Nonverbal Executive Functioning as Clinical Markers for Culturally Diverse Children with Language Disorders

Objectives: This study attempted to explore the possibility of clinical diagnosis to see if nonverbal executive functions (updating, inhibition, cognitive flexibility) detect language difficulties in culturally diverse children. Methods: Culturally diverse children [TD (typically developing children)=24, LD (children with language disorder)=26] in the preschool age of 4 to 7 years old participated in this study. All children participated in the nonverbal executive function tasks. Discriminant analysis and ROC (Receiver Operator Characteristic) curve analysis were conducted to confirm whether it is possible to identify children with language disorders among culturally diverse children. Results: The differences between TD and LD in culturally diverse children’s nonverbal executive function were consistently significant, and a total of 80.0% (specificity=75.0%, sensitivity=84.6%) of the original group cases could be correctly classified. Conclusion: This study supports previous studies that reported the benefits of executive function in children with better language skills. This study did not reveal the benefits of bilingualism for performing executive functions, which is likely influenced by the lack of sufficient opportunities for culturally diverse children in Korea to speak their native languages both inside and outside their homes. The potential for culturally diverse children to speak two languages should continue to be encouraged. This study is meaningful in identifying the possibility of diagnosing language disorders in culturally diverse children in pre-school age through nonverbal executive functioning tasks.