title: The complexity of narrative interferes in the use of conjunctions in children with specific language impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To verify the use of conjunctions in narratives, and to investigate the influence of stimuli's complexity over the type of conjunctions used by children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with typical language development.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 40 children (20 with typical language development and 20 with SLI) with ages between 7 and 10 years, paired by age range. Fifteen stories with increasing of complexity were used to obtain the narratives; stories were classified into mechanical, behavioral and intentional, and each of them was represented by four scenes. Narratives were analyzed according to occurrence and classification of conjunctions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both groups used more coordinative than subordinate conjunctions, with significant decrease in the use of conjunctions in the discourse of SLI children. The use of conjunctions varied according to the type of narrative: for coordinative conjunctions, both groups differed only between intentional and behavioral narratives, with higher occurrence in behavioral ones; for subordinate conjunctions, typically developing children's performance did not show differences between narratives, while SLI children presented fewer occurrences in intentional narratives, which was different from other narratives.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both groups used more coordinative than subordinate conjunctions; however, typically developing children presented more conjunctions than SLI children. The production of children with SLI was influenced by stimulus, since more complex narratives has less use of subordinate conjunctions.
authors: Department of Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors: Deborah Oliveira
authors: DO
authors: Gonzalez
authors: Ana Manhani
authors: AM
authors: Cáceres
authors: Ana Carolina Paiva
authors: AC
authors: Bento-Gaz
authors: Debora Maria
authors: DM
authors: Befi-Lopes
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration