COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS IN CHILDREN WITH SPECIFIC LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENTS -A COMPARISON WITH THEIR LANGUAGE-MATCHED SIBLINGS

The purpose of this study was to compare the pragmatic skills of five children with Specific Language Impairments (SLI) and their Mean Lengt h of Utterance-matched younger siblings, thus in part controlling for home language environment and expressive language level. Data were vid eotaped as mother-child free play in the home. Children's communicativ e acts were coded on three levels (social interchange, speech act, and conversational). Analysis of each level separately indicated generall y comparable performance within sibling pairs. However, when the three levels were integrated into a measure of pragmatic flexibility, the c hildren with SLI were found to demonstrate a more varied repertoire th an their younger, normally developing siblings.