The relationship between language skills and interactional skills in children with language impairment

Authors

  • Barbro Bruce Malmö University
  • Ulrika Nettelbladt Lund University
  • Kristina Hansson Lund University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.v3i2.195

Keywords:

assertiveness, children, interaction, language impairment, responsiveness

Abstract

This study investigates interaction in dialogues between children with language impairment (LI) and peers of different ages and at two different times, taking into account the language skills of the children with LI. The hypotheses tested were that dialogues between more mature children are more coherent and that the degree of language problems of the child with LI is not directly associated with characteristics of the dialogues. Nine children with LI (aged 3;9–5;0 at time I) were recorded with an age-similar and a language-similar peer on two occasions with a one-year interval. The analysis focused on responsiveness and assertiveness in the dialogues as wholes. Dialogues between older children were more coherent and mutual influence within the dialogues was significant at both times. The children with LI tended to be more assertive with the younger peer. The language skills of the children with LI only partly explained the characteristics of the dialogues. Intervention for children with LI should focus on enhancing their opportunities to interact with peers of different ages.

Author Biographies

  • Barbro Bruce, Malmö University

    Barbro Bruce is a certified speech-language pathologist and PhD in Logopedics from the Department of Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Sweden. Her present affiliation is Malmö University, where she is a senior lecturer in educational science and special education. Her main research interests are to find out models of intervention for children with language impairment, dyslexia and neuropsychiatric disorders at school, and how to work proactively, particularly with children at risk for such problems, at preschool.

  • Ulrika Nettelbladt, Lund University

    Ulrika Nettelbladt is professor of Logopedics at Department of Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University. She is also a certified speech-language pathologist. Her research interests have covered different areas. Her PhD thesis in Phonetics and Linguistics concerned phonological development in Swedish children with language impairment; later on, she also studied grammatical development and interaction in the same group of children. One area of her recent research concerns bilingual children with and without language impairment, especially Swedish-Arabic children. The other area of research is pragmatic development in children with language impairment and in children with other communicative disabilities.

  • Kristina Hansson, Lund University

    Kristina Hansson is a certified speech-language pathologist and PhD. in Logopedics from the Department of Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Sweden and is associate professor at the same Department. Her main research interests are the development of grammar and interaction and how language skills are affected by within-child factors, like working memory, as well as by contextual factors in children with language impairment and in children and adolescents with different degrees of hearing impairment.

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Published

2012-12-31

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Bruce, B., Nettelbladt, U., & Hansson, K. (2012). The relationship between language skills and interactional skills in children with language impairment. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 3(2), 195-219. https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.v3i2.195

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