Action and object naming in mono- and bilingual children with language impairment

Abstract

Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is a severe limitation in language ability in the absence of other factors that typically accompany language problems (e.g., hearing impairment, low non-verbal IQ, neurological damage). SLI is the most common and most studied type of developmental language disorder, yet research comparing biand monolingual development is surprisingly lacking, leaving potential implications of bilingualism for children with language disabilities an under-explored area. It is known that monolingual children with SLI are less accurate at naming pictures of objects than age-matched peers with typical language development (TLD), strongly suggesting that difficulties with lexical access are related to a breakdown at the level of the phonological word form, which the present study clearly support.