SPECIFIC LANGUAGE

IMPAIRMENT
INDEX

1. Introduction

2. Definition of Specific language impairment

2.1. Causes of SLI

3. Features of SLI

4 Difficulties that children with SLI have

5. SLI subtypes

6. Conclusion

7. Bibliography

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1) Introduction

This essay will deal with Specific language disorder and try to show an outline of this

phenomenon. This paper has been divided into three parts. The first part deals with an

explanation of what SLI is and its causes. In the second part, some features of this

language disorder will be explained; difficulties that children with SLI have will also be

mentioned. The third part deals with different subtypes of SLI.

2.) Definition of Specific language impairment:

What is specific language impairment?

Specific language impairment (SLI) refers to a set of difficulties that children face while

acquiring a language. This disorder is present in a group of children who show no

evidence of “neurological, sensory, intellectual, or emotional deficit”. (The Asha Leader,

2013, “SLI-What we know and what it matters,”para.2)

In other words, an individual with SLI is not able to acquire language at an appropriate

age despite having no hearing problems, neurological deficit, emotional or social

problems; her or his nonverbal intelligence should be adequate. (Asikainen, 2005,

p.11)

It is also necessary to point out that individuals with SLI are likely to have language

difficulties during their adult life as well. Language emergence delays are expected in

children with this disorder. Furthermore, SLI is also characterised by a slower

development of language skills from childhood to adulthood.

Individuals with SLI “can have difficulties with lexicon, morphosyntax and phonology

which affect comprehension and expression.” It is important to mention that

comprehension refers to the way that people understand a language. Furthermore, the

second term refers to the way people use a language.

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(Daines, 2004, p.1)

2.1.Causes of SLI:

What causes specific language impairment?

There is no known cause of SLI. Nevertheless, SLI is recently associated with genetic

factors. It is believed that children with SLI are more likely to have parents who have

language disorders as well. (National Institute of deafness and other communication

disorders, 2011, “Specific language impairment,”para.2) Furthermore, it is interesting to

notice that SLI is more frequent in boys than in girls. (I can, 2013, “About Specific

language impairment,”para.7)

3) Features of SLI:

Next, some of the SLI´s features will be explained:

 The process of acquiring lexicon is slow

 “Poor verb processing (Conti-Ramsden and Jones 1997)”

 Their grammar skills are poor

 “Poor performance on non-word repetition tasks (Bishop, North and Donlan

1996)”

 They have problems narrating events

 They are bad at negotiating with people

 Comprehension and production problems

(Law, 2013, “Communication disabilities: Developmental Language

Impairment,”para.14)

Individuals with SLI have a limited “verb lexicon”. Children with SLI tend to use “more

nonspecific verbs (e.g.do, go) instead of more specific verbs (e.g. cook, run)” in order

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 to express their ideas. Moreover, these children have trouble with “compound

formation”. (Juhasz & Grela, 2008, p.76-78)

Some common mistakes that children with SLI make are the following:

-They could use an incorrect word order.

-They could use a wrong verb tense. E.g. “She cuted bread” instead of “She cut bread”.

-Children could also have difficulties using the past simple. That is to say, they could

say: “You paint yesterday” instead of “you painted yesterday”.

-They could ask question without using the auxiliary verb. E.g. “You want to draw”

instead of “Do you want to draw?”.

-They may forget to add the “s” of the third person of present simple. E.g. “She play the

piano” instead of “She plays the piano”.

(Weiss, 2009, “Children and Speech or Language Impairments,”para.12)

3.1) Difficulties that children with SLI have:

Some of the difficulties that children with SLI experience are the following:

 They have difficulty in expressing their ideas.

 They are able to form sentences but they are not easy to understand.

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 Their speech can be unclear. Hence, people can have difficulties to follow it.

 They are unable to follow long conversations.

 Sometimes they do not remember a particular word that they want to say.

 They have difficulties interacting with other people.

 They can find it hard to read and write.

