RESUMO
Specific language impairment [SLI] is one of the most prevalent developmental language disorders which is less considered in Persian researches. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in some morpho-syntactic features of speech and other language skills between Persian children with specific language impairment and their normal age-matched peers. Moreover, the usefulness of the test of language development-3 [TOLD-3], Persian version, as a tool in identifying Persian-speaking children with this impairment, was investigated. In a case-control study, the results of the test of language development and speech samples analysis of 13 Persian-speaking children [5 to 7 years old] with specific language impairment were compared with 13 age-matched normal children. The results of this study showed that there were significant differences between the scores of specific language impairment group and control group in all measured aspects of the TOLD-3 [p<0.001]; the children with specific language impairment had a shorter mean length of utterance [p<0.001] and made less use of functional words in their speech [p=0.002] compared with their peers. Such as specific language impairment children in other languages, all language abilities of Persian-speaking children with specific language impairment are less than expected stage for their age. Furthermore, the Persian version of TOLD-3 is a useful assessment instrument in identifying children with specific language impairment which is comparable to the other languages