Language differences between institutionalized and noninstitutionalized retarded children

The linguistic performances of 15 noninstitutionalized and 15 institutionalized retarded children were compared on usage of grammatical categories and structure of spoken language (Length--Complexity Index) and for underlying subskills (Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities). Differences were not found between the groups for usage of grammatical categories or structures but were found for subskills of Auditory Reception. Auditory Sequential Memory, Verbal Expression, and Auditory Closure. Further analysis by multiple stepwise regression indicated that noninstitutionalized and institutionalized retarded children may be differentiated by examining a number of linguistic variables. The grammatical structure of language appeared less affected by environment than were the semantic and auditory elements.