The UJI advances in the diagnosis of specific language impairment in children



[Valencià](/upo/rest/publicacion/idioma/ca?urlRedirect=https://www.uji.es/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/&url=/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/&urlRedirect=http://www.uji.es/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/ "Cambiar idioma a català")
[Español](/upo/rest/publicacion/idioma/es?urlRedirect=https://www.uji.es/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/&url=/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/&urlRedirect=http://www.uji.es/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/ "Cambiar idioma a español")
[English](#0)

Mobile menu

* [Profile](#0)
  + [Future students](/perfils/futurs/)
  + [UJI students](/perfils/estudiantat/uji/)
  + [PDI-PI](/perfils/pdipas/base/pdi/)
  + [PTGAS](/perfils/pdipas/base/pas/)
  + [AlumniSAUJI](/serveis/alumnisauji/)
  + [Companies and institutions](/perfils/empresa/)
* [Tools](#0)
  + [Virtual Classroom](https://aulavirtual.uji.es/)
  + [CAU](https://cau.uji.es/)
  + [Directory](//www.uji.es/institucional/contacta/)
  + [Gmail](http://gmail.uji.es/)
  + [Intranet (IGLU)](//www.uji.es/upo/rest/iglu/)
  + [Virtual Office](/seu/)
  + [Academic information (SIA)](http://sia.uji.es/)
  + [Others](//www.uji.es/serveis/scp/eines/)
* [Valencià](/upo/rest/publicacion/idioma/ca?urlRedirect=https://www.uji.es/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/&url=/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/&urlRedirect=http://www.uji.es/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/ "Cambiar idioma a català")
  [Español](/upo/rest/publicacion/idioma/es?urlRedirect=https://www.uji.es/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/&url=/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/&urlRedirect=http://www.uji.es/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/ "Cambiar idioma a español")
  [English](#0)

[# Universitat Jaume I](/)

* [# Universitat Jaume I](/)
* [Profile](#0)
  + [Future students](/perfils/futurs/)
  + [UJI students](/perfils/estudiantat/uji/)
  + [PDI-PI](/perfils/pdipas/base/pdi/)
  + [PTGAS](/perfils/pdipas/base/pas/)
  + [AlumniSAUJI](/serveis/alumnisauji/)
  + [Companies and institutions](/perfils/empresa/)
* [Tools](#0)
  + [Virtual Classroom](https://aulavirtual.uji.es/)
  + [CAU](https://cau.uji.es/)
  + [Directory](//www.uji.es/institucional/contacta/)
  + [Gmail](http://gmail.uji.es/)
  + [Intranet (IGLU)](//www.uji.es/upo/rest/iglu/)
  + [Virtual Office](/seu/)
  + [Academic information (SIA)](http://sia.uji.es/)
  + [Others](//www.uji.es/serveis/scp/eines/)
* [Studies](/mapa/estudis/)
  + [Studies](/mapa/estudis/)
  + [Bachelor’s degrees](/estudis/)
  + [University master’s degrees](/estudis/?p_estudio=m)
  + [Doctoral studies](/estudis/oferta/doctorat/)
  + [Lifelong learning](/estudis/base/formacio-permanent/)
* [Research and innovation](/investigacio/)
  + [Research and innovation](/investigacio/)
  + [Research portal](/investigacio/)
  + [Innovation](/innovacio/)
  + [Doctoral studies](/centres/escola-doctorat/)
  + [HRS4R](/investigacio/hrs4r/)
* [International](/internacional/)
  + [International](/internacional/)
  + [International Students](/internacional/base/estudiantat/estudiantado-internacional/)
  + [Exchange Programmes](/serveis/ori/base/programes-intercanvi/)
  + [Study Abroad](/internacional/base/study-abroad/)
* [UJI](/mapa/uji/)
  + [UJI](/mapa/uji/)
  + [Get to know the UJI](/mapa/uji/coneix-uji/)
  + [Structure and organisation](/institucional/estructura/)
  + [Strategy and quality](/institucional/estrategia/)
  + [Transparency](/transparencia/)
  + [Public integrity](/transparencia/liniaetica/)
  + [News](/actualitat/)
  + [Contact the UJI](/institucional/contacta/)
* [University life](/mapa/vida-universitaria/)
  + [University life](/mapa/serveis/)
  + [Library](/serveis/cd/)
  + [Campus](/mapa/uji/coneix-uji/campus/)
  + [Culture](/cultura/)
  + [Sports](/esports/)
  + [InfoCampus](/serveis/infocampus/)

[UJI](/)
[News](/com/sumari/noticies/)

## The UJI advances in the diagnosis of specific language impairment in children UJI lecturer has developed a clinical marker in Spanish to detect this condition that affects speech in children aged 8 to 10

03/10/2016 |
SCP

Compartir

Compartir

×

Linkedin

BlueSky

Facebook

Mastodon

Whatsapp

Gmail

Imprimir

* [![ tel UJI_Girbau_01](/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2016/10/tel/UJI_Girbau_01.jpg)](#)

The lecturer of Basic Psychology at the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) Dolors Girbau has created a new clinical marker in Spanish to advance in the diagnosis of the condition known as *specific language impairment*, which affects between 6% and 7% of children under seven years. The findings of the research that has validated this new procedure for children aged between eight and ten years are published in the journal *First Language*.

The specific language impairment (SLI) affects children’s oral skills both at expressive level –limited vocabulary, simple or erroneous morphosyntactic structures, etc.– and at comprehension level. In addition, SLI is often accompanied by a lack of short-term memory. "It is essential to early detect this pathology in order to implement appropriate treatments. For this reason, possible hearing or intellectual capacity deficits have to be also discarded", states Girbau.

