Discourse Deficits Associated with Psychiatric Disorders and with Language Impairments in Children

The purpose of the current study was to examine whether types of discourse deficits were associated differentially with psychiatric disorders (PD) and with language impairments (LI) in children. Discourse analyses examining the occurrence of different types of discourse deficits in language structure, information structure, and flow of information were performed on the spoken narratives of 111 children aged 7 to 12 years who comprised 4 groups: (1) psychiatrically referred children with LI (PD + LI), (2) psychiatrically referred children with normally developing language (PD), (3) nonreferred children with language impairments (LI), and (4) nonreferred children with normally developing language (controls). Discourse deficits in language and information structure characterized children with LI, whereas disruptions in the flow of discourse characterized children with PD. Children with the comorbid condition exhibited deficits associated with both LI and PD; in addition, they displayed distinct deficits related to pronominal reference and causal cohesion. The findings provide a preliminary understanding of the associations among language, discourse, and psychopathology in children.