Nonword repetition ability of children who do and do not stutter and covert repair hypothesis

Context : Stuttering has a life span incidence and it significantly impacts academic, social, emotional and vocational achievements of patients who stutter. Aims : The purpose of the present study was to examine phonological encoding in young children who stutter (CWS) during a nonword repetition task and to test the covert repair hypothesis (CRH) and phonological skills in Persian native children. Setting and Design : The study was conducted among 12 CWS and 12 children who do not stutter (CWNS) between the ages of 5.1 and 7.10 at the rehabilitation clinics in Tehran. Materials and Methods: A list of 40 bisyllabic and trisyllabic nonwords was used in a nonword repetition task to collect information about the following dependent variables: (a) reaction times (RTs), (b) the number of phonological errors (PEs) and (c) nonword length. Data Analysis: An independent sample T-test was performed to compare means of PEs and RTs between the two groups and a paired t-test for analysis of nonword length impacts. Results : Results indicated that the CWS had a slightly poor performance than CWNS but there was no significant difference between the groups. Also, the differences between bisyllabic and trisyllabic nonwords were significant for phonological errors but not for reaction times. Conclusion : In general, it is concluded that CWS might not have a gross problem in phonological retrieval of the novel phonological context even with increase in syllable length. Also, some predictions of CRH were not supported by this research. However, further research into this possibility may shed light on the emergence and characteristics of childhood stuttering

Relationship between stuttering severity in children and their mothers’ speaking rate

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Stuttering is a complex disease that influences occupational, social, academic and emotional achievements. The aim of this study was to correlate the stuttering severity index with speaking rates of mothers and children. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study, at the child rehabilitation clinics of Tehran city. METHODS: 35 pairs of mothers and their children who stuttered were studied. There were 29 boys and six girls, of mean age 8.5 years (range: 5.1-12.0). Speech samples from the mother-child pairs were audiotaped for approximately 15 minutes, until a reciprocal verbal interaction had been obtained. This sample was then analyzed in accordance with a stuttering severity index test and speaking rate parameters. RESULTS: The research results outlined a significant relationship between the mothers’ speaking rate and their children’s stuttering severity. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the mothers’ speaking rate should be incorporated in the assessment and treatment of stuttering

The Effects of Hearing Loss on Fast Oral Motor Skills, Speed of Speech and Intelligibility of Speech

Objective: The negative effects of hearing loss rendered to the processes of fast motor skills of articulators, speed and intelligibility of speech have been proved scientifically. The main question is how different thresholds are, can effect in such and try to find relations between mentioned three speech skills specially if there are relations between tests in evaluating speed articulators such as oral diadochokinesis and speed of speech. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional–analyzical study was performed on 46 hearing-impaired (profound, sever, moderately sever) and 15 normal -hearing high-school students that were selected randomized. Subjects were measured by oral diadochokinesis test (The records were analyzed by speech analyzer of Dr. Speech Software), 100 words text to evaluate speed of speech according read words per minute), and use of rate scale method to define the rate of intelligibility of speech in reading text. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The general pattern suggest that the high threshold hearing subjects spend more time to repeat oral diadochokinesis syllables and have decreased speed and intelligibility of speech. In respect to speed of speech and oral diadochokinesis ability, there were only significant differences between profound hearing-impaired subjects and both sever and moderately sever subjects (P0/05). General findings suggest some significant relationship between intelligibility and speed of speech (P>0.05). Conclusion: Respect to the negative effects of hearing loss on fast oral motor skills, speed of speech and intelligibility of speech and such relationships between these three variables, suggested interventions on each of the above variables may be useful in other comparative subjects