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Purpose. The purpose of this research project was to compare the narrative content organization (macrostructure) of young children with specific language impairment (SLI) and those with typical language development (TL). While it is well-known that young children with SLI display poorer use of grammar (microstructure) than their TL language similar peers (Leaonard, 2014; Rice et al., 1998) less is known about their use of macrostructure. Thus, the research question was: What are the narrative skills of children with SLI as compared to their language similar peers with development TL? Based on research with older children (Gillam et al., 2016), it was hypothesized that children with SLI will have poorer narrative macrostructure of narratives than those with TL. Method. The experiment compared 6 children with SLI (mean age: 5 years, 2 months) and 8 language similar children with TL (mean age: 4 years, 8 months). Language equivalency was determined based on administration of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool-2 and the Rice/Wexler Test of Early Grammatical Impairment. As well, all the participants passed a hearing screening and performed in the average range on the Preschool Test of Nonverbal Intelligence. Researchers read two books, Gossie and Gossie & Gertie (Dunrea, 2002, 2002) to each child. After reading each book, the child retold the story while looking through the pictures as a guide, yielding 12 SLI samples and 16 TL samples. The stories were audio-recorded and transcribed using a consensus method of reliability. Researchers then coded the stories for presence and quality of the following components: Character, Setting, Initiating Event, Internal Response, Plan, Action/Attempt, and Consequence. Once coded, the components were then scored on a 3-point scale using Gillam et al. (2012) narrative development progressmonitoring tool. Results and Conclusions. First, outcomes of the two stories were compared using an ANOVA design with Story Components and Story as within group factors. Because Gossie & Gertie had one more character than Gertie, it naturally scored significantly higher on Characters. Otherwise, the stories did not reliably differ and were combined for further analysis. Next a mixed model ANOVA design with Story Components as a within group factor and Group as a between group faction was conducted. The results indicated no statistically significant main effects or interactions. The findings did not support the hypothesis, suggesting that the narrative skills of children with SLI are equivalent to their language similar peers with TL. It may be as children get older and their narratives become more complex, children with SLI begin to fall further behind yielding the differences reported in the literature. This project prompts future questions about narrative macrostructure skills of young age-matched children with SLI and TL and use of macrostructure skills in more complex stories.

Neben der Frequenz eines cues ist es dessen Zuverlässigkeit, die Kindern hilft, die an sie gerichtete Sprache zu segmentieren, Worteinheiten zu erkennen sowie diese syntaktisch zu kategorisieren. Im Deutschen weist die Subsilbe „Langvokal+Konsonant+/t/“ (z.B. in fehlt, wohnt) zuverlässig auf eine -t-flektierte Verbform hin. Die in kindgerichteter Sprache höher frequente Subsilbe „Kurzvokal+Konsonant+/t/“ (z.B. in Feld, Hemd, fällt, rund) gibt hingegen keinen derartig eindeutigen Hinweis. Es wurde der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern diese unterschiedlichen Zuverlässigkeiten und Frequenzen der Subsilben auf die Nomen-, Verb- und Verbflexionsverarbeitung einwirken. Drei Altersgruppen wurden untersucht: achtzehn Monate alte Kinder, drei- bis fünfjährige sprachunauffällige und -auffällige Kinder sowie erwachsene Sprecher. Einflüsse der unterschiedlichen Zuverlässigkeiten und Frequenzen der ausgewählten Subsilben konnten für alle Probandengruppen gefunden werden. Die Subsilbe stellt damit eine linguistische Größe dar, die in der frühen Sprachwahrnehmung als cue dienen sowie die Sprachverarbeitung Erwachsener lenken kann und auch für die Sprachdiagnostik und -therapie sprachauffälliger Kinder berücksichtigt werden sollte. / Frequency and reliability have an impact on children’s reliance on cues for the segmentation and syntactic categorization of words. In German, the subsyllable “long vowel+consonant+/t/” reliably indicates that a word containing this type of subsyllable is an inflected verb form, e.g. “fehlt” (to lack, 3rd pers. sing.) or “wohnt” (to live, 3rd pers. sing.) In contrast, the more frequent subsyllable “short vowel+consonant+/t/” is not a reliable cue to word class as it occurs not only in inflected verb forms but in monomorphemic nouns and adjectives as well, e.g. “fällt” (to fall, 3rd pers. sing.), “Hemd” (shirt), “Feld” (field) or “rund” (round). This study addresses the question to what extent the different cue properties of subsyllables (i.e. reliability and frequency) have an impact on the processing of nouns, verbs and verb inflection. Participants of three different age groups were recruited: eighteen-month-old children, three- to five-year-old children with typical and atypical language acquisition and adults. Impacts of the different subsyllabic reliabilities and frequencies were found for all groups. This indicates that the subsyllable is a linguistic unit that provides relevant cues for early language acquisition and for language processing in adults. Therefore, it should also be considered for assessment and treatment of children with atypical language acquisition.

Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have difficulties in acquiring language in the absence of other neurodevelopmental issues (e.g. autism, hearing impairment) and despite growing up in an adequate language-learning environment. Previous characterisations of DLD have focused on grammatical processing, phonological memory or rapid auditory processing. This thesis approaches the language-learning difficulties of children with DLD from a novel perspective by considering the potential contribution made by differing levels of sensitivity to the rhythmic properties of language. Children with DLD have been shown to have reduced sensitivity to some of the acoustic cues present in speech which are thought to be important for rhythmic perception. Since rhythm forms the basis of language processing in early development, poorer sensitivity to language rhythm may result in later language problems. To investigate whether children with DLD demonstrate difficulties in processing language rhythm, this thesis explores five areas of language processing which could be affected by poor rhythmic sensitivity: locating word-boundaries, processing novel words, storing lexical stress patterns, representing sentence level structures and the integration of rhythm and syntax. As part of the investigation, measures were also taken of acoustic threshold sensitivity to see whether task performance related to acoustic sensitivity. A parallel strand of the study investigated whether provision of an entraining rhythm prior to task stimuli could support task performance. Three groups of children participated in the study: children with DLD, age-matched TD children (AMC) and younger, language-matched TD children (YLC). The results indicate that rhythmic manipulation of language stimuli affects task responses across the five language areas under investigation. The findings are then discussed in terms of the contribution made to our understanding of the role of rhythm in language and language disorder.

[pt] Esta dissertação tem como objetivo principal avaliar o desempenho linguístico de crianças com problemas de aprendizagem, de modo a verificar em que medida essas dificuldades equivalem às características do quadro do DEL (Déficit Específico da Linguagem). Pretende-se ainda avaliar o desempenho de crianças com problemas de aprendizagem por meio de uma tarefa clássica de crenças falsas para caracterização do desenvolvimento da Teoria da Mente (ToM), tendo em vista que esse desenvolvimento tem sido apontado como comprometido diante de um déficit linguístico. Este trabalho também visou a ampliar a amostra de crianças sem queixas de linguagem submetidas à  avaliação por meio do MABILIN (Módulos de Avaliação de Habilidades Linguísticas), em desenvolvimento no LAPAL (Laboratório de Psicolinguí­stica e Aquisição da Linguagem - PUC-RIO), na padronização do teste, de modo a obter-se uma caracterização do desenvolvimento linguístico no Português do Brasil (PB), que possa ser tomada como referência na avaliação de problemas de linguagem e, particularmente, do DEL. Foram avaliadas 30 crianças de cerca de 6 anos de idade, com e sem queixas de aprendizagem, de nível sócio-econômico baixo na rede de ensino público da Secretaria de Estado de Educação do Distrito Federal. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o desempenho de crianças com queixas de aprendizagem foi, de maneira geral, inferior ao das crianças sem queixas de aprendizagem. Tanto em tarefas de compreensão de sentenças simples ativas, passivas reversíveis/irreversíveis, coordenadas, relativas e interrogativas QU, como em tarefas cuja compreensão se faz dependente de concordância de gênero e número, a diferença entre as crianças com queixas de aprendizagem e as crianças sem queixas mostrou-se significativa. Os resultados indicam dificuldades de ordem linguística compartilhadas com o DEL, ainda que o efeito de grupo, independentemente das variáveis linguísticas manipuladas, apontando para um pior desempenho do grupo com queixas de aprendizagem, sugira dificuldades de outra ordem interferindo no desempenho linguístico. O resultado no teste de ToM revela que o grupo de crianças com queixas de aprendizagem, mais do que grupo controle, tem dificuldade em prever a ação de um personagem a partir da atribuição de uma crença falsa a este. Dificuldades no uso de pistas para a solução de tarefas linguísticas e na elaboração de inferências dependentes de ToM pode, portanto, comprometer o