Use of phonological information in a word-finding treatment for children

Atypical phonological processes in naming errors of children with language impairment

The current study explored the characteristics of phonological errors of preschool children with DLD (Developmental Language Disorder), distinguishing between typical versus atypical phonological processes in segmental, syllabic and word levels. The analysis included 87 responses of words with phonological errors from a naming test, produced by 13 preschool children with DLD, aged 4;4-6;3 years. These responses included 166 phonological processes, which were classified into typical and atypical processes at the levels of: segments, syllables, and prosodic words. The findings revealed that 70% of the phonological processes were atypical. Furthermore, ten children produced more atypical processes, and there were more atypical than typical processes in segmental and word levels. It is suggested that some children with DLD represent phonological processes that are similar to those that children with speech and sound disorders produce. Therefore, clinically, the results emphasise the importance of analysing the typical and atypical characteristics of phonological errors as part of language assessment.

Understanding differing outcomes from semantic and phonological interventions with children with word-finding difficulties: A group and case series study

Developmental Language Disorder occurs in up to 10% of children and many of these children have difficulty retrieving words in their receptive vocabulary. Such word-finding difficulties (WFD) can impact social development and educational outcomes. This research aims to develop the evidence-base for supporting children with WFD and inform the design and analysis of intervention studies. We included 20 children (age 6 to 8) with WFD each of whom participated in two interventions one targeting semantic attributes and the other phonological attributes of target words. The interventions, employing word-webs, were carefully constructed to facilitate direct comparison of outcome which was analysed at both group and case-series level. The study used a robust crossover design with pre-intervention baseline, between-intervention wash-out and post-intervention follow-up testing. We incorporated: matching of item sets on individual performance at baseline, independent randomisation of order of intervention and items to condition, blinding of assessor, evaluation of fidelity and control items. The interventions were clinically feasible, with weekly sessions over six weeks. Intervention improved children's word-finding abilities with statistically significant change only during treatment phases of the study and not over baseline, wash-out or follow-up phases. For the group the semantic intervention resulted in a gain of almost twice as many items as the phonological intervention, a significant difference. However, children differed in their response to intervention. Importantly, case-series analysis revealed outcomes predictable on the basis of children's theoretically driven language profiles. Taking account of individual profiles in determining choice of intervention would enable more children to benefit. The study provides new evidence to inform and refine clinical practice with this population. Future studies should be designed such that results can be analysed at both group and case series levels to extend theoretical understanding and optimise use of appropriate interventions.

Factors Influencing Cognate Performance for Young Multilingual Children's Vocabulary: A Research Synthesis

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review was to determine evidence of a cognate effect for young multilingual children (ages 3;0-8;11 [years;months], preschool to second grade) in terms of task-level and child-level factors that may influence cognate performance. Cognates are pairs of vocabulary words that share meaning with similar phonology and/or orthography in more than one language, such as rose-rosa (English-Spanish) or carrot-carotte (English-French). Despite the cognate advantage noted with older bilingual children and bilingual adults, there has been no systematic examination of the cognate research in young multilingual children. Method We conducted searches of multiple electronic databases and hand-searched article bibliographies for studies that examined young multilingual children's performance with cognates based on study inclusion criteria aligned to the research questions. Results The review yielded 16 articles. The majority of the studies (12/16, 75%) demonstrated a positive cognate effect for young multilingual children (measured in higher accuracy, faster reaction times, and doublet translation equivalents on cognates as compared to noncognates). However, not all bilingual children demonstrated a cognate effect. Both task-level factors (cognate definition, type of cognate task, word characteristics) and child-level factors (level of bilingualism, age) appear to influence young bilingual children's performance on cognates. Conclusions Contrary to early 1990s research, current researchers suggest that even young multilingual children may demonstrate sensitivity to cognate vocabulary words. Given the limits in study quality, more high-quality research is needed, particularly to address test validity in cognate assessments, to develop appropriate cognate definitions for children, and to refine word-level features. Only one study included a brief instruction prior to assessment, warranting cognate treatment studies as an area of future need. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12753179.

Electroencephalographic characteristics of word finding during phonological and semantic verbal fluency tasks

Aims

Verbal Fluency is sensitive to brain damage and is employed to assess language abilities like the size of vocabulary and the semantic‐lexical networks’ integrity and executive functioning abilities particularly inhibition, working memory, and self‐monitoring. Various studies revealed oscillatory changes related to word retrieval during different tasks. However, there are not enough studies on electroencephalographic characteristics of word retrieval routes (phonological or semantic pathway) during free recall. The purpose of our study was to investigate electroencephalography power relationship with semantic and phonological word finding routes during verbal fluency.

