CCV Syllabic Structure: Data from Children with Phonological Disorder

Introduction: The typical phonological acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese happens gradually until the age of 5 years. Children with phonological disorder show alteration in the mental organization related to speaking sounds, causing a delay in the consolidation of its phonological system. It is known that the syllabic structure CCV (consonant, consonant, vowel) represents greater complexity and is one of the last structures acquired.

Objective: The present study searches to verify the presence of complex onset on children with phonological disorders’ speaking production.

Methodology: For the sample characterization, it has been used complex onset production data from the evaluation of 130 children, between the age of 4 and 10 years, with phonological disorder diagnosis, secondary data from VALDEF Bank Data (FAPERGS—process no. 0904179 and CNPq—process no. 483886/2010-6).

Results: Only 18.46% of the children shown complex onset production in more than 80% of the possibilities.

Conclusion: The complex onset in phonological disorder also shows itself of greater complexity, causing the lack of its consolidation in most of the cases. Therefore, it is needed complementary study for the establishment of characteristics related to the CCV syllabic structure acquisition in phonological disorder cases, leading to a greater understanding of this particular language disorder. The results may also help guide the conduct of speech and language therapist in the realization of phonological therapy.

Keywords: Phonological disorder, child language.