نشریه اختلالات ارتباطی گفتار و زبان
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1394)

The goal of this study is to examine some of the narrative skills (The total number of words and Mean length of utterance) in three groups of children (normal, cochlear implant and intellectual disability) between the ages 4-5 and identification of spots which have been impaired in two groups of delayed speech and language developmentThis cross sectional descriptive analytic research was conducted on 26 typically normal children and 30 children with delayed speech and language development (15 cochlear implants and 15 Intellectual Disability children) in a convenient sampling method. Data collected via describing a picture. Then the children are asked to retell the story for 7 minutes. After transcription, the total number of words and the mean length of utterance were calculated based on the two scales of morpheme and word. Data entered into SPSS21 software and analyzed using the. test parametric Mann-Whitney¬ U and nonparametric Independent - Samples TFindings indicated that the mean total number of words was 47 in normal children and 36/6 in children with intellectual disability. These differences were significant (p<0/05). Whereas was no noticeable difference in two groups of normal and cochlear implant children in the number of total words (p>0/05). Mean Length of Utterance obtained 4/58, 4/12, 3/71 in the normal, cochlear implants, and intellectual disability children ordinarily. Therefore, there was a significant difference between the three groups of children in this variable (p<0/05The result indicated maybe low IQ has more impact on the total number of words than hearing loss after cochlear implant. While the mean length of utterance affected by both hearing loss and IQ

in the past decade, the differences between the working memory span (WMS) of individuals with and without stuttering have gained attention. The Stroop test seems to be the least frequently used tool which is capable of simultaneously testing the memory, response inhibition and control of the stuttering in suffering individuals. This study is the first to investigate the response inhibition features, along with the features of stuttering intensity and WMS as well as the correlation using Stroop test between the mentioned factorsThis is a descriptive and analytical cross sectional study with a fundamental approach. The test group is comprised of youth ranging between 11-17 with stuttering (16 boys and 2 girls). To assess the subjects, SSI-3 test and WMS test, as well as Stroop test were used. The data obtained was recorded in the SPSS-16 statistical software.Pearson test was utilized to assess the correlation among the variablesThe highest average mark of features of stuttering intensity, WMS, reaction time and the number of correct responses in response inhibition belonged to the frequency of stuttering in speech level, audio-verbal memory span in sentences as well as reaction time to incongruent stimulus and the number of correct responses to congruent stimulus.Although, there is not a meaningful correlation in features of stuttering intensity with WMS, there is a significant correlation in Interference score with the frequency of stuttering in reading level as well as audio-verbal memory span in sentences and visual-verbal memory span with reaction time to congruent stimulus p<0.05.The results showed that in spite of non-significant correlations between a number of features, there are correlations between features of stuttering intensity, cognitive processing and WMS in teenagers suffering from stuttering

We are in a world that is quickly aging and some neurodegenerative diseases may lead to death of elderly people. Dementia, as the result of such diseases, has negative effects on the quality of life of the patients, so it necessaries long term care. Neurocognitive functions that are affected in these patients include intelligence, language, memory, learning, perception, attention, judgment, concentration and social skills. Progressive disorders of language is a main symptom of the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. This study aimed to compare syntax and semantic comprehension between patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease and healthy elderly people. This descriptive cross- sectional study was conducted to compare semantic and syntactic comprehension of 10 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease (6 men and 4 women) with a mean age of 63, with normal elderly individuals (6 men and 4 women) with a mean age of 66. The subjects were examined by syntax and semantic parts of BAT (Bilingual Aphasia test). Data were analyzed by Independent samples t test, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test, and the Spearman product-moment correlation coefficient in SPSS 20. The results revealed significant differences between patients with Alzheimer’s disease and normal elderly people in syntax and semantic comprehension (P<0/001). A significant difference was observed between syntax and semantic comprehension in Alzheimer’s patients (P<0/001), but not in normal elderly people. No significant correlation between education and syntax and semantic comprehension in Alzheimer’s patients was evident. Although negative sentences were more difficult to understand than positive sentences in Alzheimer’s patients, but there was no significant difference. Our findings suggested that syntactic and semantic comprehension decreased in Alzheimer’s patients, but syntax comprehension was better than semantic comprehension.

