Sustained attention in children with specific language impairment (SLI).
OBJECTIVE
Information-processing limitations have been associated with language problems in children with specific language impairment (SLI). These processing limitations may be associated with limitations in attentional capacity, even in the absence of clinically significant attention deficits. In this study, the authors examined the performance of 4- to 6-year-old children with SLI and their typically developing (TD) peers on a visual sustained attention task. It was predicted that the children with SLI would demonstrate lower levels of performance in the absence of clinically significant attention deficits.


METHODS
A visual continuous performance task (CPT) was used to assess sustained attention in 13 children with SLI (M = 62.07 months) and 13 TD age-matched controls (M = 62.92 months). All children were screened for normal vision, hearing, and attention. Accuracy (d') and response time were analyzed to see if this sustained attention task could differentiate between the 2 groups.


RESULTS
The children with SLI were significantly less accurate but not significantly slower than the TD children on this test of visual sustained attention.


CONCLUSIONS
Children with SLI may have reduced capacity for sustained attention in the absence of clinically significant attention deficits that, over time, could contribute to language learning difficulties.
Finneran
Denise A
DA
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA. dfinneran@sc.edu
Francis
Alexander L
AL
Leonard
Laurence B
LB
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time