The Clinical Spectrum of Developmental Language Impairment in School-Aged Children: Language, Cognitive, and Motor Findings

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to evaluate detailed school-age language, nonverbal cognitive, and motor development in children with developmental language impairment compared with age-matched controls. METHODS: Children with developmental language impairment or normal language development (controls) aged 7 to 13 years were recruited. Children underwent language assessment (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4, Peabody Picture Vocabulary-3, Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation-2), nonverbal cognitive assessment (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV), and motor assessment (Movement Assessment Battery for Children). Exclusion criteria were nonverbal IQ below the 5th percentile or an acquired language, hearing, autistic spectrum, or neurologic disorder. RESULTS: Eleven children with developmental language impairment (7:4 boys/girls; mean age: 10.1 +/- 0.8 years) and 12 controls (5:7 boys/girls; mean age: 9.5 +/- 1.8 years) were recruited. Children with developmental language impairment showed lower mean scores on language (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4--developmental language impairment: 79.7 +/- 16.5; controls: 109.2 +/- 9.6; Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation-2--developmental language impairment: 94.1 +/- 10.6; controls: 104.0 +/- 2.8; Peabody Picture Vocabulary-3--developmental language impairment: 90.5 +/- 13.8; controls: 100.1 +/- 11.6), cognitive (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV--developmental language impairment: 99.5 +/- 15.5; controls: 113.5 +/- 11.9), and motor measures (Movement Assessment Battery for Children percentile--developmental language impairment: 12.7 +/- 16.7; controls: 66.1 +/- 30.6) and greater discrepancies between cognitive and language scores (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV/Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4--developmental language impairment: 17.8 +/- 17.8; controls: 1.2 +/- 12.7). Motor impairment was more common in children with developmental language impairment (70%) than controls (8%). CONCLUSIONS: Developmental language impairment is characterized by a broad spectrum of developmental impairments. Children identified on the basis of language impairment show significant motor comorbidity. Motor assessment should form part of the evaluation and follow-up of children with developmental language impairment.

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