An exploration of the role of executive functions in preschoolers' phonological development

One Score to Rule Them All? Comparing the Predictive and Concurrent Validity of 30 Hearts and Flowers Scoring Approaches

The Hearts and Flowers (H&F) task is a computerized executive functioning (EF) assessment that has been used to measure EF from early childhood to adulthood. It provides data on accuracy and reaction time (RT) across three different task blocks (hearts, flowers, and mixed). However, there is a lack of consensus in the field on how to score the task that makes it difficult to interpret findings across studies. The current study, which includes a demographically diverse population of kindergarteners from Boston Public Schools (N = 946), compares the predictive and concurrent validity of 30 ways of scoring H&F, each with a different combination of accuracy, RT, and task block(s). Our exploratory results provide evidence supporting the use of a two-vector average score based on Zelazo et al.'s approach of adding accuracy and RT scores together only after individuals pass a certain accuracy threshold. Findings have implications for scoring future tablet-based developmental assessments.

Speech processing and short term memory skills in preschoolers: Evidence from Greek-speaking children with and without speech sound disorders

Cognitive mechanisms such as short-term memory (STM) are considered to relate to speech development, yet the extent of potential limitations in children with speech sound disorders (SSD) is unknown and the nature of the relationship is debatable. The present paper explores the development of speech input and output processing skills along with STM skills in Greek-speaking children with SSD and typically developing (TD) controls. Potential relationships in performance between tasks that require phonological processing are explored. Participants with SSD aged 5;1-6;2 years (n = 30) and TD controls aged 5;1-5;11 years (n = 100) were monolingual Greek-speaking children. Speech processing skills and phonological storage were assessed as follows: (1) Input processing: a nonword auditory discrimination task was used to assess phoneme discrimination skills. Stimuli comprised 24 pairs of nonwords consisting of the same number of phonemes (2-7 phonemes) and syllables (1-3 syllables). (2) Output processing: a nonword repetition task was used to assess speech production skills. Stimuli comprised 24 nonwords of varying length (2-5 syllables). (3) STM: a task of immediate verbal recall was used to assess phonological storage. Stimuli comprised a chunk of five words; each word (2-4 syllables long) was semantically unrelated to others. The results showed that TD children outperformed children with SSD in all tasks; a significant correlation between performance in nonword repetition and immediate verbal recall was found for TD children. There were no significant correlations between performance on nonword auditory discrimination with nonword repetition or with immediate verbal recall for TD children or children with SSD.

Working memory span and receptive vocabulary assessment in Urdu speaking children with speech sound disorder

Emerging evidence suggests that impaired speech may be related to reduced working memory (WM). The current study aimed to validate and compare the influence of articulation, short-term memory (STM), WM, and receptive vocabulary abilities of Pakistani children with speech sound disorder (SSD; N = 50) versus typically developing (TD; N = 30) children aged 7-13 years. Assessments included the Test for Assessment of Articulation and Phonology in Urdu (TAAPU), Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4, translated to Urdu (U-PPVT-4), and Digit Memory Test (DMT) used to determine speech articulation, receptive vocabulary, and memory abilities respectively. The percentage correct consonants (PCC) score was used to divide the SSD group further into SSD severity groups. The TD and SSD groups significantly differed in performance on all tasks (p < 0.05). Moreover, the SSD severity groups showed significant differences (p < 0.0001) in performance on different components of TAAPU (total errors and substitution errors) and DMT tasks. However, the SSD severity groups did not show significant differences in performance on the U-PPVT-4. Correlational analyses indicate statistically significant correlations of PCC with STM, WM, and receptive vocabulary. Regression analyses suggested that both WM and STM contribute to speech intelligibility in children with SSD. Our findings in Urdu-speaking children support previous results in English-speaking children suggesting the articulation skills, receptive vocabulary, STM, and WM were less developed in children with SSD than in TD children.

