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Barokova MD, Tager-Flusberg H. Exploring cross-linguistic differences in parental input and their associations with child expressive language in ASD: Bulgarian versus English comparison. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2024. [PMID: 38989796 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.13089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Parental input plays a central role in typical language acquisition and development. In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), characterized by social communicative and language difficulties, parental input presents an important avenue for investigation as a target for intervention. A rich body of literature has identified which aspects of grammatical complexity and lexical diversity are most associated with child language ability in both typical development and autism. Yet, the majority of these studies are conducted with English-speaking children, thus potentially overlooking nuances in parental input derived from cross-linguistic variation. AIMS To examine the differences in verbal parental input to Bulgarian- and English-speaking children with ASD. To examine whether aspects of verbal parental input found to be concurrent predictors of English-speaking children's expressive language ability are also predictors of the expressive language of Bulgarian-speaking children with ASD. METHODS & PROCEDURES We compared parental input to Bulgarian-speaking (N = 37; 2;7-9;10 years) and English-speaking (N = 37; 1;8-4;9 years) children with ASD matched on expressive language. Parent-child interactions were collected during free play with developmentally appropriate toys. These interactions were transcribed, and key measures of parental input were extracted. OUTCOMES & RESULTS English-speaking parents produced more word tokens and word types than Bulgarian-speaking parents. However, Bulgarian parents produced more verbs in relation to nouns and used more statements and exclamations but asked fewer questions than English-speaking parents. In addition, child age and parents' use of questions were significant concurrent predictors of child expressive vocabulary. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS This is one of the first studies to conduct a cross-linguistic comparison of parental input in ASD. The differences found emphasize the need to further study parental input to Bulgarian children and adapt naturalistic parent-mediated interventions to the local language and its specific characteristics. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on the subject A rich body of literature has identified the specific aspects of grammatical complexity, lexical diversity, and question-asking that are concurrently and longitudinally associated with the language ability of children with typical development and of children with ASD. Yet, the majority of these studies are conducted with English-speaking children. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge The present study finds that there are specific differences in verbal parental input to Bulgarian- and English-speaking children with autism in terms of lexical composition and question-asking. Bulgarian parents used more verbs than nouns, and the opposite pattern was found for English-speaking parents. In addition, Bulgarian parents asked fewer questions but used more statements and exclamations. Nevertheless, parental question use was significantly correlated with children's language ability across both groups, suggesting that question-asking should be further examined as a potential target for parent-mediated language interventions for Bulgarian children with autism. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Most language and social communication interventions for autism are designed and piloted with English-speaking children. These interventions are often simply translated and used in different countries, with different populations and in different contexts. However, considering that one of the defining characteristics of autism is language difficulty, more studies should examine (1) how these language difficulties manifest in languages other than English, and (2) what characterizes verbal parental input in these other contexts. Such research investigations should inform future language and social communication interventions. The present study emphasizes the cross-linguistic differences between Bulgarian- and English-speaking parents' verbal input to their children with autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mihaela D Barokova
- Center for Autism Research Excellence, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Helen Tager-Flusberg
- Center for Autism Research Excellence, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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Shahrokhi Kahnooj H, Dadgar H, Saberi H. Validity and reliability of the Persian version of the WH-Question comprehension test in children With autism. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. CHILD 2024; 13:146-151. [PMID: 36369841 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2022.2142791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Questions form essential components of everyday speech; therefore, it is appropriate to evaluate children with autism to understand what they are asking during the daily conversation. A proper tool is required to assess questions formed through interrogative pronouns (what are commonly known as Wh-questions). The present study investigates the validity and reliability of the WH-Question comprehension test in children with autism. A sample of 52 neurotypical children were recruited from nursery and primary schools, and a sample of 28 children with autism were recruited from different centers for children with autism. The WH-Comprehension test was translated into Persian according to the international test commission (ITC) guideline. The reliability of the test was determined by test-retest and Cronbach's alpha approach. The face validity of the Persian version of the "WH-Comprehension test" was confirmed. The CVR for the test was equal to 0.85%, and the CVI was equal to 0.89%. Furthermore, the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for the total score was equal to 0.95, and Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient was calculated as 0.92. The results indicate that the translated WH-Comprehension test has acceptable validity and reliability within the sampled Persian groups and can be a helpful research tool.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hooshang Dadgar
- Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Haeideh Saberi
- Departement of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen Branch, Tehran, Iran
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Peristeri E, Kamona X, Varlokosta S. The Acquisition of Relative Clauses in Autism: The Role of Executive Functions and Language. J Autism Dev Disord 2023:10.1007/s10803-023-06159-4. [PMID: 37898582 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06159-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/30/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Relative clauses present a well-known processing asymmetry between object-extracted and subject-extracted dependencies across both typical and atypical populations. The present study aimed at exploring the comprehension of object and subject relative clauses as conceptualized by the Relativized Minimality framework in autistic children and in a group of age- and IQ-matched typically-developing children. The study also explored the way performance in relative clauses would be affected by the children's language and executive function skills. METHOD Relative clause comprehension was tested through a sentence-picture matching task and language was tested with a receptive vocabulary task. Executive functions were assessed through backward digit recall and a Flanker test. RESULTS Object relative clauses were harder to parse for both groups than subject relatives, while number mismatch between the moved object Noun Phrase and the intervening subject Noun Phrase in object relatives boosted both groups' performances. Typically-developing children's performance in object relatives was predicted by both language and executive functions, while autistic children failed to use language and did not systematically draw on their executive functions in object relative clause comprehension. CONCLUSION The findings suggest that relative clause processing in autism follows a normal developmental trajectory, and that difficulty with parsing object relative clauses stems from reduced language and executive functions rather than deficits in the children's morphosyntactic skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleni Peristeri
- School of English, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece.
| | - Xanthi Kamona
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Spyridoula Varlokosta
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
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Fusaroli R, Weed E, Rocca R, Fein D, Naigles L. Caregiver linguistic alignment to autistic and typically developing children: A natural language processing approach illuminates the interactive components of language development. Cognition 2023; 236:105422. [PMID: 36871399 PMCID: PMC11223773 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Language development is a highly interactive activity. However, most research on linguistic environment has focused on the quantity and complexity of linguistic input to children, with current models showing that complexity facilitates language in both typically developing (TD) and autistic children. AIMS After reviewing existing work on caregiver engagement of children's utterances, we aim to operationalize such engagement with automated measures of linguistic alignment, thereby providing scalable tools to assess caregivers' active reuse of their children's language. By assessing the presence of alignment, its sensitivity to the child's individual differences and how well it predicts language development beyond current models across the two groups, we showcase the usefulness of the approach and provide initial empirical foundations for further conceptual and empirical investigations. METHODS We measure lexical, syntactic and semantic types of caregiver alignment in a longitudinal corpus involving 32 adult-autistic child and 35 adult-TD child dyads, with children between 2 and 5 years of age. We assess the extent to which caregivers repeat their children's words, syntax, and semantics, and whether these repetitions predict language development beyond more standard predictors. RESULTS Caregivers tend to re-use their child's language in a way that is related to the child's individual, primarily linguistic, differences. Caregivers' alignment provides unique information improving our ability to predict future language development in both typical and autistic children. CONCLUSIONS We provide evidence that language development also relies on interactive conversational processes, previously understudied. We share carefully detailed methods, and open-source scripts so as to systematically extend our approach to new contexts and languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riccardo Fusaroli
- Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Jens Chr Skous vej 2, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; Interacting Minds Center, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Jens Chr Skous vej 4, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania, 3600 Market St, Suite 810, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2653, USA.
| | - Ethan Weed
- Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Jens Chr Skous vej 2, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; Interacting Minds Center, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Jens Chr Skous vej 4, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Roberta Rocca
- Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Jens Chr Skous vej 2, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; Interacting Minds Center, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Jens Chr Skous vej 4, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Deborah Fein
- Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT 0629-1020, USA
| | - Letitia Naigles
- Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT 0629-1020, USA
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Luyster R, Leiwant I, Arunachalam S. Frequency, Form and Function of Dyadic Questions in Children with Autism: A CHILDES corpus study. COMMUNICATION DISORDERS QUARTERLY 2023; 44:163-172. [PMID: 38223206 PMCID: PMC10786635 DOI: 10.1177/15257401221111336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2024]
Abstract
Children's questions to their caregivers - and caregivers' questions to their children - play an important role in child development. For children on the autism spectrum, who often experience cognitive, linguistic and social difficulties, prior research on questions has resulted in inconsistent and incomplete findings. The present study characterized the frequency, form, and function of queries posed by children on the autism spectrum (n = 12), non-spectrum peers (n =20), and parents using the Nadig ASD English Corpus in the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES). Results suggested that children on the autism spectrum and their caregivers produced fewer questions than non-spectrum dyads; however, whereas wh- questions were under-represented in the repertoire of children on the spectrum, they were over-represented in the repertoire of their parents. Finally, question function was similarly diverse for parents and children across groups. These findings offer important clinical implications for question-asking interventions targeting this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rhiannon Luyster
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St, Boston MA 02216
| | - Isabella Leiwant
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St, Boston MA 02216
| | - Sudha Arunachalam
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St, Boston MA 02216
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He AX, Luyster RJ, Arunachalam S. Parental tuning of language input to autistic and nonspectrum children. Front Psychol 2022; 13:954983. [PMID: 36211865 PMCID: PMC9537044 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.954983] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Caregivers’ language input supports children’s language development, and it is often tuned to the child’s current level of skill. Evidence suggests that parental input is tuned to accommodate children’s expressive language levels, but accommodation to receptive language abilities is less understood. In particular, little is known about parental sensitivity to children’s abilities to process language in real time. Compared to nonspectrum children, children on the spectrum are slower to process language. In this study, we ask: Do parents of autistic children and those of nonspectrum children tune their language input to accommodate children’s different language processing abilities? Children with and without a diagnosis of autism (ages 2–6 years, N = 35) and their parents viewed a display of six images, one of which was the target. The parent labeled the target to direct the child’s attention to it. We first examined children’s language processing abilities by assessing their latencies to shift gaze to the labeled referent; from this, we found slower latencies in the autistic group than in the nonspectrum group, in line with previous findings. We then examined features of parents’ language and found that parents in both groups produced similar language, suggesting that parents may not adjust their language input according to children’s speed of language processing. This finding suggests that (1) capturing parental sensitivity to children’s receptive language, and specifically language processing, may enrich our models of individual differences in language input, and (2) future work should investigate if supporting caregivers in tuning their language use according to children’s language processing can improve children’s language outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Xiaoxue He
- Department of English and Literature, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Rhiannon J. Luyster
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Emerson College, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Sudha Arunachalam
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York, NY, United States
- *Correspondence: Sudha Arunachalam,
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Xu YA, Naigles LR, Su YE. Early Word Order Usage in Preschool Mandarin-Speaking Typical Children and Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Influences of Caregiver Input? Front Psychol 2022; 12:766133. [PMID: 35069339 PMCID: PMC8770832 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.766133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This study explores the emergence and productivity of word order usage in Mandarin-speaking typically-developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and examines how this emergence relates to frequency of use in caregiver input. Forty-two caregiver-child dyads participated in video-recorded 30-min semi-structured play sessions. Eleven children with ASD were matched with 10 20-month-old TD children and another 11 children with ASD were matched with 10 26-month-old TD children, on expressive language. We report four major findings: (1) Preschool Mandarin-speaking children with ASD produced word order structures with pervasive ellipsis at similar rates to language-matched TD children, but also displayed differences from TD children in their usage of SVt and VtO frames; (2) Grammatical productivity was observed in both TD