Phonological Memory Performance in Children with Speech Sound Disorders with and without Language Impairment

Objectives: Phonological memory deficits may contribute to the emergence of speech and language disorders. This study aimed to compare the phonological memory performance of children with speech sound disorders (SSD), both with and without comorbid language impairment (LI), to that of typically developing (TD) children. Additionally, it sought to identify a key task related to phonological memory that effectively discriminates between SSD children with and without LI and their TD counterparts. Methods: The study included 22 children with SSD and 43 TD children, aged 5 to 7 years. Among the SSD group, 11 children had no language impairment (SSD only), while 11 had comorbid LI (SSD+LI). Phonological memory tasks such as nonword repetition (NWR), sentence repetition (SRT), and picture-pointing tasks were administered. Group comparisons and discriminant analyses were conducted to identify key predictive factors. Results: Significant group differences were found across all tasks, with the SSD+LI group showing the lowest phonological memory performance. NWR accuracy emerged as the most discriminating factor between groups, achieving a 75.4% correct classification rate. Some SSD children showed variability in task performance, highlighting individual differences. Conclusion: This study underscores the critical role of phonological memory deficits in differentiating children with SSD-with or without LI-from their TD peers. The study also discussed specific components of a speech processing model that each phonological memory task may engage.