Variability of Executive Function Performance in Preschoolers with Developmental Language Disorder

Area of Science:

• Child psychology
• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Language acquisition

Background:

• Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are often reported to have executive function (EF) deficits.
• These deficits are noted in areas such as attention, working memory, and inhibition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the variability of executive function performance in children with and without DLD.
• To determine if executive function scores can reliably classify children into DLD or typical development groups.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing evidence on executive function in children with DLD.
• Analysis of task score variability within groups.
• Assessment of classification accuracy using executive function scores.

Main Results:

• Wide range of executive function performance observed in both children with DLD and typically developing peers.
• Executive function scores do not yield clinically useful classification accuracy between groups.
• Group-level EF differences are not applicable at the individual level for children with DLD.

Conclusions:

• Many children with DLD possess intact executive function abilities.
• Poor executive functioning is unlikely to be the sole cause of language deficits in all children with DLD.
• Interventions for children with DLD should consider individual profiles of both language and executive function skills.