Bielova O. - The state of auditory-verbal memory development in children with speech disorders

Contact: Bielova Olena Borysivna, PhD in of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Speech Therapy and Special Techniques of Kamyanets-Podilsky Ivan Ohienko National University, Kamyanets-Podilsky, Ukraine. Academic interests: features of the development of cognitive and emotional-volitional spheres of children with speech disorders; speech activity of children with speech disorders.

The article reveals the peculiarities of the development of auditory-verbal memory in older preschool children with speech disorders. The purpose of the study is to study the current state of auditory-verbal memory development in older preschool children with speech disorders. The task of the research: coverage of the theoretical analysis of scientific and conceptual provisions, both classical and modern studies regarding the problem of study; to determine methods for researching the components of auditory memory (reproduction sequence, volume, strength of information retention, speed, accuracy of reproduction); to present comparative research results between preschool children with speech disorders and those with normotypical psychophysical development. The study of auditoryverbal memory involves studying the abilities of older preschool children with speech disorders to remember speech stimuli and reproduce them correctly. The components of auditory-verbal memory are sequence, volume, strength, speed  and accuracy of memorization. Each component of auditory memory is evaluated according to the scoring system, and the level of its development was deduced as a result. It was determined that in children with speech disorders, unlike their peers with normotypical development, the auditory-verbal memory is not sufficiently developed, preschoolers are often distracted and need additional help from an adult. During the study, difficulties were observed in this category of children in the sequential reproduction of words (they recalled only the first three
words out of five, the others were replaced by similar words in terms of content), volume (they forgot the previously reproduced words, called them incorrectly, replaced them with others similar in terms of semantic similarity); strength (difficulty reproducing words after a certain period of time), speed (slow execution of the task, forgetting the spoken symbols, the need to repeat the instructions of the task), memory accuracy (inability to listen to the text material in its entirety, the need for visual updating, the need for auxiliary questions; during the transfer, the text changes, it does not complete on its own). Insufficiently developed components of auditory-verbal memory affect the general level of speech readiness of older preschoolers for school, and provoke difficulties during their mastery of educational material.

Keywords: auditory-verbal memory, older preschool children with speech disorders, memorization sequence, memory volume, memory strength, memory speed, reproduction accuracy.