Lexico-semantic processing in children with specific language impairment: The overactivation hypothesis

Purpose Given the complexity of sentence processing and the specific problems that children with specific language impairment (SLI) experience, we investigated the time course and characteristics of semantic processing at the sentence level in Dutch preschoolers with SLI. Method We measured N400 responses to semantically congruent and incongruent spoken sentences (e.g., “My father is eating an apple/*blanket”) in a group of 37 Dutch preschoolers with SLI and in a group of 25 typically developing (TD) peers. We compared the time course and amplitude of the N400 effect between the two groups. Results The TD group showed a strong posterior N400 effect in time windows 300–500 ms and 500–800 ms. In contrast, the SLI group demonstrated only a reliable N400 effect in the later time window, 500–800 ms, and did not show a stronger presence at posterior electrodes. Conclusion The findings suggest that the neuronal processing of semantic information at sentence level is atypical in preschoolers with SLI compared with TD children.

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Auditory Implicit Semantic Priming in Spanish-Speaking Children with and without Specific Language Impairment

The Spanish Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1017/sjp.2014.33 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 17 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Dolors Girbau

Keyword(s):

Semantic Priming ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Receptive Vocabulary ◽

Language Abilities ◽

Specific Language ◽

Lexical Semantic ◽

Mean Response Time ◽

Spanish Speaking

AbstractWe analyzed whether Spanish-speaking children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) showed deficits in lexical-semantic processing/organization, and whether these lexical measures correlated with standardized measures of language abilities. Fourteen children with Typical Language Development (TLD) and 16 age-matched children with SLI (8;0–9;11 years) participated. In a Lexical Decision (LD) task with implicit semantic priming, children judged whether a given speech pair contained two words (semantically related/unrelated) or a word-pseudoword. Children received a comprehensive language and reading test battery. Children with TLD exhibited significant semantic priming; they were faster for semantically related word pairs than for unrelated (p < .001) and than for word-pseudoword pairs (p < .0002). The group with SLI did not exhibit significant semantic priming, despite showing more variability. Children with SLI made significantly slower LDs [F(1, 26) = 4.61, p < .05, partial η2 = .15] and more errors [F(1, 26) = 4.16, p < .05, partial η2 = .13] than children with TLD. Mean response time across all LD conditions and the receptive vocabulary (PPVT-III) were significantly negativity correlated for children with SLI (r = –.71, p = .004). Children with SLI, especially those with the poorest language scores, showed a semantic-lexical deficit and a weakness in lexical-semantic association networks. Their performance on the LD task was significantly slower and poorer than for children with TLD. Increasing a child’s vocabulary may benefit lexical access.

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Children with Specific Language Impairment. By Laurence B. Leonard. Cambridge MA. MIT Press, 1997. pp. 340. £50.95 (hb).

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry ◽

10.1017/s0021963099243831 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 40 (5) ◽

pp. 829-832

Author(s):

Graham Schafer

Keyword(s):

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language

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Eliciting Verbs From Children With Specific Language Impairment

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/1058-0360.0504.17 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 17-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Diane Frome Loeb ◽

Clifton Pye ◽

Sean Redmond ◽

Lori Zobel Richardson

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Syntactic Complexity ◽

Specific Language ◽

Lexical Skills

The focus of assessment and intervention is often aimed at increasing the lexical skills of young children with language impairment. Frequently, the use of nouns is the center of the lexical assessment. As a result, the production of verbs is not fully evaluated or integrated into treatment in a way that accounts for their semantic and syntactic complexity. This paper presents a probe for eliciting verbs from children, describes its effectiveness, and discusses the utility of and problems associated with developing such a probe.

