Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed at examining the effectiveness of a cognitive training program on promoting phonemic awareness skills on aco ustic analysis skill among students with developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) in Saudi Arabia. Methods/Statistical analysis: the semi-experimental approach was used in this study. The training program was applied on (12) male and female students from the fourth and fifth grades from schools at Abha Educational District. Data were collected through the Developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) Scale developed by the researcher along with acoustic Analysis Scale developed in the literature Data were analysed using the SPSS software package. Findings: The results of the study showed significant improvements in acoustic analysis skills of the students who received the training program compared to students who were taught using the conventional methods. The results also revealed no connection between the age of students and their interaction with the developed training program. The final mean scores of the experimental group were better than the control group as scored in the post test, which indicted the effectiveness of the developed training program in improving acoustic analysis skills among the sample of the study. Application/improvements: special education teachers can use the designed program to help students with apraxia. Future research can investigate visual analytical skills in developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) in handwriting and other areas.

Keywords: Apraxia; acoustic analysis; phonemic awareness