ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the phonological knowledge of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and, to a lesser extent, children with a related and sometimes co-occurring disorder, dyslexia. The auditory perception problems of children with SLI may extend beyond temporal perception. The earliest studies of articulatory abilities in children with SLI used phonetic transcription as a measure of production ability. With the notable exception of work on speech perception in children with SLI, there is a paucity of research on other aspects of phonological knowledge. In the PRIMIR model of speech perception and word learning, higher-level phonological knowledge is highly inter-related with word learning. To summarize, while there are many critical gaps in our understanding of phonological knowledge in children with SLI, the research to date suggests that children with SLI have deficits in perceptual knowledge, articulatory knowledge, and higher-level phonological knowledge relative to their typically developing age peers.
