Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language01:10

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
Language Development01:22

Language Development

Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development

The preoperational stage, the second of Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, spans approximately ages 2 to 7 and is characterized by the emergence of symbolic thinking. During this stage, children use language, images, and symbols to represent objects and concepts, enabling them to engage in imaginative and pretend play. This symbolic thinking supports children's ability to perform make-believe actions, such as imagining a broom as a horse or their hand as a phone, blending...
Information Processing Approach01:30

Information Processing Approach

The information-processing theory of cognitive development centers on fundamental mental processes, including attention, memory, and problem-solving skills. Researchers in this field examine how cognitive abilities, such as working memory, evolve and influence children's overall development. Studies indicate that children with stronger working memory tend to excel in reading comprehension, math, and problem-solving compared to peers with less efficient memory skills. Low working memory is also...
Learning Disabilities01:25

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities are cognitive disorders caused by neurological impairments that affect cognitive functions like language and reading, without indicating overall intellectual or developmental challenges. These disabilities differ from global intellectual or developmental disabilities as they are limited to distinct cognitive functions. Common learning disabilities include dysgraphia, dyslexia, and dyscalculia, each of which impacts unique aspects of learning.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Developmental outcomes in 4-year-old children born in the first COVID-19 lockdown in England: preliminary findings from the Born In COVID Year - Core Lockdown Effects (BICYCLE) study.

Archives of disease in childhood·2026
Same author

Caregiver Views of Communication Barriers Within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: Children With and Without Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN).

Clinical child psychology and psychiatry·2026
Same author

Experiencing Data Visualization With Language Disability.

IEEE computer graphics and applications·2025
Same author

Concurrent Targeting of Expressive Vocabulary and Speech Comprehensibility in Pre-Schoolers with Developmental Language Disorder and Phonological Speech Sound Disorder Features: A Survey of UK Practice.

Children (Basel, Switzerland)·2025
Same author

"We're all in it together": uniting a diverse range of professionals and people with lived experience within the development of a complex, theory-based paediatric speech and language therapy intervention.

Research involvement and engagement·2025
Same author

Co-design to consensus: Identifying the core elements of a novel intervention for pre-school children with co-occurring phonological speech sound disorder (SSD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) using a modified e-Delphi approach.

PloS one·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking (IPL): Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism
10:11

Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking (IPL): Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism

Published on: December 14, 2012

Semantic and inferencing abilities in children with communication disorders.

Nicola Botting1, Catherine Adams

  • 1Human Communication and Deafness, School of Education, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. nicola.botting@man.ac.uk

International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders
|April 19, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Children with communication difficulties struggle with semantic and inferencing skills. New tasks revealed specific language impairment and pragmatic difficulties impact these abilities, with pragmatic difficulties showing greater deficits compared to typically developing peers.

More Related Videos

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
06:35

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

Published on: April 28, 2016

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism
06:15

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism

Published on: October 3, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking (IPL): Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism
10:11

Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking (IPL): Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism

Published on: December 14, 2012

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
06:35

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

Published on: April 28, 2016

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism
06:15

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism

Published on: October 3, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

  • Semantic and inferencing abilities are crucial for effective communication.
  • These higher-order language skills are not fully understood in children with communication difficulties.
  • Investigating these skills can inform targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess semantic and inferencing skills in children with specific language impairment and primary pragmatic difficulties.
  • To compare the performance of these clinical groups with typically developing peers.
  • To utilize newly designed tasks to evaluate these cognitive-linguistic abilities.

Main Methods:

  • Compared 25 children (11 years) with specific language impairment and 22 children (11 years) with primary pragmatic difficulties.
  • Included three control groups of typically developing children (11, 9, and 7 years).
  • Administered novel tasks designed to measure semantic and inferencing abilities.

Main Results:

  • Children with specific language impairment performed significantly worse on semantic tasks than 9- and 11-year-old peers.
  • Children with pragmatic difficulties scored significantly lower than all typically developing groups on semantic tasks.
  • Both clinical groups performed below 11-year-old peers on inferencing tasks, but not below younger peers, suggesting inferencing aligns with language ability.

Conclusions:

  • Newly developed tasks revealed significant challenges in semantic and inferencing abilities for children with communication impairments.
  • Semantic abilities were more affected in children with pragmatic difficulties compared to those with specific language impairment.
  • Performance differences suggest that the nature of communication difficulty influences the specific cognitive-linguistic skills impacted.