Abstract
BackgroundThe extraordinarily high incidence of grammatical language impairments in developmental disorders suggests that this uniquely human cognitive function is “fragile”. Yet our understanding of the neurobiology of grammatical impairments is limited. Furthermore, there is no “gold-standard” to identify grammatical impairments and routine screening is not undertaken. An accurate screening test to identify grammatical abilities would serve the research, health and education communities, further our understanding of developmental disorders, and identify children who need remediation, many of whom are currently un-diagnosed. A potential realistic screening tool that could be widely administered is the Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) test – a 10 minute test that can be administered by professionals and non-professionals alike. Here we provide a further step in evaluating the validity and accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of the GAPS test in identifying children who have Specific Language Impairment (SLI).Methods and FindingsWe tested three groups of children; two groups aged 3;6–6:6, a typically developing (n = 30) group, and a group diagnosed with SLI: (n = 11) (Young (Y)-SLI), and a further group aged 6;9–8;11 with SLI (Older (O)-SLI) (n = 10) who were above the test age norms. We employed a battery of language assessments including the GAPS test to assess the children's language abilities. For Y-SLI children, analyses revealed a sensitivity and specificity at the 5th and 10th percentile of 1.00 and 0.98, respectively, and for O-SLI children at the 10th and 15th percentile .83 and .90, respectively.ConclusionsThe findings reveal that the GAPS is highly accurate in identifying impaired vs. non-impaired children up to 6;8 years, and has moderate-to-high accuracy up to 9 years. The results indicate that GAPS is a realistic tool for the early identification of grammatical abilities and impairment in young children. A larger investigation is warranted in children with SLI and other developmental disorders.
Highlights
The role of language and communication is well recognized as central to education and life-long learning
The results indicate that Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) is a realistic tool for the early identification of grammatical abilities and impairment in young children
The Specific Language Impairment (SLI) groups produced low scores in the expressive grammar tests, reflecting their characteristic grammatical difficulties. This pattern generally held for the phonology tests and reflects the potential for phonology to be a clinical marker for language or reading impairment
Summary
The role of language and communication is well recognized as central to education and life-long learning. Approximately two children in every classroom (7%), who are otherwise developing normally, experience specific and persistent language impairment; i.e., ‘specific language impairment’ (SLI) Central to these impairments for many are problems with components of grammar [1,2]: i.e., phonology – the rules for combining sounds into word; morphology – the rules for combining words and parts of words into bigger words; and syntax – the rules determining the structural relations between words in sentences. Such grammatical deficits frequency co-occur with other developmental disorders and are found in around 50% or more of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Dyslexia, and Down’s syndrome [2,3,4,5,6,7]. We provide a further step in evaluating the validity and accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of the GAPS test in identifying children who have Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
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