Relationship Between Speech Sound Disorders and Neuropsychological Skills With the Mediating Role of Parenting Styles and Mother’s Depression: Memory and Visuospatial Skills
Authors:   Department of Exceptional Child Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran., Zareie Shamsabadi Nasser , Shahriar Ahmadi Mansure ,   Department of Exceptional Child Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran., Ghasisin Leyla ,   Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran., Abedi Ahmad ,   Department of Exceptional Childern Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
Published: August 2022

Background and Aims Speech sound disorders (SSD) are a type of communication disorder where normal speech acquisition is disrupted. Children with SSD make speech sound errors that may impact speech intelligibility for others. Factors and variables associated with this disorder have been the matter of investigation in some studies: However, for the present study, the relationship among neuropsychological skills (Memory skill and visuospatial skill), parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive), and mother’s depression with SSD has been investigated in a single model. Methods This study is analytical and descriptive, and the correlation method of structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to examine the data. A total of 117 preschool children (aged 4-6 years) with SSD were recruited using purposive sampling from speech and language therapy clinics and through the kindergarten screening method using Ahmadi et al.’s test. Conners neuropsychological rating scale, Baumrind’s parenting styles, and Beck depression inventory are applied to each subject and then completed by mothers. The AMOS software analyzed the data using correlation, regression, path analysis, and structural equation methods. Results The statistical analysis showed that the correlation and effect of memory skills on SSD are significant (P=0.023 <0.05). However, it is not significant with the mediating role of parenting styles (authoritarian style: P=0.715, authoritative style: P=0.306, and permissive style: P=0.689) and mother depression (P=0.531 >0.05). On the other hand, despite being a strong and remarkable variable, the correlation and effect of visual-spatial skill on SSD are not significant (P=0.054 >0.05). There is also no significant correlation and effect of visual-spatial skill on SSD with the mediating role of parenting styles (authoritarian style: P=0.497, authoritative style: P=0.268, and permissive style: P=0.949) and mother depression (P=0.414 >0.05). Conclusion The results revealed that memory and visual-spatial skills have a significant direct correlation and effect on SSD. The more memory and visual-spatial problems, the more errors in sounds (phonemes) there will be. The correlation and effect of memory and visual-spatial skills on SSD with the mediating role of parenting styles and maternal depression are not considerable.