Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the verbal and nonverbal cognitive profiles of children with specific language impairment (SLI) with problems predominantly in expressive (SLI-E) or receptive (SLI-R) language skills. These diagnostic subgroups have not been compared before in psychological studies. Method: Participants were…

This article describes the case of a deaf native signer of American Sign Language (ASL) with a specific language impairment (SLI). School records documented normal cognitive development but atypical language development. Data include school records; interviews with the child, his mother, and school professionals; ASL and English evaluations; and a…

Two experiments examined children's semantic representations and semantic naming errors. Results suggested that functional and physical properties are core aspects of object representations in the semantic lexicon and that the degree of semantic knowledge makes words more or less vulnerable to retrieval failure. Discussion focuses on the dynamic…

The hypothesis that children with specific language impairments (SLI) have a hierarchical planning deficit was evaluated with 15 boys (ages 5 to 7) with SLI and 15 controls, who built 4 hierarchical structures varying in complexity. Results did not support the idea that a central hierarchical planning mechanism underlies language and nonlanguage…

As children develop, they process information more rapidly. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether processing speed in the language domain develops at the same rate as global processing speed. A second aim was to determine the stability of processing speed throughout childhood and adolescence. Children (N = 116) were tested on 10…

Four conditions of a standard false belief task were administered to 10 children with specific language impairment (SLI), 10 children of the same age, and 9 younger children with comparable language skills. Results found that linguistic competence served as a limiting factor in false belief performance in children with SLI. (Contains references.)…

This article presents the oration that received the Poona Psychiatric Association Oration Award of the Indian Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health for its significant contributions to child and adolescent mental health. Malhotra focuses on the features of autism and the neuropsychological theories of this disorder. She concludes that,…