Examining the Language Phenotype in Children With Typical Development, Specific Language Impairment, and Fragile X
Eileen Haebig1, Audra Sterling1, Jill Hoover2
1University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR
|September 13, 2016
Summary
Children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) show similar finiteness marking to typically developing peers, unlike children with specific language impairment (SLI). FXS may involve pragmatic challenges impacting language assessment.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Background:
- Finiteness marking is a key morphosyntactic feature in language development.
- Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and Specific Language Impairment (SLI) are neurodevelopmental disorders affecting language.
- Understanding language profiles in FXS and SLI is crucial for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare finiteness marking in children with FXS, SLI, and typical development.
- To investigate potential differences in morphosyntactic skills based on developmental diagnosis.
- To explore the nature of language deficits in FXS and SLI.
Main Methods:
- Compared finiteness marking in 19 typically developing children, 20 with SLI, and 17 with FXS.
- Utilized the Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (TEGI) and other cognitive/language assessments.
- Conducted quantitative analysis of finiteness marking and qualitative analysis of unscorable responses.
Main Results:
- Children with typical development and FXS demonstrated better finiteness marking than children with SLI.
- Boys with FXS produced a higher proportion of unscorable responses compared to typical and SLI groups.
- Finiteness marking performance in FXS aligned with their Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) matched peers.
Conclusions:
- FXS language profile differs from SLI, suggesting distinct underlying mechanisms.
- Increased unscorable responses in FXS may indicate pragmatic deficits.
- Careful consideration of assessment methods is vital for evaluating language in FXS.
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