Language comprehension and non-word repetition in children with language impairment

Non-word repetition has, not without controversy, been considered a reliabl e index of phonological memory in children with language impairment (LI). R ecent studies do, however, emphasize the strong link between non-word repet ition skills and phonological output in pre-school children with LI. The pu rpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between non-word repetition and different aspects of language comprehension (comprehension of words, sentences and fables) in 27 children with LI. The results showed that non-word repetition significantly correlated with all measures of lang uage comprehension in the children with LI. Partial correlations revealed a weaker relationship between vocabulary comprehension, comprehension of fab les and non-word repetition than between non-word repetition and comprehens ion of grammar. A possible explanation for the findings may be that the tes ts assessing comprehension of grammar strained language processing and stor age more than the other tests. It is concluded that non-word repetition can not be considered to be a single, reliable index of phonological memory in pre-school children with LI. Non-word repetition incorporates a range of pr ocesses necessary for language comprehension and production, and thus mirro rs the general language status of the child.