Speech sound accuracy, phonological processing, and decoding skills

This study examined the relations among speech sound accuracy, phonological processing, and decoding skills in children attending kindergarten through 2nd grade. Children with disordered speech may be at additional risk for reading difficulties; however, due to methodological shortcomings, findings from previous research are questionable. A total of 140 children between the ages of 5- and 8- years of age were randomly selected to participate in assessments involving oral language, speech sound accuracy, phonological processing, and decoding skills. Correlational analyses revealed significant relations between most measures of phonological processing, speech sound accuracy, and decoding skills, even after partialling out variance common to oral language. Additionally, results from simultaneous multiple regression analyses demonstrated that the Phonological Sensitivity, Lexical Access and Multisyllabic speech production jointly predicted early decoding skills. Phonological Sensitivity, Lexical Access, and Multisyllabic speech production each predicted unique variance in Decoding. Hierarchical multiple regression results indicated that age moderated the relations.