Redirects: a strategy to increase peer initiations

Reviewing the link between language abilities and peer relations in children with developmental language disorder: The importance of children's own perspectives

Background and aims

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are at risk of difficulties in their friendships and peer relations. The present review explores how research directly involving children with DLD can inform our understanding of peer relations in this group, and how research insights may change according to the nature of their involvement in the studies. We further examine how these findings might shape current theoretical understandings of the links between language impairment and peer relations.

Methods

An integrative review methodology was used in order to identify relevant studies and synthesise the findings. A structured database search was carried out using the qualitative PICo framework; Population = 4-12-year-old children with DLD, phenomenon of Interest = peer relations, Context = research studies directly including children. After screening, 52 studies were included in a narrative research synthesis.Main contribution: We identified six main types of study that directly included children with DLD; interview, sociometric, self-report, task-based, naturalistic observation and staged observation. Interview-based studies were the most likely to use a meaningful participatory approach. Indications of good practices for participation included reporting on involvement practices, seeking child assent, adapting materials and language used, using visual supports, using child-preferred communication methods and using art-based approaches. Findings from the narrative synthesis of studies highlight the importance of friendships to quality of life, and the role of pragmatic language skills and self-perceptions in building friendships.

Conclusions

Research on the peer relations of children with DLD is in the early stages when it comes to taking a participatory approach, however there are some examples of inclusive practice from which the whole field can learn. The findings show that research that directly includes children with language disorders and takes account of their communication challenges can help build a more comprehensive knowledge of their world and leads to interesting avenues for interventions targeting social adjustment.Implications: Clinical implications are discussed with reference to the highlighted pragmatic language and social needs of children with DLD, which are typically not addressed unless disproportionately affected in comparison to structural language impairments.

An initial reliability and validity study of the Interaction, Communication, and Literacy Skills Audit

Early childhood educators (ECEs) have an important role in promoting positive outcomes for children's language and literacy development. This paper reports the development of a new tool, The Interaction Communication and Literacy (ICL) Skills Audit, and pilots its reliability and validity. Intra- and inter-rater reliability was examined by three speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Five skill areas relating to ECE language and literacy practice were rated. The face and content validity of the ICL Skills Audit was examined by expert SLPs (n = 8) and expert ECEs (n = 4) via questionnaire. The overall intra-rater reliability for the ICL Skills Audit was excellent with percentage close agreement (PCA) of 91-94. Inter-rater agreement was PCA 68-80. Expert SLPs and ECEs agreed that the content was comprehensive and practical. Based on this preliminary study, the ICL Skills Audit appears to be a promising tool that can be used by SLPs and ECEs in collaboration to measure the skills of ECEs in the areas of language and literacy support. Future psychometric and outcome research on the revised ICL Skills Audit is warranted.

Peer effects on children's language achievement during pre-kindergarten

This study examined associations between peers' expressive language abilities and children's development of receptive and expressive language among 1,812 four-year olds enrolled in 453 classrooms in 11 states that provide large-scale public pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs. Higher peer expressive language abilities were positively associated with children's development of receptive and expressive language during pre-k. The positive association between peers' expressive language abilities and children's receptive language development was stronger for children who began pre-k with higher receptive language skills and within classrooms characterized by better classroom management. Implications of these findings for understanding ecological inputs to children's language development and for designing effective pre-k programs are discussed.

The Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS): Preliminary Reliability and Validity of a System for Observing Preschoolers' Competence in Classroom Interactions

This paper introduces the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS), an observation tool that targets children's interactions in preschool classrooms with teachers, peers, and tasks. In particular, initial evidence is reported of the extent to which the inCLASS meets the following psychometric criteria: inter-rater reliability, normal distributions and adequate range, construct validity, and criterion-related validity. These initial findings suggest that the inCLASS has the potential to provide an authentic, contextualized assessment of young children's classroom behaviors. Future directions for research with the inCLASS are discussed.

Experimental evaluation of a preschool language curriculum: influence on children's expressive language skills

PURPOSE

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate child impacts following implementation of a comprehensive language curriculum, the Language-Focused Curriculum (LFC; Bunce, 1995), within their preschool classrooms. As part of this larger purpose, this study identified child-level predictors of expressive language outcomes for children attending at-risk preschool programs as well as main effects for children's exposure to the language curriculum and its active ingredients-namely, teacher use of language stimulation techniques (LSTs; e.g., open questions, recasts, models).

