Word learning in children with primary language impairment: a meta-analysis

Nonword Repetition and Vocabulary Knowledge as Predictors of Children's Phonological and Semantic Word Learning

Purpose

This study examined the unique and shared variance that nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge contribute to children's ability to learn new words. Multiple measures of word learning were used to assess recall and recognition of phonological and semantic information.

Method

Fifty children, with a mean age of 8 years (range 5-12 years), completed experimental assessments of word learning and norm-referenced assessments of receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition skills. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examined the variance in word learning that was explained by vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition after controlling for chronological age.

Results

Together with chronological age, nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge explained up to 44% of the variance in children's word learning. Nonword repetition was the stronger predictor of phonological recall, phonological recognition, and semantic recognition, whereas vocabulary knowledge was the stronger predictor of verbal semantic recall.

Conclusions

These findings extend the results of past studies indicating that both nonword repetition skill and existing vocabulary knowledge are important for new word learning, but the relative influence of each predictor depends on the way word learning is measured. Suggestions for further research involving typically developing children and children with language or reading impairments are discussed.

Do Adolescents With Specific Language Impairment Understand Driving Terminology?

Purpose

This study examined if adolescents with specific language impairment (SLI) understand driving vocabulary as well as their typically developing (TD) peers.

Method

A total of 16 adolescents with SLI and 16 TD comparison adolescents completed a receptive vocabulary task focused on driving terminology derived from statewide driver's manuals.

Results

The SLI group understood fewer driving-related terms when compared with the TD comparison group. Although both groups performed comparably in understanding simple noun driving terminology, the SLI group had greater difficulty comprehending compound noun and verb driving terms.

Discussion

The decreased understanding of terms found in driver's manuals for adolescents with SLI has implications for how they access necessary information for learning the driving rules, regulations, and procedures important for securing a driver's license.

Metacognitive Strategies

This study assessed the effect of metacognitive instruction on the spelling and word reading of Hebrew-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI). Participants were 67 kindergarteners with SLI in a supported learning context. Children were classified into three spelling instruction groups: (a) metalinguistic instruction (ML), (b) ML that integrates metacognitive strategies (MCML), and (c) a control group. Letter naming, letter sounding, word spelling, and word recognition were assessed at pretest and posttest. Findings from spelling and reading tests as well as interviews indicated that both the ML and MCML groups made statistically significant gains in all measures, whereas the control group did not. However, children with SLI who received training in metacognitive strategies significantly outperformed those who received ML alone in spelling and reading skills. This study provides evidence that children with SLI benefit from applying of metacognitive strategies to spelling practices when acquiring early spelling and reading skills.

Spontaneous Gesture Production and Lexical Abilities in Children With Specific Language Impairment in a Naming Task

PURPOSE

The purpose of the study was to investigate the role that cospeech gestures play in lexical production in preschool-age children with expressive specific language impairment (E-SLI).

METHOD

Fifteen preschoolers with E-SLI and 2 groups of typically developing (TD) children matched for chronological age (n = 15, CATD group) and for language abilities (n = 15, LATD group) completed a picture-naming task. The accuracy of the spoken answers (coded for types of correct and incorrect answers), the modality of expression (spoken and/or gestural), types of gestures, and semantic relationship between gestures and speech produced by children in the different groups were compared.

RESULTS

Children with SLI produced higher rates of phonological simplifications and unintelligible answers than CATD children, but lower rates of semantic errors than LATD children. They did not show a significant preference for spoken answers, as TD children did. Similarly to LATD children, they used gestures at higher rates than CATD, both deictic and representational, and both reinforcing the information conveyed in speech and adding correct information to co-occurring speech.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support the hypotheses that children with SLI rely on gestures for scaffolding their speech and do not have a clear preference for the spoken modality, as TD children do, and have implications for educational and clinical practice.

Neurobiological Basis of Language Learning Difficulties

In this paper we highlight why there is a need to examine subcortical learning systems in children with language impairment and dyslexia, rather than focusing solely on cortical areas relevant for language. First, behavioural studies find that children with these neurodevelopmental disorders perform less well than peers on procedural learning tasks that depend on corticostriatal learning circuits. Second, fMRI studies in neurotypical adults implicate corticostriatal and hippocampal systems in language learning. Finally, structural and functional abnormalities are seen in the striatum in children with language disorders. Studying corticostriatal networks in developmental language disorders could offer us insights into their neurobiological basis and elucidate possible modes of compensation for intervention.

