Michelle H. Hutchings and Dr. Martin Fujiki, Speech and Language Pathology

Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is a well documented disability among many schoolaged children. Children with SLI exhibit “significant limitations in language functioning that cannot be attributed to deficits in hearing, oral structure and function, or general intelligence” (Leonard, 1987, p. 1). SLI results in disordered patterns of communication and is associated with academic failure. Increasing evidence also shows that children with SLI suffer from significant social difficulties.

The purpose of this research was to identify specific behaviors which cause social difficulty for children with SLI. Four groups of children were studied: 1) 18 children with SLI ranging from 5 to 7 years of age, 2) 20 children with SLI of 10 to 12 years, 3) 18 typical 5 to 7-year-old children, and 4) 20 typical children of 10 to 12 years. The criteria used by Fujiki et al. (in press) was utilized to define the SLI and typically developing groups. Speech language pathologists in the Alpine, Nebo, and Jordan School Districts were asked to identify the children with SLI. Following parental permission, specific formal test data along with other information was requested from the school speech language pathologist. Classroom teachers of these students with SLI were then asked to identify two typically developing students who were of the same chronological age as the child with SLI. After receiving parental permission from these typical students, one typical student was chosen randomly to be compared with the child with SLI.

The instrument used in this research was the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale.2 This scale consists of two questionnaires (Part A and Part B) and is designed to measure how frequently a child exhibits certain social behaviors, namely: 1) hostile/aggressive, 2) prosocial/conformance, 3) anxious/distractible, 4) withdrawn/solitary, and 5) emotional/impulsive behaviors. This scale was completed by each child’s school teacher about his or her social behaviors. The actual student was never tested or observed. Instead, the teacher was to read statements about a behavior in which he or she was to decide how often the student did the behavior described. The teacher could respond “never, “sometimes,” or “very often.” This scale was completed twice by each teacher: once for the child with SLI and once for the typically developing child.

For the purposes of this research project, the hostile/aggressive sections of the questionnaire were analyzed. Two subtypes of behaviors were tested under the hostile/aggressive behavior: 1) hostile/aggressive pro-active behavior and 2) hostile/aggressive reactive behavior. The hostile/aggressive pro-active sections tested four different factors, or behaviors. These four factors were bullying, verbal relational aggression, instrumental aggression (ex. throwing things at another child), and nonverbal relational aggression. The hostile/aggressive reactive sections tested six factors. These factors were aggressive reaction, avoiding bullies, assertive reaction, being victimized, emotional expression of being victimized, and mis-attribution (ex. misinterprets the friendly intents of others).

To analyze the data, an arc sin square root transformation was performed, and a four way analysis of variance (group x age x gender x subtype of aggression behavior) with repeated measures on subtypes of aggressive behaviors, was performed.

For the hostile/aggressive pro-active subtest, no significant difference in behaviors was found between those children with SLI and the typical children. Additionally, the age difference between the 5 to 7 year-olds and the 10 to 12 year-olds did not produce significant differences in the results.

Other effects within the hostile/aggressive pro-active subtest did produce significant results. The effect of gender was significant (p=.0001), with males consistently scoring higher on hostile/aggressive reactive behaviors. Of the four factors within this sub-test, nonverbal aggression produced a higher mean score than the other three factors, with instrumental aggression having the lowest mean score. This would indicate that most children use nonverbal aggression more often than bullying, verbal aggression, or instrumental aggression.

Results were also gathered for the hostile/aggressive reactive subtest. Unlike the proactive subtest, the scores of the children with SLI varied significantly from the scores of the typical children; as a group, the children with SLI were more aggressive than their typical peers. Although these results cannot be used to identify one individual as a child with SLI, they do show a trend for the entire group of children with SLI. Additionally, although males attained similar aggressive scores at both five and ten years of age, the five-year-old females showed much more aggression than the ten-year-old females. It was also found that of the six ways for children to show hostile/aggressive reactive behaviors, the most commonly used behavior was aggressive/reactive and the least used behavior was misattribution.

Although these findings are in their elementary stages, discovering such information will help lead to better intervention programs in the future. Individual factors which stand out as having significant effects on the social skills of children with SLI can be focused on in the clinical setting to help give these children a better chance at acquiring successful social skills.

References

1. Fujiki, M. et al. (in press). Social skills of children with specific language impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.
2. Hart, C. H., & Robinson, C. C. (I 99 5). Teacher Behavior Rating Scale, Brigham Young University.