Is Nonword Repetition a True Clinical Marker of SLI?

Abstract

Background: Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is a developmental condition where despite typical general intellectual abilities language learning is effortful for a child. Children with SLI show substantial difficulty repeating nonsense words such as “frescovent” compared to children with Normal Language (CNL) skills. Poor Non Word Repetition (NWR) has been reported as a significant clinical marker of SLI. However, few studies have reported contradictory results.

Aims and Method: The present study aimed at establishing norms as well as identifying the feature among NWR performance that could serve as a clinical marker of SLI. 100 Children ages ranging from
7-13 years were taken and divided into two groups, each group comprising of 50 children for statistical convenience (7-10 yrs and 10-13yrs). Norms were developed for NWR performance at these age range
and performance of SLI children (6 children in 7-13 years age range). CNL and SLI were analyzed for percentage on syllables repeated correctly, percentage of vowels and consonants correct, regularizations, reversals, additions, repetitions, substitutions, omission errors and quality of errors. Results and Discussion: Mean and SD scores for the NWR task for the age group 7-10 and 11-13 yrs
were computed. There was a reduction in percentage correct phonemes as an effect of nonword length increment. The results are discussed with reference to decrement in scores for NWR with increase in
syllable length that was noted in typically developing children. Discussion extended to cognitive linguistic nature of NWR as clinical marker of SLI.