(I can, 2013, “Children with SLI can have a range of difficulties

,”para.1)

4) SLI subtypes:

Alen and Rapin proposed a SLI classification which is described below.

1) Phonologic –programming deficit:

This subtype is characterised by a good comprehension and a fluent language with

long sentences. Nevertheless, people have difficulties in understanding children’s

speech. In addition, sentence structure is usually good but sometimes grammatical

morphemes are excluded from the speech. Lately, speech onset is believed to be

“either normal or delayed”.

2) Verbal dyspraxia

The understanding of the language is good but children have problems producing

speech. This subtype is marked by a delayed speech onset. What is more, children’s

speech is poor. Moreover, some individuals develop nonverbal communication skills

and take advantage of “learning signs and reading”.

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3) Phonologic syntactic deficit:

This subtype is characterised by short and incorrect grammatical

sentences. Grammatical morphemes and structure-class words are omitted. Moreover,

children with SLI have difficulties in producing speech sounds. Children have trouble

finding the word they want to say. What is more, individuals may have problems

understanding complex sentences and abstract concepts. “The speech onset is very

delayed.”

4) Verbal auditory agnosia:

Children’s ability to understand the spoken language is very poor. In addition,

individuals’ speech is very limited and their ability to produce speech sounds is poor.

5) Lexical-syntactic deficit:

Children have their own ideas but they have trouble putting them in words. What is

more, they cannot find a word when they want to express some ideas. Articulation is

normal. They have problems understanding complex utterances. “Syntax is immature”.

6) Semantic-pragmatic deficit:

Children’s speech is fluent and the articulation is good. Nevertheless, children produce

language without really understanding what they are saying. Furthermore, the way of

speaking is unusual. The child is unable to maintain a conversation with other people

due to his inability to keep the conversation going and to take appropriate

conversational turns.

(Vasconcelos Hagel et all., 2006, p.174)

Conclusion:

In conclusion, SLI is a language disorder that is characterised by language and speech

difficulties. Furthermore, all language areas (e.g. lexicon, morphosyntax and

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phonology) are affected in individuals with Specific Language Impairment. It is also

important to state that comprehension and expression are also affected. Individuals

with SLI make many grammatical mistakes. Furthermore, children with this disorder are

difficult to understand. Hence, they have difficulties communicating with others.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Asikainen, M. (2005). Diagnosing Specific Language Impairment: Academic

Dissertation. Finland: Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 1113

Daines, B. (2004).Specific Language Impairement.Londond:Afasic

Ervin, M. (2001, June 26). SLI - What We Know and Why It Matters. Retrieved

November, 21, 2013 from:

http://www.asha.org/Publications/leader/2001/010626/sli.htm

I can (2013).About Specific language impairment. Retrieved November 21, 2013 from:

http://www.ican.org.uk/What_is_the_issue/About%20SLI.aspx

I can (2013). Children with SLI can have a range of difficulties. Retrieved November 21,

2013 from:

http://www.ican.org.uk/What_is_the_issue/About%20SLI/Range%20of%20difficulties.a

spx

Juhasz, C.R. & Grela, B. (2008). Contemporary issues in communication science and

disorder, Storss: University of Connecticut

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Law, J. (2001). Communication Disabilities: Developmental Language Impairment.

Retrieved November 20, 2013 from http://www.ucd.ie/artspgs/langacqdis/LAWDLI.doc

National Institute of deafness and other communication disorders. (2011, March).

Specific language impairment. Retrieved November, 21, 2013 from

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/pages/specific-language-impairment.aspx#top

Vasconcelos Hage1,S.R. Cendes, F., Montenegro, M.A., Abramides, D.V., Guimarães,

C. A., Guerreiro, M.M. (2006). Arq Neuropsiquiatr. Brazil: University of São Paul

Weiss T.C. (2009). Children and Speech or Language Impairments. Retrieved

November 20,2013 from :http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/children/children-

sli.php

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