Mervis Carolyn B, John Angela E
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2008 Aug;51(4):967-82. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2008/071).
This project was designed to identify relative strengths and weaknesses in vocabulary ability for children with Williams syndrome (WS) and to demonstrate the importance of stringent matching criteria for cross-group comparisons.
Children with WS and typically developing (TD) children completed standardized assessments of intellectual and language ability. Children with WS also completed a visuospatial construction ability assessment.
Study 1: Concrete and relational vocabulary standard scores were significantly lower for 5- to 7-year-olds with WS than for TD children. Children with WS earned significantly higher standard scores for concrete than for relational vocabulary. When groups were stringently matched for relational vocabulary size, children with WS did not evidence a specific weakness in spatial vocabulary. Study 2: Standard scores for relational vocabulary were similar to those for visuospatial construction ability for 5- to 7-year-olds with WS. Study 3: Nine- to 11-year-olds with WS demonstrated very limited relational vocabulary ability; relational vocabulary ability at 5-7 years was highly correlated with later relational language ability.
Concrete vocabulary is a relative strength for children with WS; relational vocabulary ability is very limited and is at about the level of visuospatial construction ability. Accurate determination of group comparison results depends on stringent group matching.
本项目旨在确定威廉姆斯综合征（WS）患儿在词汇能力方面的相对优势和劣势，并证明严格的匹配标准对于跨组比较的重要性。
患有WS的儿童和发育正常（TD）的儿童完成了智力和语言能力的标准化评估。患有WS的儿童还完成了一项视觉空间构建能力评估。
研究1：5至7岁患有WS的儿童在具体词汇和关系词汇标准分数上显著低于TD儿童。患有WS的儿童在具体词汇上的标准分数显著高于关系词汇。当两组在关系词汇量上严格匹配时，患有WS的儿童在空间词汇方面没有表现出特定的劣势。研究2：5至7岁患有WS的儿童在关系词汇方面的标准分数与视觉空间构建能力的标准分数相似。研究3：9至11岁患有WS的儿童表现出非常有限的关系词汇能力；5至7岁时的关系词汇能力与后期的关系语言能力高度相关。
具体词汇是患有WS的儿童的相对优势；关系词汇能力非常有限，大约处于视觉空间构建能力的水平。准确确定组间比较结果取决于严格的组间匹配。
