Real-word and nonword repetition in Italian-speaking children with specific language impairment: a study of diagnostic accuracy.

Purpose: Using 2 different scoring methods, the authors examined the diagnostic accuracy of both real-word and nonword repetition in identifying Italian-speaking children with and without specific language impairment (SLI).

Method: A total of 34 children ages 3;11-5;8 (years;months) participated--17 children with SLI and 17 typically developing children matched for age (TD-A children). Children completed real-word and nonword repetition tasks. The capacity of real-word and nonword repetition tasks to discriminate children with SLI from TD-A was examined through binary logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curves.

Results: Both real-word and nonword repetition showed good (or excellent) sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing children with SLI from their TD peers.

Conclusions: Nonword repetition appears to be a useful diagnostic indicator for Italian, as in other languages. In addition, real-word repetition also holds promise. The contributions of each type of measure are discussed.