Comparison of word definition skills between children with specific language impairment and normal children in Persian - Azeri bilinguals

The goal of this study is to compare word definition skills in Persian-Azeri bilinguals with specific language impairment and normal children. Six (7-8 year-old) children with specific language impairmentand 12 normal children were evaluated for their word definition skills. Impaired children were diagnosed as exhibiting a significant delay (more than one year) in language skills that could not be explained by intelligence deficits, hearing loss or visual impairment. We used narrative speech and specific language impairment test for diagnosis and Man Whitney and Wilcox tests for analyzing data. Bilingual children with SLI showed meaningful difference from the normal groups in structural aspect of word definition. In comparison between Persian and Azeri, the impaired children showed significant difference in structural aspect and normal children in content aspect.