Associations Between Key Language-Related Measures in Typically Developing School-Age Children

Abstract

Three measures have been found to be predictive of developmental language impairment: nonword repetition, the production of English past tense, and categorical speech perception. Despite this, direct comparisons of these tasks have been limited. The present study explored the associations between these measures and other language and cognitive skills in an unselected group of 100 children aged 6 to 11 years. The children completed standardized tests of nonverbal ability, receptive language, and reading, as well as nonword repetition, past tense production, and categorical speech perception tasks. Nonword repetition and past tense were highly correlated. Variance in nonword repetition was explained additionally by digit recall, whereas receptive language, age, and digit recall accounted for significant portions of variance in past tense production. Categorical speech perception was not associated with any of the measures in the study. The extent to which common and distinct factors underlie the key language-related measures is discussed.