The encoding of word forms into memory may be challenging for college students with developmental language impairment.
Karla McGregor, Tim Arbisi-Kelm, Nichole Eden
PMID 27068639WHAT IT FOUND
College students with developmental language impairment encoded fewer new word forms than peers.
The gap did not widen over a week. They also showed word competition, though possibly weaker for the impairment group.
Key findings
01College students with developmental language impairment recognised and produced fewer newly trained word forms than peers with normal language development immediately after training.
02The difference did not widen over one week, and a 24-hour interim test did not improve stem completion performance.
03Both groups showed lexical competition between newly trained words and familiar English words, with only a marginal trend toward weaker competition for the developmental language impairment group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The groups differed overall, but individual scores overlapped widely, and many participants with developmental language impairment performed as well as peers. The task used invented words, few sound neighbours, and only one picture per referent in the meaning-focused condition. The finding about weaker competition in the developmental language impairment group was a marginal trend and needs replication. The participants were college students who had compensated well enough to enter post-secondary study, so the results may not apply to more severely affected people. The study measured laboratory word-learning probes, not therapy outcomes for real words.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest and stated they alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. The supplied publication types list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that consolidation is impaired in college students with developmental language impairment. The gap between groups did not widen over one week, and the interim test schedule did not account for it.