Neural Correlates of Processing Syntax in Music and ... - PubMan

Specific Language Impairment 84
missed due to the delay. Szagun (2001) provided evidence against this hypothesis, demonstrating
more extended and flexible critical periods in language acquisition as assumed
before: Cochlea-implanted children were able to acquire language, but their
success was correlated with their pre-operative hearing skills. Moreover, their abilities
in prosodic analyses were essential for their success in language acquisition.
Furthermore, there is some evidence for differences in brain anatomy between children
with SLI and TLD (for a review, see von Suchodoletz & Allmayer, 2001). Anatomic
differences were found, firstly, for the planum temporale (essential for phonological
processing), e.g., a lack the usual leftward asymmetry (Gauger, Lombardino, & Leonard,
1997), or a bilaterally shrunk size (Preis, Jancke, Schittler, Huang, & Steinmetz,
1998); and secondly, for the inferior frontal lobe, e.g., a shrunk pars triangularis
(Gauger et al., 1997), or a different configuration of sulci (Clark & Plante, 1998). In
addition, a reduced cerebral blood flow was found for areas involved in language processing
(cf. von Suchodoletz & Allmayer, 2001). However, it remained elusive, in how
far these differences are crucial for the manifestation of SLI. Moreover, these neurobiological
correlates may differ with respect to the specific pattern of deficiencies which
is very heterogeneous among the children with SLI.
Social and psychological environment are essential for providing the growing up child
with a stimulating atmosphere. There is heterogeneous evidence and controversial discussion
if the socioeconomic status of the family should be regarded as risk factor. Several
studies observed it – measured, e.g., as the level of parent’s education, the number
of siblings, and the position among siblings – as a risk factor for language impairment
(for reviews, see Hoff & Tian, 2005; Noterdaeme, 2001). Other studies did not find
such a relation (e.g., Delgado et al., 2005; Tomblin, Smith et al., 1997).
Children from lower socioeconomic strata acquired language more slowly (Dollaghan et
al., 1999; J. Huttenlocher, Vasilyeva, Cymerman, & Levine, 2002; Rescorla & Alley,
2001), and had poor communication skills (Tomblin, Hardy, & Hein, 1991). This was,
most presumably, related to the nature of their mothers’ talk to them (Hoff, Laursen, &
Tardif, 2002). Parental speech properties (specifically these of maternal speech) are
important for language development (Bornstein, Haynes, & Painter, 2000; Hart & Risley,
1995; Hoff & Naigles, 2002; Weizman & Snow, 2001). An insufficient language
environment is hypothesized as a strong risk factor on the emergence of specific language
impairment, e.g., parents of SLI children were found to show non-appropriate
reactions on their language impairment (for reviews, see Grimm, 2003; Leonard, 1998).
The findings on biological and genetic influences on SLI remain contradictory. SLI is
clinically heterogeneous, and likely influenced by several genes that interact, both with
each other and with the environment, to produce an overall susceptibility to the devel-