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PubMed1997

The nature of word-finding errors of preschoolers with and without word-finding deficits.

Twelve preschoolers with word-finding deficits (WF) and their age-matched normally developing (ND) peers participated in three tasks requiring word finding: the noun-naming and verb-naming subtests of the Test of Word Finding (TWF-N, TWF-V) and story retelling. The general error profiles of the two subject groups were similar. Semantic errors were always more common than phonological errors and were typically more common than unrelated errors (e.g., "I don't know" responses). The difference in proportions of semantic and phonological substitutions constitutes developmental evidence for lemma and lexeme distinctions as proposed in adult-based models of lexical storage. Furthermore, the predominance of errors that bore semantic relations to their targets produced by both ND and WF groups suggests an early and robust organization of lexical storage into a network of related information. Despite similarities between the two subject groups, the word-finding deficits of the WF group were manifested in two ways. First, compared to the ND group, the WF group demonstrated significantly higher rates of naming errors on all three tasks; second, they demonstrated significantly different proportions of error types on two of the three tasks. Specifically, the WF group produced a lower proportion of related errors on the TWF-V and a lower proportion of semantic errors on the story-retell task. One clinical implication of these findings concerns measurement of treatment outcomes. A reduction in the number of errors as well as a shift in the error profile towards higher proportions of related errors, especially semantic errors, may indicate progress in word-finding development.

Child Language↗
PubMed1998

"Twin language": a risk factor for language impairment?

Retrospective parental report of earlier "twin language" was obtained for two groups of twins. Sample G consisted of 94 twin pairs between the ages of 7 and 13 years recruited through the school system as a general population sample. Sample L consisted of 82 twin pairs between the ages of 7 and 13 years who had been recruited for a genetic study; of these twin pairs at least one of the twins had a speech-language impairment persisting to school age. Parental report of twin language was higher (around 50%) for children with speech-language impairment than for those with normal language (11%). Consistent with this, children with twin language obtained significantly lower mean language scores than other children, although their mean nonverbal IQ was equivalent. The exceptions were a handful of children whose parents described use of a "private language" that coexisted alongside normal use of English. These findings are consistent with the view that what is described as twin language is usually use of immature or deviant language by two children at the same developmental level.

Child↗
PubMed1998

Concurrent and predictive validity of an early language screening program.

The efficacy of screening 2-year-old children for language delay using a parent-report questionnaire was investigated in three studies. The Language Development Survey (Rescorla, 1989) was mailed to 650 families at the time of their child's second birthday. Fifty-three percent of the surveys received by parents were completed and returned. Screening outcomes were then compared, in double-blind fashion, with the results of comprehensive clinical evaluations at ages 2 (N = 64) and 3 (N = 36). Parents' report of the size of their children's expressive vocabularies was highly correlated with clinical language measures at age 2. Children who screened positive performed significantly poorer than children who screened negative on standardized language tests and on measures taken from spontaneous conversation. The screening program demonstrated excellent sensitivity and specificity for identifying language delay at age 2 but somewhat lower levels for predicting developmental status one year later.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1999

Different origin of auditory and phonological processing problems in children with language impairment: evidence from a twin study.

This study investigated the heritability of auditory processing impairment, as assessed by Tallal's Auditory Repetition Test (ART). The sample consisted of 37 same-sex twin pairs who had previously been selected because one or both twins met criteria for language impairment (LI) and 104 same-sex twin pairs in the same age range (7 to 13 years) from the general population. These samples yielded 55 children who met criteria for LI, who were compared with 76 children whose language was normal for their age (LN group). We replicated earlier work showing that group LI is impaired relative to group LN on ART. However, there was no evidence of a heritable influence on ART scores: Correlations between twins and their co-twins were reasonably high for both MZ and DZ twins, suggesting that performance is more influenced by shared environment than genetic factors. Analyses of extreme scores gave a similar picture of nonsignificant group heritability. In contrast, a test of phonological short-term memory, the Children's Nonword Repetition Test (CNRep), gave high estimates of group heritability. In general, CNRep was a better predictor of low language test scores than ART, but ART did make a significant independent contribution in accounting for variance in a test of grammatical understanding.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Morphological productivity in children with normal language and SLI: a study of the English past tense.

