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PubMed2002

Surveying and screening preschool language development in community-focused intervention programmes: a review of instruments.

Preschool language intervention has come increasingly to the fore with the development of community-focused interventions including Sure Start in the UK. Successful intervention methods may well be incorporated into mainstream service delivery, especially in areas of disadvantage. The question of whether such interventions will work and of their impact on children's language development has focused attention on measures of language. This paper distinguishes two reasons for measuring language development: (1) surveying language; and (2) screening language. It goes on to suggest a set of criteria for selecting instruments for these applications. The review includes a wide range of language assessment instruments for preschool children and examines those most likely to be suitable. It suggests a role for paraprofessionals in survey and screening and argues that this may be advantageous in terms of reaching families and thereby achieving high levels of coverage of a population group. Finally, there is a discussion of the implications of such measures in community-focused preschool interventions.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Early identification of developmental language disorders--predictive value of the German version of the CDI--infant form (ELFRA-1)].

BACKGROUND: Early identification of developmental language disorders is a precondition for early intervention and therefore of high clinical relevance. The ELFRA-1 was constructed to identify children at risk for language disorders in the context of the routine examination of children at the age of 12 months. The aim of the study was to determine the predictive validity of this screening tool. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: 121 parents completed the questionnaire for their 12 months old children. One year later the language development was assessed by means of the ELFRA-2, the German version of the CDI for two year old children. RESULTS: 63% of the children were correctly classified. The sensitivity amounted to 52% and the specificity to 65%. The RATZ-index (relative improvement of the hit rate in comparison to the random hit rate) was 23%, which has to be considered as unsatisfying. Improvement of language abilities were less likely in boys compared to girls and in cases of low educational background of the mother. CONCLUSIONS: The prognostic validity of the ELFRA-1 is insufficient and too low to identify children at risk for later language impairment. The screening overlooked too many late talkers and classified too many normally developed children as language impaired. The ELFRA-1 can not be recommended as a useful method for the early identification of language impaired children at the age of 12 months.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed2005

Adoption age effects on english language acquisition: infants and toddlers from China.

Children adopted from China represent the single largest group of internationally adopted children in this country. Because the adoptive families typically do not speak any Chinese language or dialect, most of these children experience an abrupt shift in their language environment. How age of adoption affects the course of English language development of children adopted from China is the focus of this study. All of the children in this study were either infants or toddlers at the time of adoption and all came from the same orphanage. The results showed that the older children (toddlers) were at both an advantage and a disadvantage when it came to English language development. The advantage of being older was that they learned faster. The disadvantage of being older was that there was more for them to learn to become age-appropriate in their English language development. There was, however, no evidence to suggest that the language switch from a Chinese- to an English-language environment was a formidable obstacle for either the infants or the toddlers.

Adoption↗

PubMed1999

Language functions in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Few studies have demonstrated language impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) compared to healthy controls. The purpose of this investigation was to examine language functions, specifically naming, comprehension, and verbal fluency, in patients with MS and healthy controls to (1) determine if patients with MS demonstrate language impairment, and (2) provide clarification of MS-related language disturbance, particularly in patients with MS of differing courses. Results showed that both chronic-progressive and relapsing-remitting patients with MS performed significantly more poorly than controls on naming, aural comprehension, letter fluency, and category fluency, as well as other language-based cognitive measures. Chronic-progressive patients obtained significantly lower scores than relapsing-remitting patients on the latter three tests. The language disturbance in this MS sample may be partly explained by impairment in other verbal cognitive functions. These findings highlight the importance of assessing language abilities in patients with MS.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Language disorder: a functional linguistic perspective.

This paper explores the issues involved in the linguistic characterisation of disordered discourse and the ways in which a Systemic Functional Linguistic framework addresses these issues. For many years, language disorders were described in terms of formal grammars, with "breakdown" discussed in terms of one or more of the traditional levels of language, i.e., phonology, syntax, and semantics. While it was acknowledged that an individual could have difficulty at one or more of these levels, each was viewed quite separately, with semantics viewed largely from a referential perspective. More recent approaches using functional grammar have broadened this view of language and have provided a model of language that re-conceptualizes the notion of meaning and embraces context as integral to its organisation. Such a model has introduced a different perspective on language into clinical fields, and has enabled researchers and clinicians to explore the skills of speakers with language disorders across a variety of situations and contextual variables, examining the linguistic resources still available to them. This paper introduces principles involved in a functional framework and provides an overview of how these principles have been applied to language disorders to date. In addition, the notion of "disorder" itself is discussed as it is situated in this alternative model.