The work led by the UJI researcher consisted on designing a specific type of test, called *Non-word Repetition Task* (NRT), which was administered to 40 children in the town of Castelló (Spain), 20 of them as a control. "The field work consisted of presenting a model of fictitious words with special features –different number of syllables or different combination of phonemes, among others–, to a children sample, who had to repeat every *pseudoword*", explains the lecturer. Children with SLI from 8 to 10 years obtained a significantly lower percentage of correctly repeated pseudowords compared to age-matched controls; errors increased as the number of syllables in the pseudowords increased. Both groups of primary education students were given a comprehensive battery of psycholinguistic tests, in addition to an intelligence test and audiometries.

The same research group published previously other data on this task (NRT) in Spanish-speaking children samples from New York, with similar results. The study was conducted in collaboration with the professor Richard G. Schwartz from the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York. The aforementioned research, in Dolors Girbau’s words, "demonstrate the limitations in short-term working memory usually shown by the population with SLI in several languages, thus bringing a new clinical marker in Spanish. This task of repeating pseudowords "will also help improve the diagnosis of SLI in the Spanish-speaking population”, she adds.

The UJI lecturer, Dolors Girbau, together with her team, also reported results on other SLI clinical markers, including magnetic resonance image (MRI) studies that showed a smaller volume of grey or white matter in brain areas related to oral language or reading. Currently, they are working on studies of functional magnetic resonance image and evoked potentials, which will allow further progress in the knowledge of the neurocognitive bases of SLI. These data are intended to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this oral language pathology, which sometimes ends up affecting reading. In fact, this comorbidity was demonstrated in the aforementioned MRI study that presented the neuroanatomical basis in children samples with SLI accompanied by reading deficits, whose results were published in *Neuropsychologia*.

Dolors Girbau is a lecturer in the Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology from the Universitat Jaume I. She holds a doctorate in Psychology from the University of Barcelona and a master’s degree in Speech Therapy from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She directed the UJI Master’s Degree in Speech Therapy for seven years. She has collaborated with research groups in New York and has been the main researcher of several research projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and UJI-Bancaja. Her current research is related to the neurocognitive basis of SLI and bilingualism.

Girbau Massana, Dolors. “The Non-word Repetition Task as a clinical marker of Specific Language Impairment in Spanish-speaking children”. *First Language* (2016). v. 36, n. 1, pp. 30-49. DOI: 10.1177/0142723715626069

Information provided by:
[Communication and Publications Service](/serveis/scp/)

About us

[Home](/com/investigacio/cienciauji/)
[UCC+I](/serveis/scp/ucc/)

Research dissemination

[Ciència TV blog](/com/investigacio/arxiu/ciencia-uji-tv/)
[Ciència UJI newsletter](/com/investigacio/arxiu/ciencia-uji/)
[Horizon Europe newsletter](/com/investigacio/docs/butlleti-horizon-europe/)
[Comboi, a trip through science](/com/investigacio/docs/podcast-comboi-viatge-per-la-ciencia/)
[Scientific news](/com/investigacio/sumari/noticies/ )
[Easy reading news](/com/investigacio/docs/noticies-de-lectura-facil)
[News magazine. Research](/com/revista/tematica/investiga/)
[Radio](http://www.radio.uji.es/programa.php?id=46 )

Scientific divulgation

[Experimenta UJI](/com/investigacio/docs/experimenta-uji/)
[Innobar, con b de bar (Espaitec)](https://espaitec.uji.es/podcast-innobar-con-b-de-bar/)
[Magazine «Humanes i Socials»](https://humanesisocials.uji.es)
[H2020 Projects](/com/investigacio/docs/butlleti-h2020/)
[Projects and papers COVID-19](/com/investigacio/docs/estudis-articles-covid-19/)
[Research pitches](/com/investigacio/research-pitches/)
[The Conversation](/com/investigacio/docs/the-conversation/)
[UJI Divulga (Onda Cero)](/com/investigacio/docs/uji-divulga-onda-cero/)
[Scientific vocabulary](/com/investigacio/docs/vocabulari-cientific/)

Projects and studies

[Projects and studies](/serveis/scp/ucc/projectes/)

Resources of interest

[Divulgateca](http://www.divulgateca.es)

External networks

[CRUE](https://www.crue.org/)
[FECYT](https://www.fecyt.es/es/info/que-son)
[RUVID](https://ruvid.org/)



Useful links

[University card](http://www.carnet.uji.es/)

[Multimedia catalogue](http://jecom.uji.es/)

[University press](/serveis/scp/publ/)

[Web map](//www.uji.es/mapa/)

[Educational model](//www.uji.es/institucional/estrategia/modeleducatiu/)

[Language Observatory](/serveis/ol/)

[Open Knowledge Portal](/serveis/cd/bib/pco/)

[UJI shop](http://www.tenda.uji.es/)

[Security and privacy center](https://www.uji.es/organs/ouag/sg/docs/politiques/gen/)
|
[Website legal notice](https://www.uji.es/comu/avislegal/avislegalicondicions/)
|
[Accessibility policy](https://www.uji.es/serveis/ura/base/accessibilitat/)

Information and queries:
[UJI suggestion box](/comu/forms/bustia)

Universitat Jaume I CIF: Q-6250003-H Av. Vicent Sos Baynat, s/n 12071
Castellón de la Plana,
España

Tel.: +34 964 72 80 00