BACKGROUND: the ability of recognizing the own speech impairment and its possible relationship with the auditory processing in children with phonological disorder. PROCEDURES: this study included eight subjects diagnosed with phonological disorders, age between 5:0;26 and 7:7;2-year old. The phonetic / phonological system was evaluated by the Phonological Assessment of Child Speech. The Awareness of the own Speech Impairment Test, which aims to make the child listening and judging the deviations existing in their own speech, was applied. For evaluating the auditory processing, we used the Simplified Assessment of Auditory Processing (Screening), and Speech in Noise and the Alternate Dichotic Dissyllable Special Tests. RESULTS: all subjects were rated below expectations, with values below 50% of the maximum possible value in the tests of auditory processing. As for awareness of their own speech impairment, all subjects showed this ability in quite variable values even though their performance in the auditory processing tests was not satisfactory. This finding suggests that children in this period (5 to 7-year old), even the ones with difficulty to understanding or interpreting what they hear, are able to realize the mistakes they have in speech. CONCLUSION: the awareness of the own speech impairment is found in subjects with phonological disorder, regardless the performance in auditory processing tasks.
Speech Disorders; Hearing Tests; Auditory Perception; Speech Perception; Child
