scholarly journals Specific language impairment as a language learning disability

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy V.M. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Disability ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Learning Disability

Deficits in Explicit Language Problem Solving Rather Than in Implicit Learning in Specific Language Impairment: Evidence From Learning an Artificial Morphological Rule

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 3790-3807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Ferman ◽  
Liat Kishon-Rabin ◽  
Hila Ganot-Budaga ◽  
Avi Karni
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Procedural Learning ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Problems ◽  
Morphological Rule ◽  
Semantic Distinction

Purpose The purpose of this study was to delineate differences between children with specific language impairment (SLI), typical age–matched (TAM) children, and typical younger (TY) children in learning and mastering an undisclosed artificial morphological rule (AMR) through exposure and usage. Method Twenty-six participants (eight 10-year-old children with SLI, 8 TAM children, and ten 8-year-old TY children) were trained to master an AMR across multiple training sessions. The AMR required a phonological transformation of verbs depending on a semantic distinction: whether the preceding noun was animate or inanimate. All participants practiced the application of the AMR to repeated and new (generalization) items, via judgment and production tasks. Results The children with SLI derived significantly less benefit from practice than their peers in learning most aspects of the AMR, even exhibiting smaller gains compared to the TY group in some aspects. Children with SLI benefited less than TAM and even TY children from training to judge and produce repeated items of the AMR. Nevertheless, despite a significant disadvantage in baseline performance, the rate at which they mastered the task-specific phonological regularities was as robust as that of their peers. On the other hand, like 8-year-olds, only half of the SLI group succeeded in uncovering the nature of the AMR and, consequently, in generalizing it to new items. Conclusions Children with SLI were able to learn language aspects that rely on implicit, procedural learning, but experienced difficulties in learning aspects that relied on the explicit uncovering of the semantic principle of the AMR. The results suggest that some of the difficulties experienced by children with SLI when learning a complex language regularity cannot be accounted for by a broad, language-related, procedural memory disability. Rather, a deficit—perhaps a developmental delay in the ability to recruit and solve language problems and establish explicit knowledge regarding a language task—can better explain their difficulties in language learning.

Dynamic Temporal Processing of Nonspeech Acoustic Information by Children With Specific Language Impairment

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 510-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane C. Visto ◽  
Jerry L. Cranford ◽  
Rosalind Scudder
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Precedence Effect ◽  
Complex Sound ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Acoustic Information ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Spectral Components ◽  
Normal Language

The present study investigated whether children with specific language impairment (SLI) differed from children with normal language learning in their ability to process binaural temporal information. The SLI group was matched with peers of the same chronological age, as well as peers with similar language age. All three subject groups were tested with measures of complex sound localization involving the precedence effect phenomenon. Subjects were required to track the apparent motion of a “moving” fused auditory image (FAI). Movement of the FAI was simulated by varying the delay incrementally between pairs of clicks presented, one each, from two matched loudspeakers placed on opposite sides of the child’s head. With this task, the SLI subjects’ performances were found to be similar to their language age-matched but chronologically younger peers. Both groups exhibited tracking skills that were statistically poorer than that of the chronologically age-matched group. Additional tests indicated this effect was not due to differences in motoric tracking abilities nor to the SLI subjects’ abilities to perceive small binaural time cues. Thus, children with SLI appear to be impaired in their ability to use binaural acoustic information in a dynamic ongoing fashion. The requirements for processing such nonlinguistic acoustic information in a “dynamic and ongoing” fashion may be similar to those involved in the ongoing processing of rapid changes in the temporal and spectral components of the speech chain.

Specific Language Impairment as a Clinical Category

1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence B. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Central Mechanism ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Language Measures ◽  
Clinical Category

Many children are diagnosed as "specifically language-impaired" principally on the basis of their low scores relative to the norm on language measures. Yet it is often assumed that such children must suffer from a subtle disruption or defect in some peripheral or central mechanism that is involved in language learning. In this paper, an alternative view is offered: Many of these children may simply be limited in language ability in much the same way that others may be poor in musical, spatial, or bodily kinesthetic abilities.

School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists' Knowledge/Use of Morphological Awareness Instruction: Results of a Survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 696-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy E. Good
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
School Based ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Language Learning Disability ◽  
High Level

Purpose This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of the role that morphological awareness instruction plays in school-based speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) clinical practice. Issues related to their knowledge and use of morphological awareness instruction and their overall level of satisfaction with this type of treatment were examined in the survey. Method Members of the School-Based Issues Special Interest Group 16 responded to an invitation to complete an electronic survey related to morphological awareness instruction. Results The majority of the survey participants did report using morphological awareness instruction within their clinical practice. SLPs were most likely to provide morphological awareness instruction to clients in the elementary grades diagnosed with either a language learning disability or specific language impairment. Specific activities used varied across survey participants, but the majority expressed a high level of satisfaction with this type of intervention. Conclusion Data from the current survey reveal that many SLPs recognize the benefits of morphological awareness instruction. Educational and clinical implications are discussed.

