Relation between the receptive language and mental age of persons with mental retardation.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the development of receptive language lags behind nonverbal cognitive development in school age persons with mental retardation. The relation between receptive language and nonverbal MA was examined as a function of MA level and the linguistic form to be understood. Individual differences in the receptive language-MA relation were also investigated. Results indicated that the relation between receptive language and MA varied across MA levels, linguistic forms, and individuals at the same MA for listeners with mental retardation.