Comparison of shifting attention function in 7-13-years-old children with fluent speech and developmental stuttering

Attention has causal role in speech and language processing. Studies are limited about relation between attention and language development. As a result، the purpose of this study was to investigate the difference shifting attention function in children with developmental stuttering and fluent speech. Thirty children who stutter (21 boys and 9 girls) and thirty children who did not stutter (21 boys and 9 girls) were evaluated. Shifting attention function was investigated using Wisconsin card sorting test. The data were analyzed via Kolmogorov-Smirnov، independent t، and Mann-Whitney U-tests. Between group analysis showed significant differences for all of the indexes in Wisconsin card sorting test. The number of categories completed in children who stutter was significantly less than that control group (p<0. 05). But preservative errors، total errors، total tries، time of test performance and try for first pattern in children who stutter was more than in the control group and data differences were significant for all of the indexes (p<0. 05). The findings of this study show that children with and without stuttering are different in shifting attention function and children who stutter have weaker function in shifting attention. The findings were linked to emerging theoretical frameworks of stuttering development and that were taken to suggest a possible role for attention processes in developmental stuttering.