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The major focus of this research is on the differential disruption of language abilities subsequent to brain damages as they relate to site and size of lesion, especially left hemisphere lesions which disrupt the production and processing of "Nouns" vs. "Verbs" as two functionally different lexical categories. Several clinical as well as experimental studies reported on different language have shown that nouns and verbs can be independently disrupted due to brain damage. A prevalent impairment in naming actions (Producing verbs) is reported in non-fluent aphasic patients, with lesions involving left frontal lobe, whereas a selective in naming objects (Producing nouns) has been observed in amnesic patients, with lesions involving the temporal lobe and the temporal lobe and the posterior association aresas. This research is a theoretical and fundamental based on descriptive and analytical method. The aphasic data in this research were obtained by assessing each patient&aposs aphasic symptoms using a standard Persian aphasia test (Paradis, Nilipoure, Paribakht, 1989) as well as post-test analysis of each patient&apos connected descriptive speech. The subjects were selected form among aphasics who referred to speech therapy centers in Tehran during a pe5iod of one year since autumn 1999. The subjects selected in the study were a homogenous group with left hemisphere lesions due to CVA. They were educated adult right handed. Speakers of Persian without any risk factor such as nicotine, alcohol or any addiction and diabetes with no gross depression or anxiety problems or face and oral paralysis and hemiaopsia. The subjects in this study comprised to adults ranging between 33 and 76 years of age. The results indicated that there are significant correlation between: 1) The production of nouns and left hemisphere lesion. 2) The production of verbs and left hemisphere lesion. 3) Brain lesion and language deficits. 4) The site of lesion and language abilities. Although the data are limited and the generalization of the study has certain restrictions, the present data indicate some specific and reliable avidence on the selective impairment of nouns and verbs due to different lesions in the left hemisphere.

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Background and Aim: Agrammatism is a phenomenon of neuropsychological relevance which has been recently investigated from conceptual and empirical aspects. The present study focuses on grammatical deficit in agrammatic aphasia. We evaluated the impairment of correct use of tenses of Persian verbs in agrammatic Broca&aposs aphasia.
Methods: Eight patients (mean age 57 years) participated in this descriptive - analytic study. They were classified as agrammatic Broca&aposs aphasia according to the Persian aphasia test, their CT Scan and MRI reports and other inclusion criteria. All patients but one were monolingual native speakers of Persian (Farsi). The other individual was bilingual whose dominant language was Persian. All subjects had a left unilateral brain lesion for at least one year after the onset of brain damage. The written sentence completion and picture sentence completion tests were designed and performed.
Results: Results do not indicate significant difference between Past Tenses of verb however, comparison of means showed best scores in Simple Past, Past Continuous, Present Perfect and Past Perfect, respectively. A main result of this study was significant difference between the mean of responses to Past Tense in comparison with Present Tense and Future (p=0.02).
Conclusion: Use of tense is impaired in agrammatic Broca&aposs aphasia in Persian. Our findings point out that use of Past Tense is impaired significantly more than the other tenses of verb.

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Background and Aim: valid identification, prevention, and treatment of language disorders are a high priority for the speech and language professionals. One method for studying language development is sentence repetition that is faster to implement and analysis than other procedures. The aim of this project was constructing sentence repetition test as a quick measure of grammatical potency in 2.5 to 4 year old children.
Methods: Sentences appropriate for 2.5 to 4 year old children were selected during several stages by speech and language pathologist and linguists. The validity of sentences was assessed by professional masters in this theme. Subsequently, 41 sentences including those with 80% high validity were selected as the test sentences. Appropriate pictures were also provided with sentences. The test was administrated to 72 children in 3 groups (2.5-3, 3-3.5, and 3.5-4 year olds, gender matched). The reliability was administered with a test-retest design across a 2 weeks interval.
Results: Content validity Index for this test was 80%. "Test-retest reliability" was used for reliability of this test. The Interclass correlation coefficient for this test was 0.95 and standard error measurement was 7.45. The average of scores for sentence repetition, between groups was significant (p<0.001, p<0.001, p= 0.014).
Conclusion: This sentence repetition test has the appropriate validity and reliability as well as the capability of proper and quick assessment (screening) of grammatical development in 2.5 to 4 year old Persian speaking children.

