Correlates of social development in children with communication disorders:the concurrent predictive value of verbal short-term memory span

Linguistic and cognitive correlates of social skill were examined in a clin ically selected sample of children with communication disorders. Thirty-two children aged between 5 and 10 years were assessed using a questionnaire-b ased sociability scale. Specially designed measures of verbal and visuo-spa tial short-term memory span were administered, as well as standardized test s of grammatical and lexical comprehension. Multiple regression analyses re vealed strong prediction of social skill from STM measures but not from com prehension scores. The prediction was based on a striking negative correlat ion between serial word span and sociability. This word-span measure could offer a useful tool in the assessment of children with communication disord ers. However, attention is drawn to the substantial number of children in t he sample whose patterns of cognitive, Linguistic and social skill are not clearly differentiated. It is suggested that: assessment should aim to spec ify as clearly as possible individual patterns of strength and weakness and avoid unwarranted categorization.