Sentence repetition and digit span: Potential markers of bilingual children with suspected SLI?

Abstract

Sentence repetition and short-term memory provide information on language comprehension and grammar abilities in language-impaired mono- and bilingual children and confirm their function as SLI markers.

Practitioner Review: Multilingualism and neurodevelopmental disorders – an overview of recent research and discussion of clinical implications

“…Comparable performance between multi‐ and monoSLI groups was also observed on psycholinguistic and cognitive functioning tasks such as nonword repetition and digit span (Thordardottir & Brandeker, ; Ziethe, Eysholdt, & Doellinger, ). Mixed findings were observed for sentence repetition (a task thought to reflect more morphosyntax and lexical phonology than semantics or prosody), with Thordardottir and Brandeker (), and Ziethe et al.…”

“…Mixed findings were observed for sentence repetition (a task thought to reflect more morphosyntax and lexical phonology than semantics or prosody), with Thordardottir and Brandeker (), and Ziethe et al. () finding no differences between multi and monoSLI groups and Westman et al. () reporting poorer performance of multiSLI when compared to monoSLI group.…”

Diagnostic accuracy of repetition tasks for the identification of specific language impairment (SLI) in bilingual children: evidence from Russian and Hebrew

“…), while Ziethe et al . () found no differences between monolingual German‐speaking children with and without SLI.…”

Executive Function in SLI: Recent Advances and Future Directions

“…Researchers have used span tasks that require children to hold information in mind while simultaneously performing a mental operation to measure working memory. For example, verbal working memory has been compared between children with and without SLI using a backward digit span task that requires children to repeat lists of digits in the reverse order of presentation [50–54]. Tasks that require children to with hold responding, such as the stop signal task [55] and a go/no-go task [56] have been employed to assess inhibition abilities among children with SLI.…”