Phoneme awareness is a component of phonological processing that has been studied in children with reading disabilities. Phoneme awareness means awareness and manipulating of the sound structure of words. Most of these children with reading disabilities have Phoneme awareness difficulties. Therefore it is important to consider Phoneme awareness training in children with reading disabilities. The aim of this study is developing and standardization of a phoneme awareness training program in Persian (PATPP) for school children.This study is non-experimental. In order to produce the PATPP, a story was prepared with the standard core vocabulary words in Persian.. Then appropriate practice for Persian was developed, considering the principles of guiding for phoneme awareness intervention. After producing PATPP, it was sent to 11specialists (10 speech & Language Pathologist and 1 Linguist) to express their opinion about the designed program and furthermore its content validity ratio (CVR) was calculated using Lawshe formula.Content validity of PATPP was calculated using Lawshe formula (CVR>0.62) that confirmed the validity of PAPPT for 11panelist.Results show PATPP, based on the CVR, is acceptable and has enough validity to be used in research.

Reading is one of the acquired skills of human beings, which is based on basic language abilities. The acquisition of these prerequisite reading skills (phonological awareness and naming speed), in addition to reading, have a fundamental impact on speech and language development, as well as learning and academic performance. As a result, the child will be able to express the contents of their mind with more speed and thoroughness. The aim of this study was to assess the reading prerequisite skills, i. e phonological awareness and naming speed, in preschool children.This study is cross-sectional. The population of the study is 80 Farsi speaking 5-6 years old preschoolers, Stratified cluster random sampling among preschool centers located in four regions: North, East, West and South of Mashhad was done. Variables including age, gender, phonological combining, phonemic analysis, the first word phoneme detection, last word phoneme diagnosis, syllable counting, recounting the word, phoneme recognition playoff, the first syllable recognition and rapid naming (frequency images). Tehrani 1380 test was used, and the statistical analyses was conducted by SPSS 21 software and the tests ShapiroWilk, Mann-Whitney, and Spearman correlationThe normality test results showed that, except for naming speed, all the other quantitative variables do not show a normal distribution pattern (p<0.05).The sole significant difference between boys and girls was more first word phoneme detection in girls than boys (p=0.035). After stratification for the confounding factors age and sex, there was a significant reverse correlation between the first word phoneme recognition and rapid naming (r=0.404)Based on the present results, speech pathologists can be advised that difficulty in phonological awareness, in the ages 5-6, does not necessitate a therapeutic intervention that includes naming speed.

Speech intelligibility reduction is one of the main feature of people with hearing loss. It is an important subject in clinical studies and researches. Among the important issues in children with hearing loss, is determining their level of speech intelligibility and comparison among different groups of hearing loss. This assessment can be done with various tasks & different listener judgments So in this study, we evaluate and compare speech intelligibility in children with cochlear implant and children using hearing aids with moderate to severe hearing loss.This study was a cross-sectional study in which we used the story telling section of Daruee’s speech intelligibility test (2013), and compared speech intelligibility of 11 CI children with 11 HA children based on the judgement of different listeners (the mother, an experienced person, a less experienced person, and a stranger). For statistical analysis, the following tests were carried out via SPSS v. 20 software: Normality tests, Kolmogorov- Smirnov, and Box's test.Analysis showed that between the two groups, judgments of four listener groups about speech intelligibility of HL children were not significantly different (P-Value>0.05), however, in each group, judgments were significantly different (P-Value<0.05), mothers assigned the highest scores while the stranger assigned the lowest scores.Despite the fact that HL in CI children was sever to profound, in comparison to HA children, their speech clarity didn’t show a significant difference. It shows that children with high levels of HL, with use of appropriate audio equipment have the potential ability to reach high levels of communication skills.