Sentence repetition and digit span: potential markers of bilingual children with suspected SLI?

Digit span and sentence repetition are identified as potential markers for specific language impairment (SLI). We investigated if language learning of bilingual children with suspected language impairment (biSLI) was also influenced and led by memory constraints.

In a retrospective study, 19 children with SLI and 25 controls (ages 4;9-5;9), as well as 15 biSLI children and 14 controls (ages 5;1-8;9) were compared with regard to their performance on a digit span and sentence repetition task.

Both groups with language impairment (SLI/biSLI) showed reduced performance on both tasks. Sentence repetition predicted language comprehension, and the digit span task predicted grammar abilities of the SLI, biSLI, and their controls.

Sentence repetition and short-term memory provide information on language comprehension and grammar abilities in language-impaired mono- and bilingual children and confirm their function as SLI markers.