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are known to display persistent difficulties with inflectional morphology--in particular, the overuse of unmarked grammatical forms (i.e., zero-marking). Yet, several recent studies have shown that English-speaking children with SLI, like their normal language peers (NL), demonstrate a considerable degree of productive language abilities (e.g., Bishop, 1994; Loeb & Leonard, 1991; Oetting & Horohov, 1997). In this study, we explore productivity in the English past tense in school-age children with SLI (N= 31) and NL (N = 31) who were equivalent as a group in chronological and mental age. Although children in both groups produced a range of error types, the children with SLI produced significantly more errors, with a greater proportion resulting from zero-marking (e.g., go) than suffixation (e.g., goed). Item analyses indicated that suffixations and zero-markings were predicted by item frequency, phonological features of stems, and similarity relationships across items (i.e., neighborhood structure) in both groups, yet children with SLI were more sensitive to item phonology than their NL peers. Results are interpreted in light of the predictions of dual- versus single-mechanism models of morphological productivity. Implications for accounts of SLI are discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1999

Validity of a parent report measure of vocabulary and syntax for preschool children with language impairment.

Previous research has documented the validity of parent report for measuring vocabulary and grammar in typically developing toddlers. In this project, two studies examined the validity of parent report for measuring language in children with specific language delay who are older than the normative group, but who have language levels within the range measured by the instruments. In Study 1, scores on the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences were compared to behavioral measures of production of vocabulary and grammar in 39- to 49-month-old children with language delay. Results indicated moderately high to high concurrent validity correlations in both domains (.67-.86). In Study 2, scores on the MacArthur Communicative Inventory: Words and Gestures were compared to behavioral measures of vocabulary comprehension and production and gesture production in 24- to 32-month-old children with language delay. Results indicated a moderately high concurrent validity correlation for vocabulary production (.66). Parent report of comprehension and gesture scores did not correlate significantly with their behavioral counterparts, but gesture scores were moderately highly correlated with language comprehension (.65).

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1999

Recognition of gated words by children with specific language impairment: an examination of lexical mapping.

In this study we examined the lexical mapping stage of auditory word recognition in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Twenty-one children with SLI, 21 children matched for chronological age (CM), and 21 vocabulary-matched (VM) children participated in a forward gating task in which they listened to successive temporal chunks of familiar monosyllabic nouns. After each gate, children guessed the identity of the word and provided a confidence rating of their word guess. Results revealed that the children with SLI performed comparably to the CM and VM children on all seven dependent measures related to lexical mapping. The findings were interpreted to suggest that children with SLI and their normally developing peers demonstrate a comparable lexical mapping phase (i.e., acoustic-phonetic analysis) of auditory word recognition.

Child↗
PubMed1999

Speech-sound discrimination in school-age children: psychophysical and neurophysiologic measures.

This study measured behavioral speech-sound discrimination and a neurophysiologic correlate of discrimination in normal school-age children (ages 6 to 15) to determine if developmental effects exist. Just noticeable differences (JNDs) and mismatch responses (MMNs) were assessed for synthetic syllables that differed in third-formant onset frequency (/da-ga/) and formant transition duration (/ba-wa/). These stimuli were selected because children with learning problems often find it difficult to discriminate rapid spectrotemporal changes like /da-ga/, whereas the ability to distinguish /ba-wa/ is relatively unimpaired. Results indicate that JNDs for /da-ga/ show no developmental effects and that JNDs for /ba-wa/ decrease slightly with age (although likely for task-related reasons). MMNs elicited by two /da-ga/ stimulus pairs (onset frequency differences = 20 Hz, 280 Hz) and three /ba-wa/ stimulus pairs (transition duration differences = 3, 5, 15 ms) showed no systematic or significant differences for onset latency, duration, or area as a function of age. Normative JND and MMN data are provided. These norms provide a metric against which children with suspected central auditory processing difficulties or auditory-based language disorders can be compared.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Classification of children with specific language impairment: longitudinal considerations.

This paper reports on the longitudinal results of a large project involving 242 seven-year-old children attending language units in England. Following our work outlining 6 subgroups of children with language impairment (Conti-Ramsden, Crutchley, & Botting, 1997), we examine the stability of the 6 subgroups of children with specific language impairment already identified, using data collected from the same children at age 8 years. The findings suggest there is considerable stability in the patterns of difficulties delineated by the classification system involving 6 subgroups. Poorer stability was evident in the classification of the children across time with 45% of children moving across subgroups. The membership stability of the proposed classification system was very similar to that found when the children were classified into 3 subgroups following another well-known system (Rapin, 1996). The findings are discussed with particular reference to issues surrounding the classification of children with SLI.

Child↗
PubMed1999

Testing the generalized slowing hypothesis in specific language impairment.

This study investigated the proposition that children with specific language impairment (SLI) show a generalized slowing of response time (RT) across tasks compared to chronological-age (CA) peers. Three different theoretical models consistent with the hypothesis of generalized slowing--a proportional, linear, and nonlinear model--were examined using regression analyses of group RT data. Each model was an excellent fit with the RT data. The most parsimonious model indicated that the SLI group was proportionally slower than the CA group. Mean RTs of the SLI group were about one fifth slower across tasks than the CA group's mean RTs. Less slowing was evident for a subgroup of young children with expressive SLI than for children with mixed (expressive and receptive) SLI. Although the mean RT data reflected many individual SLI children's RT performance, not all SLI children showed generalized slowing.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2000

Narrative production by children with and without specific language impairment: oral narratives and emergent readings.

The research reported in this paper was based on the premise that oral and written language development are intertwined. Further, the research was motivated by research demonstrating that narrative ability is an important predictor of school success for older children with language impairment. The authors extended the inquiry to preschool children by analyzing oral narratives and "emergent storybook reading" (retelling of a familiar storybook) by two groups of 20 children (half with, half without language impairment) age 2;4 (years;months) to 4;2. Comparative analyses of the two narrative genres using a variety of language and storybook structure parameters revealed that both groups of children used more characteristics of written language in the emergent storybook readings than in the oral narratives, demonstrating that they were sensitive to genre difference. The children with language impairment were less able than children developing typically to produce language features associated with written language. For both groups, middles and ends of stories were marked significantly more often within the oral narratives than the emergent readings. The children with language impairment also had difficulty with other linguistic features: less frequent use of past-tense verbs in both contexts and the use of personal pronouns in the oral narratives. Emergent storybook reading may be a useful addition to language sampling protocols because it can reveal higher order language skills and contribute to understanding the relationship between language impairment and later reading disability.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed2000

Predicting language production in children and adolescents with Down syndrome: the role of comprehension.

Predictors of language production skills in 12-minute narratives are investigated cross-sectionally in 48 children and adolescents with Down syndrome (trisomy 21), aged 5 to 20 years, in comparison to 48 control children aged 2 to 6 years matched statistically for nonverbal mental age and mother's years of education. Two models were evaluated by hierarchical regression analyses using predictors drawn from the domains of group membership, chronological age, cognition, socioeconomic status, and hearing screening status (Model I) and, additionally, comprehension performance (Model II). Results showed that Model II was more successful. In the DS group, it explained 68% of the variability in number of different words, 80% in MLU, and 32% in intelligibility. Corresponding percentages for the control group were 72%, 71%, and 26%. A mechanism linking comprehension of input to early stages of production practice through activation of the early speech motor area is proposed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

An assessment battery for identifying language impairment in African American children.