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Referential Cohesion in the Narratives of Bilingual and Monolingual Children With Typically Developing Language and With Specific Language Impairment

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2018_jslhr-l-18-0054 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

pp. 123-142 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sveta Fichman ◽

Carmit Altman

Keyword(s):

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Specific Language

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Deficits in Explicit Language Problem Solving Rather Than in Implicit Learning in Specific Language Impairment: Evidence From Learning an Artificial Morphological Rule

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2019_jslhr-l-17-0140 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (10) ◽

pp. 3790-3807 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sara Ferman ◽

Liat Kishon-Rabin ◽

Hila Ganot-Budaga ◽

Avi Karni

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Explicit Knowledge ◽

Procedural Memory ◽

Procedural Learning ◽

Specific Language ◽

Language Problems ◽

Morphological Rule ◽

Semantic Distinction

Purpose The purpose of this study was to delineate differences between children with specific language impairment (SLI), typical age–matched (TAM) children, and typical younger (TY) children in learning and mastering an undisclosed artificial morphological rule (AMR) through exposure and usage. Method Twenty-six participants (eight 10-year-old children with SLI, 8 TAM children, and ten 8-year-old TY children) were trained to master an AMR across multiple training sessions. The AMR required a phonological transformation of verbs depending on a semantic distinction: whether the preceding noun was animate or inanimate. All participants practiced the application of the AMR to repeated and new (generalization) items, via judgment and production tasks. Results The children with SLI derived significantly less benefit from practice than their peers in learning most aspects of the AMR, even exhibiting smaller gains compared to the TY group in some aspects. Children with SLI benefited less than TAM and even TY children from training to judge and produce repeated items of the AMR. Nevertheless, despite a significant disadvantage in baseline performance, the rate at which they mastered the task-specific phonological regularities was as robust as that of their peers. On the other hand, like 8-year-olds, only half of the SLI group succeeded in uncovering the nature of the AMR and, consequently, in generalizing it to new items. Conclusions Children with SLI were able to learn language aspects that rely on implicit, procedural learning, but experienced difficulties in learning aspects that relied on the explicit uncovering of the semantic principle of the AMR. The results suggest that some of the difficulties experienced by children with SLI when learning a complex language regularity cannot be accounted for by a broad, language-related, procedural memory disability. Rather, a deficit—perhaps a developmental delay in the ability to recruit and solve language problems and establish explicit knowledge regarding a language task—can better explain their difficulties in language learning.

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A View of the Lexical–Grammatical Link in Young Latinos With Specific Language Impairment Using Language-Specific and Conceptual Measures

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2019_jslhr-l-18-0315 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (6) ◽

pp. 1775-1786 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lucía I. Méndez ◽

Gabriela Simon-Cereijido

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Specific Language ◽

Vocabulary Skills ◽

In The Beginning ◽

Study Participants ◽

L1 And L2

Purpose This study investigated the nature of the association of lexical–grammatical abilities within and across languages in Latino dual language learners (DLLs) with specific language impairment (SLI) using language-specific and bilingual measures. Method Seventy-four Spanish/English–speaking preschoolers with SLI from preschools serving low-income households participated in the study. Participants had stronger skills in Spanish (first language [L1]) and were in the initial stages of learning English (second language [L2]). The children's lexical, semantic, and grammar abilities were assessed using normative and researcher-developed tools in English and Spanish. Hierarchical linear regressions of cross-sectional data were conducted using measures of sentence repetition tasks, language-specific vocabulary, and conceptual bilingual lexical and semantic abilities in Spanish and English. Results Results indicate that language-specific vocabulary abilities support the development of grammar in L1 and L2 in this population. L1 vocabulary also contributes to L2 grammar above and beyond the contribution of L2 vocabulary skills. However, the cross-linguistic association between vocabulary in L2 and grammar skills in the stronger or more proficient language (L1) is not observed. In addition, conceptual vocabulary significantly supported grammar in L2, whereas bilingual semantic skills supported L1 grammar. Conclusions Our findings reveal that the same language-specific vocabulary abilities drive grammar development in L1 and L2 in DLLs with SLI. In the early stages of L2 acquisition, vocabulary skills in L1 also seem to contribute to grammar skills in L2 in this population. Thus, it is critical to support vocabulary development in both L1 and L2 in DLLs with SLI, particularly in the beginning stages of L2 acquisition. Clinical and educational implications are discussed.

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