Improving Child Compliance on a Computer-Administered Nonword Repetition Task

Abstract

Purpose: A range of nonword repetition (NWR) tasks are used in research and clinical applications, but compliance rates among young children remain low. Live presentation is usually used to improve compliance rates, but this lacks the consistency of recorded stimuli. In this study, the authors examined whether a novel delivery of NWR stimuli based on recorded material could provide improved compliance rates in young children, thereby reducing research bias.Method: The novel NWR task with 26 recorded items was administered to 391 typically developing children ages 2–6 years. The children were presented with a story that they could influence by repeating “magic” words. Results: From the 384 children who completed the task, the authors found a noncompliance rate related to age. In line with previous research, no effect of demographic factors was found,but there was a significant main effect of age, syllable length,and phonological complexity on repetition accuracy. Test–retest and interrater scoring showed high levels of reliability.Conclusion: The task described in this study offers an objective delivery of recorded stimuli that engages young children and provides high compliance rates. The task is inexpensive, requires minimal training, and can be adapted to other languages.

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