Acquisition of consonant clusters and remediation of cluster reduction in Egyptian children

Abstract

Abstract Background Consonant clusters are a feature of many world languages. The acquisition of consonant clusters is one of the latest occurring aspects of speech acquisition in normally developing children. Difficulty producing consonant clusters has been found to contribute to high levels of unintelligibility in children with phonological impairment. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study that was applied on 150 typically developing (TD) Egyptian Arabic children, with an age range of 30 to 48 months, using the Egyptian Monosyllabic Consonant Cluster Test (EMCCT). The children were divided into 3 groups, each group with an age range of 6 months. The objective was to determine the age of suppression of cluster reduction and to evaluate two different phonological therapies (minimal contrast and auditory bombardment) in children who have not acquired consonant clusters (less than 90% correct production). Results Age of suppression of cluster reduction in Egyptian children was found to be between 3 years 6 months and 4 years. There was a gradual decrease in frequency of occurrence of cluster reduction from 74% (2 years 6 months–3 years) to 46% (3 years–3 years 6 months) to 10% (3 years 6 months–4 years). There was significant statistical association between consonant clusters of obstruents + sonorants (stops + sonorants and fricatives + sonorants) between the different age groups (p value < 0.001). Both techniques of therapy showed significant improvement of post-therapy score. There was no significant difference between total intervention duration in both techniques; however, there was significant association between cumulative intervention intensity and minimal contrast therapy (p value < 0.001). Conclusion The Egyptian Monosyllabic Consonant Cluster Test (EMCCT) is a valid and reliable assessment tool for identification of percentage of occurrence of cluster reduction process. Both minimal contrast and auditory bombardment approaches are applicable for cluster reduction remediation.