Phonological Working Memory in 4-8 Year-Old Persian Children Who stutter

Background: One language-related area that has recently received more attention from researchers working in the field of stuttering is phonological working memory. This article aimed to identify phonological skills of working memory in children with stuttering in comparison with normal children, and to obtain the relationship between the increase in the number of syllables in nonwords and the mean percentage of error in non-word repetition in both groups, then to compare them with each other. Methods: Thirty children participated in the study, 15 children who stutter and 15 normal children which were matched by age, gender and socio-economic status. Cases of this study were recruited by non random convenience sampling. The research data collection was based on non-word repetition test. The test included 40 non-words. Independent t-tests and linear regression were used for data analysis. Results: Results revealed that in all cases the mean percentage of error was higher in children who stutter than normal children, but the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Also the mean percentage error did not show a regular increase by increasing the number of syllables in the non-words. So that, in both groups of the study the highest mean percentage of error was related to single-syllable non-words then three-syllable and two-syllable ones. Conclusion: The results of the present research from previous researches support the view that children with stuttering may have some degree of delay and slow in phonological working memory abilities when compared to normal children. It is proposed that in future more researches could be done in more samples, in different age groups of children and adults who stutter. 2014© The Authors. Published by JRSR. All rights reserved. *Corresponding author: Karim Shojaei, Department of Rehabilitation Management, School of Rehabilitation, Shah nazari St, Mother Sq, Mirdamad, Tehran, Tel: +98 21 15772222, E-mail: [email protected] Introduction Linguistic issues are reported as one of the most important factors in the etiology of stuttering in the past few decades [1-5]. Recently working memory has been implicated in the development of stuttering. [6]. Working memory is universally recognized as neurocognitive system that provides temporary storage and processing of incoming information. Envisioned working memory as a multicomponent neurocognitive system includes a central executive, visuo-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop [7]. The phonological loop includes short term storage and rehearsal of incoming verbal information to enable comprehension. Phonological encoding during speech planning involves retrieving phonological material from storage to build articulatory plans [8]. One prominent Journal of Rehabilitation Sciences and Research Journal Home Page: jrsr.sums.ac.ir