title: The role of social cognition and prosocial behaviour in relation to the socio-emotional functioning of primary aged children with specific language impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Children with language impairments often experience difficulties with their socio-emotional functioning and poorly developed prosocial behaviour. However, the nature of the association between language impairment and difficulties with socio-emotional functioning remains unclear. The social cognition skills of a group of primary-aged children (6-11 years old) with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) were examined in relation to their teachers' ratings of socio-emotional functioning.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-two children with SLI were individually matched with 42 children for chronological age and non-verbal cognitive ability, and 42 children for receptive language ability. The children all attended mainstream primary schools or one Language Unit.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four aspects of social cognition were directly assessed: emotion identification, emotion labelling, inferring the causes of emotions, and knowledge of conflict resolution strategies. The children's socio-emotional functioning was assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), a standardised measure, completed by their teachers. Associations between children's performance on tasks of social cognition and children's socio-emotional functioning were explored.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant group differences were found for all social cognition tasks. The SLI group was rated to experience significantly more problems with socio-emotional functioning by their teachers than both control groups, indicating problems with all aspects of socio-emotional functioning. Social cognition and prosocial behaviour, but not language ability, predicted teacher-rated behavioural, emotional and social difficulties for the SLI group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results challenge current understanding of socio-emotional functioning in children with SLI by pointing to the crucial role of social cognition and prosocial behaviour. Factors other than expressive and receptive language play a role in the socio-emotional functioning of children with SLI.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Educational, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR), University of Warwick, United Kingdom. Electronic address: i.bakopoulou@warwick.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ioanna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bakopoulou
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Human Development, UCL/Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Julie E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Dockrell
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008282:Mainstreaming, Education; D008297:Male; D017008:Negotiating / Q000523:psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception
keywords: Prosocial behaviour; Social cognition; Socio-emotional functioning; Specific language impairment