Capacity Limitations in Working Memory

This article examines claims regarding the role of capacity limitations in working memory for children with specific language impairment (SLI). Evidence is presented from novel lexical and morphological learning tasks that indicates that variations in the speaking rate of linguistic models influence the ability of children with SLI to learn these new forms. Preliminary results on verbal working memory tasks also are reported. Implications of purported capacity limitations for intervention with children with SLI are discussed.