Advances in Specific Language Impairment Research and Intervention: An Overview of Five Research Symposium Papers

Abstract

Purpose This article provides an overview of five papers appearing together on the topic of “Advances in Specific Language Impairment Research and Intervention,” which was the 2019 program in an ongoing series of research symposia presented at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Method The article provides a historical context for the set of papers, then a short summation of each paper's content, followed by the identification of overarching themes and working conclusions. Results Each paper provides summations of empirical results, and some papers provide new empirical evidence. Conclusion The papers collectively highlight six points: (a) Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are likely to be unidentified among their age peers. (b) There is great need for better identification of children with SLI across developmental levels. (c) Progress is evident toward a better understanding of causal pathways, as examined across different research designs involving comparison of children with typical language acquisition to children with SLI and other possibly co-occurring atypical conditions. (d) Measuring multiple dimensions of language brings enhanced informativeness, with differing outcomes for differing dimensions. (e) Replicated research findings require precision of methods in order to reduce unexplained error variance especially when defining groups. (f) Accurate identification of children with SLI is the first step toward a sound treatment plan for SLI and reading disorders as well. Presentation Video https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13063721

Low language capacity in childhood: A systematic review of prevalence estimates

“…The DSM‐5 includes an IQ cutoff related to diagnosis. However, ‘language disorder’ is still a problematic label as it not only refers to a specific diagnostic category but is also widely used to refer to symptom‐level problems in many conditions, causing ample opportunity for confusion and inaccurate estimation of the true prevalence of the condition (Rice, 2020). Notably the eleventh revision of the ICD (ICD‐11) refers to these “language disorders” as DLD.…”

Specific Language Impairment and Executive Functions in School-Age Children: A Systematic Review

“…Specific language impairment (SLI) is a developmental disorder that is multifactorial in nature and has a high prevalence rate; it is known to be a risk factor for psychosocial and academic challenges that have a significant impact on school-age children when compared to their typically developing peers [1][2][3]. This study aims to elucidate the impact of SLI on executive functions (EFs) in children of school age, given the dearth of knowledge in this area.…”

“…The first posits that SLI arises from a particular grammatical deficit, which does not impact nonverbal abilities. The second suggests that SLI results from a broader processing impairment, stemming from the atypical development of the brain and structures that support the procedural memory system [ 2 , 3 ]. This impairment manifests as abnormalities in the memory process, leading to grammatical deficits and nonverbal disturbances that extend beyond language skills to include areas such as mathematics, motor skills, and attention [ 2 , 3 ].…”

“…The second suggests that SLI results from a broader processing impairment, stemming from the atypical development of the brain and structures that support the procedural memory system [ 2 , 3 ]. This impairment manifests as abnormalities in the memory process, leading to grammatical deficits and nonverbal disturbances that extend beyond language skills to include areas such as mathematics, motor skills, and attention [ 2 , 3 ]. Furthermore, it has been suggested that SLI is linked to executive dysfunction, encompassing deficits in inhibition, fluency, updating, and working memory.…”

“…Due to the strong correlation between language and executive functioning, there has been a surge of scholarly attention toward executive functioning in children with SLI. It has been suggested that children with SLI exhibit ineffective inner speech, resulting in suboptimal language utilization in certain non-linguistic activities [ 2 , 3 ].…”