Sequential diadochokinesis in fluent and stuttering children: rate of production and type of errors

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To compare the oral motor performance of stuttering and fluent children based on the production rate of sequential diadochokinesis (DDK) and on the type of errors.

Methods

Participants were 46 children, aged between 4 years and 11 years and 11 months, divided into two groups: Research Group (GI), composed of 23 children with persistent developmental stuttering; Control Group (GII), composed of 23 fluent children, paired by age and gender to participants of GI. For each participant, three samples of sequential DDK were recorded in 15-second windows. These samples were later analyzed considering articulatory rate, and number and type of consonant errors per sample.

Results

The groups did not present significant differences when considering the analyzed variables. Both fluent and stuttering children presented similar performances for articulatory rate and consonant errors (i.e., the most frequent type of error was consonant exchange).

Conclusion

Children with developmental stuttering and their fluent peers presented similar performances in all of the tested variables, suggesting that sequential DDK was not enough to identify the stuttering group.

Stuttering; Speech; Children; Speech production measurement; Acoustics