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Background and Aim: Formant structure and vowel space are the most important acoustic characteristics of speech sounds. The purpose of this study was to determine formant frequency and vowel space in six Persian vowels.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was performed on 60 Persian students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (30 males, 30 females) with their age ranging from 18 to 24 years. The subject articulated six Persian vowels in isolation and data was recorded by real-analyzer software. Then, the first three formant frequency of each vowel was determined for each subject. Vowel formant frequency averages were measured separately for each vowel and each gender. Vowel space was plotted. The difference between F0 in two groups was compared by Leven and independent sample t tests.
Results: Maximum and minimum values of F0 in both group was related to /æ/ and /a/ (135 Hz in males and 239 Hz in females) and /i/ (146 Hz in males and 239 Hz in females). Besides, F0 in females was significantly higher than males (p<0.001). Maximum and minimum values of F1 were related to /æ/ and /i/. Furthermore, maximum and minimum values of F2 were related to /i/ and /u/. Maximum and minimum values of F3 were related to /i/ and /u/.
Conclusion: The lowest vowels were /æ/ and /a/ and the highest was /i/. The frontest was /i/ and the backest was /u/. the spreadest vowel was /i/ and the roundest was /u/.

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Background and Aim: Valid identification, prevention, and treatment of language disorders have a high priority for the clinicians. Story retelling is a method for studying language development which is faster than other procedures in implementing and analyzing, and has a reliable scoring system. The aim of this project is to construct story retelling test for assessing language structure in 6-7 year old, Persian children.
Methods: An appropriate story for 6-7 year old children was written by the help of a speech pathologist, a linguist, and a novelist. The validity of the constructed story was checked by 14 experts. Then related pictures were design and their validity was examined. The test was conducted on 72 children (36 girls, 36 boys) of 6-7 years. The reliability was administered with a test-retest design with a two week interval. The reliability of the scoring system was evaluated with inter-rater method.
Results: Content validity index for this test was 89%, interclass correlation was 83%, and standard error of measurement was 2.76. The interclass correlation for scoring system was 93% and Pearson&aposs correlation was 90%. Correlation of the test-retest scores was statistically significant (p<0.01).
Conclusion: This story retelling test has appropriate validity and reliability. It is suitable for quick assessment of language structure in 6-7 year old, Persian children.

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Background and Aim: Studies have shown that most children before age 4 are able to comprehend and express wh-question. In the Persian language, a case study has confirmed these results. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of 4-6 year olds to comprehend and express wh-question.
Methods: Seventy two 4-6 year-old Persian-speaking children were selected randomly. Wh-words consist of: what, where, who, why, and when. In the part of comprehension subjects answered questions about two pictures, and in the part of expression they asked questions elicited by a speaking puppet about four pictures. Descriptive analysis and student&aposs t-test were used for data analysis.
Results: In comprehension 4-6 year-old children gained the complete score (2) with SD=0 in all wh-words. However, 4-5 year old children gained the score of 1.89 with SD of 0.32 for the word when. In expression, independent t-test showed the maximum score of 3.52 with SD of 0.84 related to questions with who. 5-6 and 4-5 year old subjects had significant differences in questions with what (p=0.005), where (p=0.003), who (p=0.012), and when (p<0.001). Most errors were expressed in question with when.
Conclusion: Subjects of this study had the ability to comprehend and express wh-words. Comprehension of wh-words is easy for 4-6 year-old children they are able to use them in questions, but have some application errors.

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Background and Aim : Nasalization of a vowel refers to the addition of nasal resonance to the vocal tract transfer function. Also, vowel nasalization occurs because of coarticulation. Coupling of the nasal resonating space to the oropharyngeal cavity alters the vocal tract formants in complex ways. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of nasalization on /a/ vowel formants in before and after nasal consonant.

Methods: In current cross-sectional study, voice samples of 60 normal children ranging the age of four-nine years were investigated. Participants were asked to repeat / ʔ ama/ three times and vowel /a/ after presentation of an auditory model. Then, obtained samples were analyzed using Praat 5.3.13 . Average of F₀, F₁, F₂ and F₃ were calculated for /a/ comes before and after /m/ in production of / ʔ ama/ over three trials.

Results: There were statistically significant differences of F₁, F₂ and F₃ between / a/ which proceeds nasal consonant and /a/ follows nasal consonant , the before nasal consonant /a/ versus single /a/ and the after nasal consonant /a/ versus single /a/ (p=0.001 for all).