children and children with ASD; moreover, children with ASD with higher expressive language produced less stereotyped language; (3) Both TD children and children with ASD heard a range of word orders in their caregivers’ input, with TD children’s input greater in amount and complexity; however, caregivers of both groups also showed no age/language-related changes in word order usage; (4) Few word-order-specific correlations emerged between caregivers and their children; however, strong correlations were observed for mean length of utterances (MLU) for both groups: Caregivers who produced longer/more complex utterances had children who did the same. Taken together, it seems that despite their pragmatic deficits, the early grammatical knowledge of word order in Mandarin-exposed children with ASD is well preserved and in general follows the typical developmental pattern. Moreover, caregiver input is broadly rather than finely tuned to the linguistic development of TD children and children with ASD, and plays a more important role in children’s general syntactic development than in specific word order acquisition. Thus, early word order usage in preschool Mandarin-speaking TD children and children with ASD may be influenced by both caregiver input and child abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Alice Xu
- Child Language Lab, School of Foreign Languages, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Letitia R Naigles
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - Yi Esther Su
- Child Language Lab, School of Foreign Languages, Central South University, Changsha, China
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degli Espinosa F. Teaching generalized question‐discrimination skills to children with autism: Conceptual and applied considerations. BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/bin.1825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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9
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Bottema-Beutel K, Kim SY. A Systematic Literature Review of Autism Research on Caregiver Talk. Autism Res 2020; 14:432-449. [PMID: 33377301 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Revised: 11/17/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Describing how caregivers' talk to their autistic children, and how their talk may influence social and language outcomes, has important implications for developmental theory and intervention research. In this systematic literature review, we examine 294 caregiver talk variables extracted from 65 studies, provide a narrative overview of research findings, and link measurement approaches to various theories of language development. The majority of variables included only talk directed to children (90%), and specified the speech act being performed (57%). More than one-third of variables measured talk that was responsive to children's attention, activities, or communication (38%), and slightly less than a third measured variables that elicited children's communication or engagement. Semantic aspects of talk were specified in 41% of variables, structural features were measured in 20% of variables, and suprasegmental features were measured in only 1% of variables. Talk quantity (without reference to other aspects of talk) was measured in 8% of variables. We found strong support that talk related to children's attention is implicated in autistic children's language development, but this construct has been measured inconsistently in terms of semantic, structural, and functional features. There is also evidence for bi-directional relationships between caregiver's talk and autistic children's development on a variety of semantic and structural variables. LAY SUMMARY: In our review, we found many differences in how researchers measured caregiver's talk, but also some promising leads. Researchers should continue examining caregiver talk related to children's focus of attention to clarify how this type of language contributes to autistic children's development. We also found interesting research on how children influence caregiver's talk, and encourage researchers to continue to study how this occurs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen Bottema-Beutel
- Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA
| | - So Yoon Kim
- Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA
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10
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Tecoulesco L, Skoe E, Naigles LR. Phonetic discrimination mediates the relationship between auditory brainstem response stability and syntactic performance. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2020; 208:104810. [PMID: 32683226 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2020.104810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Revised: 02/03/2020] [Accepted: 04/27/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Syntactic, lexical, and phonological/phonetic knowledge are vital aspects of macro level language ability. Prior research has predominantly focused on environmental or cortical sources of individual differences in these areas; however, a growing literature suggests an auditory brainstem contribution to language performance in both typically developing (TD) populations and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study investigates whether one aspect of auditory brainstem responses (ABRs), neural response stability, which is a metric reflecting trial-by-trial consistency in the neural encoding of sound, can predict syntactic, lexical, and phonetic performance in TD and ASD school-aged children. Pooling across children with ASD and TD, results showed that higher neural stability in response to the syllable /da/ was associated with better phonetic discrimination, and with better syntactic performance on a standardized measure. Furthermore, phonetic discrimination was a successful mediator of the relationship between neural stability and syntactic performance. This study supports the growing body of literature that stable subcortical neural encoding of sound is important for successful language performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Tecoulesco
- University of Connecticut Psychological Sciences, United States.
