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Strand BMS. Playing With Fire Compounds: The Tonal Accents of Compounds in (North) Norwegian Preschoolers' Role-Play Register. Lang Speech 2024; 67:113-139. [PMID: 37113109 DOI: 10.1177/00238309231161289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Prosodic features are some of the most salient features of dialect variation in Norway. It is therefore no wonder that the switch in prosodic systems is what is first recognized by caretakers and scholars when Norwegian children code-switch to something resembling the dialect of the capital (henceforth Urban East Norwegian, UEN) in role-play. With a focus on the system of lexical tonal accents, this paper investigates the spontaneous speech of North Norwegian children engaging in peer social role-play. By investigating F0 contours extracted from a corpus of spontaneous peer play, and comparing them with elicited baseline reference contours, this paper makes the case that children fail to apply the target tonal accent consistent with UEN in compounds in role-play, although the production of tonal accents otherwise seems to be phonetically target like UEN. Put in other words, they perform in accordance with UEN phonetics, but not UEN morpho-phonology.
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Samaraweera BP, Pillay M, Muttiah N, Moodley L. Exploring clinical reasoning in child language assessment through decoloniality. Int J Speech Lang Pathol 2024:1-16. [PMID: 38425227 DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2023.2296864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE Clinical reasoning has been taught, practised, and researched under Western epistemologies, which have been fallible in addressing the complexity of clinical reasoning within Indigenous cultures and societies. We explored how speech-language pathologists in Sri Lanka negotiate and value Indigenous and Western perspectives in clinical reasoning within a decolonial framework. METHOD This study used participatory research methodology within the decolonised qualitative research paradigm to produce data collaboratively with eight Sri Lankan speech-language pathologists. Oral history narratives and object-based textual reflections generated the necessary data for the study. Systematic visual-textual analysis and reflexive thematic analysis were carried out iteratively, and the data analysis and interpretation were undertaken collaboratively with the participants. RESULT We generated four key themes about professional education, individuality in practice, holistic thinking, and balancing interests and priorities. The results demonstrate that social, political, and economic forces impact practitioners' clinical reasoning. CONCLUSION Practising science in its original form within Indigenous contexts is challenging. Colonial roots and imperialism impact the delivery of appropriate services in socially and politically marginalised communities. Practitioners' self-awareness about authentic identities and practical wisdom can develop culturally relevant knowledge for equitable practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Buddhima P Samaraweera
- Discipline of Speech-Language Therapy, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Mershen Pillay
- Discipline of Speech-Language Therapy, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- Speech-Language Therapy, Massey University, New Zealand
| | - Nimisha Muttiah
- Department of Disability Studies, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
- Communication Disorders and Sciences, State University of New York, Cortland, NY, USA
| | - Legini Moodley
- Discipline of Speech-Language Therapy, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
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de Almeida DPR, Cordeiro AADA, Almeida LNA, de Queiroga CAM, de Queiroga BAM. Evidence of concurrent and predictive criterion validity of the Child Communication Screening Instrument from 0 to 36 months (IRC-36). Codas 2023; 36:e20220218. [PMID: 38126425 PMCID: PMC10750861 DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20232022218pt] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE To determine evidence of concurrent and predictive criterion validity of the Communication Screening Instrument for children aged 0 to 36 months (IRC-36). METHODS 78 parents/guardians of children who attend the childcare service of the Family Health Centers participated in the research, in addition to 33 children aged between 0 and 36 months, invited to the second stage of the study. In its first stage, 13 health professionals were trained to apply the IRC-36 to the children's parents/guardians. In the second moment, the parents responded to a new IRC-36 application, and the children were evaluated with Denver II. RESULTS IRC-36 correlated with Denver II in more than half of the cases, confirming the instrument's concurrent criterion validity. IRC-36 results in the first stage did not significantly correlate with Denver II. The instrument's cutoff value was 12, which is the reference value between children at risk and not at risk of communication disorders. The instrument had high sensitivity and an accuracy value within the recommended levels. The occurrence of risk of communication changes was higher in the second IRC-36 application. CONCLUSION The study presented evidence of concurrent criterion validity, indicating that the instrument has evidence of accuracy and validity measures to screen communication in children aged 0 to 36 months, being able to identify the risk for communication disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Bianca Arruda Manchester de Queiroga
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde da Comunicação Humana, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – UFPE - Recife (PE), Brasil.
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – UFPE - Recife (PE), Brasil.
