Picture naming in typically developing and language-impaired children: the role of sustained attention.

Background: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have problems not only with language performance but also with sustained attention, which is the ability to maintain alertness over an extended period of time. Although there is consensus that this ability is impaired with respect to processing stimuli in the auditory perceptual modality, conflicting evidence exists concerning the visual modality.

Aims: To address the outstanding issue whether the impairment in sustained attention is limited to the auditory domain, or if it is domain-general.