title: Nonword repetition--a clinical marker for specific language impairment in Swedish associated with parents' language-related problems.
abstract: First, we explore the performance of nonword repetition (NWR) in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing children (TD) in order to investigate the accuracy of NWR as a clinical marker for SLI in Swedish-speaking school-age children. Second, we examine the relationship between NWR, family aggregation, and parental level of education in children with SLI. A sample of 61 children with SLI, and 86 children with TD, aged 8-12 years, were administered an NWR test. Family aggregation, measured as the prevalence of language and/or literacy problems (LLP) in parents of the children with SLI, was based on family history interviews. The sensitivity and specificity of nonword repetition was analyzed in a binary logistic regression, cut-off values were established with ROC curves, and positive and negative likelihood ratios reported. Results from the present study show that NWR distinguishes well between Swedish-speaking school-children with and without SLI. We found 90.2% sensitivity and 97.7% specificity at a cut-off level of -2 standard deviations for binary scoring of nonwords. Differences between the SLI and TD groups showed large effect sizes for the two scoring measures binary (d = 2.11) and percent correct consonants (PCC) (d = 1.79). The children with SLI were split into two subgroups: those with no parents affected with LLP (n = 12), and those with one or both parents affected (n = 49). The subgroup consisting of affected parents had a significantly lower score on NWR binary (p = .037), and there was a great difference between the subgroups (d = 0.7). When compared to the TD group, the difference from the subgroup with affected parents was almost one standard deviation larger (d = 2.47) than the difference from the TD to the subgroup consisting of non-affected parents (d = 1.57). Our study calls for further exploration of the complex interaction between family aggregation, language input, and phenotypes of SLI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Nelli
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kalnak
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peyrard-Janvid
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Forssberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Logopedics, Phoniatrics, and Audiology, Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Birgitta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sahlén
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D013067:Speech Perception; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014705:Verbal Behavior
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers