Aspectos da fluência da fala em crianças com distúrbio específico de linguagem

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to assess specific aspects of speech fluency in children with specific language impairment (SLI). This included examining the typology of speech disruption and rate (in words and syllables per minute), across different age groups. Methods: A total of 50 children, aged 3 to 7 years old, presenting with nonverbal IQ and hearing thresholds within normal limits (without the presence of stuttering) participated in the study. Children were divided into two groups: G1 (SLI) included 25 children (7 girls and 18 boys) and G2 that children aged 3 to 4 years old in G1 had lower speech rate than their age-matched peers from G2. Within-group analyses revealed no differences in disruption typologies between age groups in G1 participants. In contrast, hesitation was the most frequent typology for 4-to 5-year-old G2 children, whereas hesitation and word repetition typologies were observed in 6-to 7-year-old G2 children. Conclusion: Children with suspected SLI between the ages of 3 to 4 years old showed a reduction in word and syllable production. Hesitation-type speech disruptions were prominently used by typically developing children, regardless of age, and were not observed in SLI children.

School-age children with specific language impairment produce more speech disfluencies than their peers

“…However, even if this finding confirms that the pattern of disfluencies used by the population with SLI is different from its peers, it is different from previous studies that found no significant differences concerning the use of disfluencies considered as non-stuttering-like (3,12,15) .…”

“…This difference can be a result of the type of used material, because, in this sample, students were asked to elaborate narratives based on logical-temporal sequences. In this type of task, the linguistic demand is higher than when static figures are presented (15) , a book with no words (12) .…”

“…Other studies did not find significant differences between the use of common disfluencies when comparing children with SLI and their peers (3,15) . According to the authors, this result was unexpected, but it can be explained by the fact that the speech sample is based on narratives, which does not require a shift change, and, therefore, does not favor the use of resources to elaborate the message during speech (3) .…”

“…However, other methodological aspects may have interfered in this result. Whereas in this study the classification of disfluencies divides them into stuttering-like (part-word repetition, prolongations, blocks, and broken words) and others (interjection, revision, and phrase repetition) (24) , in the other mentioned studies disfluencies were classified as silent pauses and vocal hesitation (filled-in pauses, interjections, word or part-word repetition, revision) (3) , as normal (word/phrase repetition, revision, and interjection) and stuttering-like disfluencies (part-word repetition, prolongation, and block) (12) , or as common disfluencies (hesitation, word repetition, revision, interjection, unfinished word, segment repetition, and phrase repetition) and stuttering-like disfluencies (syllable repetition, blocks, prolongation, sound repetition, pause, and intrusion) (15) . Therefore, it is possible that differences between these classifications, even if subtle, led to different results.…”

“…The inclusion of the assessment of speech fluency is pointed out as being essential in the process of diagnosing specific language changes, because it enables us to verify the effective use of language. Besides, children suspected of having SLI aged between 3 and 4 years showed reduced speech rate measured in syllables and words per minute (15) .…”