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Topic manipulation and conversational participation as a function of familiarity in school-age language-impaired and normal language peers.

This study investigated the topic manipulation skills and conversational participation of school-age language-impaired children (LI) in interactions with normal language peers. The subjects consisted of eight dyads of a normal language child and a language-impaired child balanced for approximate age and sex. They ranged in age from 5.11 to 7.11 years of age. The subjects participated in two conversations in order to explore the effects of familiarity on conversational participation. The subjects were unfamiliar with each other before the study began. Fifteen to twenty minutes of discourse were taped, transcribed, and analyzed for the number and proportion of topics maintained, topics introduced, topics reintroduced, topics shaded, and the number and proportion of back channel responses produced in Session 1 and Session 2. A behavioral measure was included to clarify whether conversational nonassertiveness was related to a behavioral style of interaction. No significant differences were found between the LI children and the normal children for the number and proportion of topics maintained, topics introduced, or topics shaded. However, the LI subjects did produce significantly more topic reintroductions than the normal subjects. The number and proportion of back channel responses was not found to differ significantly between the two groups. A familiarity effect was demonstrated by a reduction in the number of utterances produced in Session 2 as compared to Session 1 as the children interacted less in the second conversation. Several interpretations of the results are discussed.

Child

Modifications of speech language levels by preservice educators based on language features.

Increased efforts to mainstream handicapped learners have been accompanied by a growing concern for the ability of mainstream educators to accommodate the special needs of these students. A particular concern involves the ability of mainstream educators to adjust their levels of spoken language when conversing with hearing-impaired learners. The present study compared the language levels produced by preservice educators with either high or low levels of previous experience with hearing-impaired individuals. Results indicated that (1) neither group adjusted their spoken language to levels understood by two hearing-impaired women and (2) members of the high experience group produced higher language levels than members of the low experience group. Discussion of these results focuses on implications for interactions with hearing-impaired learners.

Adult

Quantifying language development from birth to 3 years using the Early Language Milestone Scale.

A point-scoring technique for the Early Language Milestone Scale is described. Normative data based on the original 1982 cross-sectional sample and validation data based on a separate longitudinal sample are presented. Mean Early Language Milestone Scale point scores, standard deviations, and percentile equivalents for raw point scores are presented for all ages from birth to 36 months. Correlations between point scores on the Early Language Milestone Scale and scores on other standardized developmental tests such as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities are presented. The clinical and research advantages of this point-scoring technique are presented and compared with the original pass/fail scoring method.

Child, Preschool

Early Language Milestone Scale and language screening of young children.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the use of the Early Language Milestone Scale (ELM) in screening language skills in young children. In this study, 657 children from birth to 36 months of age were evaluated with the ELM. The overall failure rate was 8%. Children who failed the ELM screening were evaluated with the Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development (SICD) that was used as the "gold standard" for diagnosing language disorders. In the 12-month age and younger group, there was poor agreement between the ELM Scale and the SICD. For infants 13 to 24 months of age, there was moderately good agreement between the SICD and a second ELM that was administered 1 to 2 weeks after the initial screening. In the 25- to 36-month age group, there was excellent agreement between the SICD and a rescreen ELM. The agreement between the two instruments indicated that the rescreen ELM correctly classified 79% of the 13- to 24-month-old infants and 89% of the 25- to 36-month-old toddlers.

Child, Preschool

Speech following sign language training in autistic children with minimal verbal language.

This study was carried out to test the main and interaction effects of training condition and pretreatment-elicited verbal imitation ability when predicting spoken language use during language training of 60 minimally verbal autistic children. Subjects were randomly assigned to Speech Alone, Sign Alone, Simultaneous Presentation of Sign and Speech, and Alternating Presentation of Sign and Speech training conditions. Speech Alone, Simultaneous Presentation, and Alternating Presentation condition facilitated more child-initiated speech during treatment than did the Sign Alone condition. Regardless of training condition, pretreatment verbal imitation ability positively predicted the size of child-initiated spoken vocabulary observed during training. Exploratory analyses indicated that, in addition to verbal imitation, pretreatment age and IQ may also predict spoken language developed during training.

