Written Language of Children with Specific Language Impairment

Abstract

Writing is an important academically and socially related language skill. However, few researchers have analyzed the written language samples of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). It is unknown if children with SLI produce different types of written language errors than children with typical language (TL). The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the writing patterns of children with Specific Language Impairment. Specifically, this study analyzed the morphosyntactic and syntactic errors that children with SLI make and if they differ from the errors made by children with TL. Writing samples of children ages 7 to 10 were collected. The SLI group was determined by norm-referenced language assessments such as the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-- Fourth Edition. These samples were coded for errors based on a coding manual created by the authors of this study. Results revealed that children with SLI make more overall errors in complex sentences than children with TL. The errors made by children with SLI were syntactic word level errors, such as the addition or omission of one word. However, there was not a significant difference between the morphological errors made in writing samples of children with SLI and children with TL. The large age range of children within our SLI group may have impacted our conclusion that morphosyntax may not be a critical marker of SLI in children.