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At least 559 records · Page 31Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Do phonologic and rapid automatized naming deficits differentially affect dyslexic children with and without a history of language delay? A study of Italian dyslexic children.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to verify whether phonologic and rapid automatized naming (RAN) deficits are present and associated in Italian dyslexic children and whether they differentially affect dyslexics with and without a history of previous language delay (LD). BACKGROUND: According to the phonologic core deficit hypothesis, dyslexia may stem from impairment of the representation and manipulation of phonemes and may be closely associated with oral language deficits. However, deficits in tasks not requiring fine-grained phonologic representations, such as RAN, have also been described in dyslexic children. METHODS: Thirty-seven children were selected on the basis of a reading deficit and were assigned to 2 groups according to whether or not they had a history of early LD as determined retrospectively by parental report. A battery of reading and writing, verbal working memory, metaphonologic, RAN, and visual search tests were administered. RESULTS: RAN deficits were shared by most dyslexics (with and without a history of LD), whereas phonologic deficits were mainly associated with a previous LD. This last condition did not result in a more profound impairment of reading and writing decoding skills. CONCLUSION: In a shallow orthography such as Italian, RAN, not phonologic deficits, may represent the main cognitive marker of developmental dyslexia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Language development in profoundly deaf children with cochlear implants.

Although cochlear implants improve the ability of profoundly deaf children to understand speech, critics claim that the published literature does not document even a single case of a child who has developed a linguistic system based on input from an implant. Thus, it is of clinical and scientific importance to determine whether cochlear implants facilitate the development of English language skills. The English language skills of prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants were measured before and after implantation. We found that the rate of language development after implantation exceeded that expected from unimplanted deaf children (p < .001) and was similar to that of children with normal hearing. Despite a large amount of individual variability, the best performers in the implanted group seem to be developing an oral linguistic system based largely on auditory input obtained from a cochlear implant.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Young adult academic outcomes in a longitudinal sample of early identified language impaired and control children.

BACKGROUND: The long-term academic consequences of childhood language impairment are both theoretically and clinically important. An unbiased appraisal of these outcomes, however, requires carefully designed, longitudinal research. METHOD: A group of children first identified as having speech and/or language impairment in a community-based, longitudinal study at 5 years of age and matched controls were re-examined during young adulthood (age 19). A comprehensive battery of speech and language, cognitive and achievement tests, psychiatric interviews, and questionnaires were completed by subjects, their parents and teachers. RESULTS: While children with early speech problems showed only a few academic differences from controls in young adulthood, early language impaired (LI) young adults lagged significantly behind controls in all areas of academic achievement, even after controlling for intelligence. Further, rates of learning disabilities (LD) were significantly higher in the LI group than both the controls and community base rates. Concurrent individual difference variables, including phonological awareness, naming speed for digits, non-verbal IQ, verbal working memory, and executive function, all contributed unique variance to achievement in specific areas. CONCLUSION: Early LI rather than speech impairment is clearly associated with continued academic difficulties into adulthood. These results speak to the need for intensive, early intervention for LI youngsters.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Is preschool language impairment a risk factor for dyslexia in adolescence?

The literacy skills of 56 school leavers from the Bishop and Edmundson (1987) cohort of preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) were assessed at 15 years. The SLI group performed worse on tests of reading, spelling, and reading comprehension than age-matched controls and the literacy outcomes were particularly poor for those with Performance IQ less than 100. The rate of specific reading retardation in the SLI group had increased between the ages of 8 1/2 and 15 years and there had been a substantial drop in reading accuracy, relative to age. However, over 35% had reading skills within the normal range and those who had had isolated impairments of expressive phonology had a particularly good outcome. Our findings highlight the limitations of discrepancy definitions of dyslexia that do not take account of the changing demands of reading over time. We argue that children's phonological difficulties place them at risk of literacy failure at the outset of reading and that later, impairments of other language skills compromise development to adult levels of fluency.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Language enhancement in the developmentally delayed child through a cognitive/receptive mode.

