JCPSLP - March 2018

and behavioural difficulties were significant predictors of language ability, but did not significantly impact the rate of language growth. Flat growth of z-scores was found in all three groups, indicating relatively stable language ability over time. This result indicated that neither the LD-only nor the LD-plus groups narrowed the gap in language with their TD peers. However, this also indicated that the LD-plus group did not show a widening gap in language ability compared to TD peers. Nonverbal ability, socioeconomic disadvantage, and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties did not significantly influence language stability between 5 and 8 years of age. Overall, the results indicated that children with LD and LD plus other diagnoses demonstrated improvement in language over time, along with stability of language ability over time that was parallel to TD children. Importantly, the children with LD plus other diagnoses, who presented with the most significant difficulties, did not fall further behind their peers between 5 and 8 years. While children with LD-only demonstrated significantly greater growth in raw scores, this was not sufficient to narrow the language ability gap with TD children as measured by z-scores. The researchers reported that these findings may reflect that the TD group were reaching ceiling level on some of the language measures. This finding indicates that “accelerated” language growth in 5 to 8 year old

children with DLD, resulting in significant narrowing of the achievement gap with TD children, is unlikely. Another important finding from this study was that language growth across the groups of children was similar despite varying nonverbal ability, diagnosis/es, socioeconomic disadvantage, and social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties. Limitations of the study include that little information about intervention/s received, the home environment, and family history were collected. In conclusion, this article provides useful and relevant information for clinicians and service providers working with children with DLD. The results highlight that, a) language ability was stable for the first three years of schooling in children with DLD both with and without other diagnoses; b) steady language growth which was parallel to typically developing children occurred between 5 and 8 years in children with DLD with and without other diagnoses; and, c) the rate of language growth was not influenced by nonverbal ability, other diagnosis/es, socioeconomic disadvantage, and social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties. In line with these findings, the authors noted that aiming to improve the language scores of children with DLD to the average range may not be realistic or achievable, so intervention should focus on functional goals which maximise the child’s ability to participate, learn, and communicate. This article is on open access.

Calling for early career researchers! Are you regularly reading the literature about an area of speech pathology practice? Would you like some journal editorial experience to add to your resume? Why not consider contributing to the Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech Language Pathology by reviewing new research articles in your area of expertise? For more information contact the Editor of JCPSLP at jcpslpeditor@gmail.com

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JCPSLP Volume 20, Number 1 2018

Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology