Children with SLI exhibit delays resolving ambiguous reference

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 180-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIE M. ESTIS ◽  
BRENDA L. BEVERLY
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Distinct Word ◽  
Phonological Activation ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTFast mapping weaknesses in children with specific language impairment (SLI) may be explained by differences in disambiguation, mapping an unknown word to an unnamed object. The impact of language ability and linguistic stimulus on disambiguation was investigated. Sixteen children with SLI (8 preschool, 8 school-age) and sixteen typically developing age-matched children selected referents given familiar and unfamiliar object pairs in three ambiguous conditions: phonologically distinct word (PD), phonologically similar word (PS), no word (NW). Preschoolers with SLI did not disambiguate, unlike typically developing age-matched participants, who consistently selected unfamiliar objects given PD. School-age children with SLI disambiguated given PD. Delays in disambiguation for young children with SLI suggest limitations in processes that facilitate word learning for typically developing children. School-age children with SLI consistently selected familiar objects for PS, unlike typically developing children, suggesting differences in phonological activation for word learning.

Quick Incidental Learning (QUIL) of Words by School-Age Children With and Without SLI

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 434-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janna B. Oetting ◽  
Mabel L. Rice ◽  
Linda K. Swank
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Semantic Classes

This study examined Quick Incidental Learning (QUIL) of novel vocabulary by two groups of school-age children, those who were developing language normally and those who demonstrated a specific language impairment (SLI). The experimental items consisted of 20 words that referred to one of four semantic classes: object, attribute, action, and affective state. Videotaped stories were used to introduce the novel words, and word learning was measured by a picture-pointing task. For the normally developing children, the results documented a robust ability to learn words in the early school years. Comprehension gains were observed for all four word types, with the greatest gain made on the object labels. The children with SLI also demonstrated some word-learning ability, but their gain was significantly less than that of their normally developing peers. Although the general pattern of word effects was similar across the two groups, the children with SLI demonstrated a particularly low gain on words from the action class.

The Impact of Emphatic Stress on Novel Word Learning by Children With Specific Language Impairment

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1444-1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Ellis Weismer ◽  
Linda J. Hesketh
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Stress Effects ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Novel Word Learning ◽  
The Impact

This investigation examined the influence of emphatic stress on children's novel word learning. Forty school-age children participated in this study, including 20 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 20 children with normal language (NL) development. Results indicated that there were no significant stress effects for comprehension or recognition of novel words (for which all children demonstrated relatively high levels of performance); however, children in both groups exhibited significantly better production of words that had been presented with emphatic stress than with neutral stress. These findings are discussed within a limited capacity framework of language processing.

scholarly journals Syntactic Versus Memory Accounts of the Sentence Comprehension Deficits of Specific Language Impairment: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1491-1504 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Montgomery ◽  
Ronald B. Gillam ◽  
Julia L. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Proper Modification

Purpose Compared with same-age typically developing peers, school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) exhibit significant deficits in spoken sentence comprehension. They also demonstrate a range of memory limitations. Whether these 2 deficit areas are related is unclear. The present review article aims to (a) review 2 main theoretical accounts of SLI sentence comprehension and various studies supporting each and (b) offer a new, broader, more integrated memory-based framework to guide future SLI research, as we believe the available evidence favors a memory-based perspective of SLI comprehension limitations. Method We reviewed the literature on the sentence comprehension abilities of English-speaking children with SLI from 2 theoretical perspectives. Results The sentence comprehension limitations of children with SLI appear to be more fully captured by a memory-based perspective than by a syntax-specific deficit perspective. Conclusions Although a memory-based view appears to be the better account of SLI sentence comprehension deficits, this view requires refinement and expansion. Current memory-based perspectives of adult sentence comprehension, with proper modification, offer SLI investigators new, more integrated memory frameworks within which to study and better understand the sentence comprehension abilities of children with SLI.

scholarly journals Benefits of Repeated Book Readings in Children With SLI

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina J. Rohlfing ◽  
Josefa Ceurremans ◽  
Jessica S. Horst
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Storybook Reading ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Immediate Recall

In this pilot study, we ask whether repeated storybook reading is also beneficial for word learning in children diagnosed with specific language impairment (SLI). We compared 3-year-old German learning children diagnosed with SLI to typically developing children matched on age and socioeconomic status (SES). One week later, children with SLI retained the target words from the stories just as well as their peers, although they did perform significantly worse on immediate recall.

Observing iconic gestures enhances word learning in typically developing children and children with specific language impairment

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1458-1484 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSANNE VOGT ◽  
CHRISTINA KAUSCHKE
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Iconic Gesture ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
New Words ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Impaired Children

AbstractResearch has shown that observing iconic gestures helps typically developing children (TD) and children with specific language impairment (SLI) learn new words. So far, studies mostly compared word learning with and without gestures. The present study investigated word learning under two gesture conditions in children with and without language impairment. Twenty children with SLI (age four), twenty age-matched TD children, and twenty language-matched TD children were taught words that were presented with either iconic or non-iconic gestures. Results showed that children of all groups benefited more successfully from observing iconic gestures for word learning. The iconic gesture advantage was similar across groups. Thus, observing iconic gestures prompts richer encoding and makes word learning more efficient in TD and language impaired children.

