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Basic numeracy in children with specific language impairment: heterogeneity and connections to language
Tuire Koponen1, Riikka Mononen, Pekka Räsänen
1Niilo Mäki Institute, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland. tuire.koponen@nmi.jyu.fi
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR
|March 15, 2006
Summary
Children with specific language impairment (SLI) show deficits in both verbal and nonverbal numerical skills. Naming fluency impacts arithmetic fact retrieval, but other cognitive skills do not explain nonverbal number differences in these children.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Specific language impairment (SLI) affects language development and may impact other cognitive domains.
- Numerical skills are crucial for academic success and everyday functioning.
- Understanding the relationship between language and number abilities is important for early identification and intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate basic numerical skills in children with SLI.
- To determine the extent to which linguistic factors explain variations in number skills among children with SLI.
Main Methods:
- Compared numerical performance of children with SLI (n=29) to typically developing peers across preschool to 3rd grade.
- Subdivided the SLI group based on verbal and nonverbal numerical skill performance for detailed analysis.
- Analyzed performance on linguistic and nonverbal reasoning tasks within SLI subgroups.
Main Results:
- Children with SLI, as a group, demonstrated lower verbal and nonverbal numerical skills compared to age-matched controls.
- Arithmetic fact retrieval was linked to naming fluency in the SLI group.
- Nonverbal numerical skill deficits were not accounted for by measured cognitive skills (nonverbal reasoning, verbal short-term memory, vocabulary, comprehension, naming fluency).
Conclusions:
- Children with SLI exhibit significant heterogeneity in their numerical abilities.
- Specific hypotheses are needed regarding how linguistic deficits influence numerical skill development.
- Serial naming speed warrants further investigation as a potential cognitive component affecting numerical skills.
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