THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXECUTIVE FUNCTION AND

LANGUAGE ABILITIES IN GRADE SCHOOL CHILDREN

By: Jacquelyn Liesen

Faculty Mentors: Mrs. Jill Fahy & Dr. Rebecca Throneburg

Executive Functions High-Order Cognitive abilities Cognitive Processes

Attentional Control and Shifting Inhibition Working Memory

Fundamental Components Goal Selection Planning/Organizing Initiation/Persistence Flexibility/Shifting Self-monitoring/regulation

Development of Executive Functions & LanguageExecutive FunctionsLongest developmental phase in humans

Birth through mid-20s Developmental spurts

correspond with frontal lobe maturity

Attentional and inhibitory control Rapid development in first few

years of life Planning/organization

Emerging skills throughout childhood

More sophisticated in adolescenceFlexibility/shifting

Emerges in early school-age Matures in adolescence, early 20s

Self-monitoring Not fully developed til late

adolescence/early 20s

LanguageCritical period 0-3Morphology

Generally mastered by age five

Vocabulary acquisition Shifts from oral exposure

to written exposure Proceeds throughout

school years, adolescence Syntax

Spoken syntax levels off in early school years

Written syntax becomes more complex

Literature Review: Relationship Between Language and EFs Few studies in this area

Most involve isolated assessment of EF skills in un-naturalistic environments, with minimal language assessment

Fewer still have evaluated EF behaviors in naturalistic environments

Research has concluded Children with SLI may have a deficit in working memory

(Hoffman & Gillam, Marton & Schwartz) Significance between preschooler's narrative language

abilities and inhibition, working memory, flexibility, and planning (Trainor)

Typically developing adolescents and those with SLI differ in executive functions on the BRIEF (Hughes, Turkstra, and Wulfeck)

Research Questions What is the relationship between executive functions

and receptive language skills in typically developing children ages six and eight years of age?

What is the relationship between executive functions and expressive language skills in typically developing children ages six and eight years of age?

What is the relationship between executive functions and structure language skills in typically developing children ages six and eight years of age?

What is the relationship between executive functions and content language skills in typically developing children ages six and eight years of age?

Subjects

Attending a school in Central Illinois in a regular education classroom

  First Grade Third Grade

Total 14 13

Mean Age 80 months 104 months

Age Range 75-86 months 99-107 months

Speech Disorder

1 3

Language Disorder

0 1

Response to Intervention

5 - reading 2 - reading2 - math

Assessment Measures: Language Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4

Receptive language Clinical Evaluation of Language

Fundamentals-4 Language skills

Core Language Score Expressive Language Index Receptive Language Index Language Content Index Language Structure Index Working Memory Index

Assessment Measures: Executive Functions Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive

Functions – Parent Form Parents’ rating of executive function ability in

naturalistic environment Initiate Working Memory Plan/Organize Organization of Materials Monitor Inhibit Control Shift Control Emotional Control

Global Executive Composite T-scores of 65 and above indicate clinical

significance/area of concern

Results

BRIEF GEC

BRIEF BRI (Behavior Regulation

Index)

BRIEF MI (Metacogniti

on Index)

First Grade:Groups Mean

Standard Deviation

52

12

52

12

52

11

Third Grade:Groups Mean

Standard Deviation

52

14

52

15

53

12

Overall:Groups Mean

Standard Deviation

52

12

52

13

52

11

Means and Standard Deviations of BRIEF

Standard scores represented as T-scores with mean of 50 and a SD of +/-15. T-scores c>65 are considered clinically significant (higher score = more impairment)

Results Means and Standard Deviations of CELF

CELF Core Lang.

CELF Recept

ive Lang.

CELF Expres

s. Lang.

CELF Lang.

Content

CELF Lang. Struct

ure

CELF Workin

g Memor

y

First Grade:Groups Mean

Standard Dev.

104

11

106

9

105

11

105

13

106

9

103

15

Third Grade:Groups Mean

Standard Dev.

107

13

110

12

108

14

111

13

109

10

99

13

Overall:Groups Mean

Standard Dev.

