Visual Sequencing Performance of Aphasic Children

Four experiments were conducted to investigate the visual sequencing abilities of aphasic children. Aphasic children averaged about 75% correct on a task that required them to press three panels in the same order in which light had flashed on those panels. Emphasizing one of the temporal positions of the sequence with colored light had no effect. When a time delay was introduced between the flashes and the opportunity for response, aphasic children made more errors than normal children. Delay increased the error rate of both groups, but had a greater effect on aphasic children. Both groups made most of their errors in the initial position of the sequence. Dextroamphetamine sulfate improved the performance of some aphasic children on the delayed sequencing task. Finally, aphasic children did worse on a variety of standardized sequencing tasks. Significant correlations were obtained between the tasks for both aphasic and normal groups. These results suggest a general sequencing ability in which aphasic children are deficient.