Summary: A major new study challenges long-standing assumptions about how children acquire language, revealing that language development and general cognitive skills are closely interconnected.
Source: NTNU
Traditional linguistic theory has often treated language comprehension and speech as largely independent from broader cognitive functions such as spatial reasoning, working memory and sensory perception. New research led by NTNU shows this separation is not so clear-cut.
Professor Mila Vulchanova at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) directs the university’s language lab and has been investigating how children learn language. Her recent work, based on large-scale population data, identifies clear links between children’s language development and their cognitive abilities.
New links discovered
Vulchanova’s latest study draws on data from Norway’s Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), one of the world’s largest health surveys. MoBa includes information from approximately 114,500 children, 95,000 mothers and 75,000 fathers. Using this resource, researchers from NTNU, the University of Oslo, Statped and the University of Melbourne catalogued relationships between language skills and a range of cognitive measures.
In this context, cognitive skills refer to attention, concentration, memory, perceptual processing, logical reasoning and problem solving—abilities that support how children interpret and act on information from their environment.
Non-verbal tests reveal important insights into language development
While language comprehension tests are standard for diagnosing language challenges, Vulchanova’s team found that non-verbal cognitive tests are also critical. These tests help identify the type and severity of a child’s language difficulties.
The study analysed data from more than 500 eight-year-old children drawn from the Language-8 Study, which oversampled children likely to have language disorders. Researchers compared children diagnosed with language difficulties to peers with typical language development.
“We analysed extensive language and cognitive data and found that cognitive markers can predict the severity of language difficulties,” Vulchanova explains. “These findings open new avenues for research and clinical practice.”
Cognitive markers include tasks that require pattern recognition, logical reasoning and the ability to detect similarities between concepts. These markers are assessed using both verbal and non-verbal instruments, and the balance between these skills appears to influence language outcomes.
Early and accurate assessment matters
Early assessment and accurate identification of the severity of language problems are essential to provide effective interventions, such as speech and language therapy. Identifying which cognitive dimensions are affected helps tailor support to the child’s needs.
“Our results emphasise the importance of measuring both verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills,” Vulchanova says. “This approach helps reveal which areas need targeted support.”
She also notes the potential to use cognitive training as a strategy to bolster language development, suggesting that interventions targeting underlying cognitive skills may benefit children with language difficulties.
Different testing methods
Among the battery of six cognitive tests used with the eight-year-olds was block design, a non-verbal task that measures pattern recognition and spatial reasoning. Another task assessed the ability to detect similarities between items—an activity that bridges verbal and non-verbal processing. For example, a child might be asked, “What is the connection between a sea and a river?”—a question that requires both vocabulary knowledge and conceptual linking.
“We identified specific tests that differentiate between typically developing children and those with language difficulties, and that also reflect the severity of the disorder,” Vulchanova says.
Children with mild language impairment scored differently from typically developing peers on the pattern recognition (block design) and similarity tests, as well as on tasks measuring logical reasoning, vocabulary, sequencing, daily tasks and non-word repetition. In the non-word repetition test, children decide whether short pronounceable strings resemble real words, which taps phonological processing.
“All verbal cognitive measures reliably predicted severe language problems compared to typical development,” Vulchanova adds.
Training professionals to test language skills
Vulchanova and colleagues are organising training courses for educators, kindergarten staff, school psychologists (PPT services), speech therapists and preschool pedagogues to teach practical methods for assessing children’s language and cognitive skills. Course instructors include Berit Sivertsen, educational leader at Berg kindergarten in Trondheim, and Ellen Saxlund, a secondary school teacher in Bærum—both of whom completed master’s degrees at NTNU and worked with Vulchanova.
The courses use practical materials such as picture books, toys and stuffed animals—including a small monkey—to make assessments engaging and child-friendly. These materials are part of the adapted and standardised Norwegian version of the Reynell test used in the study.
Using play and objects in assessment
During tests, children may be asked to describe actions performed by a toy monkey, which evaluates verb use and action identification. Other tasks use toys to assess comprehension of prepositions—placing a rabbit on top of, next to, or below another object checks spatial language. Picture-book tasks ask children to point to scenes that match questions about who is doing what, evaluating understanding of active and passive voice and event sequencing.
Vulchanova emphasises that language proficiency is closely connected to a broad range of cognitive abilities, and that comprehensive assessment provides a clearer picture of each child’s strengths and needs.
About this research
Author: Nancy Bazilchuk
Source: NTNU
Contact: Nancy Bazilchuk – NTNU
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Open access. “The association of cognitive abilities with language disorder in 8-year-old children: A population-based clinical sample” by Mila Vulchanova et al., International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders
Abstract
The association of cognitive abilities with language disorder in 8-year-old children: A population-based clinical sample
Background
Although evidence has accumulated that language development depends on core cognitive processes, the relative contributions of verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills to language ability remain underexplored. It is also unclear which cognitive measures best predict the severity of language disorder (LD) in children.
Aims
This study examined how verbal and non-verbal cognitive abilities relate to language performance in typically developing and language-impaired eight-year-olds, and identified which cognitive measures most effectively distinguish severity levels of LD.
Methods & Procedures
A total of 509 children from the Language-8 Study—oversampling probable LD cases from a population-based Norwegian cohort—were assessed at age eight. Language skills were measured with the Norwegian Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals—4 (CELF-4). Verbal and non-verbal cognitive abilities were evaluated using standardised cognitive tests. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified underlying cognitive factors, followed by hierarchical multiple regression to determine the unique contribution of non-verbal cognition to language outcomes. Multinomial logistic regression then assessed which cognitive tests best predicted LD severity.
Outcomes & Results
EFA produced three factors: Verbal Cognition, Processing Speed and Memory, and Non-Verbal Cognition. All three factors significantly explained individual differences in language abilities. Non-Verbal Cognition uniquely contributed an additional 5.4% of variance in language skills beyond Verbal Cognition and Processing Speed and Memory. Specific cognitive subtests—including Familiar Sequences, WASI Vocabulary and WASI Similarities—not only distinguished children with LD from typically developing peers, but also differentiated levels of LD severity.
Conclusions & Implications
The findings confirm concurrent links between language and non-verbal cognitive skills beyond the influence of verbal cognition alone. Children with LD often show both language and broader cognitive challenges in mid-childhood. Clinically, the results underscore the value of assessing both verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills when diagnosing LD and suggest that interventions targeting underlying cognitive abilities could support language development.
WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS
What is already known on the subject
Language development relies on basic cognitive processes, including both verbal and non-verbal abilities. Children with language disorder frequently experience concurrent cognitive difficulties, and cognitive test performance may relate to LD severity.
What this paper adds to existing knowledge
Using a large population-based cohort, this study shows that multiple verbal and non-verbal cognitive abilities are closely linked to variation in language skills and to the severity of LD. It confirms that non-verbal cognition contributes to language outcomes beyond verbal cognition and identifies specific cognitive tests that distinguish LD and its severity.
Clinical implications
The results support measuring both verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills in LD assessment and suggest the potential of interventions that target underlying cognitive skills to improve language outcomes. Future intervention studies should explore the impact of strengthening non-verbal cognitive skills on language development in children with LD.