Beyond naming patterns in children with WFDs—definitions for nouns and verbs

Abstract

Children who experience difficulties in naming are described as having word finding difficulties (WFDs). In the present study 31 children with WFDs were identified through a wider survey of educational provision for those with language and communication difficulties. The children were included if they were between 6;4 and 7;10 years, had normal non-verbal intelligence, no major articulation difficulties and had WFDs as diagnosed by standard scores below 75 on Test of WFD (TWF) [German 1989]. Three control groups were identified who were matched on: chronological age (CA) ( N=31), naming age (NA) ( N=31) and level of receptive grammar (RG) ( N=31). Children's accuracy of naming and latency to name were assessed for pictures of objects and actions. Children were asked to define the object and action terms at a later point. Children with WFDs were significantly less accurate in naming than their age matched peers but equivalent to that of the language matched peers. The group of children with WFDs were the slowest to accurately name all sets of items. All groups of children were less accurate in the provision of definitions for action terms than object terms. Overall the children with WFDs provided fewer accurate definitions than their CA matched peers. The nature of the children's definitions indicated that they also differed from their language-matched peers. Particular difficulties were noted in the provision of semantic categorisation information. A range of standardised language assessments did not account for these difficulties. The findings are discussed in relation to the idea that WFDs are caused by impoverished semantic representations.