Autistic Disorder

Language laterality in Navajo reservation children: dichotic test results depend on the language context of the testing.

Language lateralization in 40 Navajo and 20 Anglo fifth graders was assessed via the Dichotic Consonant-Vowel Task (DCVT). One group of Navajo children was tested by an experimenter who spoke only Navajo with them. The other Navajo group and the Anglo group were tested by an experimenter who spoke only English to them. Strong right ear advantages (REAs) were obtained for the Anglo group and for the Navajo group tested by the Navajo-speaking experimenter. The Navajo group tested by the English-speaking experimenter showed minimal, nonsignificant REAs. Previous findings of an absence of REAs in Native American children failed to consider the possibility that this might occur only when the experimenter does not speak the dominant language of the children. Our results are not consistent with the view that Native Americans are more right hemisphere dominant as a function of an "appositional" mode of language and thought.

Arizona

The identification of language impairment in the selection of specifically language-impaired subjects.

This review focused on the methods used to identify language impairment in specifically language-impaired subjects participating in 72 research studies that were described in four journals from 1983 to 1988. The single most frequent source of information used in the identification process was found to be test data. There was, however, considerable variability and, often, a lack of clarity regarding the specific number and identity of tests used. More specific findings on test use indicated that researchers routinely assessed both expressive and receptive language and that they used incomplete tests. When test scores used in identification and selection were examined, there was a wide range of score types, and age-equivalent scores were by far the most common and often the only type of score utilized. Conclusions are drawn regarding the impact of these findings on the interpretation and generalizability of this research literature.

Child

Delay versus deviance in the language acquisition of language-impaired children.

To investigate the issue of delay versus deviance in the language acquisition of language-impaired (LI) children, the order of acquisition of a set of linguistic structures and the relationship obtaining between one structure and another were examined in comprehension and production over a 5-year period in a group of LI and language-matched normal children. The results demonstrated a marked similarity between groups, both in the point at which mastery of individual structures was achieved and in the overall patterns of acquisition demonstrated. These data suggest that LI children are constructing grammars based on the same rules and principles as those of linguistically normal control subjects, and that their linguistic impairments may be principally processing, not representational, in nature.

Child, Preschool

Sedation and topical anesthetics in audiology and speech-language pathology. Ad Hoc Committee on Advances in Clinical Practice. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Audiologists and speech-language pathologists who participate in or perform procedures on patients who have been medicated for sedation or topical anesthesia should appreciate the complex factors which may expose their patients to risk or harm. Administration of medications to achieve a desired patient state is a medical procedure requiring physician or dentist prescription, physician or dentist approval on the conditions of administration and monitoring, and physician or dentist availability for provision of emergency care that may be required. For these reasons, audiologists and speech-language pathologists should address issues of scope of practice as defined by state licensing boards and institutional regulatory committees, professional liability, and patient and practitioner safety before engaging in procedures on individuals medicated for sedation or topical anesthesia. These issues should be defined in specific, written protocols that the audiologist and speech-language pathologist develop in collaboration with physicians, dentists, and other medical professionals who are responsible for patient care. The protocols should specify responsibility for each aspect of care and limit procedures to professional settings with immediate access to emergency medical care. In all instances, both in development of written protocols and in actual professional practice, the comfort and safety of the patient must be paramount.

Administration, Topical

Expressive language recovery in aphasia using the Shewan Spontaneous Language Analysis (SSLA) system.

The oral expressive language of a group of aphasic subjects was measured on two occasions approximately one year apart to determine what changes took place during this period and whether these changes were significant. The SSLA system was used to evaluate the aphasic language samples obtained from a picture description task. Positive changes toward normal language functioning occurred for several variables. Type of aphasia affected the outcome of several variables. The rank ordering of aphasia types from most to least impaired was similar across these variables, thereby suggesting similar outcome patterns. Initial severity of aphasia also influenced the outcome of several SSLA variables. However, the degree of concordance of the severity groups across variables was not statistically significant. Treatment had a positive effect on the outcome of only one SSLA variable. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.

