ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes cognitive constructs that have received substantial research attention and that may interact in fundamental ways in language. It highlights three cognitive constructs of interest: processing speed, attention, and perception. The chapter focuses on the cognitive functions associated with the language abilities of children with language disorders and not the broader phenotypes. Processing speed, attention, and perception fit well as potential bottom-up explanatory mechanisms across a breadth of child language disorders. The overall weight of evidence suggests that the observable language deficits in child language disorders are part of a broader cognitive profile(s) that include deficits in processing speed and attention, and likely in preattentive perception. Interventions for children with language disorders that emphasize underlying cognitive function have begun to receive significant attention. Intervention studies are critical to advance our understanding of the nature of child language disorders as well as to help individual children.
