Social and behavioural difficulties in children with language impairment

Abstract

This paper examines the secondary social and behavioural difficulties of a large cohort of children attending language units in England. In stage 1 of the study, 242 children with language impairments were assessed on a measure of peer competence, a behavioural measure, a cognitive measure and also using teacher opinion of emotional/behavioural status in school year 2 (age 6-7). A year later, 214 of the children were followed up at age 7-8 years. The group is examined as a whole and in terms of subgroups according to type of language impairment. While the group pattern for behavioural difficulties showed that children in language units do not generally have clinical-level behavioural problems, the scores were significantly different by subgroup, with children exhibiting mainly expressive difficulties showing the least secondary behavioural problems and children with mixed expressive and receptive problems showing the greatest increase in behavioural scores from stage 1 to stage 2. Children with complex receptive and complex language impairments were the most likely to score over the clinical threshold when examined by frequency and these children were also rated as having more marked social difficulties with peers than the other subgroups. Agreement between questionnaire score and teacher opinion was high. Patterns of social and behavioural impairment showed no associations with gender or cognitive ability. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to other studies on social or behavioural impairment in this population.

Behavior problems and social competence in Brazilian children with specific language impairment

“…This is absolutely in line with previous work in the field showing that sociable behavior highly depends on language competence and is usually strongly impaired in children with SLI (Botting and Conti-Ramsden 2000;ContiRamsden and Botting 2004;St Clair et al 2011).…”

“…The findings revealed that behavioral and emotional problems increased during childhood and school years (Botting and Conti-Ramsden 2000;Conti-Ramsden and Botting 2004), but decreased up to adulthood -even though emotional problems still remained above population norms (St Clair et al 2011). Social problems, however, constantly increased during the same period of time (Botting and Conti-Ramsden 2000;Conti-Ramsden and Botting 2004;St Clair et al 2011), being strongly and chronically associated to SLI. In another series of studies, Mok et al (2014) analysed the longitudinal trajectories of peer relations in children with specific language impairment.…”

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD): An RDoC perspective

“…Language gives children access to a richer base of self-regulatory strategies, through which they are better able to modify negative emotions, including anger and frustration. Previous work has shown that both expressive and receptive language abilities are related to the development of emotion regulation skills (e.g., Botting & Conti-Ramsden, 2000; Silva, Justin, McGee, & Williams, 1984). Baker and Cantwell (1987) proposed an explanation for this relationship, asserting that delays in language acquisition may underlie a child's emotional dysregulation as the child is increasingly pressured to conform to environmental demands that they are unable to fully understand, resulting in frustration and non-compliance.…”

A cross-etiology comparison of the socio-emotional behavioral profiles associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and specific language impairment

“…Some studies provide evidence that nonverbal IQ represents an important independent predictor of children’s behavioral symptoms (Benasich et al, 1993; Elbro et al, 2011; Gualtieri et al, 1983; Law et al, 2009; Silva, Justin, McGee, & Williams, 1984). Other investigations reported that nonverbal IQ was not a significant contributor (Botting & Conti-Ramsden, 2000; St. Clair et al, 2011; Tirosh & Cohen, 1998; Wadman, Botting, Durkin, & Conti-Ramsden, 2011). Other factors besides nonverbal IQ introduce confounds.…”