Enhancing Syntactic Knowledge in School-Age Children With Developmental Language Disorder: The Promise of Syntactic Priming.

Purpose: We propose that implicit learning, including syntactic priming, has therapeutic promise to enhance the syntactic knowledge of children with developmental language disorder (DLD).

Method: We review the chunk-based learning framework of syntactic learning, the developmental evidence in support of it, and the developmental literature on syntactic priming as an instance of chunk-based statistical learning. We use this framework to help understand the nature of the syntactic learning difficulties of children with DLD.

Cognitive Processes Related to Memory Capacity Explain Nearly All of the Variance in Language Test Performance in School-Age Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dimensionality of the cognitive processes related to memory capacity and language ability and to assess the magnitude of the relationships among these processes in children developing typically (TD) and children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Participants were 234 children between the ages of 7;0 and 11;11 (117 TD and 117 DLD) who were propensity matched on age, sex, mother education and family income. Latent variables created from cognitive processing tasks and standardized measures of comprehension and production of lexical and sentential aspects of language were tested with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural regression.

A New Memory Perspective on the Sentence Comprehension Deficits of School-Age Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Implications for Theory, Assessment, and Intervention.

Purpose The nature of the relationship between memory and sentence comprehension in school-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD) has been unclear. We present a novel perspective that highlights the relational influences of fluid intelligence, controlled attention, working memory (WM), and long-term memory (LTM) on sentence comprehension in children with and without DLD. This perspective has new and important implications for theory, assessment, and intervention.

A Comparison of the Storage-Only Deficit and Joint Mechanism Deficit Hypotheses of the Verbal Working Memory Storage Capacity Limitation of Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose The storage-only deficit and joint mechanism deficit hypotheses are 2 possible explanations of the verbal working memory (vWM) storage capacity limitation of school-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD). We assessed the merits of each hypothesis in a large group of children with DLD and a group of same-age typically developing (TD) children. Method Participants were 117 children with DLD and 117 propensity-matched TD children 7-11 years of age.

Cognitive predictors of sentence comprehension in children with and without developmental language disorder: Implications for assessment and treatment.

This paper summarises the clinical ramification of a large-scale study of the direct and indirect (mediated) influences of four cognitive mechanisms that are relevant to the comprehension of syntactic structure by school-age children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). A total of 117 children with DLD and 117 propensity-matched typically-developing (TD) children completed sentence comprehension tasks and cognitive tasks related to fluid reasoning, controlled attention, speed of processing, phonological short-term memory (pSTM), complex working memory (cWM) and language knowledge in long-term memory (LTM). Results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that the most salient characteristics of cognitive processing in children with and without DLD were represented by a measurement model that included four latent variables: fluid reasoning, controlled attention, complex WM and language knowledge in LTM.

Structural Relationship Between Cognitive Processing and Syntactic Sentence Comprehension in Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose: We assessed the potential direct and indirect (mediated) influences of 4 cognitive mechanisms we believe are theoretically relevant to canonical and noncanonical sentence comprehension of school-age children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD).

Method: One hundred seventeen children with DLD and 117 propensity-matched typically developing (TD) children participated. Comprehension was indexed by children identifying the agent in implausible sentences.

Cognitive Predictors of Spoken Word Recognition in Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorders.

Purpose: This study examined the influence of cognitive factors on spoken word recognition in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and typically developing (TD) children.

Method: Participants included 234 children (aged 7;0-11;11 years;months), 117 with DLD and 117 TD children, propensity matched for age, gender, socioeconomic status, and maternal education. Children completed a series of standardized assessment measures, a forward gating task, a rapid automatic naming task, and a series of tasks designed to examine cognitive factors hypothesized to influence spoken word recognition including phonological working memory, updating, attention shifting, and interference inhibition.

Children's Comprehension of Object Relative Sentences: It's Extant Language Knowledge That Matters, Not Domain-General Working Memory.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether extant language (lexical) knowledge or domain-general working memory is the better predictor of comprehension of object relative sentences for children with typical development. We hypothesized that extant language knowledge, not domain-general working memory, is the better predictor.

Method: Fifty-three children (ages 9-11 years) completed a word-level verbal working-memory task, indexing extant language (lexical) knowledge; an analog nonverbal working-memory task, representing domain-general working memory; and a hybrid sentence comprehension task incorporating elements of both agent selection and cross-modal picture-priming paradigms.

"Whatdunit?" Sentence Comprehension Abilities of Children With SLI: Sensitivity to Word Order in Canonical and Noncanonical Structures.

Purpose: With Aim 1, we compared the comprehension of and sensitivity to canonical and noncanonical word order structures in school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) and same-age typically developing (TD) children. Aim 2 centered on the developmental improvement of sentence comprehension in the groups. With Aim 3, we compared the comprehension error patterns of the groups.

Syntactic Versus Memory Accounts of the Sentence Comprehension Deficits of Specific Language Impairment: Looking Back, Looking Ahead.

