The assessment of verbal learning and memory with the rey auditive- verbal learning test in children with developmental language disorder

Abstract

Background and objectives: Academic performance is highly influenced by the declarative memory storage and retrieval of verbal information. To date, little research has been conducted to investigate these processes in children with language impairment. The aim of our own research is to describe the characteristics of verbal learning and memory among learners with specific language impairment based on a comparison with a typically developing control group matched on chronological age and nonverbal intelligence.

Method: The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test was used in the study. In addition to traditional performance indicators, our evaluation also used indicators from the methodology of quantified process analysis.

Results: Children with specific language impairment lagged behind the control group in all aspects of the trials measuring the acquisition of the word list and its memory retrieval. However, in the recognition test they did not differ in the identification of previously heard words expressed by the total number of correct hits. At the beginning of the learning trials, taking into account the difference in short-term memory capacity eliminated the difference in verbal learning. Based on the process analysis, the difference in scores between groups is explained by the initial narrower capacity and lower efficiency of memory retrieval in children with SLI, while the learnability and memory storage measured through a series of repetitions are similar to those of typically developing pee rs.

Conclusions: Our results are broadly in line with previous results, especially with respect to the outlined background mechanisms. The difficulties observed during short- and long-term development can be traced back to the initial coding process, which can be interpreted as a consequence of the limited capacity available for cognitive processing in children with specific language impairment.

Keywords: SLI, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, verbal memory, quantified process approach