The relationship between language and behaviour

Patterns of language impairment and behaviour in boys excluded from school

BACKGROUND

High levels of behaviour problems are found in children with language impairments, but less is known about the level and nature of language impairment in children with severe behavioural problems. In particular, previous data suggest that at primary age, receptive impairments are more closely related to behaviour problems, whereas expressive language has a closer link at a later age.

AIMS

The study assessed expressive and receptive language problems in boys excluded from primary and secondary schools, to investigate the extent of impairment, the pattern of relations between age, receptive and expressive language, and relations with different aspects of behaviour.

SAMPLE

Nineteen boys (8 - 16 years of age) who had been excluded from school and 19 non-excluded controls matched for age and school participated.

METHOD

The sample was given assessments of: receptive language from the British Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS), and Wechsler Objective Language Dimensions (WOLD); expressive-language evaluations from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC); auditory working memory evaluations from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF); verbal reasoning (from the WISC); and non-verbal IQ assessments Raven's matrices. Teachers completed behaviour ratings using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).

RESULTS

Excluded boys were significantly poorer than controls on expressive measures but similar on receptive language and non-verbal IQ. Boys excluded from primary school were poorer than controls on auditory working memory. Expressive problems were linked with high levels of emotional symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Many of the excluded boys had previously unidentified language problems, supporting the need for early recognition and assessment of language in boys with behaviour problems. Expressive problems in particular may be a risk factor.

Interaction before conflict and conflict resolution in pre-school boys with language impairment

BACKGROUND

Children with language impairment (LI) experience social difficulties, including conflict management. The factors involved in peer-conflict progression in pre-school children with LI, and which of these processes may differ from pre-school children with typical language development (TL), is therefore examined.

AIMS

To describe the relationship between opponents interacting before conflict, aberrant conflict causes, the conflict-resolution strategy reconciliation (i.e. friendly contact between former opponents shortly following conflict termination), and conflict outcome in the form of social interaction after a conflict has run its course. It is hypothesized that without social interaction before conflict, children with LI will experience increased difficulties attaining reconciliation.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

Unstructured play of 11 boys with LI (4-7 years old), at a specialized language pre-school, and 20 boys with TL (4-6 years old), at mainstream pre-schools, were video filmed. Conflicts were identified and recorded according to a validated coding system. Recorded conflict details include social interaction between conflict in the pre-conflict period, behavioural sequences constituting conflict cause (conflict period), reconciliatory behaviours in the post-conflict period, and social interaction between former opponents in the succeeding non-conflict period. The group's mean proportion of individual children's conflicts in which specific behavioural sequences occurred were calculated and compared between and within the groups.

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

When conflicts with and without pre-conflict social interaction were analysed separately, aberrant caused conflicts occurred more often in LI group conflicts than in TL group conflicts. However, in conflicts without social interaction in the pre-conflict period, boys with LI exhibit reconciliatory behaviours in, and reconcile a comparatively smaller proportion of, conflicts. Social interaction in the succeeding non-conflict period was proportionately less for boys with LI. This appears to stem from lower reconciliation rates in LI conflicts that do not begin with social interaction in the pre-conflict period. It was also confounded by the larger number of aberrant caused LI conflicts that were rarely reconciled. In turn, non-reconciliation and aberrant caused conflicts were independently associated with comparatively less social interaction in the succeeding non-conflict period.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that in addition to traditional psycholinguistic training, children with LI may gain from interventions that support concluding behavioural turns, as in aberrant caused conflicts; and in initiating contact in conflict situations, even when a frame of reference is not immediately available, as was the case when opponents have not established social interaction in the pre-conflict period.

Behavioural patterns of conflict resolution strategies in preschool boys with language impairment in comparison with boys with typical language development

BACKGROUND

Children with language impairment (LI) experience social difficulties, including conflict management. This paper is therefore motivated to examine behavioural processes guiding preschool peer conflict progression, which ultimately contributes to overall development.

AIMS

To describe behavioural sequences in conflicts between children with typically developing language (TL) and between children with LI. Attention is particularly focused on the conflict resolution strategy reconciliation, i.e. friendly contact between former opponents shortly following conflict termination. It is hypothesized that children with LI, with weaker language skills, experience difficulties attaining effective reconciliation.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Unstructured play of 11 boys with LI (4-7-years-old), at a specialized language preschool, and 20 TL boys (4-6-years-old), at mainstream preschools, were video filmed. Conflicts were identified and recorded according to a validated coding system. Recorded conflict details included behavioural sequences constituting conflict cause (conflict period) and in the post-conflict period, reconciliatory behaviours that were classified into six 'categories' (Invitation to play, Body contact, Object offer, Verbal apology, Self-ridicule, Cognition, i.e. offering privileges/negotiating) and the verbal character of accepted behaviours were determined. The mean proportion of individual target children's conflicts in which specific behavioural sequences had occurred were calculated and thereafter compared between and within the groups.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Boys with LI reconcile fewer conflicts than TL boys (LI: 47.3 +/- 4.5%; TL: 63.6 +/- 2.0%). Contributory factors include the occurrence of conflicts caused by aberrance, i.e. conflicts initiated by inappropriate behavioural play intensities (i.e. 'a pillow fight' where one partner swings so intensively the other partner cannot participate as a player in the game) and protests that are no longer directed to the opponent within reciprocal exchanges, but escalate to screaming/physical ranting. Aberrant caused conflicts were rarely observed as the conflict cause for TL boys, but represent nearly 15% of LI conflicts and aberrant caused conflicts are reconciled at lower rates than conflicts not caused by aberrance. Displayed reconciliatory behaviours were accepted by opponents at similar rates in both groups and the distribution of reconciliatory behavioural 'categories' was similar between the groups. However, boys with LI attempt reconciliation in relatively fewer conflicts. In addition, the individual boys with LI attain reconciliation with strictly verbal reconciliatory behaviours in a smaller proportion of conflicts.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that in addition to traditional psycholinguistic remediation, intervention programmes for children with LI should address that learned language and communication skills are applied effectively in initiating and maintaining naturalistic peer interactions.

Epilepsy, language, and behavior: clinical models in childhood

The complex relationship between epilepsy, language, and behavior is not well understood. Neurologic disorders such as Landau-Kleffner syndrome, electrical status epilepticus during slow-wave sleep, infantile spasms, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, autism, and developmental language disorders are useful clinical models in the investigation of this complex relationship. These disorders are reviewed in terms of their contribution to our present knowledge of the relationship between epilepsy, language, and behavior. Present management issues and directions for future research are discussed.