International journal of language & communication disorders
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · May 2007
Influence of phonology on morpho-syntax in Romance languages in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI).
The profiles of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) differ greatly according to the language they speak. The Surface Hypothesis attempts to explain these differences through the theory that children with SLI will incorrectly produce elements in their language with low phonological weights or that are produced in a non-canonical prosodic structure. ⋯ The data support the Surface Hypothesis and suggest that the same impaired mechanism may underlie the morphological and phonological problems SLI children display.
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · May 2007
Subject-verb agreement and phonological processing in developmental dyslexia and specific language impairment (SLI): a closer look.
Problems with subject-verb agreement and phonological (processing) skills have been reported to occur in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and in those with developmental dyslexia, but only a few studies have compared such problems in these two groups. Previous studies have claimed a causal relationship between phonological processing deficits and morphosyntactic problems. ⋯ The results show similarities between the performances of children with SLI and dyslexia on tasks tapping subject-verb agreement, phonological awareness, and non-word repetition: they scored more poorly than typically developing children. Qualitative analyses revealed, however, differences in the error patterns on all three tasks. Associations between non-word repetition and sensitivity to subject-verb agreement were found, suggesting that problems with phonological processing impact on morphosyntactic skills.
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · May 2007
Comparative StudyCan a 'single hit' cause limitations in language development? A comparative study of Swedish children with hearing impairment and children with specific language impairment.
Studies of language in children with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment (HI) indicate that they often have problems in phonological short-term memory (PSTM) and that they have linguistic weaknesses both in vocabulary and morphosyntax similar to children with specific language impairment (SLI). However, children with HI may be more likely than children with SLI to acquire typical language skills as they get older. It has been suggested that the more persisting problems in children with SLI are due to a combination of factors: perceptual, cognitive and/or linguistic. ⋯ Children with HI are at risk for at least a delay in lexical ability, receptive grammar and grammatical production. The problems seen in the HI group might be explained by their low-level perceptual deficit and weak PSTM. For the SLI group the impairment is more severe. From a clinical perspective an important conclusion is that the language development in children with even mild-to-moderate HI deserves attention and support.