for verbal and non-verbal sounds), aiming at theoptimization of written language acquisition.
