LEXICAL DEFICIT--YOUNG CHILD W/ SPECIFIC LANG IMPAIRMENT

在美国，有超过一百万的学龄前儿童。S.接受特殊语言障碍（SLI）的特殊教育服务。 这些儿童中有相当一部分表现出词汇习得困难。 这种缺陷在幼儿中尤其具有破坏性，因为词汇习得与以后的识字发展密切相关。 研究者们假设语音记忆（PM）缺陷或语义技能（SS）缺陷可能会导致这个问题，然而，迄今为止的研究还没有调查这两种类型的缺陷对词汇习得的联合影响。 为了评估PM技能、SS、词汇习得和SLI之间的关系，SLI儿童和年龄和性别匹配的语言正常儿童将参与一系列小组研究，旨在确定（1）PM任务或词汇SS任务的表现在多大程度上有助于准确识别SLI儿童并预测词汇学习成绩;（2）基于语音或基于语义的处理或两者的组合是否改善了旨在测量这些技能的任务的表现;（3）PM和SS任务的改善是否与改善的单词学习表现有关。治疗有效性研究将包括3至6岁的儿童，以确定PM技能，SS和单词学习之间的关系是否随年龄而变化。 这些研究将深入了解SLI儿童的潜在语言缺陷，有助于确定词汇学习不良的原因，并为有效治疗这种疾病提供重要的治疗疗效数据。

More than one million preschoolers in the U. S. receive special education services for specific language impairment (SLI). A significant number of these children demonstrate difficulty with lexical acquisition. This deficit is particularly devastating in young children because lexical acquisition is strongly associated with later literacy development. Researchers have hypothesized that phonological memory (PM) deficits or semantic skills (SS) deficits may cause this problem; however, research to date has not investigated the joint impact of both types of deficits on lexical acquisition. To evaluate the relationships among PM skills, SS, lexical acquisition, and SLI, young children with SLI and age- and gender-matched peers with normal language (NL) will participate in a series of group studies designed to determine (1) the extent to which performance on PM tasks or lexical SS tasks contributes to accurate identification of children with SLI and predicts word-learning performance; (2) whether phonologically-based or semantically-based treatment or a combination of both improves performance on tasks designed to measure those skills; and (3) whether improved performance on PM and SS tasks relates to improved word-learning performance. Treatment efficacy studies will include children ages 3 through 6 years to determine whether the relationships among PM skills, SS, and word learning vary as a function of age. These studies will provide insight into the underlying language deficits of children with SLI, will help determine the cause of poor lexical learning, and will provide treatment efficacy data important for effective treatment of this disorder.