Executive Functioning in Children with Specific Language Impairment
Lead Research Organisation:
London South Bank University
Department Name: Fac of Arts and Human Sciences
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
David Messer
(2010)
Executive functioning in young people with specific language impairment
David Messer (Author)
(2010)
The relations between executive functioning and language in young people with SLI and in typical comparison groups
David Messer (Author)
(2012)
Executive functioning and decoding in young people with and without language impairments.
Henry L
(2012)
Phonological and Visuospatial Short-Term Memory in Children With Specific Language Impairment
in Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology
Henry L
(2015)
Executive functioning and verbal fluency in children with language difficulties
in Learning and Instruction
Henry LA
(2012)
Executive functioning in children with specific language impairment.
in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines
Henry LA
(2010)
The Assessment of Executive Functioning in Children.
in Child and adolescent mental health
Lucy Henry (author)
(2010)
Investigating SLI : executive thinking and reasoning skills in children with specific language impairment
in Special
Lucy Henry (Author)
(2010)
Verbal and non-verbal executive skills in children with specific language impairment
| Description | Public understanding of language disorders is limited, despite these disorders being common (up to 7% of children) and having marked negative consequences for academic achievement and mental health. Children with "specific language impairment" (SLI) have difficulties with most or all aspects of language (e.g. grammar, vocabulary, literacy), so it is a much more serious disorder than dyslexia. Nevertheless, those with SLI do not have low IQs on non-language measures. Nor do they have an identifiable reason for their language difficulties such as poor hearing. Academic research has produced two contrasting theories to account for SLI: (1) there is a specific deficit in one or more of the processes that deal with language; and (2) there are wider difficulties with particular forms of thinking and reasoning, which produce language problems, whilst leaving other abilities unscathed. The current project tested these alternatives. We assessed five higher-level thinking and reasoning skills ("executive functions"), but were careful to include a matched task in each case: one task in each pair required language; and the other did not. Our samples included 40 children/young people with SLI; as well as 80 typically-developing children with no language difficulties. The results clearly favoured the second theory. Children/young people with SLI had marked difficulties with four of the five "executive" skills, regardless of whether the tasks required language or not. These impairments in higher order thinking and reasoning have direct consequences for remediation, suggesting that interventions should target both language and non-language based thinking and reasoning for optimal results. Objective 1: Were there were impairments in executive functioning (EF) in children/young people with SLI? There were many executive difficulties in our sample of children/young people with SLI. These individuals found it difficult to remember information whilst doing another task (working memory) and generate examples/ideas around a theme (fluency). Planning new solutions for novel tasks was also impaired; as was inhibiting unhelpful responses. All of these impairments were in relation to the chronological age-matched comparison group; there were no significant differences in EF performance when comparisons were made with children of similar language age. There was one area of EF in which those with SLI were unimpaired: they were perfectly able to switch attention between tasks; or change strategy when required. Therefore, children/young people with SLI demonstrated chronological age-relative executive difficulties in the following areas: working memory; fluency; planning; and inhibition. Objective 2: Were these impairments in EF in relation to both verbal and non-verbal assessments, or were they specific to verbal assessments, reflecting language weaknesses? There were no major differences in the results depending on whether the executive tasks were verbal or non-verbal. For working memory, fluency, inhibition and planning, deficits in performance relative to the CA comparison group were found for children/young people with SLI, regardless of whether the tasks were verbal or non-verbal. These results supported the proposal, that young people with SLI have extensive difficulties with both verbal and non-verbal executive tasks compared to peers of the same age. In other words, broad deficits in "executive" higher order thinking and reasoning, rather than a specific deficit in language-related executive skills. Objective 3: Were different aspects of executive functioning linked to different facets of language skill, namely vocabulary and grammar? In the SLI group, performance on many verbal and non-verbal EF tasks was significantly related to assessments involving vocabulary and grammar. The findings concerning non-verbal EF tasks were particularly interesting as these were unlikely to be directly influenced by language abilities. The performance of the SLI group on most non-verbal EF tasks was significantly related to vocabulary, and the performance on non-verbal fluency and inhibition tasks both were significantly correlated with grammatical abilities. This raises the possibility of impairments to basic information processing capacities, which influence both executive functioning and language. There were also indications that the SLI group had an undifferentiated set of EF and language abilities compared to the CA group, whose language and non-verbal EF skills were less closely associated. |
| Exploitation Route | Academics could carry out research on implementing newly developed training packages, aimed at improving executive skills in children/young people with language impairments. Training could focus on two or three aspects of executive functioning (working memory, fluency and possibly inhibition) delivered in short, easy to administer twice-weekly sessions; and the resultant impact on executive skills/language/scholastic achievement could be assessed. Practitioners (teachers, Speech and Language Therapists, Educational Psychologists, language charities) could focus on identifying individuals with language difficulties who have additional problems with executive functioning. Further, tackling such difficulties with higher order thinking via interventions or compensatory strategies may help children and young people with language impairments get the most out of their educational provision and achieve their full potential. |
| Sectors | Education,Healthcare |
| Description | Approaches to executive functioning in children with specific language impairment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation - Training workshop on the development of executive functions Stimulated further discussion and further workshops on similar issues around executive functioning that team members attended. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008 |
