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Background: One language-related area that has recently received more attention from researchers working in the field of stuttering is phonological working memory. The aim of the present study was to compare the phonological working memory abilities of normal children with those of children who stutter (CWS). Materials and Methods: 30 CWS aging 4-6 years were compared with their control counterparts in the same age range. Non-word immediate repetition task was used to measure reaction time and to study the effect of non-word length on the accuracy and verbal fluency of responses. The second task was non-word delayed repetition task which was applied to determine the speed and efficiency of learning non-words. Results: Between-group analysis showed significant differences for all of the indexes except accuracy of non-words. The mean of reaction times in CWS was significantly longer than that of the control group. Moreover, the rate of learning non-words in stutterers was slower than in the normal group and theses differences were significant. Furthermore, the analysis of response fluency on non-word repetitions across different non-word lengths in CWS showed that the percentage of disfluencies significantly increased along with an increase in nonword length. Although the percentage of correct non-words as a whole and across different lengths indicated that CWS produced slightly less correct non-words compared to the control group, this difference was not significant. Conclusion: The findings of the present study provides support for previous works, indicating that CWS’s phonological working memory abilities lag to some degree behind that of normal children. Key words: Phonological Working Memory, Stuttering, Non-Word Repetition Task

Introduction: Swallowing is critical for nutrition and health while affected swallowing is the source of pain, nutritional insufficiency and loss of health. Swallowing disorders especially in elderly may lead to malnutrition or a disabling condition and may cause the inability of individual to self care from himself. So, the aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of oropharyngeal dysphagia among elderly residents, who were in Isfahan nursing home centers. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study, 165 elderly persons randomly selected and screened with dysphagia screening test. Screening form was consist of some questions regarding the review of their medical history, history of feeding, swallowing and the place of dysphagia as well as three trial swallows with three different consistencies including liquid, semiliquid and solid. Then, the acquired data were analyzed with two tests of Chi-square and Cochran's Q. Results: The prevalence of dysphagia among elderly individuals was 41.2. Furthermore, the analysis of the relationship between dysphagia and three bolus consistencies revealed that the maximum dysphagia was occurred in liquids and this difference was significant. Moreover, the prevalence of dysphagia was greater in females than males (49 % VS 31%) and this difference was also significant. In addition, the analysis of the relationship between the rates of dysphagia and age groups indicated that the percent of dysphagia rise with increasing in age and this difference was significant. Concluison: The prevalence of dysphagia was significant among residential elderly populations in the Isfahan nursing home centers. They are at risk of malnutrition and pneumonia. Therefore, they need speech therapy services for their dysphagia problems. Key Words : Oropharyngeal dysphagia , Elderly , nursing home