Differentiating phonological delay from phonological disorder: Executive function performance in preschoolers

BACKGROUND

The conversational speech of most children can be understood by people outside the family by the time they reach 4 years. However, for some children, speech sound disorders (SSDs) persist into their early school years, and beyond, despite adequate hearing, oromotor function, and language learning opportunities. One explanation for children's SSDs are domain-general cognitive-linguistic deficits that impair the child's ability to correctly derive rules governing how speech sounds legally combine to form words in a specific language.

AIMS

To explore whether there are differences in performance on executive function tasks between children who make speech errors characteristic of phonological delay and those who make speech errors characteristic of phonological disorder.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Twenty-six children aged from 3;6 to 5;2 (13 with phonological delay and 13 with phonological disorder), matched pairwise for age and sex (nine males), were assessed on tasks measuring cognitive flexibility (rule abstraction and cognitive shift) and phonological working memory.

OUTCOME & RESULTS

For the cognitive flexibility tasks, the performance of children with phonological delay was significantly better than that for children with phonological disorder, but there were no group differences for the phonological working memory task.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

Children with phonological disorders might benefit from intervention programmes that incorporate training in cognitive flexibility.

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT

Children with phonological delay and phonological disorder comprise the two largest SSD subgroups that present to speech-language therapy clinics. Evidence suggests domain-general cognitive processes (e.g., phonological working memory, ability to revise faulty underlying representations, rule abstraction, and cognitive shift) influence phonological development. Differences between the two subgroups in the types of speech errors, linguistic abilities, developmental trajectories, and responses to intervention have been reported, yet little is known about the underlying cognitive-linguistic deficits.

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE

The results of this study suggest that children with phonological delay and phonological disorder have distinct patterns of performance on executive function tasks: Children with phonological disorder showed deficits in domain general rule-abstraction and cognitive shift when compared to children with phonological delay. WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL OR ACTUAL CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THIS WORK?: The findings draw attention to: (1) the importance of differential diagnosis of phonological delay and phonological disorder; (2) the role of domain-general cognitive processes in explaining why children make particular types of errors; and (3) the need to develop innovative and tailored intervention techniques that target specific underlying deficits.

Executive functions in Persian-speaking preschool children with speech sound disorders and comparison with their typically developing peers

This study aimed to compare working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility, the core components of executive functions, among two prevalent subtypes of preschool children with speech sound disorder, i.e., phonological delay (n = 16) and consistent phonological disorder (n = 15), and a group of typically developing children (n = 18). The correlation between executive function components and the accuracy of speech sound production were also investigated. Nonword repetition task and syllable repetition task were used to evaluate the phonological loop of working memory. Backward digit span was administered to examine the central executive of working memory. Cognitive flexibility was assessed using the second selection of the flexible item selection task and inhibitory control using Stroop-like and Go/No-Go tasks. The percentage consonants correct was applied to calculate the accuracy of speech sound production. Results of a one-way multivariate analysis of covariance revealed statistically significant differences between groups in the combined dependent variables after controlling for age (F(14, 80) = 17.289, p < .001, Pillai's trace = 1.503, partial ηƞ² = .752). Typically developing children outperformed in all measurements of executive functions than both speech sound disorder subgroups. Moreover, children with phonological delay performed better in nonword repetition and corrected responses of Stroop-like than consistent phonological disorder group. All executive function measurements also correlated with speech sound production. The results of the present study highlight the importance of including domain-general cognitive skills in current assessment protocols for children with phonological delay and consistent phonological disorders.

A Longitudinal Evaluation of Tablet-Based Child Speech Therapy with Apraxia World

Digital games can make speech therapy exercises more enjoyable for children and increase their motivation during therapy. However, many such games developed to date have not been designed for long-term use. To address this issue, we developed Apraxia World, a speech therapy game specifically intended to be played over extended periods. In this study, we examined pronunciation improvements, child engagement over time, and caregiver and automated pronunciation evaluation accuracy while using our game over a multi-month period. Ten children played Apraxia World at home during two counterbalanced 4-week treatment blocks separated by a 2-week break. In one treatment phase, children received pronunciation feedback from caregivers and in the other treatment phase, utterances were evaluated with an automated framework built into the game. We found that children made therapeutically significant speech improvements while using Apraxia World, and that the game successfully increased engagement during speech therapy practice. Additionally, in offline mispronunciation detection tests, our automated pronunciation evaluation framework outperformed a traditional method based on goodness of pronunciation scoring. Our results suggest that this type of speech therapy game is a valid complement to traditional home practice.

