SLPSystematic ReviewInternational journal of language & communication disorders2025

Phonological Awareness Skills in Thai-Speaking Children: A Scoping Review.

Ketnipa Ratanakul, Joanne Cleland, Wendy Cohen

PMID 40729430

WHAT IT FOUND

Phonological awareness strongly predicts reading in Thai-speaking children.

Initial phoneme identification is the most useful screening task. However, no standardised test covers all skills, and current assessments miss speech sound disorders, limiting clinical utility.

Key findings

01Phonological awareness was a good predictor of reading skills in all five studies that investigated this relationship.

02Initial phoneme identification was the most frequently used task and a consistent predictor of reading skills across different age groups.

03Children at risk of dyslexia or learning disabilities performed significantly poorer on phonological awareness tasks than typically developing children.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs

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What it does not show

No studies investigated phonological awareness in Thai-speaking children with speech sound disorders, only those with learning disabilities or dyslexia. There is no standardised assessment in Thai that covers all phonological awareness and lexical tone aspects. Most studies used only one phonological awareness task, which does not capture the full range of skills. The review did not determine the specific age at which typical Thai-speaking children master each phonological awareness skill.

Declared interests

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

The easy way to misread this

Do not assume that existing Thai phonological awareness assessments are valid for children with speech sound disorders, as no studies in this review included that population.

Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →