Am. Poikkeus et al., Language problems in children with learning disabilities: Do they interfere with maternal communication?, J LEARN DI, 32(1), 1999, pp. 22-35
In this study, parent-child interaction in two carefully matched subgroups-
school-age boys with learning disabilities (LD) who showed a discrepancy be
tween their verbal IQ and performance IQ and had more extensive difficultie
s in higher-level language abilities (VIQ < PIQ, n = 8) and boys with LD wh
o did not manifest a discrepancy between verbal IQ and performance IQ (VIQ
= PIQ, n = 8), were investigated. The effects of the child's language probl
ems on child task performance and on the quality of maternal communication
were analyzed in a mother-child problem solving task. Children in the VIQ <
PIQ group were found to be less successful on the task than children in th
e VIQ = PIQ group, and their mothers exhibited lower communication clarity
in their instructions than the mothers of the children in the VIQ = PIQ gro
up. An interesting interaction effect was found for communication deviances
. For mothers in the VIQ < PIQ group the extent of deficient communication
increased from the monologue to the dialogue situation, whereas communicati
on deviances decreased for mothers in the VIQ = PIQ group. Three possible m
odels are discussed in light of the differences between the subgroups.