For 30 years, the Research Symposium at the ASHA Convention has hosted the foremost experts in the CSD discipline to present on a specific research theme. At the 2019 Convention, clinicians and researchers gathered to discuss the topic of specific language impairment (SLI). Once again, the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (JSLHR) has published a forum of five articles based on presentations from last year’s Research Symposium, along with videos of these presentations.

Forum Editor Mabel Rice introduces the collection by highlighting the themes present throughout the Research Symposium. Then, Rice contributes an article comparing language acquisition among twins and single-born children in order to study the heritability of language acquisition Next, Hadley looks at early language acquisition in toddlers who are and are not at risk for SLI, finding important markers that predict strong grammatical outcomes as well as important clues that a preschool child may be at risk for SLI. Then, Leonard and Deevy explore the role that verbal memory plays in word learning, noting that children with SLI are at risk for word learning difficulties.

The final two articles examine the intersection between SLI and two other common diagnoses: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia. Redmond reviews 85 cases to attempt to determine the co-occurrence of ADHD and SLI, developmental language disorder, and definition of language disorder as stated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). In the final article of the Research Symposium, Adlof addresses the connection between SLI and dyslexia, showing that these are two separate disorders, although they frequently co-occur.                         

In her introduction, Rice writes that the articles in the Research Symposium “are consistent with a robust scientific commitment to better understand how to account for unexpected individual differences in language acquisition in children with SLI who seem to have the essential prerequisites, how to identify them, and how to provide effective treatment to help enhance their language abilities in a time when language is vital to the well-being of children and adults” (Rice, 2020, p. 3222–3223).

In addition to these articles, recordings of the presentations are also available. You can find each presentation under the “Presentation Video” heading on the corresponding article, or you can click on the links to the individual presentations at the bottom of this post.                              

We’d like to thank Dr. Rice for all of her work on this forum. We hope you enjoy these articles from JSLHR. You can explore the entire forum here, or read the individual articles below.                                        

References

Rice, M. L. (2020). Advances in specific language impairment research and intervention: An overview of five research symposium papers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(10), 3219–3223. http://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00504    

Explore the Forum

Adlof, S. M. (2020). Promoting reading achievement in children with developmental language disorders: What can we learn from research on specific language impairment and dyslexia? Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(10), 3277–3292. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00118

Hadley, P. A. (2020). Exploring sentence diversity at the boundary of typical and impaired language abilities. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(10), 3236–3251. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00031

Leonard, L., & Deevy, P. (2020). Retrieval practice and word learning in children with specific language impairment and their typically developing peers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(10), 3252–3262. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00006

Redmond, S. M. (2020). Clinical intersections among idiopathic language disorder, social (pragmatic) communication disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(10), 3263–3276. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00050

Rice, M. L. (2020). Advances in specific language impairment research and intervention: An overview of five research symposium papers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(10), 3219–3223. http://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00504

Rice, M. L. (2020). Causal pathways for specific language impairment: Lessons from studies of twins. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(10), 3224–3235. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00169