Individuals with SLI and dyslexia have impaired or immature learning mechanisms; this hampers their extraction of structure in complex learning environments.

These learning difficulties are not general or confined to language. Problems are specific to tasks that involve implicitly learning sequential structure or complex cue–outcome relationships. Such learning is thought to depend upon corticostriatal circuits.

In language learning studies, the striatum is recruited when adults extract sequential information from auditory-verbal sequences and as they learn complex motor routines relevant for speech.

Neuroimaging studies indicate striatal abnormalities in individuals with language disorders.

There is a need to probe the integrity of neural learning systems in developmental language disorders using tasks relevant for language learning which place specific demands on the striatum/MTL.

Theoretical Principles to Guide the Teaching of Adjectives to Children Who Struggle With Word Learning: Synthesis of Experimental and Naturalistic Research With Principles of Learning Theory

PURPOSE

The purpose of this tutorial is to provide clinicians with a theoretically motivated and evidence-based approach to teaching adjectives to children who struggle with word learning.

METHOD

Given that there are almost no treatment studies to guide this topic, we have synthesized findings from experimental and theoretical literature to come up with a principles-based approach to treatment.

RESULTS

We provide a sample lesson plan, incorporating our 3 theoretical principles, and describe the materials chosen and methods used during treatment and assessment.

CONCLUSION

This approach is theoretically motivated, but it needs to be empirically tested.

A descriptive study of lexical organisation in bilingual children with language impairment: Developmental changes

PURPOSE

This study aimed to describe the development of Arabic and Swedish lexical organisation in bilingual children with language impairment (BLI).

METHOD

Lexical organisation was assessed through word associations in 10 BLI and 10 bilingual children with typical development (BTD), aged 6;2-8;0 years, matched for age and gender. The participants were assessed twice, with a 1-year interval. Word associations were coded as paradigmatic, syntagmatic, phonological, other and no answer. This study reports analyses of the semantically-related syntagmatic and paradigmatic associations. Using repeated measures ANOVA, main and interaction effects of Group, Time and Language were examined for paradigmatic and syntagmatic associations separately.

RESULT

The interaction between Group and Time was significant for both associations. The BLI group increased syntagmatic associations from time 1 to time 2, while the BTD group increased paradigmatic associations. Results showed a significant main effect of Language for both types of associations, with better performance in Swedish. Significant Group by Language interactions resulted from lower Arabic than Swedish syntagmatic and paradigmatic scores for the BLI and BTD groups, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Differing developmental trajectories indicate that bilingual children with LI develop lexical organisation at a slower pace than bilingual peers with typical language development.

The relationship between phonological short-term memory, receptive vocabulary, and fast mapping in children with specific language impairment

BACKGROUND

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often experience word-learning difficulties, which are suggested to originate in the early stage of word learning: fast mapping. Some previous research indicates significantly poorer fast mapping capabilities in children with SLI compared with typically developing (TD) counterparts, with a range of methodological factors impacting on the consistency of this finding. Research has explored key issues that might underlie fast mapping difficulties in children with SLI, with strong theoretical support but little empirical evidence for the role of phonological short-term memory (STM). Additionally, further research is required to explore the influence of receptive vocabulary on fast mapping capabilities. Understanding the factors associated with fast mapping difficulties that are experienced by children with SLI may lead to greater theoretically driven word-learning intervention.

