How word meaning structure relates to executive functioning and theory of mind in children with developmental language disorder: A multiple case study

Many children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have difficulties in executive functioning (EF) and theory of mind (ToM). These difficulties might be explained by the theory that children’s conceptual understanding changes over five stages of word meaning structure, from concrete and context-dependent (e.g., everyday concepts) to abstract and precise (e.g., logical concepts). We present a multiple-case study examining how word meaning structure relates to EF and ToM in children with DLD. Participants were five children with DLD aged 9–12 and five typically developing children matched for age, gender, and nonverbal intelligence. We employed a dynamic task of word meaning structure to distinguish three stages in the trajectory from everyday to logical concepts: (1) dominant logical concepts, (2) latent logical concepts, and (3) everyday concepts. The WMST comprised 18 items designed to assess word meaning structure using three types of open-ended questions. Each child received two prompts crafted to elicit latent logical concepts. At the end of the task, each item was coded as either a dominant logical concept (2 points), a latent logical concept (1 point), or an everyday concept (0 points). For both groups, we computed the percentages of responses falling in each of the dynamic word meaning structure categories. We also computed a total dynamic word meaning structure score by adding the item scores and used this to report graphs of the relationships between word meaning structure on the one hand, and EF, ToM, and behavioral problems on the other. EF was assessed using the Zoo Map Task and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. ToM was assessed using the ToM Test, the Frith-Happé Animations, and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. Behavioral problems were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist. The collections contains the word meaning structure test scores on the item level, and total test scores for the other measures on the participant level, including percentile scores in many instances. In addition, the R scripts used for computing descriptives and plots are added.