title: Phonological assessment and analysis of bilingual preschoolers' Spanish and English word productions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The major purpose of this study was to examine Spanish and English phonological productions (patterns/deviations) of typically developing bilingual preschool children. Phonological scores were compared in order to determine if significant differences exist between (a) boys and girls, (b) 4- and 5-year-olds, and/or (c) their productions of Spanish and English words.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-six bilingual 4- and 5-year-old children (27 boys and 29 girls) who attended Head Start programs named stimulus items for Spanish and English phonological assessment instruments that were similar in procedures and analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multivariate analyses indicated no significant differences for phonological scores between boys and girls or between the 2 languages. Differences between the 4- and 5-year-olds, however, were significant, with the 5-year-olds performing better than the 4-year-olds. Liquid deviations and omissions of consonants in clusters/sequences were the most frequently occurring phonological deviations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Phonological score differences between typically developing bilingual Spanish-English-speaking preschool boys and girls from similar backgrounds are not likely to be significant. Better phonological scores, however, can be expected for 5-year-olds than for 4-year-olds. Moreover, phonological deviation percentage scores of typically developing bilingual children for comparable Spanish and English assessment instruments are likely to be similar.
authors.forename: Raúl Francisco
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Prezas
authors.forename: Barbara Williams
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Hodson
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schommer-Aikins
mesh_terms: D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010700:Phonetics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement