Verbal and spatial information processing constraints in children with specific language impairment.

A dual-processing paradigm was used to investigate information processing limitations underlying specific language impairment (SLI). School-age children with and without SLI were asked to recall verbal and spatial stimuli in situations that varied the number of tasks that were required and the speed at which stimuli were presented. Children recalled digits or locations of X's that were presented on a computer screen. In some conditions, they were asked to name or point to the color of the stimuli before completing the recall task. In comparison to their typically developing peers, children with SLI had generally poorer recall of digits and locations across all conditions. Typically developing children derived greater benefit than the children with SLI under conditions that enabled them to disperse processing efforts across verbal and spatial response modalities. It appears that limitations in general cognitive capacity and central executive functions in working memory work synergistically with response modality to constrain information processing in children with SLI.