[Verbal-auditory skills in 5-year-old children of Semnan/Iran in 2006]

ABSTRACT

This research was planned to determine some verbal-auditory skills [verbal-auditory short memory and phonological awareness] that have the closest relationship with speech and language development in 5-year-old children. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 400 children of pre-school classes affiliated to Education and Welfare organizations in Semnan city were selected randomly. Required data were gathered by using a questionnaire and performing verbal - auditory skills tests. The obtained means were as follows monosyllable non word repetition 3.28, 4 syllabic non word repetition 1.17, syllable recognition 10.27, syllable segmentation 3.04, syllable blending 3.20, alliteration [word with same starter phoneme] recognition 0.92 and production of word with same starter phoneme 0.54. Test material has a great influence on the results of the auditory memory test. Due to lack of enough Iranian research and any agreement between them, we can not determine the sequence of phonological skills exactly and it requires further researches. Moreover, more surveys are required to find the effect of age