Listener judgments of the narrative coherence of children with specific language impairment (SLI) were compared with their peers with normal language development (NL) at two age levels. Two groups of listeners (lay and professionals) rated audiotapes of the children's narrative discourse. The ratings for the children with SLI improved over time. The younger children with SLI had lower ratings than the children with NL. Differences between the groups for the older children were not as evident. Judgments differed slightly depending upon the background of the raters. Clinical implications of the data are discussed.
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