Semantic deficits in children with language impairments: issues for clinical assessment.
Children with language impairments demonstrate a broad range of semantic difficulties, including problems with new word acquisition, storage and organization of known words, and lexical access/ retrieval. Unfortunately, assessments of children's semantic skills are often limited to measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary size. As a result, the semantic deficits of these children may not receive the attention they need. This article explores the word-learning, lexical storage, and lexical access skills of children with language impairments and the theories that account for their performance. Our review culminates with specific recommendations for speech-language pathologists to improve the breadth of their semantic assessments.
Brackenbury
Tim
T
Department of Communication Disorders, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA. tbracke@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Pye
Clifton
C
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007858:Learning; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010700:Phonetics; D012660:Semantics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014825:Vocabulary