Child Language Research Center (www.childlanguage.org)
Frequently Asked Questions about studies of Specific Language Impairment

What is the CLRC is trying to study?
In its simplest form, we are trying to learn how children's spoken language abilities affect their lives and what sorts of things cause some children to be better at spoken language than others. By learning if and when spoken language ability results in undesirable life circumstances, we can better establish which children need our clinical efforts. By understanding what factors contribute to poor spoken language ability, we will be better able to know what to do to help resolve the problem.

How exactly do the CLRC researchers do this?
A major thrust is the longitudinal observational study. We started by selecting children with a wide range of spoken language abilities as they entered school. Within this sample, however, we included a large group of children with poor language abilities because these children are the most informative for our purposes. We have then followed these children through school and gathered a range of data: academic performance, social development, and behavioral and health status. The academic performance was obtained from tests administered to the children. The behavioral and social data were obtained from parents and teachers. Now that the children are young adults, we are also gathering data on their views of themselves with regard to these areas of performance. As we have been following the children, we have also been looking at a number of possible explanations for the poor language. Many of these have focused on the children's ability to process complex information efficiently; however, we are also looking at genetic factors and studies that track brain activity during certain critical tasks.

If I am in the study, does it mean I have SLI?
No. More of the people in this study do not have SLI than do. Furthermore, it is our view that we really do not know what SLI is. Our SLI diagnosis at this point is a hypothesis we are testing. When we are done, we expect to change our view and finetune our diagnosis of SLI based on what we discover.

Will I get treatment for my SLI?
Our study is not directed at providing treatment. Treatment is available in the schools, and we do provide parents with information on the children's performance in order that they may decide to seek treatment.

Is SLI a common problem?
We believe it is. Our initial work indicated that a little over 7 percent of children have this condition. We may find that we need to change our diagnostic standard, and therefore, the incidence rate may change. However, it is unlikely to change substantially.

If one child in a family has SLI, does that mean there is a greater chance the siblings will have it?
SLI is like a lot of health problems that have been studied recently. Family members of children with SLI are more likely to also have signs of SLI. The best estimates are that about 25 percent of the siblings are at risk for SLI as well. The data also suggest that this shared family risk for SLI comes from both sharing genes and sharing the environment.

Do the researchers feel the study has been successful?
Yes! We have already learned much about the nature of outcomes of children with poor spoken language skills. At the same time, the study is not complete. We need to know how these children do as young adults entering society. We have learned that school is very challenging. Possibly, school is a special place in which these children do particularly poorly, but once out in the "real world" they will thrive. If this is true, we have to learn how to help these children through school giving them the best education possible, but also without generating harm. We may find, however, that school is not so different from the "real world" and these children face many of the same challenges as they move into a society that is increasingly a society based heavily on communication.

What are the results so far?
We have learned a lot, so it is difficult to summarize. These are the main points.

First, we have found that a child's spoken language status relative to those of other children remains remarkably stable during the school years. In other words, children who start school with poor language skills are very likely to remain poor throughout the school years, and likewise, those with very good skills continue with very good skills. Surprisingly, we have also found that all children from the poorest to the best all seem to progress at the same rate. Thus, nobody is falling behind or catching up. These results are unexpected and should stimulate some important theoretical work.

Next, we have found that there is a very strong relationship between later reading success or failure and initial language ability. These findings are not surprising, and other research had shown this. What we are now seeing, however, is that these initial spoken language skills become increasingly important for providing the base for reading comprehension in the later years. Initially, a great deal of reading performance is determined by how well children can read words. By eighth grade, however, reading performance is much more related with how well children can understand the meanings in sentences and passages when they hear them. Children with SLI have difficulties with this skill.

We also find that children with poor listening and speaking skills are likely to have problems with most areas of academic performance. Furthermore, when they face these school challenges, some of these children also have behavioral problems at home and in the classroom.

With regard to our work on what causes SLI, we continue to find evidence that these children are limited in their memory and information processing abilities. When they hear complex words or sentences that require a good deal of mental processing, they do poorly. They also seem to do poorly on processing tasks that don't require speech or language at all.

What are things parents and teachers can do to help a child with SLI?
We are finding that identifying these children early is probably important. One of the principal problems these children face is reading difficulties. Intervention prior to entering school or as soon as the child enters school is important to reduce these reading problems. Parents and teachers need to provide these children with opportunities to engage in active listening situations. Hearing stories read to the child and then being asked to talk about what was heard is useful. During the early preschool years, it appears that parents need to provide a type of language exposure to these children often described as "responsive." (Responsive language means that you talk about what the child has said or done, and thus, is in response to the child's actions rather than talk that is intended to direct the child.)