10512

11113

10612

11015

1089

10114

Mean=100. Typical performance = +/- SD of 15

Results Means and Standard Deviations of PPVT

Standard Score

First Grade:Groups Mean

Standard Deviation

104

12

Third Grade:Groups Mean

Standard Deviation

121

22

Overall:Groups Mean

Standard Deviation

112

19Mean=100. Typical performance = +/- SD of 15

Relationship between PPVT and BRIEF Parent

BRIEF GEC

BRIEF BRI(Behavior Regulation

Index)

BRIEF MI(Metacognition Index)

PPVT -.317 -.298 -.371

No significant correlations

Relationship between BRIEF &CELFBRIEF GEC

(Composite)

BRIEF BRI(Behavior Regulation Index: Inhibit Control,

Shift Control, & Emotional Control)

BRIEF MI(Metacognition Index: Initiate,

Working Memory, Plan/Organize, Organization of Materials, &

Monitor)

CELF Core

-.460* -.428* -.443*

CELF Receptive

-.369 -.264 (Shift-.258, Inhibit -.221, Emotional

Control -.312)

-.400* (Initiate-.418*, Working

Memory-.332, Plan/Organize-.288, Monitor -.332, Materials-.110)

CELF Expressive

-.495** -.460* (Shift-.606**, Inhibit-.372, Emotional

Control-.312)

-.489** (Plan/Organize-.579**,

Monitor-.490**, Initiate-.436*, Working Memory-.399,

Materials-.135)

CELF Content

-.282 -.249 (Shift-.323, Inhibit-.195, Emotional

Control-.269)

-.300 (Plan/Organize-.238,

Monitor-.244, Initiate-.281, Working Memory-.196,

Materials-.061)

CELF Structure

-.404* -.348 (Shift-.518**, Inhibit-.328, Emotional

Control--.269)

-.405* (Plan/Organize-.508**,

Monitor-.439*, Initiate-.414*, Working Memory-.333,

Materials-.135)

Sig at the * = .05 ** = .01 level

Clinical Implications

Suggests that expressive communication skills engage not only semantics & syntax, but also EFs.

Expressive language skills are particularly related to planning and organizing, shifting, monitoring, and initiating

Indicate children with weak expressive language skills may also have weak executive function skills.

Successful use of compensatory strategies is dependent upon the presence of intact executive functions

Speech-language pathologists should assess children’s executive functions in addition to language

Avoid assuming that intact executive function skills are available to compensate for weak language skills

Limitations

Small sample with similar demographics.

Executive function behaviors are based on parent report only, without use of direct measures.

Did not assess language in naturalistic environments

Future research

Similar research to validate findings Subtypes of children with specific

language impairment (semantic, syntactic)

Treatment of executive functions for children with language impairments

References

Anderson, P. (2002). Assessment and development of executive function (EF) during childhood. Child Neuropsychology, 8, 71-82.

Anderson, V. A., Anderson, P., Northam, E., Jacobs, R., & Catroppa, C. (2001). Development of executive functions through late childhood and adolescence in and australian sample. Developmental Neuropsychology, 20, 385-406.

Dunn, L., & Dunn, D. (Ed.). (2007). Peabody picture vocabulary test, fourth edition. Minneapolis, MN: Pearson Assessments.

Gioia, G. A., Isquith, P. K., Guy, S. C., & Kenworthy, L. (2000). Behavior rating inventory of executive function. Child Neuropsychology, 6, 235-238.

Hoffman, L. M., & Gillam, R. B. (2004). Verbal and spatial information processing constraints in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 114-125. doi: 1092-4388/04/4701-0114

Hughes, D. M., Turkstra, L. S., & Wulfeck, B. B. (2009). Parent and self-ratings of executive function in adolescents with specific language impairment. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 44(6), 901-916 doi: 10.3109/13682820802425693

References

Im-Bolter, N., Johnson, J., & Pascual-Leone, J. (2006). Processing limitations in children with specific language impairment: The role of executive function. Child Development, 77, 1822-1841.

Marton, K., & Schwartz, R. G. (2003). Working memory capacity and language processes in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 1138-1153. doi: 1092-4388/03/4605-1138

Richard, G. J., & Fahy, J. K. (2005). The source for development of executive functions. East Moline, Illinois: Linguisystems.

Trainor, K. (2010). The relationship between preschool executive function skills and oral narrative skills. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois.

Ye, Z., & Zhou, X. (2009). Executive control in language processing. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33, 1168-1177. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.03.003.