The Language of Children with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus: Meeting Task Demands and Mastering Syntax.

Linguistic performance of 7 children (mean age=68 months) with spina bifida, hydrocephalus, and average intelligence was evaluated. Subjects dealt with the semantic-pragmatic requirements of linguistically posed problems in an age-appropriate manner. Performance declined as task demands increased but no more than performance of nondisabled age-matches. (Author/JDD)