AIMS

To investigate whether children with SLI demonstrate significant difficulties with fast mapping, and to explore the related factors. It was hypothesized that children with SLI would score significantly lower on a fast mapping production task compared with TD children, and that phonological STM and receptive vocabulary would significantly predict fast mapping production scores in both groups of children.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Twenty-three children with SLI (mean = 64.39 months, SD = 4.10 months) and 26 TD children (mean = 65.92 months, SD = 2.98) were recruited from specialist language and mainstream schools. All participants took part in a unique, interactive fast-mapping task whereby nine novel objects with non-word labels were presented and production accuracy was assessed. A non-word repetition test and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition (PPVT-IV) were also administered as measures of phonological STM capacity and receptive vocabulary, respectively.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Results of the fast-mapping task indicated that children with SLI had significantly poorer fast mapping production scores than TD children. Scores from the non-word repetition task were also significantly lower for the SLI group, revealing reduced phonological STM capacity. Phonological STM capacity and receptive vocabulary emerged as significant predictors of fast mapping performance when the group data were combined in a multiple regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

These results suggest that the word-learning difficulties experienced by children with SLI may originate at the fast mapping stage, and that phonological STM and receptive vocabulary significantly predict fast mapping ability. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of word-learning difficulties in children with SLI and may inform lexical learning intervention.

Lexical Processing in School-Age Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Children with Specific Language Impairment: The Role of Semantics

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI) often have immature lexical-semantic knowledge; however, the organization of lexical-semantic knowledge is poorly understood. This study examined lexical processing in school-age children with ASD, SLI, and typical development, who were matched on receptive vocabulary. Children completed a lexical decision task, involving words with high and low semantic network sizes and nonwords. Children also completed nonverbal updating and shifting tasks. Children responded more accurately to words from high than from low semantic networks; however, follow-up analyses identified weaker semantic network effects in the SLI group. Additionally, updating and shifting abilities predicted lexical processing, demonstrating similarity in the mechanisms which underlie semantic processing in children with ASD, SLI, and typical development.

Phonological memory and word learning deficits in children with specific language impairment: A role for perceptual context?

BACKGROUND

Sensitivity to perceptual context (anchoring) has been suggested to contribute to the development of both oral- and written-language skills, but studies of this idea in children have been rare.

AIMS

To determine whether deficient anchoring contributes to the phonological memory and word learning deficits of children with specific language impairment (SLI).

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

84 preschool children with and without SLI participated in the study. Anchoring to repeated items was evaluated in two tasks - a phonological memory task and a pseudo-word learning task.

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

Compared to children with typical development, children with SLI had poorer phonological memory spans and learned fewer words during the word learning task. In both tasks the poorer performance of children with SLI reflected a smaller effect of anchoring that was manifested in a smaller effect of item repetition on performance. Furthermore, across the entire sample anchoring was significantly correlated with performance in vocabulary and grammar tasks.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that anchoring contributes to language skills and that children with SLI have impaired anchoring, although further studies are required to determine the role of anchoring in language development.

Effects of verb familiarity on finiteness marking in children with specific language impairment

PURPOSE

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have known deficits in the verb lexicon and finiteness marking. This study investigated a potential relationship between these 2 variables in children with SLI and 2 control groups considering predictions from 2 different theoretical perspectives, morphosyntactic versus morphophonological.

METHOD

Children with SLI, age-equivalent, and language-equivalent (LE) control children (n=59) completed an experimental sentence imitation task that generated estimates of children's finiteness accuracy under 2 levels of verb familiarity--familiar real verbs versus unfamiliar real verbs--in clausal sites marked for finiteness. Imitations were coded and analyzed for overall accuracy as well as finiteness marking and verb root imitation accuracy.

RESULTS

Statistical comparisons revealed that children with SLI did not differ from LE children and were less accurate than age-equivalent children on all dependent variables: overall imitation, finiteness marking imitation, and verb root imitation accuracy. A significant Group×Condition interaction for finiteness marking revealed lower levels of accuracy on unfamiliar verbs for the SLI and LE groups only.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate a relationship between verb familiarity and finiteness marking in children with SLI and younger controls and help clarify the roles of morphosyntax, verb lexicon, and morphophonology.

Does language learning disability in school-age children affect semantic word learning when reading?

PURPOSE

The study was undertaken to determine how position of informative context, rate of word presentation and part of speech impacted novel word learning during reading in children with language learning disability.

METHOD

Children with language learning disability (LLD; n = 13), age-matched peers (n = 13) and vocabulary-matched peers (n = 13) read four narrative passages containing 10 nouns and 10 verbs. Informative context provided clues to word meanings and was either adjacent or non-adjacent to the target words. Target words occurred either twice (low rate) or 5-times (high rate). Following reading, word learning was assessed using dynamic assessment, including oral definitions, contextual clues and forced choices.

