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Memory for stories in language-impaired children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Carolyn M. Graybeal*
Affiliation:
Boston University
*
Carolyn M. Graybeal, Boston University, School of Education, Division of Reading and Language, 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

Abstract

Memory for content, or gist recall, was studied in groups of normal and language-impaired children, matched on age and sex, using a story recall task. The children were pretested for their ability to comprehend individual sentences in the stories. Following a practice session, two test stories were read to each child and oral recall was requested immediately after each story. The content of the recall protocols was analyzed into propositions and scored for accuracy, organization, and temporal ordering. The results showed that the groups differed primarily in the amount of accurate recall, with the language-impaired group recalling considerably less than the normal group. It was concluded that language-impaired children do exhibit deficits in gist recall for material which is within their linguistic grasp.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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