Conclusion : F₁, F₂ and F₃ in /a/ before nasal consonant affected by anticipatory nasal coarticulation and in /a/ after nasal consonant affected by carry-over nasal coarticulation . This study showed nasal coarticulation and nasalization result in decreasing F₁, F₂ and F₃ in /a/ vowel.

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Backgrand and Aim: The measurement of speech intelligibility refer to determining the measure of speech intelligibility in communication. The speech intelligibility is used for decision-making in intervention, the determination of intervention goals, and the measurement of intervention outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the speech intelligibility among the children aged 36 to 60 months.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 360 healthy children (180 girls and 180 boys) were chosen among children of kindergardens in Khorramabad city, Iran. Speech sample of subjects was collected by calling pictures of Hydari et al 2010, speech intelligibility measurement test (2010). The voices of the subjects were tape-recorded and speech intelligibility of children was studied within 12 age-groups arranged by two months.

Results: The minimum speech intelligibility was concerned to 36 and 37 months old and the maximum was concerned to 58 and 59 months old. There was a significant differences among age-group 36 and 37 months old with 44 and 45 months old and above, age-group 38 and 39 months old with 55 and 54 months old and above, and age-group 40 and 41 months old with 58 and 59 months old (p<0.05 for all). There was no significant difference among other age groups. There was no significant difference between boys and girls.

Conclusion: Speech intelligibility has the highest growth during the age of 36 to 46 months and it had lowest growth during the age of 46 months and elder range.

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Background and Aim: The ways in which words are phonologically stored and organized change with maturation. Hence, most researchers agree on the issue of phonological representations abilities evolve over time . This study aimed to determine the quality of phonological representations in normal Persian-speaking boys and girls.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study , quality of phonological representations of 240 normal children at the age of 54 to 77 months was investigated using descriptive - analytical method s . The subjects were randomly selected among the children in kindergartens and preschoolers in Arak city, Iran. The study tool was a researcher-made quality of phonological representations test.

Results: Significant differences were found between age groups in the scores of quality of phonological representations (p<0.01). Subjects in the first ( aged 54 to 59 months ) and fourth (aged 72 to 77 months ) age-group had the lowest and highest scores, respectively. The differences in mean scores between 54 to 59 month- and 66 to 71 month-old and between 66 to 71 month- and 72 to 77 month-old children were not significant. There were significant differences in other group mean scores (p<0.001). In all groups of syllables (i.e., words with two , three and four syllables ), o lder children have better performance. The mean scores of quality of phonological representations in the two groups of boys and girls in any of the age groups were not significantly different from each other.

Conclusion: It seems that subjects' performances have improved with increase in age and gender does not affect the quality of phonological representations.

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Background and Aim: Setting of candidates for a word with similar beginnings is known as the Cohort size. Despite the importance of the number and properties of candidates in word recognition, so far, in none of the tests made for Persian language, the Cohort size is considered. The purpose of current study was the introduction of importance of Cohort size in word recognition and calculation of Cohort size for the list of Persian high-frequency spondee words.

Methods: The spondee words extracted from high-frequency Persian word store. Then, total spondee words with same first syllable in Amid Persian dictionary recorded and Cohort size calculated for each spondee word. Thus, the list of high-frequency spondee words with their Cohort size composed of 4121 words obtained.

Results: The Cohort sizes of word had a wide range from 0 to 87. In the half of the words, the Cohort sizes were less than 14 and in the rest were more than it.

Conclusion: The Cohort size affects the time course and precision of decision making about words. Persian words are not equal in Cohort size. For having more controlled test materials to develop and design different types of auditory tests, it is possible to consider the Cohort size of words along other effective factors.

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Background and Aim: Speech and language pathologists (SLP) often refer to phonological data as part of their assessment protocols in evaluating the communication skills of children. The aim of this study was to develop the Persian version of the phonological test in evaluating and diagnosing communication skills in Persian speaking children and to evaluate its validity and reliability.

Methods: The Persian phonological test (PPT) was conducted on 387 monolingual Persian speaking boys and girls (3-6 years of age) who were selected from 12 nurseries in the northwest region of Tehran. Content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) were assessed by speechtherapists and linguists. Correlation between speech and language pathologists experts' opinions and Persian phonological test results in children with and without phonological disorders was evaluated to investigate the Persian phonological test validity. In addition, the Persian phonological test test-retest reliability was investigated.

