Deficit in executive abilities as a risk factor for emerging weakness in grammar understanding in Russian-speaking children

Abstract

IntroductionWeakness in grammar understanding is key future of specific language impairment (SLI) in children. There has been a considerable amount of work on the language abilities of children with SLI, but we still know relatively little about their other cognitive abilities –in particular their non-linguistic cognitive strengths and weaknesses.AimsThe aim of this research was to examine the hypothesis that Russian-speaking children at the age of 4 with deficit in executive abilities have a risk for emerging weakness in grammar understanding at the age of 6.MethodsOne hundred and twenty-five children at the age of 4 were assessed with the NEPSY to reveal children with different level of executive abilities. We have revealed 21 children with deficit in executive abilities. The control group included 21 children with typical level of executive abilities. The children from experimental and control group were matched for IQ and gender. In the framework of longitudinal research, children at the age of 6 from both groups were assessed by Grammar Understanding Test from Luria's neuropsychological assessment technique.ResultsTwo-way ANOVAs with repeated measures revealed significant differences between groups for scores in the Grammar Understanding Test. Children from experimental group had weakness in grammar understanding.ConclusionsWe have revealed that children at the age of 4 with weakness in executive abilities have a risk for emerging weakness in grammar understanding at the age of 6. In view of the obtained results, it can be assumed that executive abilities have influence on the development of grammar understanding in preschool children.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.