Document Type : Review Articles

Authors

• Banafshe Mansuri
• Sayed Abolfazl Tohidast

MSc in Speech Therapy, Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: In stuttering, the smooth flow of speech is interrupted by multiple and usually long hesitations which are perceived as blocks or prolongations. Various language impairments have been documented in stuttering including working memory which has recently attracted the interest of scientists. The goal of this study is reviewing the literature on this subject.Materials and Methods: A review of the latest literature on the subject of working memory in children with stuttering was performed using such keywords as “stuttering”, “working memory” and “nonword repetition” in ISI, Science Direct, PubMed, Google Scholar, Proquest, and Scopus databases. From the obtained articles, those which fulfilled the entry criteria were selected for the review. Furthermore, other resources that related to Speech and language pathology was used for writing this article.Results: From a total of 50 articles, 24 most relevant studies were selected for a full review.Conclusion: It was evident from the review that children with stuttering had some deficits in the working memorywhen compared to normal children. When designing models to explainthe nature of occurrence and development of stuttering, it is suggested to pay more attention to the role of working memory.Keywords: Stuttering, Working memory, Preschool children