title: Phonological processing skills in specific language impairment.
abstract: In order to provide effective intervention for children with specific language impairment (SLI), it is crucial that there is an understanding of the underlying deficit in SLI. This study utilized a battery of phonological processing tasks to compare the phonological processing skills of children with SLI to typically-developing peers matched for age or language. The children with SLI had significantly poorer performance than age-matched peers on measures of phonological representations, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, phonological short-term memory, and one measure of working memory. Of particular significance, the SLI group also demonstrated significantly weaker performance than language-matched peers on one measure of phonological representations, and one measure of working memory. The findings provide some support for a phonological processing account of SLI and highlight the utility of using tasks that draw on a comprehensive model of speech processing to profile and consider children's phonological processing skills in detail.
authors: Curtin University, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute , Perth , Australia.
authors: Mary
authors: M
authors: Claessen
authors: Suze
authors: S
authors: Leitão
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Kane
authors: Cori
authors: C
authors: Williams
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*