Pragmatic language impairment and social deficits in Williams syndrome: a comparison with Down's syndrome and specific language impairment

2004 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glynis Laws ◽  
Dorothy V. M. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Williams Syndrome ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Down's Syndrome ◽  
Down’S Syndrome ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Social Deficits ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Pragmatic Language Impairment

scholarly journals Conversational responsiveness in specific language impairment: Evidence of disproportionate pragmatic difficulties in a subset of children

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. V. M. BISHOP ◽  
JANET CHAN ◽  
CATHERINE ADAMS ◽  
JOANNE HARTLEY ◽  
FIONA WEIR
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Language Form ◽  
Pragmatic Language Impairment ◽  
Nonverbal Ability ◽  
High Level

Eighteen children with specific language impairment (SLI), from 6 to 8 years of age, were compared with 9 control children matched on age and nonverbal ability (CA controls) and with 9 younger control children of comparable language level (LA controls). Half of the SLI group were rated on a teacher checklist as having pragmatic difficulties: these were referred to as the pragmatic language impairment (PLI) group; the remainder were the typical (SLI-T) group. Children's responses to adult soliciting utterances were compared. All children usually responded to conversational solicitations, but children in the PLI group were more likely than control children to give no response, and they also made very little use of nonverbal responses, such as nodding. Nonverbal responding was closely related to the quality of children's responses. Children who failed to use nonverbal responses also had a relatively high level of pragmatically inappropriate responses that were not readily accounted for in terms of limited grammar or vocabulary. This study lends support to the notion that there is a subset of the language-impaired population who have broader communicative impairments, extending beyond basic difficulties in mastering language form, reflecting difficulty in responding to and expressing communicative intents. The analytic methods developed for this project have promise for the study of pragmatic difficulties in other clinical groups.

scholarly journals Nativism, neuroconstructivism, and developmental disorder

2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 757-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Gerrans
Keyword(s):  
Williams Syndrome ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Developmental Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Normal Architecture

Either genetically specified modular cognitive architecture for syntactic processing does not exist (neuroconstructivism), or there is a module but its development is so abnormal in Williams syndrome (WS) that no conclusion can be drawn about its normal architecture (moderate nativism). Radical nativism, which holds that WS is a case of intact syntax, is untenable. Specific Language Impairment and WS create a dilemma that radical nativism cannot accommodate.

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