An approach to enhancing the language comprehension of young developmentally delayed children utilizing receptive language tasks presented in a cognitive, 'problem-solving' context is described. Over a 2 year period 16 language impaired and developmentally delayed children were provided with 8 weeks of concentrated instruction in five language areas: nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions and syntax. Instruction consisted of systematic verbal stimulation without overt attempts to elicit expressive language. Responses by the subjects were in the form of motor behaviours of picture/object identifications. Results indicated a marked increase in the number of stimuli to which these children could provide appropriate responses at the end of the 8 week instructional period. The gains were also maintained 3 months after termination of instruction and the learned material was considered to have become part of these children's verbal repertoire.

Child Development↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The unintelligible child: a problem for the health care team.

As a result of the rapid growth of applied psycholinguistic research it is necessary to explode some of the myths of normal and abnormal speech development. The following paper is an attempt to clarify the nature of phonological development and disability and to draw general implications for assessment and management of the unintelligible child.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Developmental assessment: 18 months to 4 1/2 years. The miniature toys test.

A modified version of the miniature toys test, originally designed by Sheridan (1975), has been standardized on a sample of 425 children in the age range 18 months to 4 1/2 years. The distinctive features are the assessment of symbolic play and the understanding of prepositions when used in verbal instructions. The acquisition of expressive verbal labels for miniature household objects and transport, and comprehension of questions relating to them have been explored. Responses in some of these areas are not always clear-cut or are ambiguous. The test will be more suited to the needs of the developmental paediatrician for assessment of children with developmental delay, than for doctors of primary care and health visitors in screening apparently healthy children.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Early language screening in City and Hackney: work in progress.

The paper describes the initial stages in the development of a screening instrument designed to identify children with impaired language development at the age of 2 1/2 years. The pilot study comprised 40 children seen for routine developmental surveillance at one of the Community Health Centres in City and Hackney District Health Authority. The screen was found to be both sufficiently sensitive and sufficiently specific to warrant further investigation. The discussion highlights a number of pertinent issues which have arisen from the study and which the authors consider to be of relevance to others considering the development of equivalent procedures.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Early language screening in city and Hackney: the concurrent validity of a measure designed for use with 2 1/2-year-olds.

This paper reports data relating to the development of a screening test for language impairment in 2 1/2-year-old children. The screening test itself has previously been described. The results of a pilot study and a larger community study are reported. In all, 34 children were included in the pilot study and 1015 in the community study. The reference test selected was the Reynell Developmental Language Scales and the cut-off adopted 1.5 standard deviations below the mean for either the expressive or the receptive scale of the test concerned. The pass mark on the screening test was ascertained using receiver operating characteristics (ROC). The validity is reported given the cut-off identified. The specificity, sensitivity and both positive and negative predictive abilities are reported for both the pilot and the subsequent study. The application of the test is discussed in the context of the current debate about early identification.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Language development in a non-vocal child.

Many children who cannot speak, comprehend both oral and written language. Having knowledge of language is not the same as being able to use language for social transactions. Non-vocal children learn to use augmented and assisted systems, but they experience specific difficulties in initiating and maintaining conversations and making use of the pragmatic functions of language. The purpose of this study was to investigate the semantic and syntactic knowledge of a child with severe multiple disabilities who can read and write and comprehend two languages, but does not initiate conversation. The study demonstrates that high levels of language comprehension and ability to read and write do not automatically transfer to conversational competence or narrative ability.

Attention↗
PubMed1995

Language and motor development in pre-term children: some questions.

A cohort of 37 pre-term children was assessed for both morphosyntactical and for vocabulary skills at the age of 2 and again at the age of 3 years and 6 months. They were compared with two comparison groups of full-term children (adjusted age and chronological age). The results indicated (1) a clear asynchrony between the two components of language production assessed at both ages, (2) an accurate prediction of language delay at age 2 for pre-term children (35% of pre-term children were detected for morphosyntax as measured by Mean Length of Utterance and 27% of pre-term children were detected for vocabulary as measured by the number of different words) and, (3) no evidence on the relationship of language and motor development as measured by formal tests. Such findings strongly challenge the validity of standardized developmental tests and support to a certain extent the hypothesis that language development is independent of motor skills. A neurodevelopmental assessment is suggested.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed2004

Comparing specialist early years provision for speech and language impaired children with mainstream nursery provision in the UK - an application of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS).

