Purpose: The aims of the study were to assess and compare grammatical deficits in written and spoken language production in subjects with agrammatic primary progressive aphasia (agPPA) and in subjects with agrammatism in the context of dominant apraxia of speech (DAOS) and to investigate neuroanatomical correlates. Method: Eight agPPA and 21 DAOS…

Background: A limited number of studies have analyzed grammaticality in monolingual Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI). Most of the available data are based on bilingual speakers. Aims: To extend previous studies by doing a more detailed analysis of grammatical types in monolingual Spanish-speakers with and without…

This study investigates the knowledge of binding in 21 English-speaking children with SLI, aged 6;08-16;05, compared to 21 children with WS, language- and age-matched, and 21 language-matched control children, aged 4-7;10. Our results demonstrate no difficulties in the interpretation of reflexive or personal pronouns in SLI, revealing an intact…

Purpose: The inability to accurately recall sentences has proven to be a clinical marker of specific language impairment (SLI); this task yields moderate-to-high levels of sensitivity and specificity. However, it is not yet known if these results hold for speakers of dialects whose nonmainstream grammatical productions overlap with those that are…

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) have traditionally been considered a lifelong condition; however, a subset of people makes such significant improvements that they no longer meet diagnostic criteria for an ASD. The current study examines whether these "optimal outcome" (OO) children and adolescents continue to have subtle pragmatic…

Background: Huntington's disease not only affects motor speech control, but also may have an impact on the ability to produce and understand language in communication. Aims: The ability to comprehend basic and complex discourse was investigated in three different stages of Huntington's disease. Methods & Procedures: In this experimental group…

Background: Many school-age children with specific language impairment produce sentences that appear to conform to the adult grammar. It may be premature to conclude from this, however, that their language formulation ability is age appropriate. Aims: To determine whether a more subtle measure of language use, speech disruptions during sentence…

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often have extraordinary difficulty in the use of tense and agreement morphemes. Because spontaneous speech samples may not provide a sufficient number of obligatory contexts for these morphemes, structured probe items are often employed. However, these usually emphasize actions that can be readily…

Background: There are no systematic surveys of the UK prison population, but data from several sources suggest that a significant number of prisoners might have limitations in their speech, language and communication abilities. Aim: To examine the hypothesis that compared with the general population, a significantly larger number of the prison…