Aphasia↗

PubMed2004

Validation of a Dutch language screening instrument for 5-year-old preterm infants.

AIM: The validation of the Dutch Taal Screenings Test (TST), a language-screening test, which is included in a follow-up instrument developed to enable paediatricians to assess 5-y-old preterm infants for their motor, cognitive and speech and language development. METHODS: The speech and language development of 145 5-y-old infants born before 32 wk of gestation and/or with a birth weight of less than 1500 g was assessed by a paediatrician using the TST and by a speech therapist using standardized language tests. RESULTS: All correlations between the instruments were significant. Using the original cut-off point of the TST for abnormal speech and language development (18 points), the paediatrician will only identify 62% of the children who need speech therapy. For this group of children, a cut-off point of 17 is more effective. The positive predictive value of the TST improved from 77% to 82% by using a parent and school questionnaire to evaluate in a more subjective way the speech and language development. CONCLUSION: Using the TST, paediatricians will be able to identify speech or language problems in 5-y-old preterm infants.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed2002

A genomewide scan identifies two novel loci involved in specific language impairment.

Approximately 4% of English-speaking children are affected by specific language impairment (SLI), a disorder in the development of language skills despite adequate opportunity and normal intelligence. Several studies have indicated the importance of genetic factors in SLI; a positive family history confers an increased risk of development, and concordance in monozygotic twins consistently exceeds that in dizygotic twins. However, like many behavioral traits, SLI is assumed to be genetically complex, with several loci contributing to the overall risk. We have compiled 98 families drawn from epidemiological and clinical populations, all with probands whose standard language scores fall > or =1.5 SD below the mean for their age. Systematic genomewide quantitative-trait-locus analysis of three language-related measures (i.e., the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Revised [CELF-R] receptive and expressive scales and the nonword repetition [NWR] test) yielded two regions, one on chromosome 16 and one on 19, that both had maximum LOD scores of 3.55. Simulations suggest that, of these two multipoint results, the NWR linkage to chromosome 16q is the most significant, with empirical P values reaching 10(-5), under both Haseman-Elston (HE) analysis (LOD score 3.55; P=.00003) and variance-components (VC) analysis (LOD score 2.57; P=.00008). Single-point analyses provided further support for involvement of this locus, with three markers, under the peak of linkage, yielding LOD scores >1.9. The 19q locus was linked to the CELF-R expressive-language score and exceeds the threshold for suggestive linkage under all types of analysis performed-multipoint HE analysis (LOD score 3.55; empirical P=.00004) and VC (LOD score 2.84; empirical P=.00027) and single-point HE analysis (LOD score 2.49) and VC (LOD score 2.22). Furthermore, both the clinical and epidemiological samples showed independent evidence of linkage on both chromosome 16q and chromosome 19q, indicating that these may represent universally important loci in SLI and, thus, general risk factors for language impairment.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Interactions of language and memory in deaf children and adults.

This article reviews theoretical and empirical issues concerning the relations of language and memory in deaf children and adults. An integration of previous studies, together with the presentation of new findings, suggests that there is an intimate relation between spoken language and memory. Either spoken language or sign language can serve as a natural mode of communication for young children (deaf or hearing), leading to normal language, social, and cognitive development. Nevertheless, variation in spoken language abilities can be shown to have a direct impact on memory span. Although the ways in which memory span can effect other cognitive processes and academic achievement are not considered in depth here, several variables that can have direct impact on the language-memory interaction are considered. These findings have clear implications for the education of deaf children.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Becoming literate in different languages: similar problems, different solutions.

The teaching of reading in different languages should be informed by an effective evidence base. Although most children will eventually become competent, indeed skilled, readers of their languages, the pre-reading (e.g. phonological awareness) and language skills that they bring to school may differ in systematic ways for different language environments. A thorough understanding of potential differences is required if literacy teaching is to be optimized in different languages. Here we propose a theoretical framework based on a psycholinguistic grain size approach to guide the collection of evidence in different countries. We argue that the development of reading depends on children's phonological awareness in all languages studied to date. However, we propose that because languages vary in the consistency with which phonology is represented in orthography, there are developmental differences in the grain size of lexical representations, and accompanying differences in developmental reading strategies across orthographies.

