The dynamic assessment of phonological programming skills

Subject

Language Impairment is a neurodevelopmental disorder (DSM-5, APA, 2013) that includes a range of diverse clinical conditions, characterized by a delay or disorder in one or more areas of linguistic development, in the absence of cognitive, sensory, motor, or affective deficits, or significant socio-environmental deficiencies. This disorder can affect academic performance and emotional and social adjustment, persisting into adulthood and impacting employment opportunities. The DSM-5 (APA, 2013) includes phonetic-phonological disorder among language disorders, a condition characterized by persistent difficulty in producing linguistic sounds that interferes with speech intelligibility or impedes verbal communication. Children with this disorder exhibit difficulties with phonological memory, executive functions, academic skills, and so on. The assessment of this disorder requires the use of tools that examine all cognitive functions, including phonological skills. This project aims to promote a new line of research and diagnostic assessment, starting with the development of a test capable of assessing not only the presence or absence of phonological and phonological processing difficulties, limiting the role of phonological memory, but also of extrapolating information of diagnostic, educational, and rehabilitative interest with respect to the child's potential. The proposed project therefore aims to develop a new test that dynamically assesses these abilities. This test, which includes simplifications to adapt to the child's abilities, could provide a more accurate assessment than conventional tests. The new test provides information on the child's linguistic functioning and linguistic potential, and is therefore useful for developing detailed rehabilitation plans. Attention has also been paid to the relationship between the child's phonological abilities, verbal working memory, and writing skills.

Learning outcomes

Starting from the assumption that a phonological programming test with phonotactically complex stimuli can identify expressive difficulties even when the symptoms and clinical signs of language impairment change in expressiveness, the goal is to develop a new assessment tool based on dynamic testing, that is, taking into account the child's so-called "modifiable aspects." Furthermore, unlike nonword repetition tests that examine phonological memory, the proposed task focuses exclusively on phonological programming ability, assuming that the phonological complexity of words (both in terms of phonotactic string length and complexity of syllabic configurations) significantly influences the ability to repeat the target. Conversely, it is hypothesized that such phonological complexity may influence acoustic processing, the planning and programming skills necessary to construct an adequate articulatory plan. In addition to providing a new assessment tool for clinicians and increasing scientific knowledge, the project's operational impact is to identify early indicators of learning difficulties, enabling intervention in the early stages of learning to read and write and reducing the risk of developing psychological and adjustment difficulties. This direct interaction between the University and the local educational and civic communities aims to promote the social and cultural growth of the region (Third Mission).

The specific objectives of the aforementioned project are to:

• validate an innovative dynamic test of phonological programming;
• analyze the relationship between a dynamic phonological programming test and a verbal working memory test;
• analyze the relationship between a dynamic phonological programming test and a writing test.

Status of works

Data collection for the first research project took place between January and March 2024 and involved typically developing children attending first grade in the 2023/2024 school year, as well as a group of children with primary language impairment. This phase was followed by the publication of the research results and the launch of a second phase of the project, dedicated to testing the dynamic phonological programming test in second and third grade, as well as on children with PLD; data collection is currently underway (2026 - ongoing).

Instruments

USER MANUAL
Dynamic Phonological Programming Test Parla-dino

REGISTRATION PROTOCOL
Dynamic Phonological Programming Test Parla-dino

VIDEO PRESENTATION
Dynamic Phonological Programming Test Parla-dino