Comparison of phonological awareness and listening comprehension skills of visually impaired and sighted children in preschool period

Considering the effect of early literacy skills on later literacy processes, supporting the phonological awareness and listening comprehension skills of children with visual impairments is essential. This study aimed to compare phonological awareness and listening comprehension skills of children with visual impairments and sighted children. In this context, the study was designed with the comparative relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. The participants of this study consisted of 15 children with visual impairments and 14 sighted children between 57 and 68 months ( n = 29). The data were collected in special education and rehabilitation centers and kindergartens where children with visual impairments and sighted children attend. In the study, subtests of the Early Literacy Test were used to evaluate the phonological awareness and listening comprehension skills of children with visual impairments and sighted children. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 22.00 package program. According to the findings, there was a significant difference between the two groups only in the rhyme awareness sub-skill among phonological awareness skills. In contrast, no significant difference was found in other sub-skills and listening comprehension skills.