Specific Language Impairment and Executive Functioning: Parent and Teacher Ratings of Behavior

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kacie Wittke ◽  
Tammie J. Spaulding ◽  
Calli J. Schechtman

Purpose The current study used the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function—Preschool Version (BRIEF–P; Gioia, Espy, & Isquith, 2003), a rating scale designed to investigate executive behaviors in everyday activities, to examine the executive functioning of preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) relative to their typically developing (TD) peers. Method Nineteen preschool children with SLI were age- and gender-matched to 19 TD peers. Both parents and teachers of the participants completed the BRIEF–P. Results The executive functioning of children with SLI were rated significantly worse than those of controls by both parents and teachers. Adults' perceptions of the children's executive functioning significantly correlated with the children's language abilities. Conclusion Parent and teacher perceptions of executive functioning in children with SLI align with prior findings of executive deficits that have been documented on neuropsychological assessments and experimental tasks. Furthermore, the results provide additional supporting evidence of the relationship between language abilities and executive functioning in early child development.

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kacie Wittke ◽  
Tammie J. Spaulding

Purpose Potential biases in service provision for preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) were explored. Method In Study 1, children with SLI receiving treatment (SLI-T) and those with SLI not receiving treatment (SLI-NT) were compared on demographic characteristics and developmental abilities. Study 2 recruited children with articulation disorders receiving treatment (ARTIC-T) to determine if knowing service provision status influenced the results of Study 1. Results In Study 1, the SLI-T group was rated by teachers as having poorer executive functioning than children in the SLIT-NT group, and the SLI-T group also came from families whose mothers had more education. These 2 variables alone predicted SLI-T and SLI-NT group membership with 84% accuracy. In Study 2, the ARTIC-T group were perceived as having comparable executive functioning to the SLI-NT group and better than the SLI-T group, indicating that teachers' knowledge of service provision did not influence their ratings of children's executive functioning. Discussion Preschool children with SLI, whose mothers have higher education levels and whose teachers perceive them as having poorer executive functioning, are more likely to receive intervention. Recognizing service delivery biases is critical for improving early provision of intervention for this population.


Author(s):  
Ahmed Esmael ◽  
Sara Elsherbeny ◽  
Mohammed Abbas

Abstract Background Epileptiform activities can cause transient or permanent deficits that affect the children during development and may be accompanied by neurodevelopmental disorders like specific language impairment. Objectives The objective of this study was to find if there is a possible association and the impact of epilepsy and epileptiform activity in children with specific language impairment. Patients and methods The study was conducted on 80 children suffering from specific language impairment and 80 age and sex match healthy control children. Computed tomography brain was performed and electroencephalography was recorded for children. Intelligence quotient level, cognitive age, social, and phoniatric assessment were done for all patients. Results Eighty children with specific language impairment (51 males and 29 females) with a mean age of 4.11 ± 1.93. Patients with specific language impairment showed significantly higher rates of abnormal electroencephalography (P = 0.006) and epilepsy (P < 0.001) compared to the control group. Spearman correlation demonstrated a highly negative significant relationship linking the language, intelligence quotient with abnormal electroencephalography and epilepsy (r = − 0.91, P < 0.01 and r = − 0.91, P < 0.01 respectively). Also, there was a moderately inverse significant relationship linking the cognitive age, social with abnormal electroencephalography, and epilepsy (r = − 0.70, P < 0.05 and r = − 0.65, P < 0.05 respectively). Conclusion Epileptiform activities even without epilepsy in preschool children may alter normal language function. Specific language impairment was associated with lower intelligence quotient levels, social, and cognitive age. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04141332


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance Vissers ◽  
Sophieke Koolen ◽  
Daan Hermans ◽  
Annette Scheper ◽  
Harry Knoors

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Kiernan ◽  
David Snow ◽  
Linda Swisher ◽  
Rebecca Vance

