Phonological processing domains in children with specific learning disability: A comparative study

ABSTRACT Background: Phonological processing (PP) refers to one’s ability to comprehend and transform the sound/oral aspects of a language to its visual/written aspects and vice versa. Deficits in PP have been implicated in specific learning disability (SLD). However, the domains of PP, such as phonological awareness, phonological retrieval, and phonological working memory, are not studied among children with SLD in a multilingual Indian context. Aim: To study the different domains of PP in children diagnosed with SLD. Materials and Methods: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices, and Different domains of Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing–Second Edition. The design of the study was cross-sectional two group comparison, where 52 children diagnosed with SLD were compared with 48 typically developing peers aged 8–16 years. Participants were group-matched on age, gender, academic grade level, and medium of instruction. Nonparametric tests were applied due to non-normal distribution. Results: Children with SLD scored significantly lower across all domains of PP. The most pronounced deficits were observed in non-word-based tasks like blending and segmenting nonwords ( P < 0.001). No significant associations were found between phonological components and behavioral-emotional problems. Conclusions: The study highlights pervasive deficits in PP among Indian children with SLD, reinforcing its role in academic underachievement. Findings underscore the importance of early assessment and culturally sensitive interventions, especially in multilingual educational contexts.