Performances of Articulatory Defective, Minimal Brain Dysfunctioning, and Normal Children on Dichotic Ear Preference, Laterality, and Fine-Motor Skills Tasks

Abstract

A dichotic word task, a measure of fine-motor skills, and a test of laterality were administered to 60 children aged 5 years-7 months to 10 years-6 months. Fifteen subjects had normal articulation, 15 mild articulatory defectiveness, 15 severe articulatory defectiveness, and 15 were diagnosed as having minimal brain dysfunction (MBD). When the results of the dichotic word test were analyzed, all Ss were found to have the expected left cerebral dominance for speech except those having severe articulation disorders. A high linear relationship was found between articulation errors and ear choices on the dichotic word task. Some relationships of moderate importance linked Ss' performances on the tests of motor skills to their dichotic ear choices. Relationships were found between ear choices and numbers of articulation errors. Traditional measures of laterality were found not to be related to cerebral processing of speech as assessed using dichotic tasks.