title: Verbal strategies and nonverbal cues in school-age children with and without specific language impairment (SLI).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Considerable evidence suggests that performance across a variety of cognitive tasks is effectively supported by the use of verbal and nonverbal strategies. Studies exploring the usefulness of such strategies in children with specific language impairment (SLI) are scarce and report inconsistent findings.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effects of induced labelling and auditory cues on the performance of children with and without SLI during a categorization task.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-six school-age children (22 with SLI, 22 age-matched controls, 22 language-matched controls) completed three versions of a computer-based categorization task: one baseline, one requiring overt labelling and one with auditory cues (tones) on randomized trial blocks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Labelling had no effect on performance for typically developing children but resulted in lower accuracy and longer reaction time in children with SLI. The presence of tones had no effect on accuracy but resulted in faster reaction time and post-error slowing across groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Verbal strategy use was ineffective for typically developing children and negatively affected children with SLI. All children showed faster performance and increased performance monitoring as a result of tones. Overall, effects of strategy use in children appear to vary based on task demands, strategy domain, age and language ability. Results suggest that children with SLI may benefit from auditory cues in their clinical intervention but that further research is needed to determine when and how verbal strategies might similarly support performance in this population.
authors.affiliation: The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eichorn
authors.forename: Klara
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marton
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Campanelli
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Scheuer
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D013067:Speech Perception; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014706:Verbal Learning
keywords: SLI; labelling; performance monitoring; post-error slowing; strategies