Relationship between verbal working memory and the SCAN-C in children with specific language impairment.
OBJECTIVE
An ongoing concern with the evaluation of auditory processing disorders is the extent that assessment instruments are influenced by higher order cognitive functions. This study examined the relationship between verbal working memory and performance on the Test for Auditory Processing Disorders in Children-Revised (SCAN-C; Keith, 2000b) in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing (TD) children.


METHODS
Sixteen children with SLI and 16 TD children ages 8&frac12; to 11 years participated in the study. The children were presented with the SCAN-C and tests measuring verbal working memory.


RESULTS
Initial comparisons revealed that the SLI group obtained significantly lower scores than the TD group on the SCAN-C. However, after controlling for verbal working memory, significant differences between the 2 groups were no longer observed. Correlational analyses revealed that the composite score from the SCAN-C was related to all tests assessing verbal working memory.


CONCLUSIONS
Performance on the SCAN-C may be related to working memory functioning. As a consequence, it is unclear whether difficulty on this task should be viewed as a problem with auditory processing or a problem with verbal working memory.
Lum
Jarrad A G
JA
School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, 3217, Australia. jarrad.lum@deakin.edu.au
Zarafa
Michelle
M
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001308:Auditory Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D007807:Language Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D012016:Reference Values; D014706:Verbal Learning