الفهرس 
Review of LiteratureOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 131 |  |  |
| | | from | 131 | | |
Abstract
The development of meaningful speech is a complex process. In terms of phonological development, children must learn the movements needed to produce words to match the adult targets and they must also be aware of the phonological forms of words in their native language.
The general trends regarding the development of consonant clusters presented in the current overview can inform the assessment, analysis, and intervention decisions of phoniatricans. Decision-making regarding the presence of impairment can be assisted with knowledge of the scope of individual variation and data on normal development from a variety of theoretical approaches.
The data presented in this study established a comprehensive developmental data for the timing of acquiring Egyptian Arabic of consonant clusters for Egyptian children in order to be used as a guide for the correct timing of intervention for phonological therapy.
The present study aims to assess the acquisition of consonant clusters in young Egyptian children and to evaluate two different phonological therapies (minimal contrast and auditory bombardment) for remediation of the phonological process of ‘cluster reduction’.
This study was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The study was applied on 150 monolingual Arabic-speaking Egyptian children, 30 to 48 months, from phoniatric units in different university hospitals and from some nurseries. They were divided into 3 groups representing 6 months age intervals, and the study extended from December 2019 to March 2022.
This study was conducted on 150 typically developing (TD) native Egyptian Arabic children aged from 30 to 48 months, were divided into 3 groups:
• group A: 50 subjects between 30 to 36 months.
• group B: 50 subjects between 36 months, 1 day to 42 months.
• group C: 50 subjects between 42 months, 1 day to 48 months.
The inclusion criteria for children was that they should be native Arabic speakers, with IQ 90 or above, and showing normal language development for age. Children were excluded if they had any neuropsychiatric or developmental disorders.
Each child was subjected to a detailed schedule of data collection including: History taking, general examination, mental status examination by psychometric tests, language testing by modified PLS-4 test Arabic edition (Abo Hasiba, 2011) and Egyptian Monosyllabic Consonant Cluster Test (EMCCT) was designed to assess productions of consonant clusters in a single word context. The test contains 50 words which comprise word-final consonant cluster commonly used in the Egyptian language.
Average test time was five to eight minutes. A digital recording was used for voice recording of the responses of each child during testing. All responses were phonetically transcribed on the score sheets. Environment for applying the test was a quiet, well-lighted, and well-ventilated room with no distracting elements.
After EMCCT test application, the results showed that the age of process suppression was defined as the earliest age at which 90% of that age group achieved suppression of the process. The frequency of occurrence of cluster reduction decreased from 74% at age (2 years and 6 months – 3 years) to 46% at age (3 years – 3 years and 6 months) to 10% at age (3 years and 6 months - 4 years). Cluster reduction process was gradually suppressed across age groups from younger children to older children both in terms of frequency and score of processes.
There was highly significant statistical association in consonant clusters of obstruents +sonorants (stops+sonorants and frictives+sonorants) between the different age groups and there was still cluster reduction of both sub-groups in older children (group c) while all consonant cluster sub-groups acquired in older children.
The reliability of EMCCT was tested by inter-rater reliability and test re-test reliability, they all revealed a highly reliable test. Validity was proved by face validity, proved high validity of the test under study.
The total number of children with cluster reduction was 60, divided randomly into two groups (30 in each group). After 3 months, both groups were re-evaluated by EMCCT test.
In the current study, we compared between pre- and post-therapy scores of 60 Egyptian Arabic speaking children of typical language development; 30 receiving auditory bombardment and 30 receiving minimal contrast therapy. Minimal contrast therapy causes the child to be more aware with phonemes inside syllable. While auditory bombardment therapy causes the child to be more aware of CCVC structure.
Our study shows that both therapy techniques are effective for cluster reduction remediation as there is no significant difference between total intervention duration and both therapy techniques.
The present study provided valuable information about acquisition of consonant clusters and remediation of cluster reduction and no data were taken on generalization to multisyllabic words or connected speech. Thus, further studies are needed to examine whether a phonological approach is effective for more complex speech stimuli.
CONCLUSION
This study presents the Egyptian Monosyllabic Consonant Cluster Test (EMCCT) is a valid and reliable assessment tool for identification of cluster reduction processes. Both minimal contrast and auditory bombardment approaches are applicable for cluster reduction remediation in Egyptian Arabic speaking children.
RECOMMENDATIONS
B
ased on the results of this study, it is recommended to use Egyptian Monosyllabic Consonant Cluster Test (EMCCT) which is a valid and reliable assessment tool for identification of cluster reduction processes. The present study provided valuable information about acquisition of consonant clusters and remediation of cluster reduction and no data were taken on generalization to multisyllabic words or connected speech. Thus, further studies are needed to examine whether a phonological approach is effective for more complex speech stimuli.