Purpose: Compared with same-age typically developing peers, school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) exhibit significant deficits in spoken sentence comprehension. They also demonstrate a range of memory limitations. Whether these 2 deficit areas are related is unclear.

A Proof of Concept Study of Function-Based Statistical Analysis of fNIRS Data: Syntax Comprehension in Children with Specific Language Impairment Compared to Typically-Developing Controls.

Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a neuroimaging technology that enables investigators to indirectly monitor brain activity in vivo through relative changes in the concentration of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin. One of the key features of fNIRS is its superior temporal resolution, with dense measurements over very short periods of time (100 ms increments). Unfortunately, most statistical analysis approaches in the existing literature have not fully utilized the high temporal resolution of fNIRS.

Children's verbal working memory: relative importance of storage, general processing speed, and domain-general controlled attention.

This study evaluated multiple constraints of verbal working memory in typically developing 7- to 11-year-olds. Multiple measures of verbal working memory and the predictors-short-term memory storage, general speed, and domain-general controlled attention were used. General linear modeling (GLM) showed that storage and the efficiency of controlled attention (i.

Children's verbal working memory: role of processing complexity in predicting spoken sentence comprehension.

Purpose: This study investigated the role of processing complexity of verbal working memory tasks in predicting spoken sentence comprehension in typically developing children. Of interest was whether simple and more complex working memory tasks have similar or different power in predicting sentence comprehension.

Method: Sixty-five children (6- to 12-year-olds) completed a verbal working memory (listening) span task that varied in syntactic processing difficulty (simple sentences representing a "simple working memory task," complex sentences representing a "complex working memory task") and a standardized sentence comprehension test.

Working memory and specific language impairment: an update on the relation and perspectives on assessment and treatment.

Purpose: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) demonstrate significant language impairments despite normal-range hearing and nonverbal IQ. Many of these children also show marked deficits in working memory (WM) abilities. However, the theoretical and clinical characterization of the association between WM and language limitations in SLI is still sparse.

Role of auditory attention in the real-time processing of simple grammar by children with specific language impairment: a preliminary investigation.

Background: This study investigates the effects of two dimensions of attentional functioning, sustained focus of attention and resource capacity/allocation, on the real-time processing of simple sentences by children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing (TD) children matched for age.

Methods & Procedures: Thirty-six school-age children with SLI and 36 age-matched TD peers completed an auditory continuous performance task (ACPT) as a measure of sustained attention, a concurrent verbal processing-storage task as a measure of resource capacity/allocation, and a word-recognition reaction time (RT) task (index of sentence processing). Correlation and regression analyses were run to determine the association between the two measures of attention and word recognition RT.

Complex sentence comprehension and working memory in children with specific language impairment.

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) for CA children, neither memory variable correlated with either sentence type; and (5) for LMM children, only CLPT correlated with complex sentences.

Role of working memory in typically developing children's complex sentence comprehension.

The influence of three mechanisms of working memory (phonological short-term memory (PSTM capacity), attentional resource control/allocation, and processing speed) on children's complex (and simple) sentence comprehension was investigated. Fifty two children (6-12 years) completed a nonword repetition task (indexing PSTM), concurrent verbal processing-storage task (indexing resource control/allocation), auditory-visual reaction time (RT) task (indexing processing speed), and a sentence comprehension task that included complex and simple sentences. Correlation and regression analyses were run to determine the association between the memory variables and sentence comprehension accuracy.

Examining the language performances of children with and without specific language impairment: contributions of phonological short-term memory and speed of processing.

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of processing speed and phonological short-term memory (PSTM) on children's language performance.

Method: Forty-eight school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) and age peers completed auditory detection reaction time (RT) and nonword repetition tasks, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Revised (CELF-R; E. Semel, E.

Effects of acoustic manipulation on the real-time inflectional processing of children with specific language impairment.

Purpose: This study reports the findings of an investigation designed to examine the effects of acoustic enhancement on the processing of low-phonetic-substance inflections (e.g., 3rd-person singular -s, possessive -s) versus a high-phonetic-substance inflection (e.

Real-time language processing in school-age children with specific language impairment.

Background: School-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) exhibit slower real-time (i.e. immediate) language processing relative to same-age peers and younger, language-matched peers.

Effects of input rate and age on the real-time language processing of children with specific language impairment.

Background: School-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) exhibit slower real-time (i.e. immediate) language processing relative to same-age peers.

Executive functions in elementary school children with and without problems in written expression.

This study examined the executive functioning of 55 elementary school children with and without problems in written expression. Two groups reflecting children with and without significant writing problems were defined by an average primary trait rating across two separate narratives. The groups did not differ in terms of chronological age, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, special education status, or presence of attention problems or receptive vocabulary capabilities; however, they did differ in reading decoding ability, and this variable was controlled for in all analyses.

Working memory and comprehension in children with specific language impairment: what we know so far.

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.