title: [Visual short-term memory in children with specific language impairment].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  relationship between Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and visual short-term memory.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  to compare the performance of children with SLI to a control group of children with normal language development in tasks involving visual short-term memory.
  
  
  METHODS
  subjects were 20 SLI children (ages 3;0 to 5;11), and 29 children with normal language development (ages 2;0 to 4;11), assessed in tasks of visual short-term memory involving picture recognition and localization recall of objects previously manipulated by the examiner. As the diagnosis of SLI implies in the linguistic age being at least one year below the expected for the chronological age, the control group was also constituted by younger children with normal language development.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SLI children presented an inferior performance when compared to their pairs of the same age, similar to the younger children or below the younger age group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SLI children presented deficits in tasks involving visual short-term memory, which must be discussed in order to understand the nature of the disorder and also in terms of speech-language intervention.
authors.affiliation: Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo. cagimenezes@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Camila Gioconda de Lima e
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.forename: Noemi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takiuchi
authors.forename: Debora Maria
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Befi-Lopes
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*