Empirical Implications of Matching Children With Specific Language Impairment to Children With Typical Development on Nonverbal IQ.

This study determined the effect of matching children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their peers with typical development (TD) for nonverbal IQ on the IQ test scores of the resultant groups. Studies published between January 2000 and May 2012 reporting standard nonverbal IQ scores for SLI and age-matched TD controls were categorized into those that matched and did not match children with SLI and TD on nonverbal IQ. We then compared the nonverbal IQ scores across matching criterions within each diagnostic category.

Differences in the performance of children with specific language impairment and their typically developing peers on nonverbal cognitive tests: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: This study used meta-analysis to investigate the difference in nonverbal cognitive test performance of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typically developing (TD) peers.

Method: The meta-analysis included studies (a) that were published between 1995 and 2012 of children with SLI who were age matched (and not nonverbal cognitive matched) to TD peers and given a norm-referenced nonverbal cognitive test and (b) that reported sufficient data for an effect size analysis. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the performance of children with SLI relative to their typically developing, age-matched peers on nonverbal IQ tests.