Rapid naming by children with and without specific language impairment
1jeff.coady@colorado.edu
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR
|September 19, 2012
Summary
Children with specific language impairment (SLI) show slower picture naming. This study found that phonotactic pattern frequency, not word frequency, significantly impacts naming speed in children with SLI.
Area of Science:
- Child Language Acquisition
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Speech and Language Pathology
Background:
- Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often exhibit slower picture-naming abilities compared to their peers.
- This deficit is linked to challenges in lexical retrieval and nonlinguistic processing speed.
- The specific contribution of linguistic factors remains debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of word frequency (WF) and phonotactic pattern frequency (PPF) in the naming deficits of children with SLI.
- To differentiate the impact of lexical factors on picture naming in children with SLI versus control groups.
Main Methods:
- Compared picture-naming reaction times in three groups: children with SLI, vocabulary-matched (VM) controls, and chronological age-matched (CAM) controls.
- Utilized stimuli with varying word frequency (WF) and phonotactic pattern frequency (PPF).
Main Results:
- Confirmed a general naming deficit in children with SLI compared to CAM peers (CAM < SLI = VM).
- Found that higher word frequency (WF) led to faster naming across all groups (high WF < low WF).
- Revealed a significant interaction: children with SLI were more affected by phonotactic pattern frequency (PPF) than VM or CAM children.
Conclusions:
- Replicated previous findings of naming deficits in children with SLI.
- Suggests children with SLI are more susceptible to interference from words with frequent phonotactic patterns.
- Highlights the role of phonological neighborhood density in the naming difficulties experienced by children with SLI.
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