This investigation compares the performances of 24 African American children, diagnosed as language impaired (LI) and receiving school-based language therapy, to 2 groups of typically developing peers (N = 48) on 5 traditional types of language assessment measures. Three of the measures were derived from child-centered free play language sample analyses and included average length of communication units (MLCU), frequencies of complex syntax, and numbers of different words. Two of the measures examined language comprehension and included responses to requests for information in the form of Wh-questions and responses to probes of active and passive sentence constructions. The performances of the group of children with language impairments were significantly lower on each measure than that of chronological age matched African American children who were typically developing. Sensitivity and specificity of the battery appeared excellent. The findings are discussed in terms of the potential of these informal language measures to contribute to a culturally fair assessment protocol for young African American children.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2000

The use of syntactic cues in lexical acquisition by children with SLI. Specific Language Impairment.

This study investigated the syntactic bootstrapping abilities of children who differed by language abilities and age. In the first study, the performance of 5-year-old children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) was compared to that of two groups of typically developing children-one of equivalent language levels, as indexed by mean length of utterance (MLU), and the other of equivalent chronological age. In the second study, two groups of 7-year-old children, one whose language was developing typically and one with SLI, were involved. The count/mass distinction was used as the basis for the experimental tasks. A videotaped story was used to present the novel count and mass words, with syntactic cues in one condition and with neutral syntax in another. Results from the first study revealed that only the 5-year-old nonaffected control children showed evidence of using the syntactic cues. The 5-year-old SLI group and 3-year-old control group achieved comparable scores. However, error analyses suggested that different factors were operative in the two groups. The second study revealed that there was continued growth into the early school years for children with SLI and children whose language was developing typically.

Child↗
PubMed2000

Specific language impairment in Swedish: the status of verb morphology and word order.

Several competing proposals have been offered to explain the grammatical difficulties experienced by children with specific language impairment (SLI). In this study, the grammatical abilities of Swedish-speaking children with SLI were examined for the purpose of evaluating these proposals and offering new findings that might be used in the development of alternative accounts. A group of preschoolers with SLI showed lower percentages of use of present tense copula forms and regular past tense inflections than normally developing peers matched for age and younger normally developing children matched for mean length of utterance (MLU). Word order errors, too, were more frequent in the speech of the children with SLI. However, these children performed as well as MLU-matched children in the use of present tense inflections and irregular past forms. In addition, the majority of their sentences containing word order errors showed appropriate use of verb morphology. None of the competing accounts of SLI could accommodate all of the findings. In particular, these accounts--or new alternatives-must develop provisions to explain both the earlier acquisition of present tense inflections than past tense inflections and word order errors that seem unrelated to verb morphology.

Child Language↗
PubMed1998

Paediatric assessment in a residential child and adolescent psychiatry unit.

OBJECTIVE: To document the health status, comorbidity and functional impairments experienced by a group of psychiatrically disturbed children and adolescents. METHODOLOGY: A detailed study of consecutive admissions to a residential unit over a two-year period was undertaken. All admissions had a comprehensive paediatric, speech pathology and psychiatric assessment. RESULTS: Compared to the general population, there was a significant history of developmental delay and low birthweight, but only a slightly greater prevalence of antenatal problems. Clumsiness (37%), severe speech and language disorder (32%), and hearing loss (15%) were prominent. Only 25% had no history of comorbid medical or neurological disorders. CONCLUSION: Children and adolescents presenting with moderate to severe mental health morbidity may have pre-existing comorbid medical problems, as well as unrecognised difficulties and impairments in other skills areas. Multidisciplinary assessment and intervention should be an integral part of the residential programme.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Auditory event-related brain potentials in children with specific language impairment.

Event-related brain potentials evoked by tone and speech stimuli were recorded in ten children with specific language impairment and a control group. The patient group showed prolonged P3 latencies in both tasks compared with the controls and smaller P3 amplitude in the speech task. There were no group differences concerning the N1-P2 components. The findings indicate that the children with language impairment showed signs of deficient late-stage auditory perceptual processing whereas the earlier sensory stages as indexed by the N1 were no different from the controls. The results are further discussed within the framework of context updating in working memory.

Adolescent↗