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ERIC Number: EJ950845
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Feb
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9630
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Towards a Typology of Specific Language Impairment
Van Weerdenburg, Marjolijn; Verhoeven, Ludo; Van Balkom, Hans
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, v47 n2 p176-189 Feb 2006
Background: The population of children with specific language impairments (SLI) is heterogeneous. The present study was conducted to examine this heterogeneity more closely, by identifying and describing subgroups within the population of children with SLI in the Netherlands. Method: A broad battery of language tests and language-related cognitive tests were administered to 147 six-year-old and 136 eight-year-old children with SLI. Results: Factor analyses revealed 4 factors indicating 4 distinctive linguistic domains for both age samples: 1) lexical-semantic abilities, 2) auditory conceptualization, 3) verbal sequential memory and 4) speech production. These empirical findings were further validated by the positive correlations found between the language factors and the judgments of teachers and speech therapists. Finally, a cluster analysis revealed 4 distinct clusters of SLI children for each sample with specific language profiles based on the 4 factors. Results were nearly the same for both age samples. Conclusions: The language problems that emerged from the two samples of children with SLI could be described as falling into four types. Based on these language types, four subgroups of children with SLI could be distinguished, each with a specific profile. Some subgroups had severe problems on one specific type of language problem; others had severe problems in more than one type of language problem when compared to the other subgroups of the same age sample. The different profiles may indicate that a more dynamic approach is needed in intervention, considering the presence of both compensating and restricting factors within each child with SLI.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A