Adult

The development of language-like communication without a language model.

Deaf children who are unable to acquire oral language naturally and who are not exposed to a standard manual language can spontaneously develop a structured sign system that has many of the properties of natural spoken language. This communication system appears to be largely the invention of the child himself rather than of the caretakers.

Child, Preschool

Joint attention and language in autism and developmental language delay.

The relationship of gestural joint attention behaviors and the development of effective communication skills in autism and developmental language delay (DLD) was investigated. Autistic and DLD children matched for MA and MLU were compared on measures of gestural joint attention behavior, personal pronoun use, and spontaneous communicative behavior. DLD children responded correctly to joint attention interactions more often than autistic children, and their spontaneous gestural behavior was more communicative and developmentally advanced. Correct production of "I/you" pronouns was related to number of spontaneous initiations for autistic but not for DLD children. Measures of spontaneous joint attention behaviors were in general not related to MA, CA, or MLU for either group. DLD children's performance suggests no special impairment of joint attention skills, whereas autistic children's performance suggests a joint attention deficit in addition to a language deficit.

Attention

Maternal question use predicts later language development in specific-language-disordered children.

The present study used a longitudinal correlational design to test whether variation in mothers' use of information-seeking and confirmation questions predicts variation in auxiliary and copula development in a sample of specific-language-disordered children. The study's confirmatory approach provides a sound empirical basis to conclude that the results of the present study did not occur by chance. Post hoc analyses were carried out to clarify the explanation of the predictive relationships. The main finding of the study was that mothers of specific-language-disordered children who used proportionally more information-seeking questions had children who showed greater mastery of auxiliary use 12 months later.

Child, Preschool

A straight nasal septum and right unilateral hypertrophied inferior nasal turbinate, a very rare anatomical phenomenon, in skilled language translators: relevance to anomalous dominance, brain hemisphericity and second language acquisition.

Research on second language acquisition has recently focused on the concept of brain hemisphericity. Since the nasal cycle indexes brain hemisphericity and a deviated nasal septum itself affected by structural brain dominance may prevent nasal cycling, we investigated the presence of septal deviation and inferior turbinate hypertrophy in 11 expert translators. We found that 10 of the 11 subjects demonstrated both a straight nasal septum and right unilateral inferior turbinate hypertrophy, an extremely rare anatomical phenomenon. The one-tailed binomial test was extremely significant (p < .0000001). This anatomical phenomenon, which can be noninvasively checked in less than 30 seconds may predict excellence in second language acquisition.

Adult

Opportunities for using computers in speech and language therapy: a study of one language unit.

Whilst the use of information technology is increasing in importance as an aid to speech and language therapy, its introduction has so far been unsystematic. Systems analysis methodologies for assessing how information technology can best be employed have been developed for use in the business world. The present study used one such methodology--Checkland's soft systems--to investigate which aspects of the activities of one language unit were most likely to be improved or helped by the introduction of new technology. Such an approach was found to yield useful insights and several opportunities for increased computer use were revealed. However, it was also concluded that, to take maximum advantage of new technology, changes would need to be introduced and resources made available at a higher organisational level than that of the individual unit or department.

Child

A study of timing in a manual and a spoken language: American sign language and English.

A comparative analysis of the time variables in the production of speech and sign reveals that signers modify their global physical rate primarily by altering the time they spend articulating, whereas speakers do so by chaning the time they spend pausing. When signers increase or decrease their pause time, however little they do so, they alter the number and the length of the pauses equally, whereas speakers primarily alter the number of pauses and leave their pause durations relatively constant. An analysis of the durations of signs reveals that signs are longer at the end of sentences than within sentences and that the first occurrence of a sign is longer than the second when syntactic location is controlled (both these findings have already been reported for spoken language). The inherent duration of a sign can be accounted for almost totally by the movement characteristic; handshape, location, and number of hands in a sign are of little importance. Finally, signers retain their regular "quiet-breathing" respiratory pattern across signing rates and inhale at locations independent of syntactic importance. In this they are quite unlike speakers, who breathe at syntactic breaks.

Adult