RESULT

Overall, age-matched peers performed better than children with LLD and vocabulary-matched peers, who performed similarly. No effect was found for position of informative context; however, word learning improved with high rate of presentation for children with LLD. Nouns were easier to learn than verbs for all groups.

CONCLUSION

Results indicated that children with LLD show limitations gaining semantic knowledge of novel words during reading, which could negatively impact their overall rate of vocabulary acquisition.

The declarative system in children with specific language impairment: a comparison of meaningful and meaningless auditory-visual paired associate learning

BACKGROUND

It has been proposed that children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have a selective deficit in procedural learning, with relatively spared declarative learning. In previous studies we and others confirmed deficits in procedural learning of sequences, using both verbal and nonverbal materials. Here we studied the same children using a task that implicates the declarative system, auditory-visual paired associate learning. There were parallel tasks for verbal materials (vocabulary learning) and nonverbal materials (meaningless patterns and sounds).

METHODS

Participants were 28 children with SLI aged 7-11 years, 28 younger typically-developing children matched for raw scores on a test of receptive grammar, and 20 typically-developing children matched on chronological age. Children were given four sessions of paired-associate training using a computer game adopting an errorless learning procedure, during which they had to select a picture from an array of four to match a heard stimulus. In each session they did both vocabulary training, where the items were eight names and pictures of rare animals, and nonverbal training, where stimuli were eight visual patterns paired with complex nonverbal sounds. A total of 96 trials of each type was presented over four days.

RESULTS

In all groups, accuracy improved across the four sessions for both types of material. For the vocabulary task, the age-matched control group outperformed the other two groups in the starting level of performance, whereas for the nonverbal paired-associate task, there were no reliable differences between groups. In both tasks, rate of learning was comparable for all three groups.

CONCLUSIONS

These results are consistent with the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis of SLI, in finding spared declarative learning on a nonverbal auditory-visual paired associate task. On the verbal version of the task, the SLI group had a deficit in learning relative to age-matched controls, which was evident on the first block in the first session. However, the subsequent rate of learning was consistent across all three groups. Problems in vocabulary learning in SLI could reflect the procedural demands of remembering novel phonological strings; declarative learning of crossmodal links between auditory and visual information appears to be intact.

Triggering word learning in children with Language Impairment: the effect of phonotactic probability and neighbourhood density

The effect of phonotactic probability (PP) and neighbourhood density (ND) on triggering word learning was examined in children with Language Impairment (3;04-6;09) and compared to Typically Developing children. Nonwords, varying PP and ND orthogonally, were presented in a story context and their learning tested using a referent identification task. Group comparisons with receptive vocabulary as a covariate found no group differences in overall scores or in the influence of PP or ND. Therefore, there was no evidence of atypical lexical or phonological processing. 'Convergent' PP/ND (High PP/High ND; Low PP/Low ND) was optimal for word learning in both groups. This bias interacted with vocabulary knowledge. 'Divergent' PP/ND word scores (High PP/Low ND; Low PP/High ND) were positively correlated with vocabulary so the 'divergence disadvantage' reduced as vocabulary knowledge grew; an interaction hypothesized to represent developmental changes in lexical-phonological processing linked to the emergence of phonological representations.

Effect of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on word-learning configuration by preschoolers with typical development and specific language impairment

PURPOSE

In this study, the authors assessed the effects of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on word-learning configuration by preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) and typical language development (TD).

METHOD

One hundred thirty-one children participated: 48 with SLI, 44 with TD matched on age and gender, and 39 with TD matched on vocabulary and gender. Referent identification and naming were assessed in a computer-based learning context.

RESULTS

For referent identification, preschoolers with TD benefited from high phonotactic probability, and the younger group also benefited from low neighborhood density. In contrast, the SLI group benefited only from high neighborhood density. For naming, older preschoolers with TD benefited most from low-density words, younger preschoolers with TD benefited most from words with high phonotactic probability, and the SLI group showed no advantage.