Development of Morphosyntactic Accuracy and Grammatical Complexity in Dutch School-Age Children With SLI

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 891-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Zwitserlood ◽  
Marjolijn van Weerdenburg ◽  
Ludo Verhoeven ◽  
Frank Wijnen
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Grammatical Complexity

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify the development of morphosyntactic accuracy and grammatical complexity in Dutch school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method Morphosyntactic accuracy, the use of dummy auxiliaries, and complex syntax were assessed using a narrative task that was administered at three points in time (T1, T2, T3) with 12-month intervals during a 2-year period. Participants were 30 monolingual Dutch children with SLI, age 6;5 (years;months) at T1; 30 typically developing peers, age 6;6 at T1; and 30 typically developing language-matched children, age 4;7 at T1. Results On the morphosyntactic accuracy measures, the group with SLI performed more poorly than both control groups. Error rates in the group with SLI were much higher than expected on the basis of mean length of T-units and scores on standardized language tests. Percentages of dummy auxiliaries remained high over time. No group differences were found for grammatical complexity, except at T3, when the group with SLI used fewer relative clauses than the typically developing peer group. Conclusions The narrative analysis demonstrates different developmental trajectories for morphosyntactic accuracy and grammatical complexity in children with SLI and typically developing peer and language-matched children. In the group with SLI, grammatical skills continue to develop.

Grammatical Morphology Deficits in Spanish-Speaking Children With Specific Language Impairment

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 905-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Bedore ◽  
Laurence B. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Clinical Markers ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Grammatical Morphology ◽  
Grammatical Morphemes ◽  
Third Person

The focus of this study was the use of grammatical morphology by Spanish-speaking preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI). Relative to both same-age peers and younger typically developing children with similar mean lengths of utterance (MLUs), the children with SLI showed more limited use of several different grammatical morphemes. These limitations were most marked for noun-related morphemes such as adjective-agreement inflections and direct object clitics. Most errors on the part of children in all groups consisted of substitutions of a form that shared most but not all of the target’s grammatical features (e.g., correct tense and number but incorrect person). Number errors usually involved singular forms used in plural contexts; person errors usually involved third person forms used in first person contexts. The pattern of limitations of the children with SLI suggests that, for languages such as Spanish, additional factors might have to be considered in the search for clinical markers for this disorder. Implications for evaluation and treatment of language disorders in Spanish-speaking children are also discussed.

scholarly journals Lipreading Ability and Its Cognitive Correlates in Typically Developing Children and Children With Specific Language Impairment

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Heikkilä ◽  
Eila Lonka ◽  
Sanna Ahola ◽  
Auli Meronen ◽  
Kaisa Tiippana
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Phonological Skills ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Cognitive Correlates

PurposeLipreading and its cognitive correlates were studied in school-age children with typical language development and delayed language development due to specific language impairment (SLI).MethodForty-two children with typical language development and 20 children with SLI were tested by using a word-level lipreading test and an extensive battery of standardized cognitive and linguistic tests.ResultsChildren with SLI were poorer lipreaders than their typically developing peers. Good phonological skills were associated with skilled lipreading in both typically developing children and in children with SLI. Lipreading was also found to correlate with several cognitive skills, for example, short-term memory capacity and verbal motor skills.ConclusionsSpeech processing deficits in SLI extend also to the perception of visual speech. Lipreading performance was associated with phonological skills. Poor lipreading in children with SLI may be, thus, related to problems in phonological processing.

scholarly journals Sentence Comprehension in Specific Language Impairment: A Task Designed to Distinguish Between Cognitive Capacity and Syntactic Complexity

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 577-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence B. Leonard ◽  
Patricia Deevy ◽  
Marc E. Fey ◽  
Shelley L. Bredin-Oja
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Target Sentence ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Item Types

Purpose This study examined sentence comprehension in children with specific language impairment (SLI) in a manner designed to separate the contribution of cognitive capacity from the effects of syntactic structure. Method Nineteen children with SLI, 19 typically developing children matched for age (TD-A), and 19 younger typically developing children (TD-Y) matched according to sentence comprehension test scores responded to sentence comprehension items that varied in either length or their demands on cognitive capacity, based on the nature of the foils competing with the target picture. Results The TD-A children were accurate across all item types. The SLI and TD-Y groups were less accurate than the TD-A group on items with greater length and, especially, on items with the greatest demands on cognitive capacity. The types of errors were consistent with failure to retain details of the sentence apart from syntactic structure. Conclusions The difficulty in the more demanding conditions seemed attributable to interference. Specifically, the children with SLI and the TD-Y children appeared to have difficulty retaining details of the target sentence when the information reflected in the foils closely resembled the information in the target sentence.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document