scholarly journals Shared Etiology of Phonological Memory and Vocabulary Deficits in School-Age Children

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1249-1259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin L. Peterson ◽  
Bruce F. Pennington ◽  
Stefan Samuelsson ◽  
Brian Byrne ◽  
Richard K. Olson
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Twin Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regression Method ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Phonological Memory ◽  
Overlapping Genes ◽  
Longitudinal Twin Study

Purpose The goal of this study was to investigate the etiologic basis for the association between deficits in phonological memory (PM) and vocabulary in school-age children. Method Children with deficits in PM or vocabulary were identified within the International Longitudinal Twin Study (ILTS; Samuelsson et al., 2005). The ILTS includes 1,045 twin pairs (between the ages of 5 and 8 years) from the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia. The authors applied the DeFries-Fulker (DeFries & Fulker, 1985, 1988) regression method to determine whether problems in PM and vocabulary tend to co-occur because of overlapping genes, overlapping environmental risk factors, or both. Results Among children with isolated PM deficits, the authors found significant bivariate heritability of PM and vocabulary weaknesses both within and across time. However, when probands were selected for a vocabulary deficit, there was no evidence for bivariate heritability. In this case, it appears that the PM–vocabulary relationship is caused by common shared environmental experiences. Conclusions The findings are consistent with previous research on the heritability of specific language impairment and suggest that there are etiologic subgroups of children with low vocabulary for different reasons, 1 being more influenced by genes and another being more influenced by environment.

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.

scholarly journals The Development of Language-Specific and Language-Independent Talker Processing

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 913-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susannah V. Levi ◽  
Richard G. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Development Of Language ◽  
Perceptual Abilities

Purpose In this study, the authors aimed to investigate how differences in language ability relate to differences in processing talker information in the native language and an unfamiliar language by comparing performance for different ages and for groups with impaired language. Method Three groups of native English listeners with typical language development (TLD; ages 7–9, ages 10–12, adults) and 2 groups with specific language impairment (SLI; ages 7–9, ages 10–12) participated in the study. Listeners heard pairs of words in both English and German (unfamiliar language) and were asked to determine whether the words were produced by the same or different talkers. Results In English, talker discrimination improved with age. In German, performance improved with age for the school-age children but was worse for adult listeners. No differences were found between TLD and SLI children. Conclusion These results show that as listeners' language skills develop, there is a trade-off between more general perceptual abilities useful for processing talker information in any language and those that are relevant to their everyday language experiences and, thus, tied to the phonology. The lack of differences between the children with and without language impairments suggests that general auditory processing may be intact in at least some children with SLI.

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 Individualized Narrative Intervention for School-Age Children With Specific Language Impairment

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 687-705
Author(s):  
Alison Hessling ◽  
C. Melanie Schuele
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Functional Relation ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Story Grammar ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Narrative Intervention

Purpose This study extends the research on narrative intervention by evaluating the effect of a standard treatment protocol, Story Champs ( Petersen & Spencer, 2012 ), on personal narrative generations of school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method Four second-grade, 8- to 9-year-old boys with SLI participated in this multiple baseline across behaviors, single-case design study that was repeated across participants. Each one-on-one intervention session involved eight steps across two intervention segments: story retell and personal story generation. The interventionist provided systematic scaffolding (visual and verbal supports) that was faded within each session. Three individualized story grammar elements per participant were targeted sequentially across the weeks of intervention based on each participant's needs identified in baseline. The dependent variable probe (personal narrative generation) was administered at the beginning of each twice-weekly session, and individualized story grammar elements were scored on a 4-point rubric (dependent variable). Results In this single-case research design study, a functional relation was evaluated for each participant (i.e., replication of an effect across three story grammar elements). A functional relation between Story Champs intervention and the dependent variable was observed for two participants. Conclusion Results provide preliminary evidence for the efficacy of individually administered Story Champs intervention for children with SLI.

scholarly journals Toward Understanding the Lexical–Morphological Networks of Children With Specific Language Impairment: Analysis of Responses on a Morphological Production Task

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 4131-4136
Author(s):  
Hannah Krimm ◽  
Krystal L. Werfel ◽  
C. Melanie Schuele
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Lower Proportion ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Derivational Morphology ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
The Given

Purpose The purpose of this study was to characterize the lexical–morphological networks of children with specific language impairment (SLI) compared to children with typical language by analyzing responses on a morphological derived form production task. Method School-age children with SLI ( n = 32) and peers with typical language ( n = 40) completed an oral cloze derived form production task ( Carlisle, 2000 ). On this task, children were expected to complete verbally presented sentences with a derived form of a provided morphological stem. Responses were coded as correct or incorrect following Carlisle's (2000) stated correct responses. Incorrect responses were coded as scorable or unscorable, and then scorable responses were coded as pseudowords or real words. Real words were further coded according to whether they were repetitions of the given stem. Results There was a statistically significant between-group difference for mean correct responses ( d = 1.43). The scorable incorrect responses of children with SLI included a lower mean proportion of pseudowords than did the incorrect responses of children with typical language ( d = 0.76). Conclusion Because children with SLI produced a lower proportion of pseudowords as scorable incorrect responses than peers with typical language, we conclude that they have less developed lexical–morphological networks and, thus, less derivational morphology knowledge than peers with typical language.

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