Variability of Executive Function Performance in Preschoolers with Developmental Language Disorder

Abstract

Although results vary across individual studies, a large body of evidence suggests that children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have domain-general deficits in executive function compared with peers with typically developing language. Poorer performance for children with DLD has been reported on verbal and nonverbal measures of sustained selective attention, working memory, inhibition, and shifting. However, examination of the variability of task scores among both children with and without DLD reveals a wide range of executive function performance for both groups. Additionally, using executive function scores to classify children into DLD versus typical groups results in classification accuracy that is not clinically useful. This evidence indicates that group-level differences in executive function abilities between children with and without DLD cannot be applied at the individual level. Many children with DLD appear to have intact executive function abilities, which undermines the possibility that poor executive functioning causes language deficits in this population. However, a substantial number of children with DLD also have executive function deficits, and, therefore, therapy approaches with this population should consider both their language and executive function abilities.

Keywords

developmental language disorder - specific language impairment - executive function - attention

Disclosures

Financial: Data included in this manuscript were collected as part of research supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (F32DC014188) awarded to L.L.K.

Nonfinancial: No relevant nonfinancial relationships exist for either author.

• References

• 1 Stark RE, Tallal P. Selection of children with specific language deficits. J Speech Hear Disord 1981; 46 (02) 114-122
• 2 Tager-Flusberg H, Cooper J. Present and future possibilities for defining a phenotype for specific language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res 1999; 42 (05) 1275-1278
• 3 Krassowski E, Plante E. IQ variability in children with SLI: implications for use of cognitive referencing in determining SLI. J Commun Disord 1997; 30 (01) 1-8 , quiz 9
• 4 Gallinat E, Spaulding TJ. Differences in the performance of children with specific language impairment and their typically developing peers on nonverbal cognitive tests: a meta-analysis. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2014; 57 (04) 1363-1382
• 5 Miller CA, Kail R, Leonard LB, Tomblin JB. Speed of processing in children with specific language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2001; 44 (02) 416-433
• 6 Lum JAG, Conti-Ramsden G, Morgan AT, Ullman MT. Procedural learning deficits in specific language impairment (SLI): a meta-analysis of serial reaction time task performance. Cortex 2014; 51: 1-10
• 7 Montgomery JW. Role of auditory attention in the real-time processing of simple grammar by children with specific language impairment: a preliminary investigation. Int J Lang Commun Disord 2008; 43 (05) 499-527
• 8 Montgomery JW, Evans JL, Gillam RB. Relation of auditory attention and complex sentence comprehension in children with specific language impairment: a preliminary study. Appl Psycholinguist 2009; 30 (01) 123-151
• 9 Petruccelli N, Bavin EL, Bretherton L. Children with specific language impairment and resolved late talkers: working memory profiles at 5 years. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2012; 55 (06) 1690-1703
• 10 Diamond A. Executive functions. Annu Rev Psychol 2013; 64: 135-168
• 11 Miyake A, Friedman NP, Emerson MJ, Witzki AH, Howerter A, Wager TD. The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “Frontal Lobe” tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cognit Psychol 2000; 41 (01) 49-100
• 12 Kaushanskaya M, Park JS, Gangopadhyay I, Davidson MM, Weismer SE. The relationship between executive functions and language abilities in children: a latent variables approach. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2017; 60 (04) 912-923
• 13 McClelland MM, Cameron CE, Connor CM, Farris CL, Jewkes AM, Morrison FJ. Links between behavioral regulation and preschoolers' literacy, vocabulary, and math skills. Dev Psychol 2007; 43 (04) 947-959
• 14 Kapa LL, Plante E, Doubleday K. Applying an integrative framework of executive function to preschoolers with specific language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2017; 60 (08) 2170-2184
• 15 Ellis Weismer S, Davidson MM, Gangopadhyay I, Sindberg H, Roebuck H, Kaushanskaya M. The role of nonverbal working memory in morphosyntactic processing by children with specific language impairment and autism spectrum disorders. J Neurodev Disord 2017; 9: 28
• 16 Vugs B, Knoors H, Cuperus J, Hendriks M, Verhoeven L. Interactions between working memory and language in young children with specific language impairment (SLI). Child Neuropsychol 2016; 22 (08) 955-978
• 17 Garon N, Bryson SE, Smith IM. Executive function in preschoolers: a review using an integrative framework. Psychol Bull 2008; 134 (01) 31-60
• 18 Duinmeijer I, de Jong J, Scheper A. Narrative abilities, memory and attention in children with a specific language impairment. Int J Lang Commun Disord 2012; 47 (05) 542-555
• 19 Spaulding TJ, Plante E, Vance R. Sustained selective attention skills of preschool children with specific language impairment: evidence for separate attentional capacities. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2008; 51 (01) 16-34
• 20 Dispaldro M, Leonard LB, Corradi N, Ruffino M, Bronte T, Facoetti A. Visual attentional engagement deficits in children with specific language impairment and their role in real-time language processing. Cortex 2013; 49 (08) 2126-2139
