Benefits of augmentative signs in word learning: Evidence from children who are deaf/hard of hearing and children with specific language impairment

Concurrent Predictors of Supplementary Sign Use in School-Aged Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech

PURPOSE

Manual sign is a common alternative mode of communication taught to children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Gesture use is positively related to later increases in vocabulary and syntactic complexity in typical development, but there is little evidence supporting the use of manual sign for children with CAS. We sought to identify the communicative functions of signs and gestures produced by children with CAS and to identify concurrent factors suggesting which children are more likely to benefit from sign-supported speech intervention.

METHOD

Measures of receptive and expressive language were gathered from 19 children (ages 3.8-11.1 years) with CAS in a school-based sign-supported speech program. Fourteen of the children produced a total of 145 manual signs, which included both gestures and signs from American Sign Language (M = 10.4 per child, SD = 11.6). Manual signs were coded according to whether they conveyed information that was semantically redundant with (complemented) or added information to (supplemented) their speech.

RESULTS

Children produced 107 complementary manual signs (75.4%) and 38 supplemental (24.6%) manual signs. Of the 38 supplemental signs, 24 (63.2%) provided additional information in the presence of unintelligible or no speech and 14 (36.8%) provided additional information in the presence of intelligible speech. Children's expressive language scores significantly predicted and accounted for 38.4% of the variance in the number of supplemental signs that children used.

CONCLUSION

Children with CAS whose oral expressive language was relatively more impaired produced the most supplementary signs, suggesting that children with oral expressive language challenges are more likely to rely on them for communicating words they cannot yet speak.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21217814.

Predictors of Word and Text Reading Fluency of Deaf Children in Bilingual Deaf Education Programmes

Reading continues to be a challenging task for most deaf children. Bimodal bilingual education creates a supportive environment that stimulates deaf children’s learning through the use of sign language. However, it is still unclear how exposure to sign language might contribute to improving reading ability. Here, we investigate the relative contribution of several cognitive and linguistic variables to the development of word and text reading fluency in deaf children in bimodal bilingual education programmes. The participants of this study were 62 school-aged (8 to 10 years old at the start of the 3-year study) deaf children who took part in bilingual education (using Dutch and Sign Language of The Netherlands) and 40 age-matched hearing children. We assessed vocabulary knowledge in speech and sign, phonological awareness in speech and sign, receptive fingerspelling ability, and short-term memory at time 1 (T1). At times 2 (T2) and 3 (T3), we assessed word and text reading fluency. We found that (1) speech-based vocabulary strongly predicted word and text reading at T2 and T3, (2) fingerspelling ability was a strong predictor of word and text reading fluency at T2 and T3, (3) speech-based phonological awareness predicted word reading accuracy at T2 and T3 but did not predict text reading fluency, and (4) fingerspelling and STM predicted word reading latency at T2 while sign-based phonological awareness predicted this outcome measure at T3. These results suggest that fingerspelling may have an important function in facilitating the construction of orthographical/phonological representations of printed words for deaf children and strengthening word decoding and recognition abilities.

The evaluation of word-learning abilities in people with developmental language disorder: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

The ability to learn new words is critical in the development of oral and written language, and significantly impacts engagement in social, academic and vocational situations. Many studies have evaluated the word-learning process in people with developmental language disorder (DLD). However, methodologies for assessment are heterogeneous, creating difficulties in synthesizing findings and identifying gaps in the knowledge base.

AIMS

To scope systematically the literature and identify key methodological parameters considered in evaluations of word learning in people with DLD; and to identify gaps in the literature to guide further research in this area.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Twelve databases were searched and a total of 70 studies that met eligibility criteria were identified. The studies were evaluated according to key parameters that researchers varied in their word-learning methodologies.

MAIN CONTRIBUTION

Most research has focused on word learning in the oral modality, and specifically in children with DLD. Fewer studies have explored word learning in adults and adolescents with DLD, and in the written modality. Depending on the research question and theoretical perspective driving the investigation, methodologies for assessing word learning considered a range of parameters, including words being learned, learning context and cues to support learning in the tasks.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

This review aggregates a variety of methods used previously to assess word learning. Findings highlight the need for further research to explore areas such as: the learning of varied word types (e.g., adjectives and adverbs); learning in the written modality; and word learning (both oral and written) in adolescents and adults with DLD.

The Role of Multiple Articulatory Channels of Sign-Supported Speech Revealed by Visual Processing

Purpose The use of sign-supported speech (SSS) in the education of deaf students has been recently discussed in relation to its usefulness with deaf children using cochlear implants. To clarify the benefits of SSS for comprehension, 2 eye-tracking experiments aimed to detect the extent to which signs are actively processed in this mode of communication. Method Participants were 36 deaf adolescents, including cochlear implant users and native deaf signers. Experiment 1 attempted to shift observers' foveal attention to the linguistic source in SSS from which most information is extracted, lip movements or signs, by magnifying the face area, thus modifying lip movements perceptual accessibility (magnified condition), and by constraining the visual field to either the face or the sign through a moving window paradigm (gaze contingent condition). Experiment 2 aimed to explore the reliance on signs in SSS by occasionally producing a mismatch between sign and speech. Participants were required to concentrate upon the orally transmitted message. Results In Experiment 1, analyses revealed a greater number of fixations toward the signs and a reduction in accuracy in the gaze contingent condition across all participants. Fixations toward signs were also increased in the magnified condition. In Experiment 2, results indicated less accuracy in the mismatching condition across all participants. Participants looked more at the sign when it was inconsistent with speech. Conclusions All participants, even those with residual hearing, rely on signs when attending SSS, either peripherally or through overt attention, depending on the perceptual conditions. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.8121191.

Effects of Signs on Word Learning by Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Purpose This study investigated the effects of signs on word learning by children with developmental language disorder (DLD), in comparison with typically developing (TD) children, and the relation between a possible sign effect and children's linguistic and cognitive abilities. Method Nine- to 11-year-old children with DLD ( n = 40) and TD children ( n = 26) participated in a word learning experiment. Half of the spoken pseudowords were taught with a pseudosign with learning outcomes being assessed in accuracy and speed. To investigate whether sign effects would hold for children with varying linguistic and cognitive abilities, we measured children's linguistic (vocabulary, syntax) and cognitive (divided attention, working memory [WM], lexical access) skills. Results The children with DLD showed a positive sign effect in both accuracy and speed. For the TD children, there was no effect of signs on word learning. Principal component analyses of the linguistic and cognitive measures evidenced a 4-component solution (language skills, visual WM, verbal WM, and executive attention). Repeated-measures analyses of covariance with the component scores as covariates yielded no significant interactions with the linguistic and cognitive components. Conclusions Our results suggest that children with DLD benefit from signs for word learning, regardless of their linguistic and cognitive abilities. This implies that using sign-supported speech as a means to improve the vocabulary skills of children with DLD is effective, even still at the age of 9-11 years.