Developmental Profile of Social Communication: Findings in Typical Developing Greek Children

OBJECTIVES

The Developmental Profile of Social Communication (DPSC) is based on the communication and language development in children with social communication difficulties. DPSC facilitates understanding of the challenges these children face in social interaction, communication, and linguistic development. It utilizes clinician and parent responses to build the developmental profiles of individuals. The profile allows clinicians to determine the therapeutic goals for improved cooperation and communication in various contexts. In addition, it provides insight into the parents' perspective. The aim of this study is to present the preliminary results of the DPSC in typically developing Greek children.

METHODS

The DPSC, a 112-item questionnaire, was administered to 357 parents of typically developing children aged 2-7.5 years using a 3-scale rating of answers. It was applied electronically via Google forms, and parents were able to ask for clarification on questions. All answers were categorized and then analyzed under independent variables.

RESULTS

Descriptive and hypothesis testing were used to summarize participant characteristics and performance. Findings suggest that children >7.5 years tended to develop most of the rated skills of DPSC adequately.

CONCLUSIONS

It was determined that the DPSC questionnaire is an easily administered tool that enables the evaluation of the social communication abilities of children of different ages.

Identification of the factors associated with the severity of the speech production problems in children with comorbid speech sound disorder and developmental language disorder

It has been suggested that factors such as auditory perception, oral motor skills, phonological awareness, and working memory are all associated with speech production problems in children with speech sound disorder (SSD) and developmental language disorder (DLD). However, it remains unclear whether the severity of the speech production problems in these children can be explained by an interaction among the aforementioned factors. The aim of this study was to determine which of these four factors best explain the severity of the speech production problems in children with SSD and DLD and whether an interaction between factors occurs. Forty-one children with SSD and DLD between 5 and 5;11 years old were selected. The number of phonological process errors was used as a measure of the severity of the speech production problems. The association between the number of phonological process errors and performance in auditory perception, oral motor skills, phonological awareness, and working memory along with the severity of the DLD was explored using univariate and multivariate regression models (with and without an interaction term). The results showed that the number of phonological process errors was largely explained by working memory and phonological awareness. An interaction between these two factors was also found. This means that working memory and phonological awareness interact to have an effect on the number of phonological process errors that is more than the sum of their parts. In addition, the severity of the DLD was significantly associated with the number of phonological process errors. These findings suggest that phonological awareness and working memory should be considered when assessing and treating children with comorbid SSD and DLD.

The Role of Executive Function in Developmental Stuttering

Developmental stuttering is a complex disorder and children who stutter form a heterogeneous group. Most contemporary researchers would agree that multiple factors, including those associated with linguistic, motor, sensory, and emotional processes, are likely involved in its development and/or maintenance. There is growing evidence, however, that cognitive processes also play a role. In this article, we briefly review behavioral and parent-report studies of executive function in children who stutter, the findings of which have generally suggested that these skills may be challenging for at least some children who stutter. We then consider how deficits in executive function could provide an explanatory account for not only the multifactorial nature of developmental stuttering but also the considerable amount of variability that exists among individuals who stutter.

