Phonological skills of Persian monolinguals with social communication disorder: A comparison with typically developing peers and effects of narrative intervention

There is a lack of research on how the phonological skills of Persian-speaking children with social communication disorder (SCD) compare to those of typically developing (TD) children and what the effects of narrative-based interventions may be on these phonological skills. While research suggests language interventions can indirectly enhance phonology, findings remain mixed. This study examined phonological skills in three Persian-speaking children (ages 3;7-5;0) with SCD with a pre/post-intervention longitudinal study design. Phonological measures included mean length of utterance in words (MLUw), percentage of consonants correct (PCC), whole-word accuracy and complexity, phonological mean length of utterance (pMLU), and consonant cluster accuracy. Post-intervention, all children showed some improvements across metrics. Consonant cluster accuracy improved, while reductions and omissions decreased, but some later-acquired sounds showed persistent errors. Findings indicate mostly better or comparable skills to those of TD peers, and that narrative intervention may indirectly enhance phonological skills, supporting a whole-language approach for SCD treatment. The study underscores the need to establish phonological norms in children's SCD in Persian, and cross-linguistically, and highlights the benefits of language-focused interventions for speech development.