Results: Both content validity ratio and content validity index were found to be acceptable (CVR≥94.71 and CVI=97.35). The PPT validity was confirmed by finding a good correlation between s peech and language pathologists experts' opinions and Persian phonological test results ( r _Kappa =0.73 and r _Spearman =0.76). The percent of agreement between transcription and analyzing error patterns in test-retest (ranging from 86.27%-100%) and score-rescore (ranging from 94.28%-100%) showed that Persian phonological test had a very high reliability.

Conclusion: The results of this study show that the Persian phonological test seems to be a suitable tool in evaluating phonological skills of Persian speaking children in clinical settings and research projects.

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Background and Aim: Word definition is one of the complicated language skills that require education and linguistic awareness. In this study , comparison was made in word definition ability of children between ages of 4.5 to 7.5 years.

Methods: This study was cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical in nature . Participants included 107 girls and boys who where in age group 1 (54-65 months), age group 2 (66-77 months), and age group 3 (78-90 months). They were selected by multistage sampling method and recruited from nurseries and primary schools in 1, 7, and 17 municipal districts of Tehran . Word definition task was performed on each subject. The reliability was assessed by two independent values and the validity was determined by the content. Kruskal- Wallis and Mann-Whitney U statistical methods were used for analysis.

Results: Mean score of the content in word definition was significantly increased by age (p=0.001). In the second and third age groups there was no significant difference in the content of word definition. The most response that used in all ages was the functional response. With increasing age, error rate (p=0.002) and identical (p=0.003) responses significantly decreased however, percentage use of combination II (p<0.001) responses significantly increased.

Conclusion: By increasing age, quality of definitions in terms of content is improved and definitions change from functional and concrete responses to c ombination II definitions.

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Background and Aim: Some children with speech sound disorder (SSD) have difficulty with phonological awareness skills therefore, the purpose of this study was to survey the correlation between phonological processes and phonological awareness.

Methods: Twenty-one children with speech sound disorder, aged between 5 and 6, participated in this cross-sectional study. They were recruited from speech therapy clinics at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences. They were selected using the convenience sampling method . Language, speech sound, and phonological awareness skills were investigated by the test of language development-third edition (TOLD-3), the Persian diagnostic evaluation articulation and phonology test, and the phonological awareness test. Both Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlations were used to analyze the data.

Results: There was a significant correlation between the atypical phonological processes and alliteration awareness (p=0.005), rhyme awareness (p=0.009), blending phonemes (p=0.006), identification of words with the same initial phoneme (p=0.007), and identification of words with the same final phoneme (p=0.007). Analyzing the correlation on the basis of the phoneme and syllable structure separately showed there was a significant correlation between the atypical phoneme structure and alliteration awareness (p=0.001), rhyme awareness (p=0.008), blending phonemes (p=0.029), identification of words with the same initial phoneme (p=0.007), and identification of words with the same final phoneme (p=0.003).

Conclusion: Results revealed a relationship between phonological processes and phonological awareness in children with speech sound disorder. Poor phonological awareness was associated with atypical phonological processes especially at the phoneme level.

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Background and Aims: The dichotic listening subtest is considered as an important component of the test battery for auditory processing assessment in both children and adults. A randomized dichotic digits test (RDDT) was created to compensate for sensitivity weakness of double digits when detecting abnormal ear asymmetry during dichotic listening. The aim of this study was the development and initial evaluation of the Persian randomized dichotic digits test.

Method: Persian digits 1-10 (except for the bisyllabic digit, 4) uttered by a native Persian language speaker were recorded in a studio. After alignment of intensity and temporal characteristics of digit waveforms, lists 1 and 2 of the RDDT were reproduced. List 1 of the test was administered at 55 dBHL on 50 right-handed normal hearing individuals (with an equal sex ratio) in the age group of 18-25 years and hearing thresholds of 15 dBHL or better in audiometric frequencies.

Results: Mean (standard deviation) percent-correct score for right and left ears and right ear advantage of the subjects was 94.3 (5.3), 84.8 (7.7), and 9.5 (7.0) percent, respectively. Sixty percent of the subjects showed normal results and unilateral and bilateral deficits were seen in 24 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Conclusion: It seems the Persian version of RDDT is the same as the original test as it is able to test ear asymmetry , unilateral and bilateral deficits in dichotic listening.