Background Consonant clusters are a feature of many world languages. The acquisition of consonant clusters is one
of the latest occurring aspects of speech acquisition in normally developing children. Difculty producing consonant
clusters has been found to contribute to high levels of unintelligibility in children with phonological impairment.
This is a cross-sectional descriptive study that was applied on 150 typically developing (TD) Egyptian Arabic children,
with an age range of 30 to 48 months, using the Egyptian Monosyllabic Consonant Cluster Test (EMCCT). The children
were divided into 3 groups, each group with an age range of 6 months. The objective was to determine the age of
suppression of cluster reduction and to evaluate two diferent phonological therapies (minimal contrast and auditory
bombardment) in children who have not acquired consonant clusters (less than 90% correct production).
Results Age of suppression of cluster reduction in Egyptian children was found to be between 3 years 6 months and
4 years. There was a gradual decrease in frequency of occurrence of cluster reduction from 74% (2 years 6 months–3
years) to 46% (3 years–3 years 6 months) to 10% (3 years 6 months–4 years). There was signifcant statistical associa‑
tion between consonant clusters of obstruents + sonorants (stops + sonorants and fricatives + sonorants) between
the diferent age groups (p value < 0.001). Both techniques of therapy showed signifcant improvement of post-ther‑
apy score. There was no signifcant diference between total intervention duration in both techniques; however, there
was signifcant association between cumulative intervention intensity and minimal contrast therapy (p value < 0.001).
Conclusion The Egyptian Monosyllabic Consonant Cluster Test (EMCCT) is a valid and reliable assessment tool for
identifcation of percentage of occurrence of cluster reduction process. Both minimal contrast and auditory bombard‑
ment approaches are applicable for cluster reduction remediation |
