Phonological Development During the First Year: Implications for Intervention

The growing trend for early identification and intervention with developmentally delayed infants has been strengthened by a supportive attitude of society in general toward children with problems, as well as legislation mandating early intervention. The re is a strong data base in the rapidly growing transdisciplinary child development literature that combines both theoretical and empirical research. Knowledge of early phonological development is important in working with infants born with clefts because aberrant compensatory articulatory postures may develop dur ing the prelinguistic period. Researchers in the field of phonological development (Oiler, 1980; Stark, 1975, 1980) have proposed and replicated a sequence that follows infant vocalizations from birth through symbolization. Shames and Rubin (1979) identified a number of processes that operated in the acquisition of language and presented them within a developmental framework (Fig. 1). T h e sound-making process of language development is of importance in dealing with infants with orofacial anomalies and is the focus of this article. Sound making will be discussed in relation to the socialization process of communication for phonological development cannot be viewed without reference to socialization. According to Ferguson and Garnica (1975):