The production and manipulation of /s/ + consonant clusters by phonological dyslexics

Mugford, Susan C. (2002) The production and manipulation of /s/ + consonant clusters by phonological dyslexics. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the ways dyslexic children deal with English consonant clusters consisting of /s/ plus another consonant. The /s/ + consonant clusters were chosen due to their unique underlying representation, which is believed to affect the ways in which these particular clusters are acquired. The data were collected by administering a real-word repetition test (production), nonsense-word repetition tests (production) and remove-consonant tests (perception and manipulation) to twelve older dyslexics, aged 11-21 years. These results were compared to those of a seven-subject control group of children ages seven to eight. Findings indicate that results on nonsense word repetition tasks and on the standardized Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test predict reading level. Word and cluster frequency in normal speech have no impact on subjects' ability to repeat real English words. Dyslexics made use of immature phonological processes, as well as haphazard cluster reduction strategies. The control group consistently outperformed dyslexics on all tests, although the dyslexic group was twice as old.

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