Semantic Contingency of Maternal Verbal Input Directed at Very Preterm and Full-Term Children

The Synergistic Effects of Preterm Birth and Parent Gender on the Linguistic and Interactive Features of Parent-Infant Conversations

PURPOSE

To investigate the language environments experienced by preterm-born infants, this study compared the linguistic and interactive features of parent-infant conversations involving 2-year-old preterm- and term-born infants. The study also explored how mother-infant and father-infant conversations may be differentially affected by preterm/term birth status.

METHOD

Twenty-two preterm-born (< 37 weeks' gestation) and 25 term-born (≥ 37 weeks' gestation) 2-year-old infants engaged in dyadic mother/father-infant free-play interactions that were transcribed to quantify the linguistic (parental volubility, speech rate, lexical diversity, and morphosyntactic complexity) and interactive (infant/parent responsiveness, turn-taking, and conversational balance) features of parent-infant conversations. Language, cognitive, socioemotional, and executive function skills were assessed via standardized tools.

RESULTS

Compared to the term group, the preterm group was characterized by lower maternal speech rate, parental lexical diversity, and parent-infant turn-taking, as well as greater mother-infant conversational balance. The preterm group presented poorer language and executive function skills when compared to the term group.

CONCLUSIONS

Both similarities and differences exist between the language environments of preterm and term groups. Similarities may be due to the partial developmental catch-up of preterm-born infants (cognitive and socioemotional skills) and parental scaffolding. Differences may partly reflect a parental adaptation to the language and executive function difficulties of preterm-born infants. These findings suggest that researchers/clinicians should appraise the language environment with respect to the unique developmental needs of preterm/term-born infants. Future research directions are provided to advance a more holistic characterization of the language environment and a deeper understanding of the developmental significance of preterm-term differences in such environments.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25021931.

Parent-infant conversations are differentially associated with the development of preterm- and term-born infants

Preterm birth is a risk factor for language difficulties. To better understand the language development of preterm-born infants, the current study investigated the concurrent associations between parent-infant conversations and the development of 22 preterm-born and 25 term-born infants at 2 years of age. Conversations occurring during mother/father-infant free-play interactions were analyzed to characterize features of parental speech (volubility, speech rate, lexical diversity, and morphosyntactic complexity) and parent-infant exchanges (parent responsiveness, turn-taking, and conversational balance). The infants' language development (receptive communication and expressive communication) and non-language development (cognitive, social-emotional, and executive function) was assessed using standardized measures. Parent-infant conversations were associated with both language and non-language development. This suggests that parent-infant conversations may support language development directly and/or through advancing non-language skills that could promote language learning. The associations between parent-infant conversations and development varied as a function of birth status (preterm or term). This finding may signal the operation of different developmental processes within preterm- and term-born groups. Finally, infant development was differentially associated with mother-infant and father-infant conversations. This may point to the distinct contributions made by mothers and fathers to the development of both preterm- and term-born infants. To optimize language outcomes, these findings indicate that families should be guided to tailor parent-infant conversations to the unique developmental needs and processes of preterm-born infants. Families should also be supported to leverage the distinct developmental contributions of mothers and fathers. Future recommendations are made regarding how to investigate the proposed preterm-term differences in language development processes and the differential developmental contribution of mothers and fathers.

Repeat After Me? Both Children With and Without Autism Commonly Align Their Language With That of Their Caregivers

Linguistic repetitions in children are conceptualized as negative in children with autism - echolalia, without communicative purpose - and positive in typically developing (TD) children - linguistic alignment involved in shared engagement, common ground and language acquisition. To investigate this apparent contradiction we analyzed spontaneous speech in 67 parent-child dyads from a longitudinal corpus (30 minutes of play activities at 6 visits over 2 years). We included 32 children with autism and 35 linguistically matched TD children (mean age at recruitment 32.76 and 20.27 months). We found a small number of exact repetitions in both groups (roughly 1% of utterances across visits), which increased over time in children with autism and decreased in the TD group. Partial repetitions were much more frequent: children reused caregivers' words at high rates regardless of diagnostic group (24% of utterances at first visit), and this increased in frequency (but not level) over time, faster for TD children (at final visit: 33% for autism, 40% for TD). The same happened for partial repetition of syntax and semantic alignment. However, chance alignment (as measured by surrogate pairs) also increased and findings for developmental changes were reliable only for syntactic and semantic alignment. Children with richer linguistic abilities also displayed a higher tendency to partially re-use their caregivers' language (alignment rates and semantic alignment). This highlights that all children commonly re-used the words, syntax, and topics of their caregivers, albeit with some quantitative differences, and that most repetition was at least potentially productive, with repeated language being re-contextualized and integrated with non-repeated language. The salience of echolalia in ASD might be partially explained by slight differences in frequency, amplified by lower semantic alignment, persistence over time, and expectations of echolalia. More in-depth qualitative and quantitative analyses of how repetitions are used and received in context are needed.

Caregiver linguistic alignment to autistic and typically developing children: A natural language processing approach illuminates the interactive components of language development

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.

Prelinguistic intersubjective and socio-communicative skills in infants with neurodevelopmental disabilities aged 0-36 months: A new assessment and parent support tool

Background

Although children with neurodevelopmental disability (NDD) present with several deficits, they partially share developmental impairments in prelinguistic intersubjective and socio-communicative skills, which are not easily assessed by conventional tests during the first years of life.

Aim

The current paper presents a new procedure to assess the prelinguistic intersubjective and socio-communicative skills of NDD children aged 0-36 months. A specific observation form template, called the Observation of Prelinguistic Intersubjective and Socio-Communicative Skills (OPISCoS) form, has been designed to systematically detect infant skills during daily routines (e.g., mealtime, playtime, desk activities). The OPISCoS form helps speech therapists to provide parents support to better perceive and understand early communicative signals from their children, avoiding the risk of excessive or reduced social stimulation.

Methods

The OPISCoS form is composed of three sections, namely, "Pragmatics and Communication," "Decoding," and "Expression," which are useful to delineate the communication abilities of children with NDD and are not tapped by traditional batteries. Vignettes from clinical practice illustrate and provide exemplifications for using the OPISCoS form with NDD infants and their parents.

Results

The OPISCoS form was reported for two children and showed potential in detecting disrupted communicative behaviors and planning specific early interventions. Further, we observed an improvement not only in children's communicative abilities improve but also in their interactions with parents. From a clinical point of view, the OPISCoS form (1) offers an observational perspective of prelinguistic intersubjective and socio-communicative skills in infants with NDD and (2) may be useful to practitioners to enhance parents' sensitivity to their infants' communicative behavior.

Conclusion

The OPISCoS form was developed in clinical practice and is based on a very preliminary description of a new observational procedure as integration for the assessment of NDD children. The OPISCoS form appears to be a useful tool for the clinical assessment of prelinguistic intersubjective and socio-communicative skills in NDD infants as well as for promoting the quality of early parenting.