Syntactic development in adolescents
was examined using a spoken discourse task
and standardized testing. The primary goal was
to determine whether adolescents with a history
of language impairments would differ from those
with a history of typical language development
(TLD). This is a companion study to one that
examined these same adolescents 2 years earlier
(M. A. Nippold, T. C. Mansfield, J. L. Billow, & J. B.
Tomblin, 2008).
Method: The participants were 15-year-old
adolescents with a history of specific language
impairment (SLI; n = 102), nonspecific language
impairment (NLI; n = 77), or TLD (n = 247). A
sample of spoken discourse was elicited using
a Peer Conflict Resolution (PCR) task and
analyzed for mean length of T-unit, clausal
density, and subordinate clause use. In addition,
2 subtests from the Clinical Evaluation of
Language Fundamentals, Third Edition (E. Semel,
E. H. Wiig, & W. A. Secord, 1995), Concepts
and Directions and Recalling Sentences, were
administered.
Results: On the PCR task, the TLD group
outperformed the SLI and NLI groups on mean
length of T-unit, clausal density, and nominal
clause use, and the TLD group outperformed
the NLI group on relative clause use. On the
standardized testing, the TLD group outperformed
the SLI and NLI groups, and the SLI group
outperformed the NLI group. Correlation coefficients
calculated between the nonstandardized
and standardized measures of syntax were
statistically significant and positive.
Conclusions: Speech-language pathologists
may wish to employ the PCR task to examine
syntactic development in adolescents as a
supplement to standardized testing |