Clumsiness and perceptual problems in children with specific language impairment

Clumsiness is frequently noted among children with developmental language disorders. This study considered whether the pattern of motor and perceptual impairments in language-disordered children is similar to that described previously in 'clumsy children' without language difficulties. 17 children with specific language impairment (SLI) were compared with 17 normal controls, matched for age, sex, performance IQ and socio-economic status. The SLI children did more poorly than controls on a test battery assessing motor skills and visual discrimination. There was no evidence of lateralised impairments. It is concluded that developmental clumsiness in SLI children is similar to that seen in clumsy children who are not language-impaired, and that their sensorimotor deficits extend to visual discrimination tasks that have no motor component and do not involve transient stimuli.