Methods

In this within‐subject study, the electroencephalography of 20 healthy participants was recorded during written category and letter fluency tasks and compared with the rest state. Absolute power of the signals in delta (1‐3.5 Hz), theta (4‐7.5 Hz), alpha (8‐12 Hz), and beta (12.5‐30 Hz) was calculated in three lobes (frontal, parietal, and temporal).

Results

A repeated measures ANOVA showed significant interaction of condition × lobe × frequency × side (P < .001). Post hoc test for each lobe showed significant changes in the absolute power of delta, theta and beta for frontal, delta and theta for parietal, and theta and beta for temporal lobes (P‐values < .05).

Conclusion

Searching the words by phonological entries is associated with decreased beta and increased theta in left frontal lobe. These changes are not necessary for semantic word retrieval strategy.

Word retrieval either by phonological entries or semantic categories is accompanied by increased delta in frontal and parietal lobes. Decreased beta and increased theta bands in the left frontal lobe are associated with phonological word retrieval strategy while during semantic word finding, increased beta was observed in the left temporal lobe.

The joint effects of bilingualism, DLD and item frequency on children's lexical-retrieval performance

BACKGROUND

Bilingual children and children diagnosed with developmental language disorder (DLD) are characterized by reduced lexical-retrieval abilities. Few studies examined their joint contribution and the mechanisms underlying these effects in the lexical domain.

AIMS

To explore the joint effects of bilingualism and DLD by adopting a four-group comparison in which the difference between bi- and monolingual children with DLD is directly compared with that of bi- and monolingual children with typical language development (TLD). In addition, to examine the mechanisms underlying the effects of bilingualism and DLD on children's lexical-retrieval abilities, we tested how item's characteristics (frequency of use) modulate the effects of bilingualism and DLD.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Fifty-eight children (aged 9-14 years) participated in the current study. They were either Hebrew monolingual or Hebrew-English bilinguals and were either diagnosed with DLD or had TLD. Children completed a Hebrew picture-naming task and verbal short-term memory tests. The influence of participants' characteristics, including bilingualism, DLD and verbal short-term memory, as well as item's characteristics (frequency of use) were tested.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Accuracy analysis revealed that bilingual children scored lower than monolingual children and that children with DLD scored lower than children with TLD. Critically, the two factors interacted such that their joint presence resulted in less-than-additive effects. Specifically, although bilingual children with DLD performed worse than all other groups, they performed better than expected under an additive model. Interestingly, monolingual children with DLD performed similarly to bilingual children with TLD. Increased verbal short-term memory was associated with better performance across the four groups. Finally, bilingualism and DLD interacted with item frequency, such that being bilingual, having DLD, or both, resulted in increased sensitivity to item frequency manifested in exceptionally lower performance on low-frequency items.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

The findings suggest that the strength of linguistic representations contribute to the effects of bilingualism and DLD. Further, the presence of bilingualism in the context of DLD does not exaggerate the impact of DLD. Clinically, this suggests that differences between bi- and monolingual children with DLD must be considered in reference to the gap in lexical-retrieval performance observed between bi- and monolingual children with TLD. Finally, because monolingual children with DLD and bilingual children with TLD performed similarly, sensitive diagnostic tools and intervention programmes should be adopted to allow correct identification and treatment of bilingual children with DLD.

Intervention for children with word-finding difficulties: a parallel group randomised control trial

PURPOSE

The study investigated the outcome of a word-web intervention for children diagnosed with word-finding difficulties (WFDs).

METHOD

Twenty children age 6-8 years with WFDs confirmed by a discrepancy between comprehension and production on the Test of Word Finding-2, were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 11) and waiting control (n = 9) groups. The intervention group had six sessions of intervention which used word-webs and targeted children's meta-cognitive awareness and word-retrieval.

RESULT

On the treated experimental set (n = 25 items) the intervention group gained on average four times as many items as the waiting control group (d = 2.30). There were also gains on personally chosen items for the intervention group. There was little change on untreated items for either group.

CONCLUSION

The study is the first randomised control trial to demonstrate an effect of word-finding therapy with children with language difficulties in mainstream school. The improvement in word-finding for treated items was obtained following a clinically realistic intervention in terms of approach, intensity and duration.