Speech development in preschool children: evaluating the contribution of phonological short-term and phonological working memory

Emerging evidence suggests domain-general processes, including working memory, may contribute to reduced speech production skills in young children. This study compared the phonological short-term (pSTM) and phonological working memory (pWM) abilities of 50 monolingual English-speaking children between 3;6 and 5;11 with typical speech production skills and percentage consonant correct (PCC) standard scores of 12 and above (n = 22) and typical speech production skills and PCC standard scores of between 8 and 11 (n = 28). A multiple hierarchical regression was also conducted to determine whether pSTM and/or pWM could predict PCC. Children with typical speech production skills and PCC standard scores of 12 and above had better pWM abilities than children with typical speech production skills and PCC standard scores of between 8 and 11. pSTM ability was similar in both groups. pWM accounted for 5.3% variance in overall phonological accuracy. Implications of phonological working memory in speech development are discussed.

Articulation Speaks to Executive Function: An Investigation in 4- to 6-Year-Olds

Executive function (EF) and language learning play a prominent role in early childhood development. Empirical research continues to point to a concurrent relation between these two faculties. What has been given little attention, however, is the association between EF and speech articulation abilities in children. This study investigated this relation in children aged 4-6 years. Significant correlations indicated that children with better EF [via parental report of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) inventory] exhibited stronger speech sound production abilities in the articulation of the "s" and "sh" sounds. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed that the Global Executive Composite (GEC) of EF as measured by the BRIEF, served as a predictor for speech sound proficiency and that speech sound proficiency served as a predictor for the GEC. Together, these results demonstrate the imbricated nature of EF and speech sound production while bearing theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical standpoint, the close link between EF and speech articulation may indicate a common ontogenetic pathway. From a practical perspective, the results suggest that children with speech difficulties could be at higher risk for EF deficits.

Working memory span in Persian-speaking children with speech sound disorders and normal speech development

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to compare working memory span in Persian-speaking preschool children with speech sound disorder (SSD) and their typically speaking peers. Additionally, the study aimed to examine Non-Word Repetition (NWR), Forward Digit Span (FDS) and Backward Digit Span (BDS) in four groups of children with varying severity levels of SSD.

METHODS

The participants in this study comprised 35 children with SSD and 35 typically developing (TD) children -matched for age and sex-as a control group. The participants were between the age range of 48 and 72 months. Two components of working memory including phonological loop and central executive were compared between two groups. We used two tasks (NWR and FDS) to assess phonological loop component, and one task (BDS) to assess central executive component. Percentage of correct consonants (PCC) was used to calculate the severity of SSD.

RESULTS

Significant differences were observed between the two groups in all tasks that assess working memory (p < 0.001). In addition, the comparison of the phonological loop of working memory between the various severity groups indicated significant differences between different severities of both NWR and FDS tasks among the SSD children (p < 0.001). Nevertheless, comparison of the central executive between various severity groups, which was assessed with the BDS task, did not show any significant differences (p > 0.05). The result showed that PCC scores in TD children were associated with NWR (p < 0.001), FDS (p = 0.001), and BDS (p < 0.001). Furthermore, PCC scores in SSD children were associated with NWR and FDS (p < 0.001), but not with BDS (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The working memory skills were weaker in SSD children, in comparison to TD children. In addition, children with varying levels of severity of SSD differed in terms of NWR and FSD, but not BDS.

The phonological memory profile of preschool children who make atypical speech sound errors

Previous research indicates that children with speech sound disorders (SSD) have underlying phonological memory deficits. The SSD population, however, is diverse. While children who make consistent atypical speech errors (phonological disorder/PhDis) are known to have executive function deficits in rule abstraction and cognitive flexibility, little is known about their memory profile. Sixteen monolingual preschool children with atypical speech errors (PhDis) were matched individually to age-and-gender peers with typically developing speech (TDS). The two groups were compared on forward recall of familiar words (pointing response), reverse recall of familiar words (pointing response), and reverse recall of digits (spoken response) and a receptive vocabulary task. There were no differences between children with TDS and children with PhDis on forward recall or vocabulary tasks. However, children with TDS significantly outperformed children with PhDis on the two reverse recall tasks. Findings suggest that atypical speech errors are associated with impaired phonological working memory, implicating executive function impairment in specific subtypes of SSD.