desempenho escolar desse grupo. / [en] The primary aim of this dissertation is to evaluate the linguistic performance of 30 children with learning impairment in order to verify the extent to which these difficulties are equivalent to those that characterize the performance of SLI (Specific Language Impairment) children. The performance of children with learning impairment was also evaluated by means of a classic false belief task intended to assess their development as far as Theory of Mind is concerned, since this development has been pointed to be compromised in face of linguistic impairment. Moreover, this research aimed to enlarge the sample of children without language impairment whose linguistic performance is assessed by means of a set of tests (Modules for the Evaluation on Linguistic Abilities), that has been developed in LAPAL (Laboratório de Psicolinguí­stica e Aquisição de Linguagem - PUC-RIO), intended to identify those aspects of language that are particularly affected in SLI Brazilian Portuguese speaking children. The performance of 30 children with and without learning impairment, of low economical background and age average by 6 years old was evaluated at a public school in the outskirts of Brasilia, Federal District, Brazil. The results show that the performance of children with learning impairment was, generally, lower in comparison with children without learning impairment. The performance in comprehension tasks focusing on simple active and passive sentences, reversible/irreversible, coordinated, relative clauses, WH interrogatives, and in tasks focusing on the processing of gender and number agreement was significantly different between children with and without learning impairment. The results indicate linguistics difficulties shared with Specific Language Impairment in the learning impaired group, even though the effect of group, independently of the linguistic variable manipulated, suggests that difficulties of a different order might affect their linguistic performance. The result of the test of false belief task shows that the group with learning impairment, more than the control group, has difficulty in foreseeing the action of a character from a false belief attribution. Difficulties in using clues in the solution of the linguistic tasks and in the elaboration of dependent inferences of ToM can therefore impair the school performance of this group.

O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar o desempenho psicolingüístico de crianças com Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem (DEL) com o de crianças que apresentam desenvolvimento típico de linguagem (DTL), apontando os marcadores psicolingüísticos mais significativos do distúrbio e também comparar a eficácia de dois métodos de intervenção - Modelo de Intervenção no Meio e Modelo Neuropsicolingüístico - no desempenho psicolingüístico das crianças com DEL. Participaram desta investigação 12 pré-escolares de ambos os gêneros, com idade entre 4:0 - 6:11 anos, sendo metade deles pertencentes ao grupo experimental - crianças com DEL, submetidos à intervenção - e os demais ao grupo controle - crianças com DTL, não submetidos à intervenção. A quantificação do rendimento dos sujeitos nas distintas dimensões psicolingüísticas foi obtida mediante a utilização de diversos instrumentos, com o propósito de avaliar o nível primário, secundário e terciário da recepção e produção lingüística. Posteriormente às avaliações préintervenção, o grupo experimental foi distribuído aleatoriamente em dois grupos e submetido a dois diferentes modelos terapêuticos (primeiro ciclo), com duração de quatro meses. Ao fim deste ciclo foi reavaliado, submetido a quatro meses de terapia em que os Modelos foram alternados e os grupos novamente reavaliados. A análise estatística revelou a existência de diferença estatisticamente significante entre o desempenho do grupo experimental e controle em vários níveis de análise e produção lingüística, sendo os marcadores mais significativos encontrados os que envolvem a discriminação auditiva, análise fonológica, recepção e organização morfossintática, memória de curto prazo e habilidades pragmáticas quanto ao uso de turnos expansivos. Já a comparação da eficácia dos dois Modelos de intervenção propostos revelou que as distintas habilidades psicolingüísticas responderam de forma diferente aos mesmos, sugerindo que a combinação das estratégias dos Modelos investigados possa ser o melhor caminho quando se deseja intervir nos quadros de crianças cujas dificuldades encontram-se situadas nos níveis de análise e produção lingüística investigados neste trabalho. / This study aimed to compare the psycholinguistic performance of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) to children with Typical Language Development (TLD), pointing out the most significant psycholinguistic markers, and to compare the effectiveness of two intervention methods, Milieu Teaching Approach and Neuropsycholinguistic Model, in the psycholinguistic performance of children with SLI. The subjects were 12 pre-school boys and girls, 4:00 to 6:11 years old; half of them took part in the experimental group - children with SLI submitted to intervention - and the others in the control group - children with TLD not submitted to intervention. The subject performance quantification in distinct psycholinguistic dimensions was obtained through several tools in order to evaluate the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of linguistic reception and production. After pre-intervention evaluations, the experimental group was randomly distributed into two study groups and submitted to two different therapeutic models (first cycle) during four months. At the end of this cycle, it was evaluated again, submitted to four-month therapy with alternating Models and re-evaluated. Statistical analysis showed the existence of statistically significant difference in the performance between the experimental group and the control one in several levels of linguistic analysis and production. The most significant markers involve auditory discrimination, phonological analysis, morphosyntactic reception and production, short-term memory and pragmatic abilities in relation to the use of expansive turns. The comparison of the effectiveness between the two proposed Models showed that distinct psycholinguistic abilities responded differently to themselves, which suggests that the combination of strategies of the studied Models be the best way to intervene in the performance of children whose difficulties lie in the investigated analysis and linguistic production levels of this study.

Os objetivos deste estudo foram correlacionar o desempenho de crianças com Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem (DEL) nas provas de memória de trabalho e de compreensão de sentenças e verificar, entre as duas provas de memória de trabalho utilizadas, qual a mais eficaz para discriminar crianças com DEL, quando comparadas a crianças com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem (DTL). Foram selecionadas 66 crianças, com idades variando de 37 meses (3:1 anos) a 131 meses (10:11 anos), divididas em três grupos de 22 crianças: um grupo experimental, de crianças com diagnóstico de DEL, e dois grupos controle, de crianças com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem e aprendizagem (DTLA). O primeiro grupo controle (n=22) foi pareado pela idade psicolinguística (GCIPL) e, o segundo (n=22), pareado pela idade cronológica (GCIC). A memória de trabalho foi obtida por meio das provas de repetição de pseudopalavras (PP) e de memória seqüencial para dígitos (ITPA DG), e a compreensão de sentenças por meio do \"Token Test\". A comparação entre o desempenho dos grupos foi realizada pelo teste \"t\" de Student, a correlação entre as provas de memória de trabalho e compreensão de sentenças foi realizada pela correlação de Pearson e, para verificar qual a melhor prova para discriminar as crianças com DEL, utilizou-se a curva ROC. As análises demonstraram que os sujeitos do grupo experimental apresentaram menor número de acertos nas três provas aplicadas (p<0,05). Foi encontrada correlação positiva entre as provas de memória de trabalho e a prova de compreensão de sentenças (PP --> r=0,42, p=0,049; ITPA DG --> r=0,74, p<0,001). Entre as duas provas relacionadas à memória de trabalho, a que demonstrou ter o melhor índice discriminatório de crianças com DEL foi a de pseudopalavras, com acurácia de 95%. Concluiu-se que houve correlação positiva entre a memória de trabalho e o aspecto da linguagem, compreensão, e que a melhor forma de discriminar crianças com DEL e crianças com DTL, entre as duas analisadas é a prova de pseudopalavras. / The objectives of this study was to correlate the children\'s performance with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in the working memory and sentences comprehension tasks and to verify among the two working memory tasks used, which one is more effective to discriminate children with SLI, when compared to children with typical language development (TLD). It was selected 66 children with ages varying of 37 months (3:1 years) to 131 months (10:11 years), divided in 3 groups of 22 children, being one a experimental group of children with diagnosis of SLI and two control groups of children with typical development of language and learning (TDLA), being the first control group (n=22) matched by the psycholinguistic age (CGPLA) and the second (n=22) matched by the chronological age (CGCA). The working memory was obtained through the nonwords repetition (NW) and digit span (ITPA DG) tasks, and the sentences comprehension through \"Token Test\". The comparison among the groups performance was accomplished by the Student\'s t-test, the correlation between the working memory and sentences comprehension tasks was accomplished by the Pearson correlation, and to verify which one is the best task to discriminate the children with SLI, the ROC curve analyses was used. The analyses demonstrated that the experimental group subject presented smaller number of successes in the three applied tasks (p <0,05). It was found positive correlation between the working memory and sentences comprehension tasks (NW-->r=0,42, p=0,049; ITPA DG-->r=0,74, p <0,001). Among the two tasks regarding the working memory, the one that demonstrated to be the best discriminatory index of children with SLI was the NW, with accuracy of 95%. Therefore it is ended that there was positive correlation among the working memory and the aspect of the language, comprehension. And the best form of discriminating children with SLI and children with TLD, among the analyzed two, is the NW task.

[pt] Esta dissertação tem como objetivo principal discutir e analisar a possibilidade de se avaliar a expressão obrigatória de argumentos de verbos como índice de manifestação do Déficit Especificamente Lingüístico (DEL) em Português do Brasil (PB) e de prover uma marca clínica para o diagnóstico do DEL com base nessa análise. Tem ainda como objetivo ampliar a amostra de crianças com queixas de linguagem submetidas a uma avaliação lingüística teoricamente embasada, na construção do banco de dados do projeto MABILIN (Módulos de Avaliação de Habilidades Lingüísticas) do LAPAL (Laboratório de Psicolingüística e Aquisição da Linguagem), com vistas a verificar os aspectos lingüísticos mais atingidos no PB. Participaram desse estudo crianças com suspeita de DEL e crianças com desenvolvimento normal de linguagem com 3 e 5 anos. Foram realizados sete experimentos de produção eliciada que avaliam, particularmente, a expressão de argumentos externo (sujeito) e internos (objeto direto, objeto indireto), assim como de adjuntos. Os resultados obtidos sugerem um comprometimento na condução da computação sintática da estrutura argumental de verbos em crianças DEL, o que resulta particularmente na omissão do sujeito em contexto sintaticamente obrigatório. Conclui- se que a omissão do sujeito no contexto obrigatório aqui caracterizado pode ser tomada como um índice do DEL no PB. / [en] This dissertation aims at examining the possibility of taking the obligatory expression of verbs arguments as an index of Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and at providing a clinical criterion for SLI diagnoses on the basis of this analysis. A further goal is to enlarge the sample of children with language problems whose linguistic performance is assessed by means of a set of tests (Modules for the Evaluation of Linguistic Abilities) that has been developed in LAPAL (Laboratório de Psicolingüística e Aquisição da Linguagem), in order to identify those aspects of language that are particularly affected in BP. Children with a probable diagnosis of SLI and normally developing children from 3 to 5 years of age constitute the sample. Seven experiments were carried out by means of an elicited production task, which aimed at evaluating the expression of the arguments of the verb -- external argument (subject) and the internal arguments (direct object, indirect object), as well as adjuncts. The results suggest that children in the SLI group have difficulty in the syntactic computation of the verbs argument structure, which is particularly manifested in the omission of the subject argument in an obligatory context. It is concluded that subject omission in the obligatory context characterized here can be taken as an index of SLI in BP.

The diploma thesis deals with speech and language therapeutic issues. It follows children's speech and language development mainly from morphological - syntactic level. It focuses on grammar skills of children at the beginning of school attendance that are evaluated by a newly developed diagnostic material named Test gramatiky pro školní začátečníky, ie Grammar test for school beginners. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with language ontogenesis and development of language levels with a focus on morphological - syntactic level and its diagnostic. It describes grammar issues in detail, its development as well as diagnostic materials used in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. The third chapter presents various diagnosis related to the research where the grammar language level was observed. Particular attention is dedicated to specific language impairment. The empirical part of the thesis represents quantitative research. It evaluates, on a sample of 170 children, practical use of the new test, which is focused on the grammar language level. The research was completed by the method of observation of children and also the feedback and evaluation of the test by clinical speech and language therapists. Through the analysis of acquired data it was found that children with specific language...

Die Rolle des Arbeitsgedächtnisses für die Sprachentwicklung, insbesondere die Wortschatzentwicklung ist mittlerweile überzeugend nachgewiesen (z.B. Hasselhorn &amp; Werner, 2000). Daran anknüpfend beschäftigt sich die vorliegende Studie mit der Wortschatzentwicklung bei dysgrammatisch bzw. spezifisch sprachgestörten Grundschulkindern und mit dem Einfluss des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses auf diesen Entwicklungsprozess. Besonders die Arbeitsgruppe um Gathercole und Baddeley konnten in einer Vielzahl von Arbeiten (z.B. Gathercole &amp; Baddeley, 1990 a, b, 1993) stabile Zusammenhänge zwischen Arbeitsgedächtnis und Wortschatz bzw. Sprache bei normalentwickelten Kindern und spezifisch sprachgestörten Kindern nachweisen. Sie differenzieren 2 Komponenten des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses: den phonetischen Speicher, in dem akustische Informationen 1,5 bis 2 s erhalten bleibt und dann zerfällt, wenn diese Information nicht durch den Rehearsalprozess, eine Art inneres Sprechen wiederholt und damit aufgefrischt und erhalten wird. Das Arbeitsgedächtnis wurde dabei bevorzugt über das Nachsprechen von Kunstwörtern erfasst. Bezüglich dieses Vorgehen gaben z.B. Snowling, Chiat und Hulme (1991) und Bowey (1996, 2001) zu bedenken, dass durch die Komplexität des Kunstwörternachsprechens und die Redundanz zu anderen Aspekten der sprachlichen Verarbeitung der Einfluss des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses überschätzt werden könnte. Sie schlagen daher vor, eher allgemein von phonologischer Verarbeitung zu sprechen und das phonologische Arbeitsgedächtnis nicht davon zu differenzieren, zumindest müsse die Unabhängigkeit des Einflusses des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses von der phonologischen Bewusstheit nachgewiesen werden. Die Leistungsfähigkeit des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses hängt von den Qualitätsmerkmalen seiner beiden Komponenten ab. Nach Hasselhorn, Grube und Mähler (2000) lassen sich für beide Komponenten jeweils zwei Merkmale identifizieren: Die Qualität des phonetischen Speichers hängt von dessen zeitlich dimensionierter Größe und von der Präzision ab, mit der er akustische Information ablegt und wiedergibt. Die Leistungsfähigkeit des subvokalen Rehearsalprozesses wird von seiner (automatischen) Aktivierbarkeit und seiner Geschwindigkeit bestimmt. Längsschnittlich zeigten Gathercole, Willis, Emslie, &amp; Baddeley (1992) Zusammenhänge zwischen