What we can learn from naming errors of children with language impairment at preschool age

Naming is a complex, multi-level process. It is composed of distinct semantic and phonological levels. Children with naming deficits produce different error types when failing to retrieve the target word. This study explored the error characteristics of children with language impairment compared to those with typical language development. 46 preschool children were tested on a naming test: 16 with language impairment and a naming deficit and 30 with typical language development. The analysis compared types of error in both groups. In a group level, children with language impairment produced different error patterns compared to the control group. Based on naming error analysis and performance on other language tests, two case studies of contrasting profiles suggest different sources for lexical retrieval difficulties in children. The findings reveal differences between the two groups in naming scores and naming errors, and support a qualitative impairment in early development of children with naming deficits. The differing profiles of naming deficits emphasise the importance of including error analysis in the diagnosis.

Cross-linguistic transfer effects after phonologically based cognate therapy in a case of multilingual specific language impairment (SLI)

BACKGROUND

Clinicians globally recognize as exceptionally challenging the development of effective intervention practices for bi- or multilingual children with specific language impairment (SLI). Therapy in both or all of an impaired child's languages is rarely possible. An alternative is to develop treatment protocols that facilitate the transfer of therapy effects from a treated language to an untreated language.

AIMS

To explore whether cognates, words that share meaning and phonological features across languages, could be used to boost lexical retrieval in the context of multilingual SLI. This is dependent on exploiting the phonological information in the one, trained language as a mechanism for (phonological) language transfer to the other, untrained languages.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

The participant is an 8.5-year-old girl diagnosed with SLI who showed a severe naming deficit in her three spoken languages (Bulgarian, English and Greek). She received training on cognates (n = 20) using a picture-based naming task in English only, three times a week, over a 4-week period for 20 min each time. Phonological-based naming therapy was carried out using form-based strategies.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

There was a significant improvement during therapy and immediately after intervention on cognate performance in English which was maintained 1 month after intervention. Cognate production in Bulgarian and Greek also improved during all stages of the intervention. Improvement in the non-treated languages was slightly more than half of the improvement recorded in English. The findings reflected some degree of cross-linguistic transfer effects.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

Cross-linguistic transfer effects were evident during therapy and after therapy had finished and the effects were maintained 1 month post-treatment. Both the native language (Bulgarian) and the dominant language (Greek) benefitted equally from the treatment of cognates in English. Generalization to non-treatment words was evident, predominantly for English. The results suggest that cognates can indeed be used successfully as a WFD intervention strategy for multilingual children with SLI with lasting effects.

Evidence-based intervention for preschool children with primary speech and language impairments: Child Talk – an exploratory mixed-methods study

Background

The Child Talk study aimed to develop an evidence-based framework to support the decision-making of speech and language therapists (SLTs) as they design and plan interventions appropriate to the needs of individual children with primary speech and language impairments and their families. The need for early identification and effective intervention for these children continues to be a government policy priority because of the link between children’s early speech and language skills and their broader well-being and outcomes in later life. The first phase of Child Talk sought to map and describe current SLT practice for these children; identify and summarise the existing research evidence relating to practice; and investigate the perspectives of parents, early years practitioners, preschool children and ‘underserved’ communities on speech and language therapy. The second phase of Child Talk focused on the development of a toolkit – assessment tools, outcome measures and a data set – to support future service and economic evaluations of the framework.

Methods

Child Talk adopted a mixed-methods design. Quantitative methods included surveys and investigated the prevalence and patterns of intervention usage; qualitative data collection methods included focus groups, interviews and reflection to investigate participants’ perspectives and understandings of interventions. Data analysis methods included descriptive and inferential statistics, thematic and content analysis and framework analysis. Participants were recruited nationally through six NHS sites, professional bodies, parent groups and advertising. Participants included SLTs (n = 677), parents (n = 84), preschool children (n = 24), early years practitioners (n = 31) and ‘underserved’ communities (n = 52).

Key findings

Speech and language therapy interventions were characterised in terms of nine themes, viewed as comprehensive and inclusive by practitioners. Relevant assessments, interventions and outcome domains were identified for the nine themes. Areas of tacit knowledge and underspecified processes contributed to variability in the detail of the framework. Systematic reviews identified 58 relevant and robust studies (from 55,271 papers retrieved from the initial literature search). The number of studies relevant to each theme varied from 1 to 33. Observational data on preschool children’s perspectives on speech and language therapy interventions revealed the dynamic nature of their interaction with different activities and people within therapy sessions. Parents’ experiences of speech and language therapy were generally positive although some reported that the rationale for therapy was not always clear. Parental perspectives in underserved communities suggested that, although parents were confident about how to support children’s language development, they were less informed about the nature of language impairments and the function of speech and language therapy. The availability of information regarding resources directed towards speech and language therapy services was poor. In particular, services lacked both a culture of collecting outcome data routinely and measures of professional input and costs associated with their activities.

