scholarly journals Grammatical and pragmatic properties of the DP in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and in children with High Functioning Autism (HFA)

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 16-32
Author(s):  
Ava Creemers ◽  
Jeannette C. Schaeffer
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
High Functioning Autism ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
High Functioning ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Quantity Judgment ◽  
And Gender

This study investigates whether grammar and pragmatics are separate linguistic components or not, and whether children with SLI and children with HFA have overlapping or distinct linguistic profiles. We examine two DP-related phenomena: the mass-count distinction (grammatical) and the choice for a definite/indefinite article (pragmatic). We tested 27 children with HFA aged 6–14, age and gender matched to 27 children with SLI, and 27 TD controls on a Quantity Judgment Task (mass-count) and an Elicited Production Task (article choice). Our results show that pragmatics can be impaired independently from grammar (in HFA) and vice versa (in SLI), providing evidence for a modular view of grammar and pragmatics, and against an overlap in the profiles of SLI and HFA.

scholarly journals Article choice, theory of mind, and memory in children with high-functioning autism and children with specific language impairment

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEANNETTE SCHAEFFER ◽  
MEREL VAN WITTELOOSTUIJN ◽  
AVA CREEMERS
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
High Functioning Autism ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Phonological Memory ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
High Functioning ◽  
Indefinite Article

ABSTRACTPrevious studies show that young, typically developing (TD) children (<age 5) and children with specific language impairment (SLI; >age 5) make errors in the choice between a definite and an indefinite article. Suggested explanations for overgeneration of the definite article include failure to distinguish speaker from hearer assumptions, and for overgeneration of the indefinite article failure to draw scalar implicatures, and weak working memory. However, no direct empirical evidence for these accounts is available. In this study, 27 Dutch-speaking children with high-functioning autism, 27 children with SLI, and 27 TD children aged 5–14 were administered a pragmatic article choice test, a nonverbal theory of mind test, and three types of memory tests (phonological memory, verbal, and nonverbal working memory). The results show that the children with high-functioning autism and SLI (a) make similar errors, that is, they overgenerate the indefinite article; (b) are TD-like at theory of mind, but (c) perform significantly more poorly than the TD children on phonological memory and verbal working memory. We propose that weak memory skills prevent the integration of the definiteness scale with the preceding discourse, resulting in the failure to consistently draw the relevant scalar implicature. This in turn yields the occasional erroneous choice of the indefinite articleain definite contexts.

scholarly journals Article choice in children with High Functioning Autism (HFA) and in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 107-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannette C. Schaeffer ◽  
Merel van Witteloostuijn ◽  
Doatske de Haan
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
High Functioning Autism ◽  
Scalar Implicature ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
High Functioning ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Group A ◽  
Impaired Children

This study reports on the choice between a definite and an indefinite article by children with High Functioning Autism (HFA) and children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). We carried out an elicited production task with 16 Dutch-speaking non-grammatically impaired children with HFA aged 6–13, 16 age-matched Dutch-speaking children with SLI, and 16 typically developing (TD) age controls. The results in the indefinite conditions reveal virtually no errors across groups. However, in the definite condition the HFA group, but NOT the SLI group, incorrectly produces indefinite articles significantly more often than the TD group. A more detailed analysis shows that 38% (6/16) of the children with HFA vs. 13% (2/16) of the children with SLI regularly produce indefinite articles in definite contexts. We propose that these children do not always calculate the additional (pragmatic) meaning of indefinites derived by scalar implicature (Horn 2006). Furthermore, development by age in the SLI group, but NOT in the HFA group, suggests that the failure to draw a scalar implicature is more persistent in children with HFA than in children with SLI. Concluding, our results show that non-grammatically impaired children with HFA are more prone to pragmatic impairments than children with SLI, suggesting a dissociation between grammar and pragmatics.

Participation in Cooperative Learning Activities by Children With Specific Language Impairment

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 1193-1206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Brinton ◽  
Martin Fujiki ◽  
Lisa M. Higbee
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Collaborative Activity ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Target Children ◽  
Target Subject

This study examined the involvement of children with specific language impairment (SLI) in a cooperative group task. Subjects consisted of 6 target children with SLI (ages 8;10 to 12;5), 6 target children matched for chronological age (CA), and 6 target children with similar language skills (LS). Each target subject interacted with 2 peers of the same age and gender. This resulted in 54 subjects participating in 18 triadic interactions (each involving 1 target subject and 2 partners). Each triad of children worked together to build a cardboard periscope. Verbal and nonverbal collaborative activity were analyzed during the interactions. All members of the CA and LS triads were highly collaborative and worked and talked together while assembling the periscope. Four of the children with SLI played very minor roles in the cooperative work within their triads. Their verbal contributions were limited, and their nonverbal activity was minimal. When children with SLI did collaborate in building the periscope, they performed less specialized tasks than did their partners.

scholarly journals Annoying Danish relatives: Comprehension and production of relative clauses by Danish children with and without SLI

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
KRISTINE JENSEN DE LÓPEZ ◽  
LONE SUNDAHL OLSEN ◽  
VASILIKI CHONDROGIANNI
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Thematic Roles ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Avoidance Strategies ◽  
Reversal Errors ◽  
Object Relative

ABSTRACTThis study examines the comprehension and production of subject and object relative clauses (SRCs, ORCs) by children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and their typically developing (TD) peers. The purpose is to investigate whether relative clauses are problematic for Danish children with SLI and to compare errors with those produced by TD children. Eighteen children with SLI, eighteen TD age-matched (AM) and nine TD language-matched (LM) Danish-speaking children participated in a comprehension and in a production task. All children performed better on the comprehension compared with the production task, as well as on SRCs compared to ORCs and produced various avoidance strategies. In the ORC context, children with SLI produced more reversal errors than the AM children, who opted for passive ORCs. These results are discussed within current theories of SLI and indicate a deficiency with the assignment of thematic roles rather than with the structural make-up of RCs.

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