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Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have been characterized as having ‘limited processing capacity.’ This talk will explore this construct in more depth relative to tasks designed to assess working memory, phonological storage, divided attention, and processing speed. Findings will be presented from a large cohort of school-age children and adolescents who were participants in an epidemiologic, longitudinal investigation of language impairment (Collaboration on Specific Language Impairment). This sample includes children with a wide range of profiles with respect to nonverbal cognition and language abilities. The role of processing limitations will be considered from both group and individual differences perspectives. To the extent that children with SLI exhibit late onset and protracted development of early language skills, we might expect to detect processing limitations in late talkers – at least in those late talkers who are at risk for subsequent language impairment. Data from a longitudinal investigation of late talkers will be used to examine the extent to which fast mapping processes, phonological memory, and listening span are predictive of language outcomes. This work was supported by a clinical research center (P50) grant and an individual investigator (R01) grant from the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders. |
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