RELATION BETWEEN LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION AND COGNITIVE-FUNCTIONING IN PERSONS WITH MENTAL-RETARDATION

Research on the relation between language comprehension and cognitive functioning in persons with mental retardation is reviewed. The purpos e is to evaluate the validity of the clinical practice of cognitive re ferencing. In cognitive referencing, an individual is considered to be a good candidate for (i.e., likely to benefit from) entry into a reme dial language program only if he or she displays a mental age in advan ce of his or her language age. The studies reviewed concern: (a) the r elation between various aspects of language comprehension (e.g., pragm atic, syntactic) and mental age, (b) the relation between different co gnitive (e.g., sequential analysis, short term memory) and language co mprehension, (c) the stability of the relation between language compre hension and cognition over development, and (d) whether remedial langu age services can lead to levels of comprehension that exceed mental ag e expectations. The evidence suggests that the theoretical assumptions underlying cognitive referencing are incorrect, with the result being that many persons with mental retardation who could benefit from reme dial language services may not receive those services.