Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to compare the performance of manual diadochokinesis in children who both stuttered and had phonological disorders, children who stuttered but had no phonological disorders, and children who neither stuttered nor had phonological disorders. 81 male Japanese elementary school children (27 in each of 3 groups) participated. In tasks requiring 4 kinds of manual diadochokinetic movements, each child was asked to tap a required sequence for 12 seconds. The number of incorrect and correct sequences was counted. The results for the number of correct sequences indicated that the movements of the children who stuttered but had no phonological disorders were significantly different from those of the children in the other two groups on these complex tasks. However, no significant difference was found between the results for the children who stuttered but had no phonological disorders and those for the children who neither stuttered nor had phonological disorders. These findings suggest that children who both stutter and have phonological disorders may have some problems with neural mechanisms for general sequencing processes.
