INTERACTION BETWEEN FLEXIBLE COGNITION AND LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION IN CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT (original) (raw)
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Working Memory Capacity and Language Processes in Children With Specific Language Impairment
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2003
This study examined the interaction between working memory and language comprehension in children with specific language impairment (SLI), focusing on the function of the central executive component and its interaction with the phonological loop in complex working memory tasks. Thirteen children with SLI and 13 age-matched (age range = 7;0 [years;months] to 10;0) children with typical language development participated. The tasks combined traditional nonword repetition tests and sentence comprehension by using sentences that differed in length and syntactic complexity. The children with SLI exhibited larger processing and attentional capacity limitations than their agematched peers. Increased word length and syntactic complexity resulted in a large performance decrease in nonword repetition in both groups. There were some variations in the error pattern, which may indicate qualitative differences between the 2 groups. The performance of the children with SLI in nonword repetition, across the different tasks, indicated a limitation in simultaneous processing rather than difficulty in encoding and analyzing the phonological structure of the nonwords. Furthermore, syntactic complexity had a greater effect on performance accuracy than did sentence length.
Working memory and comprehension in children with specific language impairment: what we know so far
Journal of Communication Disorders, 2003
Many children with specific language impairments (SLI) demonstrate deficits in the areas of verbal working memory and language learning/processing. In this article, evidence is reviewed suggesting that the lexical/morphological learning and sentence comprehension/processing problems of many of these children are associated with their deficient working memory functioning. Evidence is also reviewed for the possibility that deficient working memory provides a clinical marker of SLI. A number of potentially useful assessment and intervention techniques are offered, as well as several directions for future research. Learning outcomes T he reader will be introduced to two prominent models of verbal working memory Purchase Export Previous Previous article Next Next article Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution.
Complex Sentence Comprehension and Working Memory in Children With Specific Language Impairment
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2009
Purpose This study investigated the association of 2 mechanisms of working memory (phonological short-term memory [PSTM], attentional resource capacity/allocation) with the sentence comprehension of school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 2 groups of control children. Method Twenty-four children with SLI, 18 age-matched (CA) children, and 16 language- and memory-matched (LMM) children completed a nonword repetition task (PSTM), the competing language processing task (CLPT; resource capacity/allocation), and a sentence comprehension task comprising complex and simple sentences. Results (1) The SLI group performed worse than the CA group on each memory task; (2) all 3 groups showed comparable simple sentence comprehension, but for complex sentences, the SLI and LMM groups performed worse than the CA group; (3) for the SLI group, (a) CLPT correlated with complex sentence comprehension, and (b) nonword repetition correlated with simple sentence comprehension; (4)...
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 2006
Background: English-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) perform more poorly than their typically developing peers in verbal working memory tasks where processing and storage are simultaneously required. Hungarian is a language with a relatively free word order and a rich agglutinative morphology. Aims: To examine the effect of linguistic structure on working memory performance. It was examined whether syntactic complexity has a larger impact on working memory performance than sentence length in Hungarian-speaking children, similar to the findings in English speaking children.
Behavioral aspect of working memory in children with specific language impairment
2020
Despite the normal range of non-verbal intelligence, children with specific language impairment (SL/) can exhibit a number of cognitive limitations, especially in the area of working memory (WM) and inhibition. There is a growing body of research indicating possible common underlying interactive neural substrates for language and nonverbal processing. While there are quite a number of studies that have well documented WM deficits in SL/ children in clinical settings, there are very few that have studied WM performance in everyday situations in these children. Aim of this study is to examine behavioral aspect of WM in children with SLI at preschool and early school age. The sample consisted of 51 children with SL/, ages between five and eight years. For the purpose of an assessment of behavioral aspect of WM, Working Memory subscale from Behavior Rating /nventory of Executive function (BR/EF) was used. Results showed that as a group, SL/ children are on the verge of underperformance ...
Working memory and developmental language impairments
Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 2016
Children with developmental language impairments (DLI) are often reported to show difficulties with working memory. This review describes the four components of the well-established working memory model, and considers whether there is convincing evidence for difficulties within each component in children with DLI. The emphasis is on the most demanding form of working memory that draws on central executive (CE) resources, requiring concurrent processing and storage of information. An evaluation of recent research evidence suggests that, not only are children with DLI impaired on verbal CE measures, but they also show difficulties on non-verbal CE tasks that cannot be assumed to tap language. Therefore, it seems increasingly likely that children with DLI show domain-general CE impairments, along with their more established impairments in verbal short-term memory. Implications for potential working memory interventions and classroom learning are discussed.
Working Memory Functioning in Children with Specific Language Impairment
The Medical Journal of Cairo University, 2020
Background: Children with an unexplained severe delay in the development of language are described as having Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Both etiology of SLI and neurobiological contributions are not yet clearly understood. Researchers currently regards deficit in working memory functioning as one major characteristic for language impairment. Aim of Study: This study aims to assess working memory functions in children with specific language impairment to determine whether they exhibit associated working memory deficit or not. Patients and Methods: This study is conducted on 60 Arabic speaking children, their age range from 5 to 8 years and divided into 2 equal groups; cases and controls. Receptive expressive Arabic language scale (REAL scale) subtests were used to assess the working memory functions in all children. Results: Significant difference is seen between the study group and control group regarding the REAL scale subtests; understanding oral instructions and sentence repetition. Conclusion: Deficits in working memory functions coexist with language impairment in children diagnosed with SLI.