BACKGROUND: This study examines the application of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) to specialist early years provision for children with developmental speech and language impairment. The scale, which has been used in the national Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) study in the UK comprises seven subscales describing the quality of provision along a continuum centred on the following areas: 'space and furnishings', 'personal care routines', 'language reasoning', 'activities', 'interaction', 'program structure', and 'parents and staff'. METHODS: The ECERS was applied to two nurseries funded by the UK charity I CAN by two researchers with inter-rater-reliability coefficients ranging from 0.91 to 0.96. RESULTS: There were notable differences between the specialist early years provision and 'average' nursery provision in the UK. On 7/8 measures the early years centre scores are markedly higher than average pre-school provisions. The standard of education and care for the pre-school provisions included in the EPPE project ranged from below minimal (for the diversity subscale, ECERS-E) to approaching good (for the space and furnishings subscale). In contrast, the early years centres were rated as between minimal to good on areas such as space and furnishings and good to excellent on all other areas. CONCLUSIONS: Clearly specialist services such as those described offer something different from the average. Given results which suggest the positive effects on the children's language abilities of such services it is quite possible that the distinctive characteristics of the nursery environment are responsible for the positive impact. There is a good case for extending the application of the ECERS as a way of helping those providing specialist services start to detect the active ingredients of the provision.

Child Care↗
PubMed1984

Issues in the development of language intervention programmes.

An attempt has been made in this paper to address some issues involved in the development of language intervention programmes. The relative neglect of 'language' in the paper is justified by the importance of more general issues. After cursory attention to prescriptiveness in programmes, the concentration has been on the 'training of the trainers' and the need for an adequate and effective instructional model. Particular attention is given to evaluation and the need for a design which while acknowledging the practicalities of life in the field can nevertheless assist in determining the effects of the intervention (with a nod in the direction of casting the net sufficiently wide to encompass possible unintended effects). Finally, there is discussion of implementation, covering guidelines to bear in mind the developing the intervention and stressing that without successful implementation even the most effective programme fails, as it disappears like water in to the sands of the desert.

Child↗
PubMed1985

Verb usage by educable mentally retarded children.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the semantic and morphological nature of verb usage by educable mentally retarded (EMR) children. Three groups of children were studied in structured and non-structured situations in which the verb system was the core interest. There were 15 mentally retarded younger children (8.6-9.6 years), 19 mentally retarded older children (10.0-12.6 years) and a control group of 17 normal children (5.0-6.0 years). Results showed that EMR children use fewer conjugations than normal children of similar or lower mental age, and thus they can express fewer verb-case relations. In particularly EMR children show limited use of process-verb relations. It was further found that EMR children are restricted in the morphological processing of verbs in past and future tenses.

Child↗
PubMed2004

Together we are heard: effectiveness of daily 'language' groups in a community preschool.

Strong oral language skills are a prerequisite for successful literacy and there is a strong interdependence between oral language acquisition and emergent literacy development. Ramifications of this are that children with language impairments are at great risk for difficulties in learning to read and write, with problems often persisting throughout the school years into adulthood. The Together we are heard program involved improving each child's oral language skills through group sessions facilitated by a speech pathologist on a daily basis at preschool. The aim of the present research was to determine the effectiveness of the program to identify the best way to assist children to develop appropriate language skills. The study showed that the children improved significantly in all four levels of the Preschool Language Assessment Inventory (PLAI). Importantly, the program was effective for both genders and there was no difference in the success of Indigenous children when compared to their European counterparts. There is a strong recommendation for further research and to expand such programs, particularly in areas that target children from impoverished and deprived environmental backgrounds.

Child Day Care Centers↗
PubMed1997

Evaluating intervention for language impaired children: a review of the literature.

Intervention studies are divided into those which have examined the effectiveness of specific techniques and those that have attempted to examine efficacy within the clinical context. Of the specific techniques, imitation and recasting or expansion have been the most commonly examined. Results suggest that they may be equally useful in reaching targets but that input in context has more chance of generalising. Combinations of techniques such as 'milieu teaching' seem especially promising. Evaluation of general language training strategies has tended to show good results relative to controls, although care has to be taken to discriminate between changes brought about to interaction skills and those to specific linguistic structures. The paper also covers issues associated with evaluation including clinical outcomes and methodological considerations. A number of research directions are suggested.

Child, Preschool↗