CONCLUSION

Phonotactic probability and neighborhood density had different effects on each group that may be related to children's ability to store well-specified word forms and to the size of their extant lexicon. The authors argue that cross-study comparisons of word learning are needed; therefore, researchers should describe word, referent, and learner characteristics and the learning context and should situate their studies in a triggering → configuration + engagement model of word learning.

Do statistical segmentation abilities predict lexical-phonological and lexical-semantic abilities in children with and without SLI?

This study tested the predictions of the procedural deficit hypothesis by investigating the relationship between sequential statistical learning and two aspects of lexical ability, lexical-phonological and lexical-semantic, in children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Participants included forty children (ages 8;5-12;3), twenty children with SLI and twenty with typical development. Children completed Saffran's statistical word segmentation task, a lexical-phonological access task (gating task), and a word definition task. Poor statistical learners were also poor at managing lexical-phonological competition during the gating task. However, statistical learning was not a significant predictor of semantic richness in word definitions. The ability to track statistical sequential regularities may be important for learning the inherently sequential structure of lexical-phonological, but not as important for learning lexical-semantic knowledge. Consistent with the procedural/declarative memory distinction, the brain networks associated with the two types of lexical learning are likely to have different learning properties.

Novel word retention in sequential bilingual children

Children's ability to learn and retain new words is fundamental to their vocabulary development. This study examined word retention in children learning a home language (L1) from birth and a second language (L2) in preschool settings. Participants were presented with sixteen novel words in L1 and in L2 and were tested for retention after either a 2-month or a 4-month delay. Results showed that children retained more words in L1 than in L2 for both of the retention interval conditions. In addition, children's word retention was associated with their existing language knowledge and their fast-mapping performance within and across language. The patterns of association, however, were different between L1 and L2. These findings suggest that children's word retention might be related to the interactions of various components that are operating within a dynamic system.

Novel-word learning deficits in Mandarin-speaking preschool children with specific language impairments

Children with SLI exhibit overall deficits in novel word learning compared to their age-matched peers. However, the manifestation of the word learning difficulty in SLI was not consistent across tasks and the factors affecting the learning performance were not yet determined. Our aim is to examine the extent of word learning difficulties in Mandarin-speaking preschool children with SLI, and to explore the potent influence of existing lexical knowledge on to the word learning process. Preschool children with SLI (n=37) and typical language development (n=33) were exposed to novel words for unfamiliar objects embedded in stories. Word learning tasks including the initial mapping and short-term repetitive learning were designed. Results revealed that Mandarin-speaking preschool children with SLI performed as well as their age-peers in the initial form-meaning mapping task. Their word learning difficulty was only evidently shown in the short-term repetitive learning task under a production demand, and their learning speed was slower than the control group. Children with SLI learned the novel words with a semantic head better in both the initial mapping and repetitive learning tasks. Moderate correlations between stand word learning performances and scores on standardized vocabulary were found after controlling for children's age and nonverbal IQ. The results suggested that the word learning difficulty in children with SLI occurred in the process of establishing a robust phonological representation at the beginning stage of word learning. Also, implicit compound knowledge is applied to aid word learning process for children with and without SLI. We also provide the empirical data to validate the relationship between preschool children's word learning performance and their existing receptive vocabulary ability.

Lexical learning and lexical processing in children with developmental language impairments

Lexical skills are a crucial component of language comprehension and production. This paper reviews evidence for lexical-level deficits in children and young people with developmental language impairment (LI). Across a range of tasks, LI is associated with reduced vocabulary knowledge in terms of both breadth and depth and difficulty with learning and retaining new words; evidence is emerging from on-line tasks to suggest that low levels of language skill are associated with differences in lexical competition in spoken word recognition. The role of lexical deficits in understanding the nature of LI is also discussed.

The Speech-Language Assessment of English Language Learning Students: A Non-Standardized Approach

English language learning (ELL) children suspected of having specific-language impairment (SLI) should be assessed using the same methods as monolingual English-speaking children born and raised in the United States. In an effort to reduce over- and under-identification of ELL children as SLI, speech-language pathologists (SLP) must employ nonbiased assessment practices. This article presents several evidence-based, nonstandarized assessment practices SLPs can implement in place of standardized tools. As the number of ELL children SLPs come in contact with increases, the need for well-trained and knowledgeable SLPs grows. The goal of the authors is to present several well-establish, evidence-based assessment methods for assessing ELL children suspected of SLI.