Conclusion

A descriptive framework of SLT practice has been developed to support the discussions between therapists and families when making decisions regarding the selection of interventions and outcome measures. Further research is needed to address gaps in the intervention framework and evaluate its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in improving outcomes for preschool children with primary speech and language impairments.

Study registration

This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42013006369.

Funding

The National Institute for Health Research Programme Grants for Applied Research programme.

Phonological Priming With Nonwords in Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment

PURPOSE

The cross-modal picture-word interference task is used to examine contextual effects on spoken-word production. Previous work has documented lexical-phonological interference in children with specific language impairment (SLI) when a related distractor (e.g., bell) occurs prior to a picture to be named (e.g., a bed). In the current study, the authors examined whether interference also arises with nonwords as distractors.

METHOD

In Study 1, children with SLI (N = 20; ages 7;1 [years;months] to 11;0) and age-matched controls named pictures accompanied by (a) phonologically related nonwords, (b) unrelated nonwords, or (c) the word go (baseline). Stimulus asynchrony (SA) varied across blocks with distractors occurring prior to (-300 ms, -100 ms) or after (+100 ms, +300 ms) the pictures. In Study 2, a cross-sectional sample of children (N = 48, 5;3 to 10;9) and adults (N = 16) performed the same task.

RESULTS

Child and adult control participants showed phonological priming (not interference) at early and late SAs, whereas children with SLI showed priming only at late SAs. Effect sizes correlated with language skills (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition scores; Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003). In the cross-sectional sample, anticipatory priming at SA -300 varied with age, with larger effects in older children.

CONCLUSIONS

Children with SLI utilize phonological information when it is available just in time for word production but fail to anticipate upcoming stimuli. Poor anticipatory processing may adversely affect language fluency in children with SLI.

What can errors tell us about specific language impairment deficits? Semantic and morphological cuing in a sentence completion task

The lexical retrieval ability of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with typical language development was compared. Fifty Hebrew-speaking children participated: 15 school-age with SLI, 20 typically developing, matched on age to the SLI group and 15 younger, typically developing matched on naming performance to the SLI group. Participants were tested in a sentence completion task with semantic cuing and with morphological cuing. SLI children performed poorer than the chronological-age group and similarly to the naming-matched group. Error patterns showed a qualitative difference between the SLI and naming-matched groups. The results suggest that lexical retrieval of children with SLI is delayed and qualitatively different from that of typically developing children.

Word-finding intervention for children with specific language impairment: a multiple single-case study

PURPOSE

This study examined the effectiveness of a combined phonological and semantic intervention for children with specific language impairment who had word-finding difficulties (WFDs).

METHOD

To evaluate the intervention, a multiple single-case design was implemented with 4 children, ages 9;6 (years;months) to 13;9, who had WFDs. Some items were trained using a phonological intervention; others were trained using a semantic one. Lexical access outcomes were measured using a picture-naming test at pre- and posttesting.

RESULTS

Three children exhibited a significant reduction in WFDs on the intervention words after 6 sessions. These effects were present at posttest and 6 months later for the treated words only and not the control words. Each child responded differently to the intervention, and these response patterns seemed to be related to each child's linguistic profile.

CONCLUSION

This intervention seemed to achieve long-lasting reductions in children's WFDs. The differential responses to phonological and semantic intervention imply the need to tailor intervention for differing children by matching it to their linguistic profile.

Effectiveness of semantic therapy for word-finding difficulties in pupils with persistent language impairments: a randomized control trial

BACKGROUND

Word-finding difficulties (WFDs) in children have been hypothesized to be caused at least partly by poor semantic knowledge. Therefore, improving semantic knowledge should decrease word-finding errors. Previous studies of semantic therapy for WFDs are inconclusive.

AIMS

To investigate the effectiveness of semantic therapy for secondary school-aged pupils with WFDs using a randomized control trial with blind assessment.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Fifteen participants with language impairments and WFDs (aged 9;11-15;11) were randomly assigned to a therapy versus waiting control group. In Phase 1 the therapy group received two 15-min semantic therapy sessions per week for 8 weeks with their usual speech and language therapist. Therapy for each participant targeted words from one of three semantic categories (animals, food, clothes). All participants were tested pre- and post-phase 1 therapy on the brief version of the Test of Adolescent Word Finding (TAWF), semantic fluency and the Test of Word Finding in Discourse (TWFD). In Phase 2 the waiting control group received the same therapy as the original therapy group, which received therapy targeted at other language areas. Testing after Phase 2 aimed to establish whether the waiting control group made similar progress to the original therapy group and whether the original therapy group maintained any gains.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

