The Author
As someone who was working with children in both the school and hospital setting for a number of years, I became curious as to why a remediation technique that I was using for articulation difficulties (I called it “tapping for sound.”) resulted in higher language scores on such tests as the CELF. I wondered if children who had difficulty with this task might also have difficulty with reading. As a result, I developed the PPT, using the “tapping technique.” to compare the performances of students in grades 2 thru 5 with (40) and without (56) identified Learning Disabilities. The results were encouraging. (Click on Research for details of The Phoneme Perception Task, PPT: A Measure of Phoneme Perception in Orally Read Sentences)
Still curious, I decided, even though I was 50+ years old, to get a Ph.D. so that I could complete a follow-up study to determine how 115 normal second grade students responded to this task to determine a baseline of norms. (See Research for “A Validation Study of a Phoneme Processing Test, The PPT, with Second Grade Students”)
Now I am offering this screening measure to others and hope it saves time by determining a specific problem that can then be remediated.
Hoping this screening measure is useful to you,
Margaret A. (Bevans) Jerger, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
PS: I have included below a brief indication of my experience.
PUBLICATIONS
“Phoneme Awareness and the Role of the Educator” in Intervention in School and Clinic, September, 1996.
“Developing Phoneme Awareness” in The Orton Dyslexia Society, Southern California Consortium, Seventh Annual Resource Directory, 1997.
"A Validation Study of a Phoneme Processing Test, The PPT, with Second Grade Students," Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy, George Mason University, Summer, 1997.
"The Phoneme Perception Task (PPT): A Measure of Phoneme Perception in Orally Read Sentences." Diagnostique, Spring, 1999, Vol.23, No. 3, pp.123-139.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
As Speech-Language Pathologist (over 40 years):
Glencoe Public Schools, Glencoe, Illinois
Indian Prairie Public Schools, Naperville, Illinois
Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois
The Lab School of Washington, Washington, D.C.
Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County, Virginia
Cheshire Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
Wake County Public Schools, Wake County, North Carolina
As ad hoc professor:
George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
EDUCATION
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Bachelor of Science in Speech
Master of Arts in Speech and Language Pathology
George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
Ph.D. in Education (Additional studies in Phonology, Linguistics Department)