Investigating the interchangeability and diagnostic utility of the PPVT-III and PPVT-IV for children with and without SLI

The receptive vocabulary performance of pre-school children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically-developing (TD) controls was compared on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test third and fourth edition (PPVT-III and PPVT-IV) to determine consistency in performance and the effect of test revision on identification of impairment. Participants included 40 pre-school children with SLI and 40 controls. Tests were administered in counterbalanced order. Despite a strong relationship between performance on these two tests (p < 0.001), 35% of children performed differently between the two test versions. Children with SLI performed significantly worse than TD children on both tests (p < 0.001). Discriminate analyses identified an optimal standard score cut-off of 103 for both tests. Using this cut-off, sensitivity remained consistent at 80% (95% CI = 0.64-0.90), while specificity was 75% (95% CI = 0.59-0.87) on the PPVT-III and 70% (95% CI = 0.53-0.83) on the PPVT-IV. The results suggest that the two tests do not appear to be interchangeable for more than 1/3rd of children. The findings also highlight the misperception that newer test versions are superior to older in identifying presence or absence of language impairment. Children with SLI are unlikely to score low on these commonly used receptive vocabulary tests, despite known deficits of children with SLI in the area of vocabulary acquisition. Possible explanations for why children with SLI score well on these types of tests will be discussed.

Semantic convergence in Spanish-English bilingual children with primary language impairment

PURPOSE

To examine the degree of convergence in word association responses produced by bilingual children with primary language impairment (PLI) in relation to bilingual age peers.

METHOD

Thirty-seven Spanish-English bilingual children with PLI, 37 typically developing (TD) controls, and a normative sample of 112 children produced associations to 24 English and Spanish words. The 5 most frequent responses for each stimulus were identified for the normative sample; then the frequency of occurrence of these frequent normative responses was tabulated and compared between the PLI and TD groups.

RESULTS

Children with PLI generated fewer frequent normative responses than their TD peers. Spearman rank correlations revealed that the rank frequency of responses in the normative group was significantly correlated with that of the TD and PLI groups; however, in English, the correlation was stronger for the TD cohort. Cross-language associations were also revealed in the generation of frequent norming responses.

CONCLUSIONS

Semantic convergence is determined by multiple factors. Reduced production of frequent normative responses and weakened correlation with group association behavior in English suggest that children with PLI were delayed in converging on a central core of semantic knowledge that is characteristic of bilingual children with typical language skills.

Word learning by preschoolers with SLI: effect of phonotactic probability and object familiarity

PURPOSE

In this study, the authors investigated whether previous findings of a low phonotactic probability/unfamiliar object word-learning advantage in preschoolers could be replicated, whether this advantage would be apparent at different "stages" of word learning, and whether findings would differ for preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) and typical development (TD).

METHOD

Participants included 114 children: 40 with SLI, 39 with TD matched for age and gender, and 35 with TD matched for expressive vocabulary and gender. Comprehension and production were assessed during word learning and at post-test for words that varied in phonotactic probability and object familiarity.

RESULTS

Across groups, comprehension performance increased significantly from day 1 to day 2 and from day 2 to day 3, but there was no significant word/object type effect. Production performance increased significantly from day 1 to day 2, from day 2 to day 3, and from day 3 to day 4 for all groups, and there was a clear low phonotactic probability/unfamiliar object advantage during word learning but not at post-test.

CONCLUSION

Results help to establish that preschoolers with TD and SLI show a low phonotactic probability/unfamiliar object production advantage during word learning that is not restricted to the first few exposures to words, but continues over time. This study illustrates how the interaction of phonological characteristics in nascent and extant words can affect word learning.