Child↗

PubMed2005

Interictal language functions in temporal lobe epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate interictal language functions in patients with medically intractable left and right sided mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). METHODS: Spontaneous speech, language comprehension, confrontation naming, repetition, reading, writing, and word fluency were examined in 12 patients with left sided TLE and 11 patients with right sided TLE. RESULTS: Four patients out of 23 displayed language deficits in more than one language domain. Three further patients exhibited isolated language deficits. Linguistic deficits were observed in both left TLE and right TLE. In quantitative analyses left and right TLE only differed in spontaneous speech (p = 0.02); no difference was found in other language functions, laterality quotient of Wada test, or overall IQ. Qualitative error analysis of object naming, however, showed typical errors associated only with left TLE. Patients with linguistic deficits were older at testing compared to patients without linguistic deficits (p = 0.003), whereas other factors including side of TLE, handedness, educational level, age at epilepsy onset, and duration of epilepsy did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Possible explanations for these findings include neuronal cell loss and deafferentiation in cortical areas, and disruption of the basal temporal language area pathways. Our study suggests that some patients with chronic mesial TLE exhibit linguistic deficits when specifically tested, and underlines the need to routinely investigate linguistic functions in TLE.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Language lateralisation and early right ear deafness: was Wernicke right?

The effects of early right ear deafness on lateralisation of auditory language functions are not fully known. A 36 year old right handed man, with a history of perinatal right ear deafness and undergoing evaluation for surgical treatment of seizures that began at age 10 years was studied. Language lateralisation testing by intracarotid sodium amobarbital injection showed receptive and expressive language functions to be strongly lateralised to the left hemisphere. Results with intracarotid sodium amobarbital injection further suggested that transmission of auditory input to the patient's left hemisphere was partially dependent on ipsilateral left ear pathways. Cortical language mapping through implanted subdural electrodes localised auditory language functions to traditional left posterior perisylvian language areas. These results suggest that early right ear deafness does not impede left hemisphere lateralisation and localisation of auditory language functions. Moreover, transmission of auditory information to the patient's left hemisphere seems to be accomplished, in part, by recruitment of ipsilateral left ear pathways.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Language acquisition: the acquisition of linguistic structure in normal and special populations.

This review examines how language learners master the formal structure of their language. Three possible routes to the acquisition and mastery of linguistic structure are investigated: (a) the use of prosodic and phonological information, which is imperfectly correlated with syntactic units and linguistic classes; (b) the use of function words to syntactically classify co-occurring words and phrases, and the effect of location of function-word processing on structural mastery; and (c) the use of morphology internal to lexical items to determine language structure, and the productive recombination of these subunits in new items. Evidence supporting these three routes comes from normal language acquirers and from several special populations, including learners given impoverished input, learners with Williams syndrome, specific language-impaired learners, learners with Down syndrome, and late learners of first and second languages. Further evidence for the three routes comes from artificial language acquisition experiments and computer simulations.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Functional MR imaging of language processing: an overview of easy-to-implement paradigms for patient care and clinical research.

Functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is one of the most commonly used functional neuroimaging techniques for studying the cerebral representation of language processing and is increasingly being used for both patient care and clinical research. In patient care, functional MR imaging is primarily used in the preoperative evaluation of (a) the relationship of a lesion to critical language areas and (b) hemispheric dominance. In clinical research, this modality is used to study language disorders due to neurologic disease and is generally aimed at language function recovery. A variety of language paradigms (verbal fluency, passive listening, comprehension) have been developed for the study of language processing and its separate components. All of the tasks are easy to implement, analyze, and perform. Silent gap acquisition is preferable for the imaging of specific language processing components because auditory stimuli are not degraded by imager noise. On the other hand, continuous acquisition allows more data to be acquired in less time, thereby increasing statistical power and decreasing the effects of motion artifacts. Although functional MR imaging cannot yet replace intraoperative electrocortical stimulation in patients undergoing neurosurgery, it may be useful for guiding surgical planning and mapping, thereby reducing the extent and duration of craniotomy.

Biomedical Research↗

PubMed1987

Language delay and hyperactivity in preschoolers: evidence for a distinct subgroup of hyperactives.

The possibility of a separate subgroup of language-delayed hyperactive preschoolers was explored. Cognitive and demographic variables of a series of cases at the Royal Ottawa Hospital Preschool Program were examined. A group of language-delayed hyperactive preschoolers was compared with a non-language delayed group of hyperactives and a non-hyperactive clinical comparison group. Significant differences between the language-delayed hyperactives and the two comparison groups were found on such variables as IQ, expressive language, receptive language, and visual-motor integration. The evidence presented supports the possibility of a separate subgroup of hyperactive preschoolers with language delay and hyperactivity. The implications for both practice and theory are discussed and suggestions are made for further research.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

PubMed2002

Differential functional magnetic resonance imaging language activation in twins discordant for a left frontal tumor.

