The Perceptual Level Functioning of Dysphasic Children: A Follow-Up Study

Abstract

As part of the second stage of a longitudinal investigation of the language and language-related behavior of dysphasic children, seven experimental and seven normal control subjects were retestecf The battery of tests related to auditory-perceptual, auditory-vocal, and oral-motor functioning and also to visual-perceptual and visual-motor functioning. A measure of grammar comprehension was included. The major results were very consistent with those of the first year. The dysphasic children continued to be deficient in auditory-vocal and oral-motor functioning and in language comprehension. In contrast, they were the equals of the normal control subjects in visual-perceptual and visual-motor functioning. Various hypotheses which have been advanced to explain the language difficulties of aphasic and dysphasic children were reviewed in the light of the present findings. Further study is clearly needed before an adequate theoretical formulation is possible.