Nonword Repetition and Speech Motor Control in Children.

Christina Reuterskiöld,Maria I Grigos

doi:10.1155/2015/683279

Abstract

This study examined how familiarity of word structures influenced articulatory control in children and adolescents during repetition of real words (RWs) and nonwords (NWs). A passive reflective marker system was used to track articulator movement. Measures of accuracy were obtained during repetition of RWs and NWs, and kinematic analysis of movement duration and variability was conducted. Participants showed greater consonant and vowel accuracy during RW than NW repetition. Jaw movement duration was longer in NWs compared to RWs across age groups, and younger children produced utterances with longer jaw movement duration compared to older children. Jaw movement variability was consistently greater during repetition of NWs than RWs in both groups of participants. The results indicate that increases in phonological short-term memory demands affect articulator movement. This effect is most pronounced in younger children. A range of skills may develop during childhood, which supports NW repetition skills.

Highlights

Language acquisition is often studied in isolation from neuromotor development [1, 2]
We explored the hypothesis that articulator movement duration and variability will increase during tasks with greater phonological short-term memory (PSTM) demands
Consonant and vowel accuracy were higher for real words (RWs) than NWs as evidenced by a significant main effect of Word Type on percent consonants correct (PCC), F(1, 14) = 13.75, p = 0.002, ηp2 = 0.495, and percent vowel correct (PVC), F(1, 14) = 9.95, p = 0.007, ηp2 = 0.415

Summary

Introduction

Language acquisition is often studied in isolation from neuromotor development [1, 2]. The relationship between higher-level language and cognitive skills and lowerlevel abilities related to speech output is poorly understood. There is a need to better understand this relationship from a theoretical standpoint and from a clinical perspective as many diagnostic measures of language ability, such as nonword repetition, rely on speech production as a response mode. The purpose of the present study was to explore the interaction between cognitive/linguistic and speech motor processes by studying how children and adolescents modify articulatory control during the repetition of real words (RWs) and nonwords (NWs) that vary in length. There is a large body of research demonstrating a link between NW repetition skills and language and literacy abilities in children and adolescents with and without language impairments (e.g., [10,11,12,13,14,15,16])

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