Comparing attention, Working Memory and Reaction Time in Children with and Without Childhood onset fluency Disorder

Abstract

The childhood onset fluency disorder is of the most prevalent verbal disturbances. This disorder causes prolonging and repetition of words and defects speech fluency. The presents research aims at comparing the sustained attention, working memory, and reaction time in children with and without childhood onset fluency disorder. Therefore, this research is comparative. Two sample populations comprising the twenty 7-12-years-old children with and the twenty 7-12-years-old children without childhood onset fluency disorder were selected from among two research populations, considering the intended criteria obtained by the researcher-made questionnaire for testees’ inclusion. Then, the data of two groups were collected using the research tools, i.e., Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and N-Back test, to assess the sustained attention and reaction time and the working memory, respectively. SPPS software and independent t-test were applied for data analysis. Comparing two groups revealed that the sustained attention and working memory in the children with childhood onset fluency disorder are different and less than the ones without such disorder. Further, the results showed that the reaction time in the children with childhood onset fluency disorder was similar to ones not suffering from such disorder.