Open AccessLanguage and Inhibition: Predictive Relationships in Children With Language Impairment Relative to Typically Developing Peers
Author(s) -
Caroline Larson,
David Kaplan,
Margarita Kaushanskaya,
Susan Ellis Weismer
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of speech, language, and hearing research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1558-9102
pISSN - 1092-4388
DOI - 10.1044/2019_jslhr-19-00210
Subject(s) - specific language impairment , comprehension , psychology , developmental psychology , vocabulary , receptive language , language development , cognitive psychology , linguistics , philosophy
Background This study examined predictive relationships between two indices of language-receptive vocabulary and morphological comprehension-and inhibition in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing (TD) children. Methods Participants included 30 children with SLI and 41 TD age-matched peers (8-12 years). At two time points separated by 1 year, we assessed receptive vocabulary and morphological comprehension via standardized language measures and inhibition via a Flanker task. We used Bayesian model averaging and Bayesian regression analytical techniques. Results Findings indicated predictive relationships between language indices and inhibition reaction time (RT), but not between language indices and inhibition accuracy. For the SLI group, Year 1 inhibition RT predicted Year 2 morphological comprehension. For the TD group, Year 1 morphological comprehension predicted Year 2 inhibition RT. Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence of a predictive relationship between language and inhibition, but this relationship differed between children with SLI and those with typical development. Findings suggest that inhibition RT played a larger predictive role in later morphological comprehension in children with SLI relative to the other relationships examined. Targeting inhibition skills as a part of language intervention may improve subsequent morphological comprehension. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12014823.