• 21 Finneran DA, Francis AL, Leonard LB. Sustained attention in children with specific language impairment (SLI). J Speech Lang Hear Res 2009; 52 (04) 915-929
• 22 Marton K, Campanelli L, Scheuer J, Yoon J, Eichorn N. Executive function profiles in children with and without specific language impairment. Riv Psicolinguist Appl 2012; 12 (03) 57-73
• 23 Ebert KD, Kohnert K. Sustained attention in children with primary language impairment: a meta-analysis. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2011; 54 (05) 1372-1384
• 24 Alt M. Visual fast mapping in school-aged children with Specific Language Impairment. Top Lang Disord 2013; 33 (04) 328-346
• 25 Archibald LMD, Gathercole SE. Short-term and working memory in specific language impairment. Int J Lang Commun Disord 2006; 41 (06) 675-693
• 26 Henry LA, Messer DJ, Nash G. Executive functioning in children with specific language impairment. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2012; 53 (01) 37-45
• 27 Hoffman LM, Gillam RB. Verbal and spatial information processing constraints in children with specific language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2004; 47 (01) 114-125
• 28 Hutchinson E, Bavin E, Efron D, Sciberras E. A comparison of working memory profiles in school-aged children with specific language impairment, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, comorbid SLI and ADHD and their typically developing peers. Child Neuropsychol 2012; 18 (02) 190-207
• 29 Im-Bolter N, Johnson J, Pascual-Leone J. Processing limitations in children with specific language impairment: the role of executive function. Child Dev 2006; 77 (06) 1822-1841
• 30 Lukács Á, Ladányi E, Fazekas K, Kemény F. Executive functions and the contribution of short-term memory span in children with specific language impairment. Neuropsychology 2016; 30 (03) 296-303
• 31 Lum JAG, Conti-Ramsden G, Page D, Ullman MT. Working, declarative and procedural memory in specific language impairment. Cortex 2012; 48 (09) 1138-1154
• 32 Vugs B, Hendriks M, Cuperus J, Verhoeven L. Working memory performance and executive function behaviors in young children with SLI. Res Dev Disabil 2014; 35 (01) 62-74
• 33 Yang HC, Gray S. Executive function in preschoolers with primary language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2017; 60 (02) 379-392
• 34 Briscoe J, Rankin PM. Exploration of a ‘double-jeopardy’ hypothesis within working memory profiles for children with specific language impairment. Int J Lang Commun Disord 2009; 44 (02) 236-250
• 35 Diamond A, Kirkham N, Amso D. Conditions under which young children can hold two rules in mind and inhibit a prepotent response. Dev Psychol 2002; 38 (03) 352-362
• 36 Roello M, Ferretti ML, Colonnello V, Levi G. When words lead to solutions: executive function deficits in preschool children with specific language impairment. Res Dev Disabil 2015; 37: 216-222
• 37 Spaulding TJ. Investigating mechanisms of suppression in preschool children with specific language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2010; 53 (03) 725-738
• 38 Laloi A, de Jong J, Baker A. Can executive functioning contribute to the diagnosis of SLI in bilingual children?. Linguist Approaches Biling 2017; 7 (03) 431-459
• 39 Epstein B, Shafer VL, Melara RD, Schwartz RG. Can children with SLI detect cognitive conflict? Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2014; 57 (04) 1453-1467
• 40 Pauls LJ, Archibald LMD. Executive functions in children with specific language impairment: a meta-analysis. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2016; 59 (05) 1074-1086
• 41 Arbel Y, Donchin E. Error and performance feedback processing by children with specific language impairment--an ERP study. Biol Psychol 2014; 99: 83-91
• 42 Zelazo PD. The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS): a method of assessing executive function in children. Nat Protoc 2006; 1 (01) 297-301
• 43 Farrant BM, Maybery MT, Fletcher J. Language, cognitive flexibility, and explicit false belief understanding: longitudinal analysis in typical development and specific language impairment. Child Dev 2012; 83 (01) 223-235
• 44 Kaczmarek I, Jabłoński S, Kleka P, Steinborn B. Efficiency of executive functions and literacy among children with specific language impairment. Psychol Lang Commun 2018; 22 (01) 307-327
• 45 Reichenbach K, Bastian L, Rohrbach S, Gross M, Sarrar L. Cognitive functions in preschool children with specific language impairment. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2016; 86: 22-26
• 46 Aljahlan Y, Spaulding TJ. The impact of manipulating attentional shifting demands on preschool children with specific language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2019; 62 (02) 324-336
• 47 McCauley RJ, Swisher L. Psychometric review of language and articulation tests for preschool children. J Speech Hear Disord 1984; 49 (01) 34-42
• 48 Ebert KD, Kohnert K. Non-linguistic cognitive treatment for primary language impairment. Clin Linguist Phon 2009; 23 (09) 647-664
• 49 Ebert KD, Kohnert K, Pham G, Disher JR, Payesteh B. Three treatments for bilingual children with primary language impairment: examining cross-linguistic and cross-domain effects. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2014; 57 (01) 172-186
• 50 Plante E, Ogilvie T, Vance R. , et al. Variability in the language input to children enhances learning in a treatment context. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 2014; 23 (04) 530-545
• 51 Vugs B, Knoors H, Cuperus J, Hendriks M, Verhoeven L. Executive function training in children with SLI: a pilot study. Child Lang Teach Ther 2017; 33 (01) 47-66