Development of Auditory Memory and Sequencing Test for Marathi Speaking Children

Abstract

Objectives: Aims of the study were to develop test material for evaluation of auditory memory and sequencing in Marathi; to compare scores in children across the age and among children with and without symptoms of Central auditory processing disorders (CAPD). Methods: The test material consisted of 20 sequences. The number of words in a sequence ranged from three to eight. All tokens were audio recorded and played through a laptop computer. The participants were instructed to repeat the words heard in the same sequence. Data were collected from a total of 60 typically developing children, in the age range of 5 to 5;11; 6 to 6;11 and 7 to 7;11years. Twelve children with symptoms of CAPD, were compared with typically developing children. The responses were scored using two scoring methods. In Method I, which is based on Yathiraj and Vijayalakshmi (2006) and in Method II, memory and sequencing span was determined based on the recommendation of Vaidyanath and Yathiraj (2014). Results: Results of item analysis suggest that the developed auditory memory and sequencing test has good reliability. There was no significant effect of gender, whereas significant age effect was observed for auditory memory and sequencing scores as well as span, there was a difference in the trend. Children with CAPD had poor auditory memory and sequencing score and span, however a significant difference was observed in some age groups while it was not observed in other age groups. Auditory sequencing score and span could identify more number of children with CAPD. Conclusion: Auditory memory and sequencing test has good internal consistency and reliability. Significant age effect for both auditory memory and sequencing was observed for 5 to 8 year old children. There was no gender effect. Children with symptoms of CAPD showed poor performance on these tests. The results obtained varied depending on the methods of scoring. Auditory sequencing task was more difficult than auditory memory both in typically developing children and those with symptoms of CAPD.