LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:9 September 2016
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Pragmatic Skills in Children with Different Types of Learning Disability:
A Comparative Study

Shruti Kumari, BASLP
Ravali Pyata, MASLP
Bushaira Afreen K., BASLP
Pallavi S. Paithankar, MASLP

Abstract

The study aimed to evaluate and compare pragmatic skills in children with Learning disability who had dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyslexia & dysgraphia and mixed type (dyslexia + dysgraphia + dyscalculia) with typical developing age matched children. A total of 40 children within the age range of 11-13 years participated in the study. The participants were divided into five groups with eight each. To assess pragmatic skills Pragmatic Protocol by Prutting and Kischner (1987) was used. The test consisted of 3 subtasks i.e. verbal, paralinguistic and non-verbal aspects. Each child was engaged in conversation with clinician for 20-30 minutes. The responses were scored and subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS (version 16.0) software.The study results indicated poorer performance for verbal aspects and better performance for paralinguistic aspects in all children with Learning disability. The children with mixed type of learning disability had poorer performance on verbal and non-verbal aspects of pragmatics compared to all other groups of children with and without learning disability. Hence,it can be concluded that not only children with learning disability have poorer pragmatic competence but also within them there are large variability’s.

Keywords: Learning disability, Pragmatic skills, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia.

Introduction

All humans are born with a natural ability to learn language (Troike, 2006). Language is a complex system which can be best explained by breaking it down into its functional components form, content and use (Bloom & Lahey, 1978). Form isa component that connects sounds and symbols in order i.e. phonology, morphology and syntax. Content encompasses meaning or semantics and use is also termed as pragmatics. These five components phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics are the basic rule systems of the language. Pragmatics is the ability to use language appropriately within a social, situational and communicative context (Lahey, 1988). Pragmatic ability depends on social knowledge and skill as well as linguistic knowledge and skill. Typically pragmatic skills develop within first 8 years of life (Ibertsson, et al., 2009).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Shruti Kumari, BASLP
Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped
K.C. Marg, Bandra Reclamation
Mumbai 400050
Maharashtra
India
shruti.kumari161292@gmail.com

Ravali Pyata, Ph.D. Scholar
Lecturer (Speech and hearing)
Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped
K.C. Marg, Bandra Reclamation
Mumbai 400050
Maharashtra
India
ravali.p@rediffmail.com

Bushaira Afreen K., BASLP
Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped
K.C. Marg, Bandra Reclamation
Mumbai 400050
Maharashtra
India
afreen.k1995@gmail.com

Pallavi S. Paithankar
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Road
Sion West, Mumbai 400022
Maharashtra
India
talktopallavi2003@yahoo.co.in
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