Verbal working memory in Specific Language Impairment: The effect of providing visual support

Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) are known to exhibit difficulties on auditory working memory (WM) tasks. This study investigated the impact of providing visual support on children's performance on an auditory WM task. Three groups of 18 children participated. The groups were ch...

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Main Authors: Quail, Michelle, Williams, Cori, Leitao, Suze
Format: Journal Article
Published: Informa Healthcare 2009
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33152
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author Quail, Michelle
Williams, Cori
Leitao, Suze
author_facet Quail, Michelle
Williams, Cori
Leitao, Suze
author_sort Quail, Michelle
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) are known to exhibit difficulties on auditory working memory (WM) tasks. This study investigated the impact of providing visual support on children's performance on an auditory WM task. Three groups of 18 children participated. The groups were children with SLI, age matched, and language matched control children. Participants completed 4 digit recall tasks using different combinations of auditory and visual input and output for a digits forwards (DF) recall condition in the first session and a digits backwards (DB) recall condition in the final session. The digit recall tasks accompany this manuscript and can be downloaded from <a href="http://www.informaworld.com/ijslp">http://www.informaworld.com/ijslp</a>. For the DF tasks, the SLI and age matched groups recalled significantly more sequences when visual support was provided in input and output, and all groups showed a significant benefit from visual support for the DB condition. These findings provide further evidence that the provision of visual information supports working memory performance in children with SLI and typically developing children. This has implications for the support strategies currently used to assist children with WM difficulties.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-331522017-09-13T16:07:46Z Verbal working memory in Specific Language Impairment: The effect of providing visual support Quail, Michelle Williams, Cori Leitao, Suze Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) are known to exhibit difficulties on auditory working memory (WM) tasks. This study investigated the impact of providing visual support on children's performance on an auditory WM task. Three groups of 18 children participated. The groups were children with SLI, age matched, and language matched control children. Participants completed 4 digit recall tasks using different combinations of auditory and visual input and output for a digits forwards (DF) recall condition in the first session and a digits backwards (DB) recall condition in the final session. The digit recall tasks accompany this manuscript and can be downloaded from <a href="http://www.informaworld.com/ijslp">http://www.informaworld.com/ijslp</a>. For the DF tasks, the SLI and age matched groups recalled significantly more sequences when visual support was provided in input and output, and all groups showed a significant benefit from visual support for the DB condition. These findings provide further evidence that the provision of visual information supports working memory performance in children with SLI and typically developing children. This has implications for the support strategies currently used to assist children with WM difficulties. 2009 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33152 10.1080/17549500802495581 Informa Healthcare restricted
spellingShingle Quail, Michelle
Williams, Cori
Leitao, Suze
Verbal working memory in Specific Language Impairment: The effect of providing visual support
title Verbal working memory in Specific Language Impairment: The effect of providing visual support
title_full Verbal working memory in Specific Language Impairment: The effect of providing visual support
title_fullStr Verbal working memory in Specific Language Impairment: The effect of providing visual support
title_full_unstemmed Verbal working memory in Specific Language Impairment: The effect of providing visual support
title_short Verbal working memory in Specific Language Impairment: The effect of providing visual support
title_sort verbal working memory in specific language impairment: the effect of providing visual support
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33152