Specific Language Impairment: Preliminary Investigation of Factors Associated With Family History and With Patterns of Language Performance

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 643-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Lahey ◽  
Jan Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Specific Language

To examine patterns that might suggest etiologic subgroups of specific language impairment (SLI), information, including history of speech-language-learning (SLLD) problems in family members, was obtained on 53 children with SLI aged 4 to 9½ years. The results led to the generation of a number of hypotheses for future research. In particular, the findings suggested that family history is related to pattern of language performance. In comparison with children who had both expressive and receptive language deficits, children with deficits in only expressive language had a higher proportion of affected family members (.47 vs. .22), of affected mothers (.57 vs. .17), and of affected siblings (.53 vs. .27). These and other findings are discussed in terms of their consistency with other data, hypotheses relative to explanations of SLI, and their implications for further research.

Discourse processes underlying social competence in children with language learning disabilities

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
DENISE D. VALLANCE ◽  
MAXINE GALLANDER WINTRE
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Social Competence ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Disability ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
Social Discourse ◽  
Discourse Skills ◽  
Language Learning Disability

Children with both a language impairment and a learning disability are at risk for poor social competence. Yet the processes that place these children at risk remain unclear. A developmental–organizational perspective was used to explore processes underlying risk for poor social competence among language learning disabled children. To this end, the relative influences of language learning disability and social discourse skills on social competence were examined in 50 language learning disabled (LLD) and 50 control (non-LLD) children aged 8–12 years. Findings indicated that social discourse skills mediated the relation between LLD status and children's social competence. Specifically, a domain of social discourse, figurative language, was the strongest mediator of the effect of LLD status on social competence. Additionally, differences were confirmed between the LLD and non-LLD group in two domains of social discourse, recreating sentences and figurative language, as well as social competence. Two other domains of social discourse, understanding ambiguous sentences and making inferences, did not discriminate the groups. The findings emphasize the importance of analyzing interrelations among domains to identify critical factors related to developmental outcomes.

Verb Use in Specific Language Impairment

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1298-1313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina Conti-Ramsden ◽  
Melanie Jones
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Verb Morphology ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Matched Samples

The aim of the present study was to use longitudinal data to provide a detailed profile of early word combinations by children with SLI. Three children with SLI were videotaped during mother-child interactions in the home over a 2-year period. The data obtained were compared to MLU-matched samples of normal language-learning children from Wells’ (1981) longitudinal database, which provided a control for the linguistic measures used in this study. A range of analyses were carried out on controlled data samples in order to determine how the children with SLI’s early utterances compared with those of MLU-matched normal language peers. The measures were specifically designed to assess the children’s use of verbs and verb morphology because recent research has suggested that verbs may play a central role in the acquisition process, and children with SLI may have particular problems with verbs. We found that children with SLI used verbs less frequently, nouns more frequently, and were more input-dependent than their MLU-matched peers. The children with SLI used verb bare stems incorrectly more often than their MLU-matched counterparts. However, further analyses showed that this high frequency of incorrect bare stems may be at least partly due to the fact that children with SLI have particular difficulties using auxiliaries. Furthermore, the proportion of verb use that consisted of General All Purpose (GAP) verbs for children with SLI was similar to that of the MLU-matched children. The above findings were compared with those from other relevant studies of lexical diversity in children with SLI, and the potential implications of these data for theories of SLI language development were discussed, particularly with reference to Marchman and Bates’ (1994) "critical mass" hypothesis.

What’s Normal? Specific Language Impairment in an Individual Differences Perspective

1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip S. Dale ◽  
Kevin N. Cole
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
First Case ◽  
Syntactic Development

In this paper, the issue of language impairment is set in a broader perspective of individual differences. Two aspects of language development are identified in which the discrepancies between domains of language and/or cognitive development often observed in specific language impairment (SLI) children occur naturally as a consequence of individual variation in rate of development together with relative independence of specific domains. In the first case, concerning bound morphemes versus syntactic development, research with precocious children complements data from language-impaired children in demonstrating that morphology is the component of language most tied to general language learning ability. In the second case, the definition of specific language impairment as a distinct etiology on the basis of discrepancy between language and nonverbal cognitive development (the "Cognitive Hypothesis") is shown to lead to an invalid prediction. Children with SLI do not show a distinctive response to language intervention, relative to children with even profiles of language and nonverbal cognitive abilities.

Ten Principles of Grammar Facilitation for Children With Specific Language Impairments

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc E. Fey ◽  
Steven H. Long ◽  
Lizbeth H. Finestack
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Learning Problems ◽  
Academic Problems ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Cultural Boundaries ◽  
Specific Language Impairments ◽  
Comprehensive Intervention

Although they often have significant difficulties in other areas, most children with specific language impairment (SLI) have special difficulties with the understanding and use of grammar. Therefore, most of these children will require an intervention program that targets comprehension or production of grammatical form. Language interventionists are faced with the difficult task of developing comprehensive intervention programs that address the children's grammatical deficits while remaining sensitive to their other existing and predictable social, behavioral, and academic problems. The purpose of this article is to present and justify 10 principles that we regard as essential for planning adequate interventions for children with language-learning problems. These principles are relevant for all children with problems in the use of grammar, but they are especially appropriate for 3- to 8-year-old children with SLI. Although all of our examples are from English, the principles we have chosen are sufficiently broad to cut across many linguistic and cultural boundaries.

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