Investigation of language, articulation, phonological awareness and executive functions of the Turkish speaking stuttering and nonstuttering preschool children

The purpose of this study was to compare Turkish speaking 40 4;0-5;11 year-old children who do (CWS) and 40 age-matched (-/+2 months) children who do not stutter (CWNS) in terms of language, articulation, phonological awareness skills and executive functions (phonological working memory and inhibition) and examine the correlations among these skills separately within 4;0-4;11 and 5;0-5;11 age groups. Descriptive comparative and correlational models were used in this study. Data collection tools were Turkish Early Language Development Test (TEDİL), articulation subtest (SET) of Turkish Articulation and Phonology Test (SST), Phonological Awareness Test (FFT), Turkish Nonword Repetition Test (TAST), Peg Tapping and Day/Night tasks and the data was analyzed by using SPSS 25 package programme. Results indicated that CWS had poorer performances in all the tests and tasks than CWNS; however significant differences were observed in total language, receptive/expressive subtests, articulation, phonological awareness and nonword repetition scores but not the inhibition control scores. There was no significant difference between the groups in articulation and phonological awareness in the age range 4;0;4;11 and articulation and receptive language and in the age range 5;0-5;11. The findings showed that stuttering children may have subtle linguistic, motor speech and cognitive differences compared with nonstuttering peers and these differences should be taken into consideration while assessing the risk factors about stuttering persistence. Keywords: Stuttering, Language, Articulation, Phonological Awareness, Executive Functions.