This study investigated the syntactic bootstrapping abilities of children w
ho differed by language abilities and age. In the First study, the performa
nce of 5-year-old children with Specific language impairment (SLI) was comp
ared to that of two groups of typically developing children-one of equivale
nt language levels, as indexed by mean length of utterance (MLU), and the o
ther of equivalent chronological age. In the second study two groups of 7-y
ear-old children, one whose language was developing typically and one with
SU, were involved. The count/mass distinction was used as the basis for the
experimental tasks. A videotaped story was used to present the novel count
and mass words, with syntactic cues in one condition and with neutral synt
ax in another. Results from the first study revealed that only the 5-year-o
ld nonaffected control children showed evidence of using the syntactic cues
. The 5-year-old SLI group and 3-year-old control group achieved comparable
scores. However, error analyses suggested that different factors were oper
ative in the two groups. The second study revealed that there was continued
growth into the early school years For children with SU and children whose
language was developing typically.