Working memory in school-age children with and without a persistent speech sound disorder.
Kelly Farquharson, Tiffany P Hogan, John E Bernthal
PMID 28306339WHAT IT FOUND
Children with persistent speech sound disorders repeated made-up words less accurately than peers, and lower nonverbal intelligence scores were linked to this difference.
Visual-spatial and inhibition task performance did not differ.
Key findings
01Children with persistent speech sound disorders were less accurate than peers at repeating made-up words.
02The made-up word difference was linked to nonverbal intelligence scores, not expressive vocabulary.
03Visual-spatial and inhibition task scores did not differ between groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was small, with 40 children, so effects could be different in a larger group. The groups were matched on age and grade but not on nonverbal intelligence or expressive vocabulary; children with persistent speech sound disorder had lower scores. The study compared groups and did not follow children over time, so it cannot show whether weak phonological memory caused persistent speech sound disorder or developed alongside it. No speech perception measure was included. The visual-spatial task may not have been sensitive to visual recall. The paper did not report early history, severity, or type of speech sound disorder for each child.
Declared interests
The authors declared no financial interest or benefit arising from direct applications of the research. The article metadata lists NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the lower made-up word repetition scores as proof that weak memory causes persistent speech sound disorder. The study compared groups and cannot show cause or treatment effect.