The original therapy group made significant progress in standard scores on the TAWF (d= 0.94), which was maintained 5 months later. However, they made no progress on the semantic fluency or discourse tests. Participants in the waiting control group did not make significant progress on the TAWF in Phase 1 when they received no word-finding therapy. However, after Phase 2, when they received the therapy, they also made significant progress (d= 0.81). The combined effect of therapy over the two groups was d= 1.2. The mean standard scores on the TAWF were 67 pre-therapy and 77 post-therapy.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

Four hours of semantic therapy on discrete semantic categories led to significant gains on a general standardized test of word finding, enabling the participants to begin to close the gap between their performance and that of their typically developing peers. These gains were maintained after 5 months. A small amount of therapy can lead to significant gains even with secondary aged pupils with severe language difficulties. However, further studies are needed to find ways of improving word-finding abilities in discourse.

Adult participation in children's word searches: on the use of prompting, hinting, and supplying a model

Although word searching in children is very common, very little is known about how adults support children in the turns following the child's search behaviours, an important topic because of the social, educational, and clinical implications. This study characterizes, in detail, teachers' use of prompting, hinting, and supplying a model. From a classroom dataset of 53 instances, several distinctive patterns emerged. A prompted completion sequence is initiated by a 'word retrieval elicitor' ('fishing::') and is interpreted as a request to complete the phrase. Non-verbal prompting is accomplished through a combination of gaze and gesture and, also, as a series of prompts. Hinting supplies a verbal clue, typically via a wh-question, or by specifying the nature of the repairable. In contrast, the strategies that supply a linguistic model include both embedded and exposed corrections and offers of candidates. A sequential relationship was found between prompting, hinting, and supplying a model which has implications for how clinicians and teachers can foster self-repair.

Word searches: on the use of verbal and non-verbal resources during classroom talk

Word finding difficulties in children are typically characterized by search behaviours such as silence, circumlocution, repetition, and empty words. Yet, how children's word searches are constructed (including gesture, gaze, and prosody) and the actions accomplished during interaction have not yet been researched. In this study, 8-year-old Ciara is interacting with her teacher in the classroom. Thirty-seven segments containing word searches were analysed according to the procedures used by conversation analysts. Ciara's interactional resources include co-ordinated deployment of syntax, pitch height, and downward gaze during solitary searching that assist the enterprise of self-repair. Gaze shift towards the teacher signals a transition relevance place, thus constituting a direct invitation for her to participate in the search. Ciara's interactional resources include semantic category labelling, phonological self-cuing, and pronominal substitution that supply valuable linguistic information to the teacher and trigger production of the searched-for item. Recommendations for language teaching and therapy are presented.

Effects of onset- and rhyme-related distractors on phonological processing in children with specific language impairment

PURPOSE

This study used the cross-modal picture-word interference task of P. J. Brooks and B. MacWhinney (2000) to compare effects of phonologically related words on lexical access in children with specific language impairment (SLI).

METHOD

Children (7;1 [years;months]-11;2) named pictures while ignoring auditory distractors. Three stimulus asynchrony conditions varied the timing of distractors relative to the pictures. Experiment 1 presented onset-related (bell-bed), unrelated (clown-bed), neutral (go-bed), and identical (bed-bed) distractors. Experiment 2 presented rhyme-related instead of onset-related distractors (clock-sock).

RESULTS

Children with SLI produced longer reaction times (RTs) and more errors than their typical language development (TLD) peers. For children with SLI, onset-related distractors led to slower RTs than unrelated distractors (inhibition) when presented before the picture, and faster RTs (facilitation) when presented after the picture. Children with TLD showed facilitation from onset-related distractors when presented after the picture but no inhibition when presented before the picture. Both groups failed to show facilitation from rhyme-related distractors.

CONCLUSIONS

The priming effects from onset-related distractors and lack of effects from rhyme-related distractors in SLI supports "just-in-time" incremental processing, similar to children with TLD. However, children with SLI experience phonological interference from members of a lexical cohort while accessing words. Results are discussed with respect to observed word finding and word learning difficulties in SLI.

Word-finding difficulties in French-speaking children with SLI: a case STUDY

This study presents the case of a 9-year-old boy, Jeoffrey, with word-finding difficulties. In an attempt to investigate the cause(s) of these difficulties, an in-depth evaluation of his semantic and phonological skills was carried out, in which lexical and phonological variables such as age of acquisition or phonological complexity were controlled. Jeoffrey's performance was compared to a child matched for age. Although Jeoffrey showed no apparent phonological deficit, our results revealed deficits in semantic processes. We argue that this boy's word-finding difficulties are the result of imprecise and unspecified semantic representations. Therefore, as this case demonstrates, it is essential to determine the origin(s) of children's word-finding difficulties, which could be different and specific for each child presenting such a lexical deficit.

