In this chapter, I review recent research into language acquisition in developmental disorders, and the light that these findings shed on the nature of language acquisition in typically developing children. Disorders considered include Specific Language Impairment, autism, Down syndrome, and Williams syndrome. I argue that disorders of language should be construed in terms of differences in the constraints that shape the learning process, rather than in terms of the normal system with components missing or malfunctioning. I outline the integrative nature of this learning process and how properties such as redundancy and compensation may be key characteristics of learning systems with atypical constraints. These ideas, as well as the new methodologies now being used to study variations in pathways of language acquisition, are illustrated with case studies from Williams syndrome and Specific Language Impairment.
Romero-Rivas, Carlos, Sara Rodríguez-Cuadrado, Lucía Sabater, Pablo Rodríguez Gómez, Irene Hidalgo de la Guía, Eva M. Moreno & Elena Garayzábal Heinze
2023. Beyond the conservative hypothesis: a meta-analysis of lexical-semantic processing in Williams syndrome. Language and Cognition 15:3 ► pp. 526 ff.
Shevchuk-Kliuzheva, Olha & Marzena Błasiak-Tytuła
2023. The Vocabulary Skills of Ukrainian Pre-schoolers in Poland. Cognitive Studies | Études cognitives :23
Kail, Michèle & Philippe Bonnet
2017. Atypies langagières de l'enfance à l'âge adulte. In Atypies langagières de l'enfance à l'âge adulte, ► pp. 115 ff.
Dockrell, Julie E. & Chloë R. Marshall
2015. Measurement Issues: Assessing language skills in young children. Child and Adolescent Mental Health 20:2 ► pp. 116 ff.
Xu, Dongxin, Jeffrey A. Richards & Jill Gilkerson
2014. Automated Analysis of Child Phonetic Production Using Naturalistic Recordings. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 57:5 ► pp. 1638 ff.
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