Executive Function Performance in Spanish-Speaking Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Uniformity and...

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is often associated with deficits in executive functions (EFs), but the specific pattern of which components are affected remains unclear. This study examined EF performance in Spanish-speaking children with DLD compared to typically developing (TD) peers matched for age and socioeconomic status.

The EFs, interference control, response inhibition, verbal and nonverbal working memory, and cognitive flexibility were assessed in 171 children between 6 and 8 years old: 72 with DLD and 99 who are TD. Group differences in EF performance were assessed after controlling for age and nonverbal reasoning.

Children with DLD had significantly lower performance in interference control, response inhibition, and verbal working memory compared to TD children. Nonverbal working memory and cognitive flexibility did not differ significantly between the groups. Interference control was the most affected EF in the DLD group, followed by verbal working memory and then response inhibition. In addition, a proportion of the DLD group had no difficulties when exploring each EF.

Spanish-speaking children with DLD have a range of difficulties with EFs, with significant individual variability.

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.30410572.