Eight-year-old twins, one with a left frontal tumor and aphasic seizures, the other neurologically normal, underwent serial assessment of expressive language with functional magnetic resonance imaging and neuropsychology. The affected twin showed a significant amount of right hemisphere activation coincident with behavioral deterioration in expressive language and late growth in the tumor. This pattern of language dysfunction and the left language dominance of her co-twin suggested that the affected twin was also left dominant for language, and the significance of her right activation is discussed. We postulate that the right hemisphere activation represents a stabilizing mechanism in the context of a developmental and progressive lesion in language cortex rather than language transfer per se.

Brain Neoplasms↗

PubMed2002

Putting language back in the body: speech and gesture on three time frames.

This article investigates the role that nonverbal actions play in language processing over 3 different time frames. First, we speculate that nonverbal actions played a role in how formal language systems emerged from our primate ancestors over evolutionary time. Next, we hypothesize that if nonverbal behaviors played a foundational role in the emergence of language over evolution, these actions should influence how children learn language in the present. Finally, we argue that nonverbal actions continue to play a role for adults in the moment-to-moment processing of language. Throughout, we take an embodied view of language and argue that the neural, cognitive, and social components of language processing are firmly grounded in bodily action.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

(Re-) constructing pre-linguistic interpersonal processes to promote language development in young children with deviant or delayed communication skills.

BACKGROUND: Approaches to intervention with young children with delayed or deviant communication skills have tended to focus directly on the production and comprehension of linguistic forms. Research in developmental psychology, however, has highlighted the role of joint attention and action within a mutually negotiated frame in early communicative development. AIMS: An approach to intervention was developed which uses graded participation in such 'formats' to promote language development in 3- to 5-year-olds with significant delays or deviance in communication skills. This study was designed to evaluate this in comparison with a more conventional approach. SAMPLE: The sample comprised twenty 3- to 5-year-olds attending a diagnostic nursery or a speech and language support centre attached to a mainstream primary school. METHOD: In the intervention, developmentally ordered sequences of exchange games provided predictable ruled-based and structured joint contexts of action, within which verbal and non-verbal exchanges between an adult and child could be meaningfully used. In the control condition, participants received more conventional intervention focusing more directly on language per se. Level of participation in dyadic play was assessed in terms both of role and cognitive complexity, and for the present study language development was assessed using the verbal subtests of the WPPSI. The study entailed both a between- and a within-subjects design. RESULTS: Cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons confirmed that this form of intervention was significantly more effective than the control condition in increasing children's level of participation in social game formats and in promoting their language development; moreover, these were significantly correlated. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the development of language skills can be promoted more effectively through (re-) constructing the interpersonal framework of pre-linguistic communicative development than through conventional intervention focusing directly upon language per se.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Getting ready for reading: a follow-up study of inner city second language learners at the end of Key Stage 1.

BACKGROUND: A previous study (Stuart, 1999) showed that early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching improved reading and spelling ability in inner-city schoolchildren in Key Stage 1, most of whom were learning English as a second language. AIMS: The present study, a follow-up of these children at the end of Key Stage 1, addresses four main questions: (1) Are these improvements maintained to the end of Key Stage 1? (2) Are different patterns of cognitive process evident in the word recognition skills of phonics trained versus untrained children? (3) Do the phonics trained children now also show a significant advantage in reading comprehension? (4) Are there differences in amount of reading, in self-concept as readers and in oral vocabulary development between phonics trained and untrained children? Relationships between reading and spelling ages and Key Stage 1 SATs levels are also explored. SAMPLE: Data are reported from 101 seven-year-olds (85 of whom were second language learners) remaining from the original 112 children reported on previously. METHOD: Children were tested on four standardized tests of reading, spelling and vocabulary, and on a further six experimental tests of phoneme segmentation, grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge, regular, exception and nonword reading, author recognition and reading self-concept. RESULTS: Lasting influences of early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching on phoneme awareness, grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge, word reading and spelling were found. Part of the previously untrained group had now received structured phonics teaching, and were therefore treated as a third (late trained) group. Early and late-trained groups showed similar levels of attainment and similar cognitive processing patterns, which were different from the untrained group. However, there were no influences of training on reading comprehension, self-concept or oral vocabulary. CONCLUSIONS: Early phoneme awareness and phonics training efficiently accelerates the word recognition and spelling skills of first and second language learners alike. However, this is not sufficient to bootstrap the development of language comprehension in the second language learners. Further research is needed into the kinds of language teaching that will best develop their oral and written language comprehension.

Achievement↗