Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

The Contribution Of Processing Impairments To Sli: Insights From Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Janis Cardy, Rosemary Tannock, Andrew Johnson, Carla Johnson

Andrew M. Johnson

Slowed speed of processing and impaired rapid temporal processing (RTP) have been proposed to underlie specific language impairment (SLI), but it is not clear that these dysfunctions are unique to SLI. We considered the contribution of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which frequently co-occurs with language impairments, to performances on processing tasks. School-aged children who had SLI without concurrent ADHD (n=14), ADHD without concurrent SLI (n=14), and typical development (TD, n=28) performed two nonverbal speeded tasks and one auditory RTP task. RTP impairments were found in many children with SLI and ADHD, and some children with TD. Children with ADHD demonstrated slower …

Dual-Task Interference: The Effects Of Verbal Cognitive Tasks On Upright Postural Stability In Parkinson's Disease, J. Holmes, M. Jenkins, Andrew Johnson, S. Adams, S. Spaulding

Andrew M. Johnson

Although dual-task interference has previously been demonstrated to have a significant effect on postural control among individuals with Parkinson's disease, the impact of speech complexity on postural control has not been demonstrated using quantitative biomechanical measures. The postural stability of twelve participants with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and twelve healthy age-matched controls was evaluated under three conditions: (1) without a secondary task, (2) performing a rote repetition task and (3) generating a monologue. Results suggested a significant effect of cognitive load on biomechanical parameters of postural stability. Although both groups increased their postural excursion, individuals with Parkinson's disease demonstrated significantly reduced …

Comprehension Of Inferences In Discourse Processing By Adolescents With And Without Language Impairment, Courtney Karasinski, Susan Ellis Weismer

Courtney Karasinski

Purpose: This study investigated inference construction within spoken narratives in adolescents with varying cognitive and language abilities, using W. Kintsch’s (1988) construction-integration model as a framework. The role of working memory in inference construction was examined along with language and nonverbal cognition.

Method: Participants were 527 eighth-grade students in 4 diagnostic groups: normal language (NL), low cognitive (LC), specific language impairment (SLI), and nonspecific language impariment (NLI). Participants answered premise and inference questions based on adjacent and distant information.

Results: Distant inferences were significantly more difficult than were adjacent inferences. When controlling for premise accuracy, the NL group performed significantly …