ABSTRACT

The investigation of language impairments in children has an extensive record. With the exception of the condition now classified as specific language impairment (SLI), much of the literature has focused on the clinical conditions in which language impairment appears as a concomitant condition, such as Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, mental retardation, autism, and, more recently, fragile X syndrome. Funding for research and the associated culture of review has, within the United States at least, been defined more by the clinical categories than the common elements of language impairment. This separation of effort has led to important and fundamental discoveries and has had many advantages, not the least of which is the successful advocacy of funding according to diagnostic category.