METHOD

Fourteen preschool teachers were randomly assigned to 2 conditions. Treatment teachers implemented the experimental curriculum for an academic year; a total of 100 children were enrolled in their classrooms. Comparison teachers maintained their prevailing curriculum; a total of 96 children were enrolled in these classrooms. Teachers' fidelity of implementation was monitored using structured observations conducted 3 times during the academic year. Children's growth in expressive language was assessed using measures derived from language samples in the fall and spring, specifically percent complex utterances, rate of noun use, number of different words, and upper bound index.

RESULTS

Children's language skill in the fall, socioeconomic status (household income), and daily attendance served as significant, positive predictors of their language skill in the spring. The impact of the language curriculum and LST exposure was moderated by children's classroom attendance, in that the language curriculum accelerated language growth for children who attended preschool regularly; a similar effect was seen for LST exposure.

CONCLUSIONS

Adoption of a comprehensive language curriculum may provide a value-added benefit only under highly specific circumstances. Findings suggest that at-risk children who receive relatively large doses of a curriculum (as measured in days of attendance during the academic year) that emphasizes quality language instruction may experience accelerated expressive language growth during pre-kindergarten.

Preschool Teachers' Fidelity in Implementing a Comprehensive Language-Rich Curriculum

Purpose

This study examined preschool teachers' fidelity to the language-focused curriculum (LFC; B. Bunce, 1995), a comprehensive classroom curriculum designed to improve at-risk children’s language outcomes through targeted improvements to a classroom’s activity contexts (e.g., dramatic play, art, storybook reading) and instructional processes (e.g., teacher use of open-ended questions, recasts, and expansions). Specific aims included to (a) examine program differentiation by determining how measures of activity contexts and instructional processes differentiated treatment and comparison teachers, (b) determine treatment teachers' adherence to both activity contexts and instructional processes over an entire academic year, and (c) determine treatment teachers' reported quality of program delivery and comfort with curriculum implementation.

Method

Fourteen preschool teachers were randomly assigned to implement the LFC or to maintain their prevailing curriculum. Fidelity was measured 3 times over an academic year using a curriculum fidelity checklist.

Results

LFC teachers exhibited fidelity to activity contexts more readily than to instructional processes. Teacher use of language-focused instructional processes was relatively low even after a year of LFC implementation.

Conclusion

This study supports the need for speech-language pathologists to work closely with preschool educators to implement the activity contexts and instructional processes associated with high-quality preschool language-learning environments.

The effects of verbal support strategies on small-group peer interactions

PURPOSE

This study investigated whether child care providers could learn to facilitate peer interactions by using verbal support strategies (e.g., prompts, invitations, or suggestions to interact) during naturalistic play activities.

METHOD

Seventeen caregivers were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, stratified by center so that staff from one center could attend the training program together. The experimental group received inservice training on how to facilitate peer interaction; the control group received training on adult-child communication strategies. Caregivers in the experimental group were taught to facilitate children's interactions with their peers by using indirect referrals (e.g., alerting children to situational information, offering praise) and direct referrals (e.g., telling a child what to say to a peer, inviting children to play together).

RESULTS

At posttest, the caregivers in the experimental group used more verbal supports for peer interaction than the caregivers in the control group. Specifically, they used more utterances to promote communication between peers and to invite children to interact together. In turn, the children in the experimental group initiated interactions with peers more often and engaged in extended peer sequences more often than the children in the control group.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

The results support the viability of this training model in early childhood education settings and suggest that future research of its effects with children who have disabilities is warranted.

Ten principles of grammar facilitation for children with specific language impairments

Although they often have significant difficulties in other areas, most children with specific language impairment (SLI) have special difficulties with the understanding and use of grammar. Therefore, most of these children will require an intervention program that targets comprehension or production of grammatical form. Language interventionists are faced with the difficult task of developing comprehensive intervention programs that address the children's grammatical deficits while remaining sensitive to their other existing and predictable social, behavioral, and academic problems. The purpose of this article is to present and justify 10 principles that we regard as essential for planning adequate interventions for children with language-learning problems. These principles are relevant for all children with problems in the use of grammar, but they are especially appropriate for 3- to 8-year-old children with SLI. Although all of our examples are from English, the principles we have chosen are sufficiently broad to cut across many linguistic and cultural boundaries.