The relationship between stored phonological representations and speech output

Low quality, imprecise phonological representations have been hypothesized as an underlying deficit in Specific Language Impairment (SLI). This research compared performance on a silent judgement task and a multisyllabic word naming task using the same 10 words, for 21 children with SLI (mean age 7;6), 21 age-matched (AM) (mean age 7;6) and 21 language-matched (LM) (mean age 5;6) peers. The children with SLI demonstrated significantly poorer performance on the judgement task than either AM or LM peers, while performance on the naming task followed a developmental sequence. There was no correlation between the ability to correctly reject inaccurate productions and the ability to correctly name the items. These results support the suggestion of separate input and output phonological representations and that speech output errors should not necessarily be interpreted as indicative of underlying weakness in phonological representations. The research also highlights the value of individually-designed tasks to measure the input phonological representations for specific words.

Learning novel words: detail and vulnerability of initial representations for children with specific language impairment and typically developing peers

This study examines the phonological representations that children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing peers (TD) have during the initial process of word learning. The goals of this study were to determine if children with SLI attended to different components of words than peers, and whether they were more vulnerable to interference than peers. Forty 7- and 8-year-old children, half with SLI, took part in a fast mapping, word learning task. In addition to producing the word, there was a mispronunciation detection task that included mispronunciations of the target word in the initial position, final position or that modified the word's syllable structure. Children with SLI showed a different learning profile than peers, demonstrating stronger representations of the word-initial phonemes, but less information about word-final phonemes. They were more prone to interference overall, but especially from word-final foils. Children with SLI did not demonstrate less-defined phonological representations, but did attend to different features than TD children, perhaps in an attempt to compensate for problems learning longer words. The greatest weakness of children with SLI appears to be their susceptibility to interference, particularly for word-final information.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Readers will be able to: (1) explain what children attend to when learning new words; (2) state the pattern of recognition and production performance for both children with SLI and their typical language peers; and (3) identify specific parts of novel words that are most susceptible to interference in children with SLI.

Dynamic Assessment of Word Learning Skills: Identifying Language Impairment in Bilingual Children

Purpose

Bilingual children are often diagnosed with language impairment, although they may simply have fewer opportunities to learn English than English-speaking monolingual children. This study examined whether dynamic assessment (DA) of word learning skills is an effective method for identifying bilingual children with primary language impairment (PLI).

Method

Fifteen 4- and 5-year-old predominantly Spanish-speaking children with typical language development (TLD) and 13 with PLI each participated in a 30- to 40-min session of DA of word learning skills following a pretest–teach–posttest design.

Results

Results indicated that TLD children made associations between the phonological and semantic representations of the new words faster than children with PLI did, showing greater modifiability. Further, a combination of word learning in the receptive modality and the Learning Strategies Checklist (Lidz, 1991; Peña, 1993) provided the best accuracy in identifying PLI in these children.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that a brief DA is a promising method for accurately differentiating children with TLD from children with PLI.

Vocabulary Intervention for School-age Children with Language Impairment: A Review of Evidence and Good Practice

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence to support direct vocabulary intervention practices for primary school-age children with language impairment (LI). A rationale for providing direct vocabulary intervention for children with LI is outlined by reviewing typical and atypical vocabulary acquisition, evidence of instructional strategies from research in mainstream and special education is summarised, and suggestions for vocabulary intervention activities that facilitate deep word knowledge are provided. Suggestions for choosing appropriate vocabulary, using strategies during direct intervention, and conducting activities that increase depth of vocabulary knowledge are included.

Contributions of morphological awareness skills to word-level reading and spelling in first-grade children with and without speech sound disorder

PURPOSE

In this study, the authors compared the morphological awareness abilities of children with speech sound disorder (SSD) and children with typical speech skills and examined how morphological awareness ability predicted word-level reading and spelling performance above other known contributors to literacy development.

METHOD

Eighty-eight first-grade students--44 students with SSD and no known history of language deficiencies, and 44 students with typical speech and language skills--completed an assessment battery designed to measure speech sound production, morphological awareness, phonemic awareness, letter-name knowledge, receptive vocabulary, word-level reading, and spelling abilities.

RESULTS

The children with SSD scored significantly lower than did their counterparts on the morphological awareness measures as well as on phonemic awareness, word-level reading, and spelling tasks. Regression analyses suggested that morphological awareness predicted significant unique variance on the spelling measure for both groups and on the word-level reading measure for the children with typical skills.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that children with SSD may present with a general linguistic awareness insufficiency, which puts them at risk for difficulties with literacy and literacy-related tasks.