Use of Phonological Processes in Australian Children Ages 2 to 7;11 Years

The occurrence of 30 phonological processes was examined in the speech of 50 South Australian children (26 boys and 24 girls) across the age range of 2;0 to 7;11 (years;months). Children's most spontaneous naming of 199 mono-, di-, and polysyllabic words which repeatedly sampled all the consonants and vowels in all word positions was sought. The majority of the phonological processes had a mean percentage of occurrence (MPO) score of 5% or less or a mean occurrence score of 5 or less and were present in the repertoires in the speech of less than 20% of the children. Variability was a significant feature of the data reflected by the means being less than standard deviations for most processes. Thus, caution should be exercised when measures of central tendency are used for interpreting data. However, developmental changes were evident in all groups indicated by reducing ranges and numbers of children using processes as well as an increasing number of phonological processes that were deemed insignificant. Some of the most pervasive processes included vocalisation, cluster reduction, gliding, and vowel changes. Many of the speech errors, particularly for the older children, were only apparent in the polysyllabic words. This observation indicates the need to include polysyllabic words when developing normative data and assessing children's speech skills.