The Relationship Between Social Behavior and Severity of Language Impairment

Abstract

The Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (C. H. Hart and C. C. Robinson, 1996) was used to compare the withdrawn and sociable behaviors of 41 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 41 typically developing peers. Three subtypes of withdrawal (reticence, solitary-active, solitary-passive) and 2 subtypes of sociable behavior (prosocial, impulse control/likeability) were examined. Teachers rated children with SLI as exhibiting higher levels of reticence and solitary-passive withdrawal than typical children. Teachers also rated the children with SLI as demonstrating lower levels of both types of sociable behavior than typical children. The group with SLI was then separated into subgroups of children having more severe and less severe language impairment. These groupings did not differ on comparisons involving withdrawn behavior, except that girls with more severe receptive problems demonstrated higher levels of solitary-passive withdrawal than did girls with less severe language problems. Children with less severe receptive language impairment demonstrated higher levels of proficiency on both types of sociable behavior than their peers with more severe impairment. Children with more severe expressive problems also demonstrated poorer prosocial behavior--but not poorer impulse control/likeability--than children with less severe expressive problems.

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

“…A number of studies have shown indeed that language-impaired children not only demonstrate behavioral problems, but also show lower levels of social competence (Lindsay et al 2002;Macharey and von Suchodoletz 2008;Schoon et al 2010), particularly in aspects related to pro-social initiatives and likeability (Hart et al 2004).…”

“…Hart et al (2004) have tested this hypothesis by comparing the social and behavioral profile of children with SLI having moderate and severe language impairment on a standardized language assessment (CELF-R, Semel et al 1987). The findings indicated that the severity of SLI appeared to be related to two types of sociable skills, but not to most withdrawn behaviors, impulse control and likeability (Hart et al 2004). This has led to the conclusion that the relation between sociable behaviors and language skills in SLI stands only for initiatives that are largely carried out by using language.…”

Selektiver Mutismus bei mehrsprachigen Kindern

“…So hängen auch die sprachlichen Fähigkeiten mit den sozialen Fähigkeiten im Kindesalter zusammen (Bat-Chava, Martin & Imperatore, 2014;Hart, Fujiki, Brinton & Hart, 2004). Kinder mit umschriebenen Sprachentwicklungsstörungen zeigen entsprechend häufiger Auffälligkeiten in ihrem sozial-emotionalen Verhalten, haben größere Probleme sich in Gruppenkontexten zu integrieren und werden häufiger von ihren Peers zurückgewiesen (Hart et al, 2004;McCabe, 2005). Personen, denen Sprache nicht zur Verfügung steht oder bei denen sie massiv beeinträchtigt ist, haben somit ein erhöhtes Risiko von der Gesellschaft ausgeschlossen zu sein.…”

Specific language impairment in the long-term perspective – the importance of assessment procedures, reading skills, and communicative competence

“…Research papers frequently mention that SLI children and adults face difficulties in understanding the context of communication, expressions of personal thoughts, wishes, needs, and emotions. Research shows that children with SLI have a lower degree of social competence (Lindsay & Dockrell, 2000;Puglisi et al, 2016), especially at the level of prosocial behavior and social cognition (Bakopoulou & Dockrell, 2016;Hart, Fujiki, Brinton, & Hart, 2004). St Clair, Pickles, Durkin, and Conti-Ramsden (2011) reported serious difficulties in peer relationships among as many as 40% of 16-yearold adolescents with a history of SLI.…”