This study focuses on the ability of preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) to extract target regularities from recurring nonverbal stimuli. As a step beyond previous methodologies, we also assessed their ability to shift and extract other regularities after feedback indicated that their choices were no longer correct. This step was motivated by Connell and Stone's (1994) hypothesis that difficulties manifested by children with SLI in extracting nonverbal "rules" from multiple problem sets may reflect difficulties in "flexible reconceptualization," that is, in the ability to flexibly shift across regularities. Thirty 4- and 5-year-olds with SLI and 30 age-matched children developing language normally participated in a discrimination learning-shift paradigm. Findings indicated that both language groups were successful in extracting regularities and making shifts. In fact, language groups did not differ in number of regularities extracted, number of shifts completed, or trials to criterion. As a consequence, findings failed to provide evidence that children with SLI are limited in either the ability to extract nonverbal regularities or to flexibly reconceptualize them. From a larger theoretical perspective, the findings fail to support theories positing that generalized "rule-induction" deficits underlie the verbal and nonverbal impairments of SLI.


2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 1011-1025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelley Gray ◽  
Andrea Pittman ◽  
Juliet Weinhold

Purpose In this study, the authors assessed the effects of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on word-learning configuration by preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) and typical language development (TD). Method One hundred thirty-one children participated: 48 with SLI, 44 with TD matched on age and gender, and 39 with TD matched on vocabulary and gender. Referent identification and naming were assessed in a computer-based learning context. Results For referent identification, preschoolers with TD benefited from high phonotactic probability, and the younger group also benefited from low neighborhood density. In contrast, the SLI group benefited only from high neighborhood density. For naming, older preschoolers with TD benefited most from low-density words, younger preschoolers with TD benefited most from words with high phonotactic probability, and the SLI group showed no advantage. Conclusion Phonotactic probability and neighborhood density had different effects on each group that may be related to children's ability to store well-specified word forms and to the size of their extant lexicon. The authors argue that cross-study comparisons of word learning are needed; therefore, researchers should describe word, referent, and learner characteristics and the learning context and should situate their studies in a triggering → configuration + engagement model of word learning.


1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Lahey ◽  
Judy Flax ◽  
Gloria Schlisselberg

The frequency of reduplication was examined in relation to syllable maintenance, final consonant production, and whole word repetitions in two preschool children with specific language impairment—one who reduplicated frequently and one who did so infrequently. Spontaneous speech was sampled for a period of 18 months. During the single-word utterance period, reduplication was associated with infrequent production of final consonants but frequent maintenance of multisyllabic structure. After the single-word utterance period the child who had frequently reduplicated during this period ceased reduplication but frequently produced whole word repetitions. Infrequent production of final consonants continued, but syllable maintenance decreased. The data are discussed in relation to hypotheses about the function of reduplication and the function of whole word repetitions in language development.


2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1452-1467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelley Gray

Purpose: This study investigated whether phonological or semantic encoding cues promoted better word learning for children with specific language impairment (SLI) and whether this treatment differentially affected children with SLI and normal language (NL). Method: Twenty-four preschoolers ages 4;0 (years;months) to 5;11 with SLI and 24 age- and gender-matched children with NL participated. The between-group factor was language group (NL, SLI) and within-group factors were language modality (comprehension, recognition, production) and treatment condition (phonological, semantic). Word learning was assessed during fast mapping, word learning, and posttesting with trials to criterion calculated for the number of words learned. A drawing task assessed the change in semantic representation of words. Results: The SLI group comprehended more words in the semantic condition and produced more words in the phonological condition, but the NL group performed similarly in both. The NL group required significantly fewer trials than the SLI group to comprehend words in the semantic and phonological conditions and to produce words in the semantic condition, but between-group differences for production were not significant for the phonological condition. Conclusions: The results suggest that preschoolers with SLI may benefit from cues that highlight the phonological or semantic properties of words but that different cues may aid different aspects of word learning.


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