Music skills of Spanish-speaking children with developmental language disorder

According to temporal sampling theory, deficits in rhythm processing contribute to both language and music difficulties in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Evidence for this proposition is derived mainly from studies conducted in stress-timed languages, but the results may differ in languages with different rhythm features (e.g., syllable-timed languages).

This research aimed to study a previously unexamined topic, namely, the music skills of children with DLD who speak Spanish (a syllable-timed language), and to analyze the possible relationships between the language and music skills of these children.

Two groups of 18 Spanish-speaking children with DLD and 19 typically-developing peers matched for chronological age completed a set of language tests. Their rhythm discrimination, melody discrimination and music memory skills were also assessed.

Children with DLD exhibited significantly lower performance than their typically-developing peers on all three music subtests. Music and language skills were significantly related in both groups.

The results suggest that similar music difficulties may be found in children with DLD whether they speak stress-timed or syllable-timed languages. The relationships found between music and language skills may pave the way for the design of possible language intervention programs based on music stimuli.