Investigating the relationship between syntactic and short-term/working memory impairments in children with developmental disorders is not a straightforward endeavour

Marshall, Chloë

doi:10.1177/0142723720922197

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…In children with DLD with WM and syntactic impairments, WM training led to improvement in both domains, with transfer effects emerging as an increase in the production of elicited 3p clitics and in the repetition of embedded structures containing object relatives. Although the results of WM training studies are inconsistent in the literature [51], the identification of transfer effects in this type of study is a strong evidence for a causal relationship between verbal WM and syntax. Still, the findings from studies 4 and 5 are among the first of their type to suggest that training WM might positively influence syntax in children with DLD, so replication of these studies and direct comparison with regimes specifically training syntax are necessary moving forward [51].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…Although the results of WM training studies are inconsistent in the literature [51], the identification of transfer effects in this type of study is a strong evidence for a causal relationship between verbal WM and syntax. Still, the findings from studies 4 and 5 are among the first of their type to suggest that training WM might positively influence syntax in children with DLD, so replication of these studies and direct comparison with regimes specifically training syntax are necessary moving forward [51]. For both training studies, it is important to note that improvement was much more marked for WM, with only modest transfer effects observed for syntax.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

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The Language-Cognition Interface in Atypical Development: Support for an Integrative Approach

Stanford,

Delage

2023

Folia Phoniatr Logop

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Background: Links between the mastery of complex syntax and more general cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory [WM] and attention) are widely reported for both typically developing children and children with atypical language development, such as developmental language disorder (DLD). These observations have resulted in debates about whether the locus of breakdown in populations with known syntactic impairment is situated in a specific language system or a more general cognitive system. Recently, a hybrid model of language acquisition, the parallel combination approach (PCA), in which both domain-specific and domain-general processes contribute to language development, was put forward. Summary: Our review, which is the first to examine the validity of the PCA, compares a body of our own work investigating the language-cognition interface in various populations: children with specific learning difficulties, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and DLD. We report findings from two cross-sectional studies (studies 1 and 2), one priming study (study 3), and two training studies (studies 4 and 5). The results confirm a close link between WM, attention, and syntax, in line with domain-general approaches to language impairment. However, certain findings within this review also reveal that impaired general skills can be found alongside intact syntax, providing support for domain-specific approaches. While these results may initially appear contradictory, we argue that they are perfectly in line with the predictions made by the PCA. Key Messages: Study 1 confirms that clinicians should assess syntax in children with specific learning difficulties to avoid the missed diagnosis of comorbid DLD. Studies 2 and 3 offer perspectives on the differential diagnosis of ADHD and DLD and highlight the advantages of using probe tests and dynamic assessment when evaluating children with suspected syntactic impairment. Studies 4 and 5 describe a novel, empirically validated WM training program that has been shown to lead to syntactic improvements in clinical markers of DLD. Finally, the PCA is also clinically relevant as it underscores that children with the same diagnostic label can present dissimilar cognitive profiles with different sources of breakdown. Collectively, the various studies highlight the intricacy of the relationship between syntax and cognition, which cannot be easily described by traditional single-disciplinary frameworks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

The Language-Cognition Interface in Atypical Development: Support for an Integrative Approach

Stanford,

Delage

2023

Folia Phoniatr Logop

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“…A cross‐domain effect in bilinguals is important because, potentially, such intervention can be carried out by a monolingual SLP, especially when bilingual resources (e.g., lack of certified bilingual SLPs) are scarce. Yet, there have been recent suggestions to abandon investigating the near transfer effects of non‐linguistic cognitive intervention in children with DLD (Marshall, 2020). However, language and cognitive processing are more intricately associated in bilingual than monolingual children (e.g., Ebert et al., 2014; Barac & Bialystok, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language intervention in bilingual children with developmental language disorder: A systematic review

Nair

Clark

Siyambalapitiya

et al. 2022

Intl J Lang & Comm Disor

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Background: Although there is a growing body of literature on cognitive and language processing in bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD), there is a major gap in the evidence for language intervention. Critically, speech-language therapists are often required to make clinical decisions for language intervention on specific domains, such as phonology, vocabulary, morphosyntax and literacy.Aims: To examine evidence for language intervention and cross-language transfer effects in bilingual children with DLD. Specifically, the study aimed to review intervention evidence targeting non-linguistic cognitive skills and six areas of language: phonology, vocabulary, morphosyntax, pragmatics, narrative skills and literacy. Methods & Procedures:We carried out searches in five electronic databases: CINAHL, Scopus, Psychinfo, Proquest and Sciencedirect. Data from selected papers were extracted and organized into the three following categories: study information, participant information and intervention information. Critical appraisal for selected papers was conducted using a quality assessment tool (QAT). Outcomes & Results:We included 14 papers in the review. The majority indicated evidence for vocabulary intervention. There was limited evidence for intervention targeting phonology or morphosyntax. Cross-language generalization effects were evident for vocabulary, but in some instances also reported for morphosyntax and literacy. Conclusions & Implications:The present review indicates that there is a significant gap in the literature regarding language intervention for several key language areas such as morphosyntax, narrative skills and literacy. There are only limited data for the effects of cross-language generalization indicating that more research is needed in this area specifically for skills beyond vocabulary.

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“…Understanding more precisely these relations indeed requires wide data sets, appropriate modeling tools, but more importantly precise theoretical hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying these relations, which are largely undefined to-date. Riches (2020) as well as Marshall (2020) highlighted the difficulty of disentangling these relationships and notably the need for large-scale longitudinal (or intervention) studies and the use of language-independent measures of memory. A few studies using longitudinal designs indeed suggest bidirectional relations between language and short-term memory and/or executive functions, evolving with age (Diaz et al 2021;Gathercole et al 1992;Gooch et al 2016;Jones et al 2020).…”

Section: The Interplay Of Language Memory and Executive Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interplay of Emotions, Executive Functions, Memory and Language: Challenges for Refugee Children

Franck¹,

Delage²

2022

Languages

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Refugee children tend to show low emotional well-being and weak executive functions that may have consequences on language and therefore complicate a potential diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in this population. We assessed the performance of 140 children living in Switzerland aged 5 to 8 (20 monolinguals, 86 non-refugee bilinguals, 34 refugee bilinguals) on LITMUS language tasks (nonword repetition, sentence repetition, parental questionnaire), standardized language tasks, memory and executive function tasks. Parents also filled in the Child Behavior Checklist providing a measure of their child’s emotional well-being. Results indicate that refugee children are more emotionally vulnerable and show weaker performance in memory and executive functions tasks compared to non-refugee children, in line with the existing literature. Moreover, when compared to non-refugee bilingual children with similar length of exposure to French, refugee children are disadvantaged on all language tasks. Whereas emotional well-being does not predict language performance, memory and executive functions show up as predictors of both LITMUS and standardized language tasks, although in an unsystematic way. It is concluded that refugee children are at risk across the board and that a better understanding of the complex interplay between well-being, executive functions, memory and language is needed in order to build more appropriate diagnostic tools for these children.

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Investigating the relationship between syntactic and short-term/working memory impairments in children with developmental disorders is not a straightforward endeavour

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

The Language-Cognition Interface in Atypical Development: Support for an Integrative Approach

The Language-Cognition Interface in Atypical Development: Support for an Integrative Approach

Language intervention in bilingual children with developmental language disorder: A systematic review

The Interplay of Emotions, Executive Functions, Memory and Language: Challenges for Refugee Children

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