Specific language impairment: Continuing clinical concerns

This article reviews current trends in the study of children with specific language impairment (SLI). SLI is defined as significant limitation in lang uage ability in the absence of accompanying hearing impairment, low nonverb al intelligence, or neurological damage. Our understanding of SLI is as dyn amic as the disorder itself and new information often challenges current cl inical practices. Four areas of current research are highlighted to draw at tention to new evidence that provides an opportunity for reconsideration of current clinical practice: (1) heterogeneity in the group of children iden tified with SLI, (2) diagnostic criteria used to identify SLI, (3) auditory processing, and (4) short-term memory.