Language Development in Normal and Language Handicapped Spanish-Speaking Children

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare and contrast language development in normal and language handicapped school-aged children who speak Spanish as a first language and who have been classified as being of limited English speaking ability The focus of this report will be on the differences and similarities found in the children's first language, Spanish. This investigation was conducted in three phases. First a battery of instruments, including measures of syntax and articulation, was administered to a group of 50 monolingual Spanish speakers aged 3 to 8 in Oaxaca, Mexico, to establish base-line data for the handicapped study In the second phase, a group of 22 language-delayed Spanish speakers was identified in the United States and administered the same instruments and procedures. In the third phase, comparisons were made to a control group of normal children in the United States, comparable in terms of age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, exposure to English, and language history All instruments in the second and third phases were also administered in English. Handicapped children performed significantly worse than comparable controls in the production of syntactic features though not in comprehension. Handicapped children also exhibited a significantly higher number of articulation errors.