The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

Research Writing 183 regarding the phonological awareness abilities of two groups of children with cerebral palsy: those who speak, and those who do not (Card & Dodd, 2006). In one of the studies, Bishop and Robson (1989) found no differences between a child with CP who could or could not speak on measures of rhyme judgement and short term memory. On the other hand, Vandervelden and Seigel (1999) found that nonspeaking children with CP have phonological processing difficulties in multiple tasks. Multiple studies assume that the connections between understanding and producing speech involve a variety of different abilities. Because of this, a deficit in one area at a given point may affect both input and output functions. This is important because it begs the question as to if some phonological abilities are gained only through speech. For example, it is clear that Connor can read. This is known because teachers can ask him to read a passage, and then ask him questions about it which he can answer through use of his iPad or various other methods they have developed. However, if Connor’s classmates developed certain aspects of literacy solely from the acquisition of speech, is he less of a “good reader?” Some argue that children with some sort of speech difficulty often have difficulties with associated phonological awareness. Accounting for Factors Clearly the above studies show there must be some sort of factors which must be noted in terms of studying literacy in non-vocal children with CP. This is mostly due to the fact that they are not a homogenous group. First, they differ in severity and co-occurrence of other disabilities such as dyspraxia. Additionally, they differ in cognitive abilities, experiences with school, and the type of communication assistance they have or have not been given in the past. Moreover, there could be differences based on age, due to the fact that it correlates with the amount of literacy the children have been presented with. Also, problems occur sometimes in trying to make case studies because comparing children with a motor impairment with children with none makes it difficult to find controls, considering poor motor coordination is relative to those without poor motor coordination. Research shows that chronological age, school experience, gender, social class, and possibly the extent to which the child has motor constraints are of importance.