| Description | Article on executive skills in children with language difficulties for an Education magazine |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This magazine, PIR Education, goes to all schools in the UK and led to several emails with requests for further information. Requests for further information and raising awareness of executive thinking difficulties in children with language impairments. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Children's language and literacy difficulties : a cognitive perspective |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invited research seminar at the Department of Psychology, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. The audience included academic psychologists and speech and language therapists. Generated a lively discussion amongst academics and students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Conference paper on verbal fluency in children with specific language impairment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk was part of a symposium that generated discussion around executive skills and memory in children with developmental disorders. Useful feedback regarding publication of this work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Conference presentation on verbal fluency and executive skills in children with specific language impairment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Questions and discussion followed this and other papers in a symposium on executive skills in children with specific language impairment. Feedback from attendees asking for further information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Developmental Disorders - Research into Practice |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | paper presentation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A one-day event for practitioners working in the areas of speech and language difficulties, autism spectrum disorders and/or developmental coordination disorder. The day included a mixture of lectures and workshops on these three areas, with the aim of disseminating research findings and discussing how to use the research findings in practical settings. The day was well-received and delegates expressed an interest in further events and information. Two specific papers at the conference concerned our research on children with language impairments and these generated discussion and suggestions for potential remediation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Executive functioning and working memory in children with SLI and other developmental disorders. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Health professionals |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture to Speech and Language Therapists in Aalborg, Denmark that generated a range of questions. I also gave a lecture to the PhD students at Aalborg on similar issues, and this discussion led subsequently to one of those PhD students visiting and working with me during May-July 2014. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Executive functioning in children with specific language impairment : preliminary findings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | An invited research presentation providing an overview of the preliminary findings of the research project on executive functioning in children with language impairments, held at Goethe University, Frankfurt. Ideas were generated for analyzing and presenting the data in future publications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| Description | Executive functioning in children with specific language impairment: Putting research into practice. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar presented to Speech and Language Therapists (as part of their CPD), sponsored by the Children's Communication Charity I CAN One member of the audience (Mary Hartshorne, ICAN) used the research findings to feed into a new school-based intervention she was jointly developing. This intervention was designed to increase school attendance in young people with complex needs, including language difficulties, and was rolled out to 20 secondary schools nationally in 2012-13. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Executive skills and children with SLCN |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Article for a major UK Language Charity newsletter (Afasic) aimed at parents and relevant professionals. Several emails from parents of children with language difficulties asking for advice and further information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Invited paper at the specific language impairment special interest group, Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The talk generated questions about executive functioning skills in children with specific language impairment, and stimulated discussion about what to do about intervention strategies. Requests for further information and invites to future events for attendees. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Language difficulties in children and young people : what social care practitioners need to know |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a practice development seminar given to social care practitioners on language difficulties in children and young people. It was an interactive workshop in which we discussed specific language impairment as a disorder, the impact of language difficulties on health and well-being, types of working memory and executive functioning assessments, and the importance of working memory and executive functioning skills in educational settings and in real life decision-making. There were several follow-up requests for information and we stayed in contact with these practitioners to invite them to future events. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Magazine article on specific language impairment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Article on 'Special', a magazine that goes to all special educational needs coordinators in UK schools. Raising awareness of language difficulties, and the sorts of executive thinking skills that can present problems for these children. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | SLI Research - Strategies for teachers to support in the classroom. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited workshop presented at the Welsh branch of Afasic: 'Communication counts: Speech, language and communication information day and exhibition' This was aimed at parents and professionals working with individuals who have language difficulties and it led to questions on the day as well as further contact with attendees. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Verbal and non-verbal fluency in children with specific language impairment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Paper presented at the Child Language Seminar led to questions and debate about executive skills in children with language impairments. The questions led to new ideas about how to analyse and interpret the data. This led to further papers at subsequent meetings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | What is executive functioning? Looking at children with language difficulties. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lecture at an ESRC Festival of Social Science event (on executive functioning and language), November 2012. I had several emails afterwards from interested Speech and Language Therapists who wanted further information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |