Grammatical analysis of developmental language disorders: A study of the morphosyntax of children with specific language disorders, with hearing impairment and with Down's syndrome

Abstract

Using a Dutch adaptation of the LARSP procedure by Crystal, Fletcher and Garman (1976) this investigation aimed at two questions: (1) is it possible to discern patterns in the morphosyntax of three groups of language-disordered children: children with specific language disorders, children with hearing impairment and children with Down's syndrome? and (2) can these patterns be related to the clinical characteristics of the children? Analysis of samples of spontaneous speech produced an affirmative answer to the first question. The answer to the second question is that the different clinical characteristics of the children did not so much lead to different kinds of language disorders as to differences in the degree of being language-disordered. The three groups of children showed more commonalities than differences in producing morphosyntax.

Key Words:

• Grammatical analysis
• child language disorders