Fast mapping skills in the developing lexicon

PURPOSE

This preliminary investigation was a longitudinal study of fast mapping skills in normally developing children, 16-18 months of age. The purpose was to examine the effects of practice on the accessibility of words in lexical memory.

METHOD

Eight children were taught the names of 24 unfamiliar objects over 12 weekly training sessions. The amount of practice children had with individual words varied as a function of session. Data were compared to a control group of children-matched on productive vocabulary-who were exposed to the same experimental words at the first and last sessions only.

RESULTS

The results showed that for children in the experimental group, extended practice with a novel set of high-practice words led to the rapid acquisition of a second set of low-practice words. Children in the control group did not show the same lexical advantage.

CONCLUSIONS

The data suggest that learning some words primes the system to learn more words. Vocabulary development can thus be conceptualized as a continual process of fine-tuning the lexical system to enable increased accessibility to information. Implications for the treatment of children with word-finding difficulties are considered.

Phonology, rapid naming and academic achievement in very preterm children at eight years of age

AIM

To examine the impact and additive effect of phonology and rapid naming deficits on reading, spelling and mathematics achievement in a group of very preterm children at 8 years of age.

METHODS

All surviving children with a gestational age less than 30 weeks, admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, in 1994 and 1995, were prospectively enrolled in developmental follow-up. Children with a neurosensory disability or a low intelligence score (FSIQ<or=85 points) were excluded. At 8 years of age standardised psychometric measures of cognition, linguistic ability and academic achievement were administered to a sample of 63 children.

RESULTS

Twenty-four (38.1%) children showed low achievement in reading, spelling or mathematics. Of these, 18 (75%) children showed low achievement in reading. Reading achievement was significantly correlated to phonological awareness, rapid naming and expressive vocabulary. Children with phonological awareness and rapid naming deficits showed significantly more delay in reading than children without such deficits. Children who had rapid naming deficits were more likely to show multiple skill delays. Rapid naming showed significant, though modest correlations with immaturity and illness variables. Maternal education was significantly associated with achievement.

CONCLUSIONS

Phonological awareness does predict reading performance in very preterm children. Rapid naming appears to be related to complex multiple academic delays, and may reflect a neurological timing or efficiency factor with effects independent of intelligence and significantly influenced by immaturity and illness.

Children's naming and word-finding difficulties: descriptions and explanations

PURPOSE

There is a substantial minority of children for whom lexical retrieval problems impede the normal pattern of language development and use. These problems include accurately producing the correct word even when the word's meaning is understood. Such problems are often referred to as word-finding difficulties (WFDs). This article examines the nature of naming and lexical retrieval difficulties in these and other groups of children.

METHOD

A review of the relevant literature on lexical access difficulties in children with word-finding difficulties was conducted. Studies were examined in the terms of population parameters and comparison groups included in the study.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Most discussions of the cognitive processes causing lexical retrieval difficulties refer to semantics, phonology, and processing speed. The authors propose that understanding of these topics will be further advanced by the use of appropriate methodology to test developmental models. In this way it will be possible to identify the processes that contribute to successful lexical retrieval and the processes that result in retrieval difficulties.

Investigation of a new intervention for children with word-finding problems

BACKGROUND

Around one-quarter of children attending language support services have difficulty in retrieving words. Therapy studies with such children have shown that both semantic and phonological techniques can improve word finding. A new approach to intervention is described using a computerized aid that converts letters into sound cues.

AIMS

(1) To assess the word-finding abilities in a small series of children with word-finding difficulties. (2) To investigate whether intervention with a computerized aid can improve children's ability to find words. (3) To evaluate the effect of therapy on connected speech (using the Test of Word Finding in Discourse) and in relation to children's, parents' and other practitioners' views (using a questionnaire). (4) To understand the outcome in relation to an interactive model of speech production.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Five children (aged 6:10-10:7) were assessed on a variety of background measures. Following baseline assessment, two sets of items were included in therapy: a research set (with matched control items) and a further set selected for their functional relevance for each child. Intervention using the computerized aid took place once a week for half a term (6 weeks).

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

The children differed from one another in their language development and non-verbal abilities, but all had difficulties in word retrieval. All children showed significant improvement in naming intervention items after therapy. This effect was maintained half a term later. Despite very different profiles, the children benefited similarly from the intervention, suggesting a common processing source for change. After the intervention, two children showed a significant reduction in word-finding behaviours (e.g. use of substitutions, repetitions and empty words) on the Test of Word Finding in Discourse. The views of participants, parents and professionals were varied but generally positive.

