Phonological Processing

Phonological Processing

1. Phonological processing is an auditory processing skill. It relates to words, but occurs in the absence of print. It involves detecting and discriminating differences in phonemes or speech sounds under conditions of little or no distraction or distortion.

   • The skills of Phonological Processing
     • Speech- perception and production Meta-linguistic Awareness Phonological Memory
       • Speech
         • Speech is one indicator of sophistication in phonological processing. Student who are at risk for phonological processing errors might have expressive speech production errors like the following...
           • Keep in mind that some speech errors are developmental. On the opposite end, some children have excellent speech with no errors but still struggle with processing. This means they hear the sound but cannot discriminate between two similar sound or assign meaning to the sound
       • Perception of Sound
         • Hearing the sounds is only one small step in the phonological process. There is some brain based research on individuals who are deaf, that you don't actually need to hear as other senses can take over the perception of sounds. It does make it easier if you can hear.
           • Impacts on hearing include
             • Number one cause of hearing loss is heredity Noisy environments will impact everyone ability to perceive sounds Ear infections and other illness impact your about to perceive sounds
       • Processing of Speech Sounds
         • Simply being able to hear the sound is the first step. You also have to be able to distinguish between two sounds that are similar and you have to assign meaning to these sounds.
           • Distinguish the sounds - for example hear the difference in the vowels found in the words pin and pen.
       • Meta-Linguistic Awareness
         • This is meta-cognition, the awareness and regulation of one's thinking. Meta-linguistic awareness is one's active thinking about language and using this thinking and knowledge to solve problems. To be sophisticated at phonological processing, one must develop these meta-linguistic skills and knowledge.
           • Syllable- parts of a word centered around a vowel Onset and Rime- the initial sound (onset) and remainder of the word (rime) Phoneme- the individual speech sounds of English (44)
       • Phonological Memory
         • There are three basic skills to support the development of phonological memory.
           • Retrieval
             • Recalling from long term memory rapid and accurately. This is developed by over-learning basic skills with adequate repetitions. Research is showing on average the number of repetitions that are needed for a learner to own a concept.
           • Phonological Working Memory
             • This is made up of many components that include short term memory, the ability to recall from long term memory and to focus (executive functioning) to solve a problem. Spelling is an example of phonological working memory. You hear the word, you break the word into it speech sounds, recall what letters and rules are associated with the sounds and then produce the spelled word on the paper or screen
           • Naming
             • Be able to express the answer after going through the working memory process.

2. 1. We start by perceiving the sounds 2. We hold these sounds in our short term auditory memory 3. We recall previously learned information in our long term memory 4. Put all this together in our working memory 5. The produce a response