Review of Kemper (2009) Role of Working Memory in Language Development Over the Lifespan
Monograph Review: Kemper, S. (2009). The Role of Working Memory in Language Development over the Lifespan. New York, NY: Routledge. Reviewed by: RD HOBBS [dr.rdhobbs@gmail.com] Working memory contributes to language acquisition and processing. Kemper divides discussion into four main sections, then a conclusion. WORKING MEMORY AS CONCEPT Working memory is essential for information retention. Separation of function components are derived by studying healthy and impaired individuals. Tests include: verbal fluency, inhibition, switching, time-sharing, updating, and others. Span tests present series of digits to recall. Counting span tests include shapes and colors and are useful for small children. Researchers developed Reading Span and Listening Span tests. The reading span tests predict later reading skills. Operational span tests use computational math. Researchers disagree on whether or not verbal and visual-spatial are two different memory operations or the same memory operation. Some researchers believe there is a correlation between verbal and visual-spacial memory operations. Executive function is measured various ways. Sorting cards is one type of Executive Function test. Verbal fluency tests measure Executive Function. Other types of Executive Function tests include: switching, inhibition, updating, and time-sharing. Distraction tests are a type of inhibition testing. Kemper gives examples of each type of test. Kemper notes the debate as to whether these tests assess a unitary construct or separate abilities. Researchers have different definitions for executive function. Kemper seems to prefer the three-factor explanation of executive function. WORKING MEMORY & LIFESPAN Researchers agree that working memory increases in childhood, but that is the end of agreement. The driving force of working memory is under debate. Decline in the aging process is viewed differently. It seems there is a variation in declining abilities. Abilities decrease at different rates. The decrease is not uniform across abilities. Various mechanisms account for decline. Reduction of processing speed seems to cause decline. Reduced speed of processing increases forgetting. One consensus is that working memory is critical for cognitive abilities. LANGUAGE ACQUISITION & WORKING MEMORY Distinguishing phonological cues is necessary for developing comprehension skills. Phonological acuity is related to speed of vocabulary learning. LANGUAGE PROCESSING & WORKING MEMORY Reduced working memory increases difficulty in understanding of syntactically complex and ambiguous sentences. Limitations of working memory have an impact on post-interpretive processes. Kemper offers grammatical testing explanations to illuminate different testing outcomes of subjects. Researchers compared younger and older participants. Eye-tracking research contradicted previous interpretation of outcomes. Younger and older participants were similar in some ways but different in other ways. CONCLUSION Kemper (2009) summarizes the impact of technology on working memory research. Kemper then offers questions to further the understanding of working memory. The reviewer simplifies the questions and breaks them down further.
Working Memory Functioning in Children With Learning Disorders and Specific Language Impairment
Topics in Language Disorders, 2013
On the basis of Baddeley's working memory model (1986), we examined working memory functioning in children with learning disorders with and without specific language impairment (SLI). We pursued the question whether children with learning disorders exhibit similar working memory deficits as children with additional SLI. Method: In separate analyses, we compared the following groups of children: (1) 30 children with dyslexia (DYS) and 16 children with DYS receiving special language education and (2) 19 children with combined disorder of scholastic skills (CDSS) and 18 children with CDSS receiving special language education. A control group of 30 typically developing children was included in each comparison. All of the children receiving special language education met criteria for SLI. To assess the 3 subcomponents of working memory (phonological loop, visual-spatial sketchpad, central executive), the children worked individually on an extensive test battery. Results: We found deficits in the phonological loop and central executive functioning for children with dyslexia (and CDSS) as well as for children with additional SLI. Deficits in phonological functioning were broader and more profound for children with SLI. Deficits in visual-spatial sketchpad could only be found for children with CDSS without SLI. Conclusions: Children with isolated learning disorder and children with additional SLI demonstrate similarities and differences in working memory functioning. These findings support our hypothesis that underlying working memory deficits for the different disorders partly overlap but also are distinct and partly distinguish between certain disorders.
Executive function behaviours in children with specific language impairment (SLI)
International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 2014
Background: There is growing evidence that linguistic and non-linguistic factors may contribute to the problems associated with specific language impairment (SLI). One factor that has been implicated is executive functioning (EF). Most studies investigating EF in children with SLI use performance based tasks. Significant group differences in children with SLI are reported on the following components of EF: inhibition, working memory, planning and fluency, although not on the 'shifting' component. Correlations between performance based measurements of EF and ratings of everyday EF behaviours are often low. It is possible that standardised tests are not sufficiently sensitive to the multidimensional nature of EF. Therefore it is suggested that information on EF should be collected in different contexts and from different sources using behavioural ratings, like the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) for children. Methods and procedures: A clinical sample of 237 school aged children, aged 5-12 years, (157 boys, 80 girls) with SLI participated in this study. Behavioural and cognitive measures of EF were administered: the BRIEF-questionnaire, assessing everyday EF behaviour in a home and school setting and two EF tasks: Digit span (WISC-III-NL) and Creature Counting (TEA-Ch). Outcomes and results: Compared to the normative sample the prevalence of EF problems in school in children with SLI is much higher than in the normal population. Teachers reported significantly more problems on almost all EF domains (i.e. Inhibition, Shifting, Emotional control, Initiate, Working memory, Plan/organise, and Monitor), except organisation of materials. Working memory and Initiate are the most impaired, since more than one third of the children had scores in the clinical range on these scales. Compared to the normative sample parents scored significantly more working memory problems. MANOVA-analyses showed developmental and gender differences on EF behaviour in school. Overall, older children had less problems in EF behaviours than younger children and boys showed more problems than girls. Like others we found low correlations between behavioural and cognitive measures (r50 . 20). Conclusions: School aged children with SLI show substantial impairments in everyday EF behaviour in a classroom setting. Almost one third of the children scored in the clinical range on the Metacognition Index. Our findings replicate low correlations between performance based and behavioural based measures on EF. These findings indicate the importance of expanding EF assessment with behavioural measures in clinical practice for children with SLI.