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Teacher-identified oral language difficulties among boys with attention problems
T Humphries1, H Koltun, M Malone
1Department of Pediatrics, Hospital For Sick Children, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Summary
Boys with attention problems (AP) show more language difficulties, especially in pragmatics, compared to those with learning disabilities (LD) or average achievement (AA). These pragmatics issues in AP boys are linked to impulsivity.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Linguistics
- Special Education
Background:
- Attention problems (AP) are often associated with co-occurring developmental challenges.
- Language functioning, particularly pragmatic skills, can be impacted by attention deficits.
- Understanding these language differences is crucial for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the language functioning of boys with attention problems (AP) to those with learning disabilities (LD) and average achievement (AA).
- To identify specific areas of language difficulty, such as articulation, pragmatics, and receptive/expressive language, in these groups.
- To explore the relationship between pragmatic difficulties and impulsivity in boys with AP.
Main Methods:
- Teacher-based evaluation of language functioning in 95 boys (aged 6.5-13.8 years).
- Categorization into three groups: AP (n=30), LD (n=33), and AA (n=32).
- Statistical analysis to compare the frequency of articulation, pragmatic, and receptive/expressive language problems across groups.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in articulation problems were found between the three groups.
- Boys with AP exhibited significantly more pragmatic problems than both LD and AA groups.
- AP boys showed more receptive/expressive language problems than AA boys, but not LD boys. LD boys had more receptive/expressive problems than AA boys.
- The highest average incidence of all language problems (42%) was observed in AP boys, with poor pragmatics being the most frequent issue.
- Pragmatic difficulties in AP boys were characterized by challenges in maintaining conversations, linked to impulsivity.
Conclusions:
- Boys with attention problems demonstrate distinct language and pragmatic deficits compared to peers with learning disabilities or average achievement.
- Pragmatic language difficulties, particularly in conversation maintenance, are a significant concern for boys with attention problems and are associated with impulsivity.
- These findings underscore the need for specialized language support and behavioral interventions for children with attention problems.