CHILDREN WITH SPECIFIC LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT - LINGUISTIC IMPAIRMENT ORSHORT-TERM-MEMORY DEFICIT

This study is concerned with characteristics of short-term memory (STM ) in children with specific language impairment (SLI). The linguistic requirements of the test procedure, the characteristics of the test ma terials, and the development of linguistic representations were consid ered. Two experimental tasks were used: a verbal-repetition and a pict ure-pointing procedure. The tasks used auditory presentation and were designed to explore different underlying processes during immediate re call. The linguistic characteristics of the test materials were design ed to explore the influence of semantic, lexical, and phonological fac tors on STM. Six SLI children (aged 6:1 to 9:6) (years:months) were in dividually matched on comprehension and expression of language to 17 y ounger children (age 3:4 to 6:5). Both groups were differentially infl uenced by the materials as a function of the test procedure. In genera l, both group and individual analyses found no significant difference between the performance of the SLI children and language-age (LA) cont rols. The implications of the results in relation to previous findings from investigations of STM and the underlying cause of SLI in childre n are discussed.