Browsing by Author "Plym, Jade"

Objectives. Cognitive functions are developing at preschool age. It is likely that their structure differs from that of older children and adults. However, relatively little is known about relations between different cognitive functions at this age period. Moreover, there is no studies on the structure of cognitive functions in children’s developmental disorders, even though it is not necessarily similar to typically developing. Developmental language disorder (DLD) is characterized by difficulties in linguistic processing and development, although cumulating evidence suggests that there is also atypical features in non-verbal information processing. In order to accumulate understanding on DLD, it is important to study relations between cognitive functions compared to typical development. The goal of this study is to examine and compare the structure of cognitive functions in typically developing and DLD-preschoolers. Methods. 4–7-year-old children’s (N = 155; typically developing, TD-group: n = 66, DLD-group: n = 89) cognitive functions (nonverbal and verbal reasoning, language processing, memory, visuomotor functions, attention and social cognition) were assessed with 22 subtests. Explorative factor analysis and structural equation modelling were performed to examine the structure of cognitive functions in TD-group, and measurement invariance with DLD-group was tested. Results and Conclusions. TD-preschoolers’ structure of cognitive functions was best described with a three-factor model, which included verbal skills, nonverbal skills and processing speed. This result indicates that preschoolers’ cognitive functions might be less differentiated compared to adults. Best fitting structure for DLD-preschoolers comprised of four factors: non-verbal skills, naming/expressing, verbal comprehension and verbal memory. Thus, TD- and DLD-children might use cognitive functions differently. On the other hand, the subtests might differentiate DLD-preschoolers differently compared to typically developing. All in all, results suggest that cognitive functions develop differently in DLD and typical development and support the evidence of broader atypical cognitive mechanisms in DLD.