Blackburn, Emily
(2024)
Attentional Control Systems in Developmental Stuttering.
Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder experienced as a loss of control of one’s speech. It is characterized by an involuntary disruption in the forward flow of speech. Theories of stuttering, such as the Multifactorial Dynamic Pathways Theory, suggest that there are several influencing factors that contribute to the development of and persistence in stuttering. Attentional control is one factor theorized to potentially play an influential role in stuttering. The present study examined how different aspects of attentional control factor together in school-age children and whether there were differences in attentional control between children who stutter (CWS) and children who do not stutter (CWNS).
Eighty-two children (40 CWS, 42 CWNS), ages 4-8 years, completed a battery of behavioral tasks that measured speech, language, and attention skills. Parents completed multiple questionnaires assessing their child’s attention-related skills in everyday life situations. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to identify latent structure across the combined group and between and within CWS and CWNS groups individually.
Five factors were extracted for the combined group model. Generally, attentional control skills factored together, separate from measures associated with speech and language. Specifically, factors included: Parental Reports of Attention Behaviors, or skills related to attention management in the real world; Executive Control of Attention, as measured by behavioral tasks, Speech Sound Skills, or articulation and phonology skills; Language and Verbal Working Memory, as measured by behavioral tasks; and Inhibition, as measured by a Go/No-Go task. There were no group differences across the five factors extracted from the combined group; however, the Language and Verbal Working Memory factor trended toward a difference between groups. Factors extracted separately CWS and CWNS were similar to factors for the overall group.
Overall, findings suggest that attentional control between CWS and CWNS is largely comparable for school-age children. Subtle differences in the factor for language and verbal working memory indicate the need for future research in this area. Importantly, different ways of modeling these skills provided stable consistent models of how factors of attentional control group together for school-age children.
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| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
6 June 2024 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
18 March 2024 |
| Approval Date: |
6 June 2024 |
| Submission Date: |
27 March 2024 |
| Access Restriction: |
1 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 1 year. |
| Number of Pages: |
94 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences > Communication Science and Disorders |
| Degree: |
MS - Master of Science |
| Thesis Type: |
Master's Thesis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
stuttering, attention, children |
| Date Deposited: |
06 Jun 2024 13:58 |
| Last Modified: |
06 Jun 2024 13:58 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/45916 |
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