| | - Erika Skoe
- University of Connecticut, Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, United States
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11
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Kelty-Stephen E, Fein DA, Naigles LR. Children with ASD use joint attention and linguistic skill in pronoun development. LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 2020; 27:410-433. [PMID: 33100799 PMCID: PMC7577086 DOI: 10.1080/10489223.2020.1769626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 05/08/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
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12
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Bang JY, Adiao AS, Marchman VA, Feldman HM. Language nutrition for language health in children with disorders: a scoping review. Pediatr Res 2020; 87:300-308. [PMID: 31454828 PMCID: PMC6962542 DOI: 10.1038/s41390-019-0551-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2019] [Revised: 08/09/2019] [Accepted: 08/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The quantity and quality of child-directed speech-language nutrition-provided to typically-developing children is associated with language outcomes-language health. Limited information is available about child-directed speech to children at biological risk of language impairments. We conducted a scoping review on caregiver child-directed speech for children with three clinical conditions associated with language impairments-preterm birth, intellectual disability, and autism-addressing three questions: (1) How does child-directed speech to these children differ from speech to typically-developing children? (2) What are the associations between child-directed speech and child language outcomes? (3) How convincing are intervention studies that aim to improve child-directed speech and thereby facilitate children's language development? We identified 635 potential studies and reviewed 57 meeting study criteria. Child-directed speech to children with all conditions was comparable to speech to language-matched children; caregivers were more directive toward children with disorders. Most associations between child-directed speech and outcomes were positive. However, several interventions had minimal effects on child language. Trials with large samples, intensive interventions, and multiple data sources are needed to evaluate child-directed speech as a means to prevent language impairment. Clinicians should counsel caregivers to use high quality child-directed speech and responsive communication styles with children with these conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janet Y Bang
- Department of Psychology, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Aubrey S Adiao
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Virginia A Marchman
- Department of Psychology, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Heidi M Feldman
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
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Expressive Dominant Versus Receptive Dominant Language Patterns in Young Children: Findings from the Study to Explore Early Development. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 49:2447-2460. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-03999-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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14
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Fusaroli R, Weed E, Fein D, Naigles L. Hearing me hearing you: Reciprocal effects between child and parent language in autism and typical development. Cognition 2019; 183:1-18. [PMID: 30396129 PMCID: PMC6322977 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.10.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2017] [Revised: 09/04/2018] [Accepted: 10/27/2018] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Language development in typically developing children (TD) has traditionally been investigated in relation to environmental factors, while language in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has primarily been related to child-based factors. We employ a longitudinal corpus of 32 preschoolers with ASD and 35 linguistically matched TD peers recorded over 6 visits (ranging between 2 and 5 years of age) to investigate the relative importance of child-based and environmental factors in language development for both populations. We also investigate the reciprocal interaction between children's response to parents' input, and parents' response to children's production. We report six major findings. (1) Children's production of word types, tokens, and MLU increased across visits, and were predicted by their Expressive Language (EL) (positively) and diagnosis (negatively) from Visit 1. (2) Parents' production also increased across visits, and was predicted by their child's nonverbal cognition (positively) and diagnosis (negatively) from Visit 1. (3) At all visits and across groups, children and parents matched each other in lexical and syntactic production; (4) Parents who produced longer MLUs during a given visit had children who produced more word types and tokens, and had longer MLUs, at the subsequent visit. (5) When both child EL at Visit 1 and parent MLU were included in the model, both contributed significantly to future child language; however, EL accounted for a greater proportion of the variance. (6) Finally, children's speech significantly predicted parent speech at the next visit. Taken together, these results draw more attention to the importance of child-based factors in the early language development of TD children, and to the importance of parental language factors in the early language development of children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riccardo Fusaroli
- Institute of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 2, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; The Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark.
| | - Ethan Weed
- Institute of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 2, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; The Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Deborah Fein
- Psychology, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT 06269-1020, United States
| | - Letitia Naigles
- Psychology, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT 06269-1020, United States
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Sanders EJ, Erickson KA. Wh - Question answering in children with intellectual disability. JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2018; 76:79-90. [PMID: 30269000 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2018.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2017] [Revised: 09/05/2018] [Accepted: 09/09/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated the ability of students with intellectual disability (ID) (n = 39) to answer questions beginning with different wh- question words presented in two referential conditions (i.e., with and without a picture). It also investigated participants' ability to answer questions that were more concrete (i.e., who, what, where) or abstract (i.e., when, why, how). Across conditions, the rank ordering of correct responses for each question word was: what, who, where, how, why, when. Logistic regression analysis revealed no overall statistical significance between the probability of answering questions correctly across referential conditions. Participants answered 89% of concrete and 56% of abstract questions correctly across both referential conditions, and logistic regression analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between the probability of answering concrete and abstract questions. The results of this study point to the importance of learning more about ways to support students with ID with answering wh- questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric J Sanders
- Speech-Language Pathology Program, Moravian College, United States.