CONCLUSIONS

The main effect of therapy can be understood, in relation to an interactive model of speech production, as strengthening links from meaning to form. Use of the aid in therapy improved word finding for targeted items and this occurred within a clinically realistic timeframe. The finding that the gains in word retrieval maintained suggests that the intervention can be functionally useful if target items are chosen appropriately. Measurable change for two children in connected speech suggests wider benefits can also occur. Overall, the aid can be a useful additional tool for therapists/teachers working with children with this difficulty.

Word learning in children with vocabulary deficits

Word learning in 16 children with specific language impairment (SLI) was compared with that of chronological-age controls (CAC) and vocabulary-age controls (VAC), to examine the extent and nature of word-learning deficits in the children with SLI. The children were exposed to novel words in a story and an explicit teaching context. Five tasks assessed how much the children had learned about the words' phonological form and semantic properties after 6 repetitions (Time 1) and again after 12 repetitions (Time 2) of the words in each context. The SLI group performed significantly worse than the CAC group at both Time 1 and Time 2 on all measures of the words presented in both contexts. They performed similarly to the VAC group (who were on average 21/2 years younger) on Time 1 and Time 2 measures from both contexts, except for the Naming task at Time 2, on which their performance was significantly lower. These findings suggest that children with vocabulary deficits have difficulties with both phonological and semantic aspects of word learning.

The impact of lexical factors on children's word-finding errors

This retrospective, exploratory investigation examined the types of target words that 30 children with word-finding difficulties (aged 8 to 12 years) had difficulty naming and the types of errors they made on these words. Words were studied with reference to lexical factors that might influence naming performance: word frequency, age of acquisition, familiarity, and lexical neighborhood. Findings indicated that neighborhood density predicted word-finding success, and target word substitutions and error patterns manifested were affected by the lexical factors under study. Students tended to produce substitutions that were higher in frequency, learned earlier, and that resided in neighborhoods of greater density and higher frequency than the target word. Lexical factors also influenced children's error patterns. Neighborhood density predicted form-related errors: Children produced more blocked errors on words from sparse neighborhoods. Word frequency and neighborhood frequency predicted form-segment-related errors as phonologic errors occurred on rare words and words whose neighbors contained lower frequency, uncommon phonological patterns. This important first step in the examination of how lexical factors have an impact on word-finding errors in children suggests that different types of words are more likely to result in failures of lexical access at different stages of processing. Theoretical and practical implications of these preliminary findings are discussed.

Naming difficulties in adolescents with dyslexia: Application of the tip-of-the-tongue paradigm

The present study used the "tip-of-the-tongue" (TOT) experimental paradigm in a picture-naming task to explore the naming deficits of adolescents with dyslexia. As compared with a control group of typically developing readers, the adolescents with dyslexia had fewer correct responses and more TOT responses. When they failed to retrieve a target word, the adolescents with dyslexia had more phonological substitutions and benefited less from a phonological cue. However, both groups did not differ in the amount of semantic substitutions and supplied the same amount and kind of partial semantic information on the missing target word. These findings suggest that adolescents with dyslexia have significant naming difficulties that seem to arise because of difficulty in accessing the phonological word forms after the corresponding abstract lexical representation has been successfully accessed.

A fuzzy cognitive map approach to differential diagnosis of specific language impairment

This paper presents a computer-based model for differential diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI), a language disorder that, in many cases, cannot be easily diagnosed. This difficulty necessitates the development of a methodology to assist the speech therapist in the diagnostic process. The methodology tool is based on fuzzy cognitive maps and constitutes a qualitative and quantitative computer model comprised of the experience and knowledge of specialists. The development of the model was based on knowledge from the literature and then it was successfully tested on four clinical cases. The results obtained point to its final integration in the future and to its valid contribution as a differential diagnosis model of SLI.

Naming difficulties in children with dyslexia: application of the tip-of-the-tongue paradigm

The present study used the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experimental paradigm in a picture naming task to explore the source of the naming deficits of children with dyslexia. Compared with a control group of typically developing readers, the children with dyslexia showed fewer correct responses and spontaneous recalls, more don't know (DK) and TOT responses, and less accurate feeling of knowing (FOK) judgments. When they failed to retrieve a target word, the children with dyslexia did not differ from the control group in the partial semantic information they provided, but they gave less valid and more invalid partial phonological information. The children with dyslexia also benefited less from phonological cues. The phonologically related responses of the children with dyslexia elicited during the administration of the TOT procedure were related to their performance on a phonological awareness test. These findings suggest that the naming problems of children with dyslexia arise because of their difficulty in accessing the phonological word forms after the corresponding abstract lexical representation has been successfully accessed. The results are discussed in relation to the claim that two-stage models of naming can be profitably used in the early identification and treatment of reading disabilities.

