A Comparative study of Diadochokinesis and the rate of reading and speech in normal students of Tehran city.

Background and Aim: Children with speech and language disorders have a reduced diadochokinesis rates. The purpose of this study was to compare the oral diadochokinesis with rate of speech and reading in normal students. Materials and Methods: One hundred of fifth grade female students were participated in this descriptive -- comparative study. All subjects were native speakers of persion who passed an informal screening test of articulation and speech. None of subjects had a history of speech, hearing, behavioral and neurological disorders. The subjects were asked to read a text of their book, tell a story and perform some oral diadochokinesis tasks (flecher's criterion). The time was measured by Cool Edit. Descriptive statistics and compared t-test were used for analysis. Results: the syllable / tâ /had the highest rate of diadochokinesis, while the syllables /pa/ and / kâ/ were in the next orders ( 3.96,4.01, 4.52). The rate of reading was higher than the rate of talking. There was a significant relationship between the reading rate and diadochokinesis in / kâ / (P=0.02) and / pâtâkâ / (P=0.02) Conclusion: the results indicate that there is no relation between the rate of speech and diadochokinesis but there is a significant relation between Reading rate and diadochokinesis in some tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]