| | - Karen A Erickson
- Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, Department of Allied Health Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States
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He AX, Luyster R, Hong SJ, Arunachalam S. Personal pronoun usage in maternal input to infants at high vs. low risk for autism spectrum disorder. FIRST LANGUAGE 2018; 38:520-537. [PMID: 30828112 PMCID: PMC6395047 DOI: 10.1177/0142723718782634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are prone to personal pronoun difficulties. This paper investigates maternal input as a potential contributing factor, focusing on an early developmental stage before ASD diagnosis. Using Quigley and McNally's (2013) corpus of maternal speech to infants (3-19 months; N = 19) who are either at high or low risk for a diagnosis of ASD (Quigley & McNally, 2013), we asked whether mothers used fewer pronouns with high-risk infants. Indeed, high-risk infants heard fewer second-person pronouns relative to their names than low-risk infants. We further investigated the contexts in which mothers were using infants' names. Our results indicated that mothers of high-risk infants often used the infants' names simply to get their attention by calling them. We suggest that high-risk infants may thus hear relatively fewer pronouns because their mothers spend more time trying to get their attention. This may be related to differences in social-communicative behavior between low-risk and high-risk infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Xiaoxue He
- Boston University, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
| | - Rhiannon Luyster
- Emerson College, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
| | - Sung Ju Hong
- Boston University, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
- University of Bath, UK, Department of Psychology
| | - Sudha Arunachalam
- Boston University, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
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Leech KA, Rowe ML, Huang YT. Variations in the recruitment of syntactic knowledge contribute to SES differences in syntactic development. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2017; 44:995-1009. [PMID: 27266880 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000916000210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Average differences in children's language abilities by socioeconomic status (SES) emerge early in development and predict academic achievement. Previous research has focused on coarse-grained outcome measures such as vocabulary size, but less is known about the extent to which SES differences exist in children's strategies for comprehension and learning. We measured children's (N = 98) comprehension of passive sentences to investigate whether SES differences are more pronounced in overall knowledge of the construction or in more specific abilities to process sentences during real-time interpretation. SES differences in comprehension emerged when syntactic revision of passives was necessary, and disappeared when the need to revise was removed. Further, syntactic revision but not knowledge of the passive best explained the association between SES and a standardized measure of syntactic development. These results demonstrate that SES differences in syntactic development may result from how children recruit syntactic information within sentences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn A Leech
- University of Maryland,College Park, and Harvard University Graduate School of Education
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Jyotishi M, Fein D, Naigles L. Investigating the Grammatical and Pragmatic Origins of Wh-Questions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Front Psychol 2017; 8:319. [PMID: 28344564 PMCID: PMC5344911 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2016] [Accepted: 02/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Compared to typically developing children, children with autism (ASD) show delayed production of wh-questions. It is currently controversial the degree to which such deficits derive from social-pragmatic requirements and/or because these are complex grammatical structures. The current study employed the intermodal preferential looking (IPL) paradigm, which reduces social-pragmatic demands. The IPL paradigm can help distinguish these proposals, as successful comprehension promotes the “pragmatics-origins” argument whereas comprehension difficulties would implicate a “grammatical-origins” argument. Additionally, we tested both the linguistic and social explanations by assessing the contributions of children's early grammatical knowledge (i.e., SVO word order) and their social-pragmatic scores on the Vineland to their later wh-question comprehension. Fourteen children with ASD and 17 TD children, matched on language level, were visited in their homes at 4-month intervals. Comprehension of wh-questions and SVO word order were tested via IPL: the wh-question video showed a costumed horse and bird serving as agents or patients of familiar transitive actions. During the test trials, they were displayed side by side with directing audios (e.g., “What did the horse tickle?”, “What hugged the bird?”, “Where is the horse/bird?”). Children's eye movements were coded offline; the DV was their percent looking to the named item during test. To show comprehension, children should look longer at the named item during a