Does Movement Contextually Cue Attention During Novel Word Exposure? A Comparison of Preschool Children With Developmental Language Disorder and With Typical Language.

PURPOSE: This study investigated the attentional tendencies of preschool children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and their typical language (TL) peers during a word learning task to examine what visual properties of novel objects capture their attention. METHOD: Twelve children with DLD and 12 children with TL completed a novel name extension task in which they selected which of three visual characteristics of referent objects (i.e., movement, color, pattern) was relevant during novel word-novel referent pairings. No visual feature was more relevant than the others; consequently, there were no correct and no incorrect responses. RESULTS: Children with DLD were systematically different from their TL peers in which visual features of objects they attended to during nonword-novel referent pairings in that they selected movement as the relevant feature of novel objects more often than TL children. There was also a significant negative correlation between chronological age and the propensity for movement selections. CONCLUSIONS: In most cases, word learning involves mapping the auditory signal onto visual information. Identifying what children with DLD naturally attend to when exposed to novel word-novel referent pairings is an important first step in order to better understand how to design effective and efficient word learning interventions with this population.

Attentional shifting in children with developmental language disorder: A meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: A meta-analysis investigating attentional shifting in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) was conducted. Task type, participant age, and dependent variable metric were examined as significant moderators. METHOD: A systematic literature review identified 20 studies that met the following inclusionary criteria:(a) were published between 1994-2018; (b) included children with DLD aged 3;00 to 17;11 years; and (c) used behavioral performance-based measures of attentional shifting. RESULTS: Children with DLD performed poorer than age-matched peers with typically developing language (TL) by 0.42 SD across attentional shifting studies. Moderator analyses showed an effect of task type, as children with DLD performed comparatively poorer on set-shifting (g = -.52) but not alternating tasks (g = -.18). Neither age nor dependent variable used to measure attentional shifting were significant moderators. DISCUSSION: Children with DLD exhibit deficits in attentional shifting relative to same-age peers. Results of moderator analyses reveal that deficits were found on set-shifting but not alternating tasks and that these deficits remained consistent whether researchers measure accuracy or response time switch costs to ascertain attentional shifting ability. In addition, moderator analysis results suggest that attentional shifting deficits are consistent in preschool-age and school-age children with DLD.

The Impact of Manipulating Attentional Shifting Demands on Preschool Children With Specific Language Impairment.

Purpose This study investigated attentional shifting in preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) compared to their typically developing peers. Children's attentional shifting capacity was assessed by varying attentional demands. Method Twenty-five preschool children with SLI and 25 age-matched, typically developing controls participated. A behavioral task measuring attentional shifting within and across multiple dimensions (auditory, linguistic, and visual) was employed. Demands on attentional shifting were increased based on input dimension (low load: staying within dimension; medium load: shifting between 2 dimensions; and high load: shifting among 3 dimensions). Results Compared to controls, the group with SLI made more erroneous responses and exhibited longer response times. Although both groups' error rates were similarly affected by shifting compared to nonshifting trials, their response speed was not. The group with SLI exhibited a larger comparative decrement to their response speed in the high-attentional load condition. Discussion When demands on attentional shifting increase, children with SLI struggle to shift their attention as efficiently to changing stimuli as their unimpaired peers. Potential implications for the assessment and treatment of this population are discussed.