Language, Achievement, and Cognitive Processing in Psychiatrically Disturbed Children with Previously Identified and Unsuspected Language Impairments

Abstract

This study examined the language, achievement, and cognitive characteristics of 380 children, aged 7 to 14 years, consecutively referred to child psychiatric services. Among those children referred solely for psychiatric problems, 40% had a language impairment that had never been suspected. Children with previously identified and unsuspected language impairments were similar with respect to receptive and expressive language and on measures of cognitive processing. Although both groups of children with language impairments exhibited poorer academic achievement than children with normal language, children with previously identified language impairments had the lowest achievement. The milder achievement problems of children with unsuspected language impairment may explain why their problems had not been suspected. Both the clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. Heightened awareness concerning the high frequency of language impairment and other cognitive processing problems in children referred for psychiatric assessment and treatment should lead to more systematic examination of language functioning and evaluation of the impact of language and communication functioning on therapeutic outcomes.

Autism Spectrum Traits in Children with Mood and Anxiety Disorders

“…That is, such "comorbidities" may simply represent the "tail end" of traits that are normally distributed throughout the population but are not caused by the same factors that produce ASD. If children with common psychopathologies are indeed at the "tail end" of the normal distribution of social and language ability, an important area for future research is whether being impaired in these domains increases the risk for ADHD, mood/anxiety disorder, and so forth (Yule and Rutter 1987;Cohen et al 1993;Cohen et al 1998a, Cohen et al 1998b, or, conversely, whether these deficits are, to some degree, a result of the children's other psychopathology (Yule and Rutter 1987).…”

What's the story? An exploration of narrative language abilities in male juvenile offenders

“…Thus reliance on script knowledge may allow many young people with significant levels of language processing and production difficulties to ''get by'' in challenging interactions such as a forensic interview. In this context, it is interesting to consider recent findings from the work of Cohen and co-workers (Cohen et al, 1993(Cohen et al, , 1998 which demonstrate that some 34 Á/40% of children referred for psychiatric assessment have an unsuspected language impairment that is not detected until a formal assessment is carried out. Cohen et al (1993) have also reported that children with unsuspected language impairments showed significantly higher levels of externalising behaviour disturbance (e.g.…”

Language, Social Cognitive Processing, and Behavioral Characteristics of Psychiatrically Disturbed Children with Previously Identified and Unsuspected Language Impairments

“…Language impairments do not exist in a vacuum but are associated with deficits in cognition and academic achievement. In a companion paper we have demonstrated that children with language impairments that had been previously identified at school (previously identified language impairments, PILI) and children with unsuspected language impairments (USLI) exhibited deficits in relation to children with normally developing language (NDL) on measures of language and achievement (Cohen, Barwick, Horodezky, Vallance, & Im, 1998). Deficits were also found to be similar in both groups of children with language impairments on measures of cognition such as short-term and working memory and executive function skills.…”