Effects of lexical factors on lexical access among typical language-learning children and children with word-finding difficulties

This investigation studied the influence of lexical factors, known to impact lexical access in adults, on the word retrieval of children. Participants included 320 typical and atypical (word-finding difficulties) language-learning children, ranging in age from 7 to 12 years. Lexical factors examined included word frequency, age-of-acquisition, neighborhood density, neighborhood frequency, and stress pattern. Findings indicated that these factors did influence lexical access in children. Words which were high in frequency and neighborhood frequency, low in neighborhood density and age-of-acquisition, and which contained the typical stress pattern for the language were easier to name. Further, the number of neighbors that were more frequent than the target word also had an effect on the word's ease of retrieval. Significant interactions indicated that age-of-acquisition effects decreased with maturation for typically-learning children whereas these effects continued to impact the lexical access of children with word-finding difficulties across the ages studied, suggesting that these children's difficulties in accessing words may have prevented them from developing strong access paths to these words. These findings support a view of lexical access in which access paths to words become strengthened with successful use.

Discourse-based intervention for word finding in children

A discourse-based, contextual intervention approach for increasing children's word finding proficiency was evaluated. The clinician's role was to (a) identify overt word finding behaviors as they occurred, (2) allow their completion, and (c) provide appropriate feedback, including requests for associative information, requests for clarification, comments to confirm the appropriateness of word choices, and comments to facilitate discourse restructuring. Subjects were three 9-year-old boys with diagnosed language-learning disabilities (LLD) characterized by word finding problems. Intervention proceeded following a within-subjects multiple baseline design involving three tasks: picture-elicited narratives, story-retelling, and conversation on familiar topics. All three subjects exhibited a decrease in the average number of problematic word finding behaviors from initial baseline to posttreatment measurement. Discourse-based intervention provided naturalistic contexts for the study of word finding behaviors, specifically effects of linguistic contexts and effects of task complexity.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

(1) As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to identify and categorize children's overt word finding behaviors as they occur in discourse. (2) As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to discuss various aspects of a contextualized philosophy of learning as applied to language intervention. (3) As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to compare and contrast traditional intervention approaches for improving children's word finding with one discourse-based approach.

Naming errors of children with specific language impairment

This paper explores why children with SLI are less accurate than peers in naming pictures. Subjects included 66 children with SLI (aged 4:3 to 9:7) with 2 subgroups, one with expressive-only language deficits (SLIexp) and one with receptive and expressive language deficits (SLImix), and 66 children with no language impairment (NLI). Children with SLI made more errors than children with NLI, and proportionally more of their errors were names of objects associated with the pictured object (e.g., shoe/foot) and names that were phonologically related to the target than were those with NLI. The relative frequency of error types was related to pattern of language deficit; in comparison to their NLI peers, a greater proportion of SLIexp errors were phonological errors, and a greater proportion of the SLImix errors were semantic associated, semantic perceptual, and nonsemantic perseverative. The proportion of semantic-associated errors also discriminated a subgroup of the children with SLI from a matched subgroup of the children with SLImix. Interpretations and potential implications are discussed.

Treatment efficacy: functional phonological disorders in children

This report addresses the efficacy of treatment for functional phonological disorders in children. The definition of phonological disorders and their incidence and prevalence are first presented. The impact of this disorder on the lives of children and the role that speech-language pathologists play in treating this disorder are then discussed. Evidence of the positive outcome of phonological treatment is reviewed, with particular emphasis on treatment procedures that have been deemed effective, the specific effects of these treatments on improving intelligibility, and comparisons between treatments in facilitating improved sound production.

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

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

Naming difficulties in language-disabled children: preliminary findings with the application of the tip-of-the-tongue paradigm

The "tip of the tongue" (TOT) paradigm in a picture-naming task was presented to 14 children with language disabilities (LD) and 14 children without language disabilities (ND). Although the two groups did not differ in the semantic information they had on words they could not fully retrieve, the LD children had less valid and more invalid phonological information. They also had fewer correct responses and spontaneous recalls, more "Don't Know" s (DK) and TOTs, and less accurate "feeling of knowing" (FOK) judgments. These results, demonstrating dissociation between the semantic and phonological levels of word representation, support a two-stage model of word retrieval. These findings are evidence in favor of a phonological treatment approach for naming problems in LD children.