Issues in the diagnosis of SLI in Cypriot Greek bilingual children
Date Issued
September 2012
Abstract
It is important to investigate children’s language skills in their native linguistic variety because diagnosis, and
intervention (therapy), cannot be based on findings from other languages or varieties which have different
properties. Likewise, all first language assessments must be appropriate for children who acquire their native
variety — in the present study, Cypriot Greek (CG). This paper assesses the utility of existing tools in the
diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI) in CG. In total, 16 children with SLI ranging from 5 to 9
years of age and 22 age-matched typically developing children participated in this study. Results showed that
the existing tools can be used to identify children with SLI, but only when the comparison is between
children that use the same variety. However, a proper adaptation to CG is needed, given that due to cultural
and linguistic differences, not all the stimuli from the Standard Greek versions were equally appropriate for
Greek Cypriot children, who are here termed bilectal in the two linguistic varieties.
intervention (therapy), cannot be based on findings from other languages or varieties which have different
properties. Likewise, all first language assessments must be appropriate for children who acquire their native
variety — in the present study, Cypriot Greek (CG). This paper assesses the utility of existing tools in the
diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI) in CG. In total, 16 children with SLI ranging from 5 to 9
years of age and 22 age-matched typically developing children participated in this study. Results showed that
the existing tools can be used to identify children with SLI, but only when the comparison is between
children that use the same variety. However, a proper adaptation to CG is needed, given that due to cultural
and linguistic differences, not all the stimuli from the Standard Greek versions were equally appropriate for
Greek Cypriot children, who are here termed bilectal in the two linguistic varieties.
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