Studying Processing Speed in Children With Specific Language Impairment

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A recent research study has concluded that the speed of processing in children with specific language impairment (SLI) is generally slower than that of children with normal language. The purpose of this study, which was performed by Miller, Kail, Leonard, and Tomblin (2001), was to test the generalized slowing hypothesis using a broad variety of carefully chosen tasks that were all administered to the same children, and to contrast the slowing of children with SLI with the slowing seen in a group of children with nonspecific language impairment (NLI); to fit the data to three different models of the relationship between the response times of children with and without language impairment; and to examine individual differences and differences between subgroups of children with SLI.

Before the present study was performed, two diagnostic batteries took place, which involved participants whom were a subset of those involved in a large-scale investigation of the prevalence of SLI conducted at the University of Iowa. A large sample of kindergarten children was drawn from urban, suburban, and rural schools in midwestern communities. All of the children received a brief language screening test. All children who failed the screening, and approximately thirty-three percent of those who passed, were recruited to participate in the first diagnostic test battery. Children were excluded from participation if they did not have English as their primary language, or came from a home where English was not the predominant language, had a history of mental retardation, autism, or neurological problems, or were blind or used hearing aids. The selectiveness of this study helped to make it more consistent. The diagnostic battery included mea...

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...en separate analyses were conducted for each of the five subdomains, I’m curious to what the results would look like if a future study is conducted which as suggested, employs a much larger number of conditions per subdomain.

This study failed to mention details regarding the participants’ gender, race, or religion. With this being said, they may not be an accurate representation of the general population. To elaborate,

As a speech-language pathologist, it is important to understand patients with SLI’s since it frequently co-occurs with speech. Speech-language pathologists can assist individuals with SLI’s in maximizing their potential to succeed not only in school, but also in everyday life. It is necessary to be extremely patient with these individuals. Also, it is important to be well educated about the treatments available for people with SLI’s.

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