Department of Special Education, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2009 Sep-Oct;44(5):639-55. doi: 10.1080/13682820802276930.
Language development is generally viewed as a multifactorial process. There are increasing indications that this similarly holds for the problematic language development process.
A population of 97 young Dutch children with specific language impairment (SLI) was followed over a 2-year period to provide additional evidence for the existence of underlying language factors. Furthermore, the children's language development was related to their non-verbal intellectual reasoning capacity.
METHODS & PROCEDURES: The language abilities were assessed via the administration of an extensive battery of language tests. Cognition was assessed via administration of the Raven progressive matrices, short-term memory capacity via administration of the Digit Span task.
OUTCOMES & RESULTS: The results provide empirical support for distinct language factors for children with language problems. The detected factors were labelled: phonology, lexical-semantics, syntax, and speech production, and were found to be stable and interrelated. Short-term memory showed strong relations with the language factor syntax and medium relations with the other language factors. Intellectual capacity showed weak to medium relations with three language factors but no relation with the factor speech.
CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The language development of 5- and 6-year-old Dutch children with SLI appears to be divided into four language factors. The language factors are very stable in this sample and correspond with language factors found in recent studies on language development in children with SLI. Short-term auditory memory turns out to play an important role in the problematic language acquisition of children with SLI. It is recommended that children with SLI should be assessed on possible deficits in information processing and/or short-term memory. The existence of such deficits calls for specific neuropsychological intervention.
语言发展通常被视为一个多因素的过程。越来越多的迹象表明，这同样适用于有问题的语言发展过程。
对 97 名患有特定语言障碍（SLI）的荷兰年轻儿童进行了为期 2 年的随访，以提供更多证据证明存在潜在的语言因素。此外，还研究了儿童的语言发展与其非言语智力推理能力之间的关系。
通过广泛的语言测试来评估语言能力。通过瑞文渐进矩阵测试评估认知能力，通过数字跨度任务评估短期记忆能力。
结果为语言障碍儿童存在不同的语言因素提供了经验支持。检测到的因素被标记为：音韵学、词汇语义学、句法和言语产生，并且发现它们是稳定的且相互关联的。短期记忆与语言因素句法有很强的关系，与其他语言因素有中等关系。智力能力与三个语言因素有弱到中等关系，但与言语因素没有关系。
5 至 6 岁荷兰 SLI 儿童的语言发展似乎分为四个语言因素。在这个样本中，语言因素非常稳定，与最近关于 SLI 儿童语言发展的研究中发现的语言因素相对应。短期听觉记忆在 SLI 儿童语言习得困难中起着重要作用。建议对 SLI 儿童进行信息处理和/或短期记忆可能存在缺陷的评估。这些缺陷的存在需要进行特定的神经心理学干预。