früherem Arbeitsgedächtnis und späterem Wortschatz im Alter bis zu sechs Jahren, im Grundschulalter kehrte sich der Zusammenhang um. Diese Beiträge motivierten die vorliegende Arbeit, in der die Fragen gestellt wurden, ob sich das phonologische Gedächtnis von der phonologischen Verarbeitung im allgemeinen differenzieren lässt, welche Qualitätsmerkmale des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses bei sprachgestörten Kindern defizitär sind und wie sich die Entwicklungsdynamiken zwischen phonologischem Arbeitsgedächtnis und Wortschatz bei sprachgestörten und sprachlich unauffälligen Kindern gestalten. Um dies zu klären, wurde eine Längsschnittstudie realisiert, bei der 64 normalentwickelte und 33 sprachgestörte Kinder im Laufe des ersten und zweiten Grundschuljahres dreimal untersucht wurden; der zweite und dritte Meßzeitpunkt bildeten im wesentlichen die Grundlage der vorliegenden Arbeit. Es fanden sich starke empirische Argumente für die Position, dass Störungen im phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnis eine Hauptursache für die Sprachauffälligkeiten dysgrammatisch-sprachgestörter Kinder sind. Abweichend von den Ergebnissen bei sprachlich unauffälligen Kindern, zeigten die sprachgestörten Kinder geringere Leistungen in allen Bereichen, weniger und niedrigere Korrelationen, das phonologische Arbeitsgedächtnis ließ sich faktorenanalytisch von der phonologischen Bewusstheit und dem phonologischen Langzeitwissen klar trennen. Bei der Betrachtung der vier Merkmale des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses (Hasselhorn, Grube &amp; Mähler, 2000) zeigte sich kein Einsatz der Rehearsalstrategie und eine geringere Geschwindigkeit (letzteres vielleicht auch der Ausdruck eingeschränkter Sprechmotorik, siehe Gathercole, Service et al., 1999). Es gab einen Gruppenunterschied bei der Variablen für die Qualität des phonetischen Speichers. Auch die zeitliche Dimension schien reduziert, die sprachgestörten Kinder zeigten bei langen Kunstwörtern einen größeren Leistungsabfall. Bei verrauscht dargebotenen Kunstwörtern ließ sich nach Ausschluss des Einflusses von Alter und Intelligenz kein Gruppenunterschied mehr nachweisen, der bei unverrauscht dargebotenen Kunstwörtern vorhanden war, so dass die Qualität des phonetischen Speichers eine wesentliche Rolle für die Sprachentwicklung zu spielen scheint. Bei den dysgrammatischen Kindern ließ sich weiterhin eine kausale Asymmerie zwischen phonologischem Arbeitsgedächtnis und Wortschatz finden, dergestalt, dass das frühere phonologische Arbeitsgedächtnis einen größeren Einfluss auf den späteren Wortschatz hatte, als umgekehrt. Diese wurde wegen des Entwicklungsrückstands der sprachgestörten Kinder in dieser Form erwartet, bei den sprachlich-unauffälligen Kindern ließ sich kein Zusammenhang zeigen. Die phonologische Bewusstheit zeigte keinen entwicklungsrelevanten Einfluss auf den Wortschatz. Zusammenfassend ist zu sagen, dass die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Studie die Hypothese stützen, dass die Ursache für kindliche Störungen des Spracherwerbs im phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnis und speziell in der Qualität des phonetischen Speichers zu suchen sind. Literatur Bowey, J. A. (1996). On the association between phonological memory and receptive vocabulary in five-year-olds. Journal of Experimantel Child Psychology, 63(1), 44-78. Bowey, J. A. (2001). Nonword repetition and young children`s receptive vocabulary: a longitudinal study. Applied Psycholinguistics, 22, 441-469. Gathercole, S. E. &amp; Baddeley, A. D. (1990a). Phonological memory deficits in language disordered children: Is there a cusal connection? Journal of Educational Psychology, 29, 336-360. Gathercole, S. E. &amp; Baddeley, A. D. (1990b). 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