PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Language Development Disorders”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 685 records · Page 38Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Characteristics of children with specific language impairment attending language units.

The characteristics of children with specific language impairment (SLI) attending four language units in the north-west of England are examined. The present study involved 15 children with SLI and two sets of control groups: a same-age group and an MLU-matched group (MLU = mean length of utterance). Results are discussed in terms of the following questions: Do children with SLI attending language units fit the classic definition of SLI? Can children with SLI be categorised as having expressive versus receptive language problems? What other aspects of educational attainment such as reading, maths and science are affected by SLI? The paper ends with implications for future research.

Child↗
PubMed1992

The assessment of symbolic play in young children: a prototype test.

In this paper it is argued that assessing symbolic play (defined as one object substituting for another, a property being attributed to an object which it does not have or an absent object being referred to as if present) is particularly useful for young children in whom language and/or play is not developing normally. A new test of symbolic play is described which assesses the child's ability to substitute her- or himself, a teddy or a non-representational object such as a piece of material for another object, to attribute a property to her- or himself or a teddy, and to refer to an absent object used by her- or himself or a teddy. The play may be modelled or instructed or the child may produce examples of her or his own. Some preliminary results from a group of 43 children are reported. It is concluded that this new test of symbolic play will provide clinicians working with children whose language and/or play is impaired with information of value in reaching a diagnosis and in understanding immediate treatment needs.

Child↗
PubMed1994

Parental-based intervention with pre-school language-delayed children.

Mothers of children randomly allocated to an experimental group attended fortnightly group parental language training sessions, over a 6-month period. Mothers of children allocated to a matched no intervention control group received no special attention. The results showed significantly greater gains in the expressive language skills of the experimental group compared to the control group. A second experiment was designed to compare the parental involvement approach with direct, individual treatment and to clarify the role of non-specific 'Hawthorne-type' effects. The experimental group mothers attended parental language training sessions, as above. The parental control group mothers also attended training sessions, with the emphasis on general learning skills rather than language. A third group of children received individual, direct speech and language therapy. Results showed significantly greater language gains in the parental language training group and in the individual group in comparison with the non-specific training group. The two former groups did not differ significantly, indicating that, for these groups and this methodology, parental language training is as effective as individual speech and language therapy. The results also indicate that the effectiveness of the parental involvement approach cannot be accounted for by non-specific factors. The research findings are discussed, together with the professional implications of the study and recommendations for further research.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The variability of language test scores in 3- and 4-year-old children of normal non-verbal intelligence: a brief research report.

Language testing plays an important role in the identification and monitoring of children with communication difficulties. However, the standardisation of many tests in common use remains far from satisfactory, especially at the lower age ranges. Comparisons between age-equivalent scores and chronological age also raise particular problems. The present paper focuses on the disparity between scores on different tests, in spite of the homogeneity of the group of children studied, and stresses the need for caution in the interpretation of test scores.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1996

A play-based methodology for assessing idiom comprehension in children with semantic-pragmatic difficulties.

In response to the lack of suitable material for assessing idiom comprehension in children with semantic-pragmatic difficulties, a new, play-based methodology is presented. The child listens to a tape-recorded story into which are embedded a range of idiomatic expressions. The child then acts out the story as it is played again, sentence by sentence. The play is video-recorded and transcribed. Actions for each idiom are categorised and are then amenable to within-child, between-child, and between-group analyses. The results of a pilot project indicate that this methodology overcomes may of the problems inherent in assessing children identified as having semantic-pragmatic difficulties.

Acting Out↗
PubMed1997

Syntactic bootstrapping in children with specific language impairment.

Syntactic bootstrapping was assessed in six children with normally developing language (NL) and six children with specific language impairment (SLI), ages 6 and 8, respectively. Children earned normal range non-verbal IQs and were matched by raw scores on a test of sentence comprehension. They were asked to listen to sentences containing novel verbs and to act out the meanings with toys. The SLI children earned reliably lower scores, but their errors suggested processing limitations rather than deficits in syntactic representation.

Child↗
PubMed1998

Running a randomised controlled trial in a service setting: a progress report.

This paper will give a progress report on a randomised controlled trial which is currently underway in the Bristol area. Some of the key influencing literature will be summarised, followed by an overview of the study design. The paper will also highlight some of the methodological and practical advantages and disadvantages afforded by the service setting of the study.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1998

Processing load and the extended optional infinitive stage.

Spontaneous language data from fifteen language-impaired children in the Extended Optional Infinitive stage of morphosyntactic development are examined with respect to processing load. Clauses with a target finite verb form are categorised according to finiteness and their preverbal constituents. Patterns of occurrence are discussed with regard to the Optional Infinitive framework itself and the implications for remediation.

Child↗
PubMed1998

Early intervention project: evaluation of WILSTAAR, Hanen and specialist playgroup.

This paper describes an early intervention project which combines a three tiered approach to speech and language provision for pre-school children. Jointly funded by I CAN, AFASIC, Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust and the Department of Health, this two and a half year project aims to reduce the numbers of children and severity of their speech and language difficulties on entering school. The project uses the following approaches--the Ward Infant Language Screening Test Assessment Acceleration Remediation (WILSTAAR), the Hanen parent programmes and a specialist speech and language playgroup. In this paper these approaches are described with an explanation of how each is being evaluated and where possible interim results have been presented.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1998

Evaluation of a nursery based language intervention in a socially disadvantaged area.

This longitudinal study was designed to evaluate the impact of a community-based speech and language project, set in an area of Plymouth known for its high levels of social disadvantage. The interventions include a specifically designed nursery programme, known as Wise Words for Nursery, and a modular series of parenting groups for the parents of pre-school children. The data were collected from five consecutive year groups entering a single primary school for the years 1993-1997. Each of the five cohorts underwent a battery of tests to collect data on their lexical development, information recall, reception of grammar, sentence length and speech clarity. Statistical analysis of the data showed a significant difference in the communication abilities of the most recent cohort when compared to the previous years. The findings provide considerable support for the efficacy of the approach employed.

Analysis of Variance↗