Picture Naming in Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment: An Error Analysis Study

Abstract

The lexical-level deficits are one of the hallmark limitations observed in early school-age children with specific language impairment. These problems are the predictors of reading problems and poor performance at school. Most studies in Persian-speaker children with specific language impairment have focused on syntax and morphology and the naming errors profile of these children are overlooked. This study aimed to investigate the naming accuracy, latency, and the error profile of these children. Methods:This was an observational study. Twenty children with specific language impairment were selected according to the clinical judgment of two speech therapists from speech therapy clinics and 100 children with typical language development aged from 7 to 9 years were randomly selected from public schools. The Persian picture naming set was presented by DMDX for the examination of picture naming skills. Naming errors were categorized as semantic, formal, mixed, non-word, unrelated, and others errors. Then, the data were investigated in terms of descriptive statistics and analysis of differences by the Independent t test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results:The Persian-speaker children with specific language impairment name significantly slower and less accurate than the children compared to children with normal language development (P≤0.05). Although semantic errors were the most frequent errors in the two groups, the score differences of formal and omission errors were significant between the groups (P≤0.05). Discussion:The different naming accuracy and latency scores between the two groups may be due to language delay and the inefficiency of the semantic system in children with specific language impairment. There are a variety of word retrieval errors in Persian-speaker children. Although, there are differences between the two groups, the error type in picture naming cannot be used for differentiating between them.

The Effect of Semantic Context on Lexical Access in Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder

“…Evidence has revealed numerous differences between children with and without DLD with respect to WF abilities. For instance, children with DLD nominate pictures more slowly than those with typical language development (TLD) children [5,10,13]. They also produce significantly more errors in comparison with their TLD peers.…”

“…In addition, these individuals' language learning disabilities do not compensate until five years of age [7]. Many studies have focused on the difficulties related to morphology and syntax [8,9], but few have been done on lexical access in DLD [10][11][12]. Evidence has revealed numerous differences between children with and without DLD with respect to WF abilities.…”

“…They also produce significantly more errors in comparison with their TLD peers. However, children with DLD exhibit similar error patterns to those with TLD, with semantic errors predominating in both groups [10,[14][15][16]. These studies use offline techniques (e.g.…”

“…These studies use offline techniques (e.g. analysis of naming errors or naming speed) to assess the end products of the WF process [10,17]. Recent studies have also been designed to investigate the process of lexical access in children [18][19][20].…”