title: Language ability, executive functioning and behaviour in school-age children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many children with language impairment present with deficits in other areas, including executive functioning (EF), attention and behaviour. Similarly, many children receiving services for attention or behaviour problems have deficits in language ability.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the relations among EF, language ability and behaviour problems in a sample of school-age children with a wide range of language and behaviour profiles. The following research questions were addressed: Does performance on EF tasks predict language ability? Do language ability and EF predict problems with attention, internalizing and/or externalizing?
  
  
  METHODS
  EF was defined as referring to the separable, yet related, processes of shifting, updating working memory and inhibition as specified in the latent variable model of EF. Children aged 8-11 years recruited from an urban school district completed standardized language and cognitive assessments and a computerized task assessing EF. Their parents completed standardized questionnaires assessing the children's EF and problem behaviours. Regression analyses were conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regression analyses revealed that EF did not contribute to language ability beyond the variance accounted for by nonverbal reasoning. Language ability contributed to attention problems when entered as a single predictor, but was no longer significant when the EF measures were added to the model. Language ability did not significantly contribute to internalizing or externalizing behaviour problems. Parent-reported inhibition was a robust predictor of attention, internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this sample of school-age children, language ability was related to attention problems, but not to internalizing or externalizing. Children with behaviour problems may have particular difficulty with inhibition.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Karasinski
mesh_terms: D001076:Aptitude; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D007807:Language Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000066553:Problem Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics
keywords: ADHD; behaviour; executive functions; language