Repetition of Time-Altered Sentences by Normal and Learning Disabled Children

Abstract

The present study was designed to assess the effect of various rates of compressed and expanded sentences on the performance of 10 learning disabled children and 10 normal children to determine whether the auditory difficulties of the children were characterized by deficiencies in processing especially rapid or especially slow speech. Children repeated sentences composed of five to 17 morphemes presented at normal rates, at 60% and 30% compression, and at 30% and 60% expansion. The normal children repeated the sentences equally well at all rates and were more accurate than the learning disabled children at each rate. In the learning disabled group performance was less accurate at the fastest rate but equally accurate at all other rates. These findings suggest a semantic or syntactic deficit in the processing of rapidly presented auditory material rather than a deficit in short-term memory.