Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2025

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism
Published on: October 3, 2018
A processability theory perspective on morphosyntax in school-age children with developmental language disorder
Gisela Håkansson1,2, Nelli Kalnak3,4
1Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Abstract:
This study examines the production of morphosyntax in Swedish-speaking children diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Data from a Sentence Repetition Task was used to investigate if there is an implicational order according to Processability Theory (PT) in grammatical structures produced by school-age children with DLD. PT is a cognitive theory of language development that assumes five implicational stages of morphosyntactic development. The analysis was based on a selection of sentences representing the different PT stages. The participants (n = 49; 6;5-11;5 years of age) were recruited from school language units for children with DLD. The results confirm an implicational order: the participants produced structures from a higher stage only if they also produced structures from lower stages. It is suggested that the developmental hierarchy can be used in the intervention of children with DLD by focusing on the next stage. Also, only 26.5% of the participants achieved PT stage 4, and one child (2%) reached the highest PT stage 5. This is discussed in relation to what is known regarding PT stages in typically developing children, as well as associations with language, memory, and non-verbal measures.
More Related Videos
10:11Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking IPL: Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism
Published on: December 14, 2012
09:27Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language
Published on: October 13, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Information Processing Approach
Language and Cognition
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood
Schemata: Building Blocks of...
Learning Disabilities
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a...
Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development