Short-term and working memory skills in primary school-aged children with specific language impairment and children with pragmatic language impairment: phonological, linguistic and visuo-spatial aspects

Abstract

Background: Children with specific language impairment (CwSLI) are consistently reported to have short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) difficulties.

Aim: To compare STM and WM abilities in CwSLI with children with pragmatic language impairment (CwPLI).

Methods & procedures: Primary school-aged CwSLI (n= 12) and CwPLI (n= 23) were assessed on measures of STM and WM.

Outcomes & results: CwPLI had significantly higher scores than CwSLI on STM tasks, and this difference could not be accounted for by differences in receptive language ability. There were no between-group differences for WM tasks. The majority of CwSLI and a significant proportion of CwPLI scored in the impaired range on each of the memory measures. In contrast, some CwPLI scored within the normal range.

Conclusions & implications: CwPLI present with a different profile of STM but not WM ability to CwSLI. Clinical implications are discussed.