title: Executive functions and language in children with different subtypes of specific language impairment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The marked heterogeneity among children diagnosed with specific language impairment (SLI) highlights the importance of studying and describing cases based on the distinction between the expressive and receptive-expressive SLI subtypes. The main objective of this study was to examine neuropsychological, linguistic, and narrative behaviours in children with different SLI subtypes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive battery of language and neuropsychological tests was administered to a total of 58 children (29 with SLI and 29 normal controls) between 5.60 and 11.20 years old.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both SLI subtypes performed more poorly than the control group in language skills, narrative, and executive function. Furthermore, the expressive SLI group demonstrated substantial ungrammaticality, as well as problems with verbal fluency and both verbal and spatial working memory, while the receptive-expressive SLI subtype displayed poorer neuropsychological performance in general.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings showed that children with either SLI subtype displayed executive dysfunctions that were not limited to verbal tasks but rather extended to nonverbal measures. This could reflect a global cognitive difficulty which, along with declining linguistic and narrative skills, illustrates the complex profile of this impairment.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, España. Electronic address: vacosta@ull.edu.es.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Acosta Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, España.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Ramírez Santana
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, España.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hernández Expósito
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance
keywords: Assessment; Evaluación; Executive functions; Funciones ejecutivas; Habilidades lingüísticas; Language skills; Narrativa; Narrative; Neuropsicología; Neuropsychology; Specific language impairment subtypes; Subtipos de trastorno específico del lenguaje