where-question than during a subject-wh or object-wh question. Results indicated that TD children comprehended both subject and object wh-questions at 32 months of age. Comprehension of object-wh questions emerged chronologically later in children with ASD compared to their TD peers, but at similar levels of language. Moreover, performance on word order and social-pragmatic scores independently predicted both groups' later performance on wh-question comprehension. Our findings indicate that both grammar and social-pragmatics are implicated in the comprehension of wh-questions. The “grammatical-origins” argument is supported because the ASD group did not reveal earlier and stable comprehension of wh-questions; furthermore, their performance on SVO word order predicted their later success in linguistic processing of wh-questions. The “pragmatic-origins” argument is also supported because children's earlier socialization and communication scores strongly predicted their successful performance on wh-question comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manya Jyotishi
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Deborah Fein
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Letitia Naigles
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut Storrs, CT, USA
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Naigles LR, Tek S. 'Form is easy, meaning is hard' revisited: (re) characterizing the strengths and weaknesses of language in children with autism spectrum disorder. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2017; 8. [PMID: 28263441 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2016] [Revised: 12/17/2016] [Accepted: 12/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate impairments in social interaction and communication, and in repetitive/stereotypical behaviors. The degree to which children with ASD also manifest impairments in structural language-such as lexicon and grammar-is currently quite controversial. We reframe this controversy in terms of Naigles' (Naigles, Cognition 2002, 86: 157-199) 'form is easy, meaning is hard' thesis, and propose that the social difficulties of children with ASD will lead the meaning-related components of their language to be relatively more impaired than the form-related components. Our review of the extant literature supports this proposal, with studies (1) reporting that children with ASD demonstrate significant challenges in the areas of pragmatics and lexical/semantic organization and (2) highlighting their good performance on grammatical assessments ranging from wh-questions to reflexive pronouns. Studies on children with ASD who might have a co-morbid grammatical impairment are discussed in light of the absence of relevant lexical-semantic data from the same children. Most importantly, we present direct comparisons of assessments of lexical/semantic organization and grammatical knowledge from the same children from our laboratory, all of which find more children at a given age demonstrating grammatical knowledge than semantic organization. We conclude with a call for additional research in which in-depth grammatical knowledge and detailed semantic organization are assessed in the same children. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1438. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1438 This article is categorized under: Linguistics > Language Acquisition Linguistics > Language in Mind and Brain Neuroscience > Development.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Saime Tek
- University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
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Tovar AT, Fein D, Naigles LR. Grammatical aspect is a strength in the language comprehension of young children with autism spectrum disorder. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2015; 58:301-310. [PMID: 25421384 PMCID: PMC4398577 DOI: 10.1044/2014_jslhr-l-13-0257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2013] [Revised: 04/18/2014] [Accepted: 10/01/2014] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The comprehension of tense/aspect morphology by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was assessed via Intermodal Preferential Looking (IPL) to determine whether this population's difficulties with producing these morphemes extended to their comprehension. METHOD Four-year-old participants were assessed twice, 4 months apart. They viewed a video that presented side-by-side ongoing and completed events paired with familiar verbs with past tense and progressive morphology. Their eye movements were recorded and coded offline; the IPL measures included percentage of looking time at, and latency of first look to, the matching scene. Spontaneous speech samples were also obtained and coded for number of words, past tense, and progressive inflections. RESULTS Relative to their baseline preferences, these 4-year-old children with ASD looked more quickly to and longer at the matching scene for both morphemes. Children who produced more words, including progressive and past morphemes, and those who performed better on standardized language assessments demonstrated better comprehension of -ing. CONCLUSIONS Overall, these children with ASD demonstrated consistent comprehension of grammatical aspect morphology; moreover, their degree of comprehension was found to correlate with spontaneous production and standardized test scores.
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