有和没有发育性语言障碍的学龄前儿童的非言语执行功能与词汇和形态句法的关系
Nonverbal Executive Functioning in Relation to Vocabulary and Morphosyntax in Preschool Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.
作者信息
Everaert Emma, Boerma Tessel, Selten Iris, Gerrits Ellen, Houben Michiel, Vorstman Jacob, Wijnen Frank
机构信息
Institute for Language Sciences, Utrecht University, Trans 10, the Netherlands.
Department of Pediatrics, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands.
出版信息
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2023 Oct 4;66(10):3954-3973. doi: 10.1044/2023_JSLHR-22-00732. Epub 2023 Sep 15.
PURPOSE
Developmental language disorder (DLD) is characterized by persistent and unexplained difficulties in language development. Accumulating evidence shows that children with DLD also present with deficits in other cognitive domains, such as executive functioning (EF). There is an ongoing debate on whether exclusively verbal EF abilities are impaired in children with DLD or whether nonverbal EF is also impaired, and whether these EF impairments are related to their language difficulties. The aims of this study were to (a) compare nonverbal performance of preschoolers with DLD and typically developing (TD) peers, (b) examine how nonverbal EF and language abilities are related, and (c) investigate whether a diagnosis of DLD moderates the relationship between EF and language abilities.
METHOD
A total of 143 children ( = 65, = 78) participated. All children were between 3 and 6.5 years old and were monolingual Dutch. We assessed nonverbal EF with a visual selective attention task, a visuospatial short-term and working memory task, and a task gauging broad EF abilities. Vocabulary and morphosyntax were each measured with two standardized language tests. We created latent variables for EF, vocabulary, and morphosyntax.
RESULTS
Analyses showed that children with DLD were outperformed by their TD peers on all nonverbal EF tasks. Nonverbal EF abilities were related to morphosyntactic abilities in both groups, whereas a relationship between vocabulary and EF skills was found in the TD group only. These relationships were not significantly moderated by a diagnosis of DLD.
CONCLUSIONS
We found evidence for nonverbal EF impairments in preschool children with DLD. Moreover, nonverbal EF and morphosyntactic abilities were significantly related in these children. These findings may have implications for intervention and support the improvement of prognostic accuracy.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
目的
发育性语言障碍（DLD）的特征是在语言发展方面存在持续且无法解释的困难。越来越多的证据表明，患有DLD的儿童在其他认知领域也存在缺陷，例如执行功能（EF）。关于DLD儿童的语言执行功能能力是否单独受损，还是非语言执行功能也受损，以及这些执行功能障碍是否与他们的语言困难相关，目前仍在进行辩论。本研究的目的是：（a）比较患有DLD的学龄前儿童与发育正常（TD）同龄人的非语言表现；（b）研究非语言执行功能和语言能力之间的关系；（c）调查DLD诊断是否会调节执行功能和语言能力之间的关系。
方法
共有143名儿童（ = 65， = 78）参与。所有儿童年龄在3至6.5岁之间，且均为荷兰语单语者。我们通过视觉选择性注意任务、视觉空间短期和工作记忆任务以及一项衡量广泛执行功能能力的任务来评估非语言执行功能。词汇和形态句法分别通过两项标准化语言测试进行测量。我们为执行功能、词汇和形态句法创建了潜在变量。
结果
分析表明，在所有非语言执行功能任务中，患有DLD的儿童表现不如他们的TD同龄人。两组中非语言执行功能能力均与形态句法能力相关，而仅在TD组中发现词汇与执行功能技能之间存在关系。这些关系并未因DLD诊断而受到显著调节。
结论
我们发现有证据表明患有DLD的学龄前儿童存在非语言执行功能障碍。此外，这些儿童的非语言执行功能与形态句法能力显著相关。这些发现可能对干预有影响，并支持提高预后准确性。
Zotero 插件