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Donadio DMDO, Simões-Zenari M, Santos THF, Sanchez MG, Molini-Avejonas DR, Cardilli-Dias D. Use of the Prompts for Reestructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPT) in Autism Spectrum Disorder: a case study. Codas 2023; 36:e20220299. [PMID: 38126591 PMCID: PMC10750890 DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20232022299pt] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is classified by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a neurodevelopmental disorder, whose characteristics are mainly deficits in social communication and a restricted range of interests. There are several studies about autism, speech, and language in the literature, but few correlate speech and autism. This study aims to carry out a case study that will address autism, speech, and PROMPT (Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) and also to describe the speech improvement in the participant with autism using the method. The target words were defined for the entire intervention according to the System Analysis Observation (SAO) and Motor Speech Hierarchy (MSH), which are parts of the PROMPT evaluation. After the evaluation, the participant was attended for 16 sessions, once weekly, with the objective of improving their speech. After analyzing the data, it was possible to observe improvement in all aspects outlined according to the pre-treatment evaluation of the method such as phonatory control, mandibular control, lip-facial control and lingual control as well as in the sequenced movement although this was not the aim outlined in the evaluation. It was also possible to measure the improvement of an adequate number of words, an adequate number of phonemes, percentages of correct consonants - revised (PCC-R), and intelligibility.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marcia Simões-Zenari
- Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo – USP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
| | - Thaís Helena Ferreira Santos
- Laboratório de Investigação Fonoaudiológica de Saúde Mental, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo – USP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
| | | | | | - Daniela Cardilli-Dias
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências da Reabilitação, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo – USP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
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Bonatto J, Coelho NF, Chacon L. Subjective position sliding in utterances perceived as echolalic in a child with Language Disorder: a case study. Codas 2023; 36:e20220258. [PMID: 38126590 PMCID: PMC10750891 DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20232022258pt] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Within a linguistic-discursive framework, subject markers in a chain of utterances considered to be echolalia based on the recurring linguistic structure does X want Y? were investigated. This chain was produced during a speech therapy session by J., a female child, 10-years-old at the time of data collection, and with a speech-language pathology diagnosis of language disorder and a medical diagnosis of early psychosis. A set of linguistic fluctuations indicated a sliding of the subject position in the analyzed chain. Such fluctuations involved syntactic, lexical, semantic, morphological and prosodic elements. Discursively, the fluctuations left traces of a sliding of the subject position in the chain formed by these utterances, from a spoken subject (do you want Y?) to a speaking/desiring one (I want Y.). In this way, utterances considered echolalia can provide clues, via their linguistic fluctuations and discursive slippages, about the subject's desire in their relationship with the O/other. Given this, although they do not emerge in a conventional way, such utterances can demonstrate possibilities for changes in subject position. A contribution of the present research for clinical practice involving language in therapeutic settings therefore, was to highlight a listening to utterances, which could be seen as connected/grounded in the speech of the other. In clinical practice involving language, it is possible to create space for new/other senses for utterances, to allow the constitution of the subject of/in language, based on utterances often interpreted as being devoid of subjectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana Bonatto
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP - Marília (SP), Brasil.
| | - Natália Faloni Coelho
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Estudos Linguísticos, Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP - São José do Rio Preto (SP), Brasil.
| | - Lourenço Chacon
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP - Marília (SP), Brasil.
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Bird A, Reese E, Salmon K, Waldie K, Peterson E, Atatoa-Carr P, Morton S. Maternal depressive symptoms and child language development: Exploring potential pathways through observed and self-reported mother-child verbal interactions. Dev Psychopathol 2023:1-14. [PMID: 37969026 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579423001311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2023]
Abstract
Maternal depressive symptoms (MDS) in the postnatal period may impact children's later development through poorer quality parent-child interactions. The current study tested a specific pathway from MDS (child age 9 months) to child receptive vocabulary (4 ½ years) through both self-reported and observed parent-child verbal interactions (at both 2 and 4 ½ years). Participants (n = 4,432) were part of a large, diverse, contemporary pre-birth national cohort study: Growing Up in New Zealand. Results indicated a direct association between greater MDS at 9 months and poorer receptive vocabulary at age 4 ½ years. There was support for an indirect pathway through self-reported parent-child verbal interactions at 2 years and through observed parent-child verbal interactions at 4 ½ years. A moderated mediation effect was also found: the indirect effect of MDS on child vocabulary through observed verbal interaction was supported for families living in areas of greater socioeconomic deprivation. Overall, findings support the potential role of parent-child verbal interactions as a mechanism for the influence of MDS on later child language development. This pathway may be particularly important for families experiencing socioeconomic adversity, suggesting that effective and appropriate supportive parenting interventions be preferentially targeted to reduce inequities in child language outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Bird
- University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
| | | | - Karen Salmon
- Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | | | | | | | - Susan Morton
- University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Reilly S, McKean C. Creating the conditions for robust early language development for all-Part 1: Evidence-informed child language surveillance in the early years. Int J Lang Commun Disord 2023; 58:2222-2241. [PMID: 37432035 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The emergence of language in the early years is a major developmental accomplishment that underpins learning, enables social interaction and, later, is an indicator of well-being. Learning language is an effortless process for most, but can be challenging for others. There is a need to act early. First, because there are several social, environmental and family factors known to influence how language develops during the critical early years. Second, there is a robust association between a child's socio-economic circumstances and language outcomes. Put simply, children living in less advantaged circumstance have poorer language outcomes, which are apparent very early and persist across the lifespan. Third, children with demonstrated weaknesses in language learning in early childhood have poorer educational, employment, mental health and quality-of-life outcomes across the lifespan. Acting early to counter these impacts is important; however, there are several well-documented challenges in accurately identifying in the early years children who are at later risk of developmental language disorder (DLD) and to deliver prevention and intervention programmes to scale. This is critical because many services do not currently reach those who need them most; as many as 50% of children in need may not be receiving support. AIM To determine whether an improved surveillance system, based on best evidence, could be developed for the early years. METHODS & PROCEDURES We summarised findings from longitudinal, population or community studies that: (1) adopted bioecological models, (2) repeatedly measured language (including the early years) and (3) adopted similar methodologies, to identify factors that influence language outcomes. MAIN CONTRIBUTION The evidence confirmed that language development is not always stable but is characterized by distinct trajectories and each has distinguishing social, environmental features. Children in the change or fluctuating groups tend to live in less advantageous circumstances that may not always support and enable language development. Risk factors tend to cluster and accumulate across the early years and beyond, thereby markedly increasing the likelihood of poorer language outcomes later in life. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS In this the first of two papers, designed to be read together, we integrate research on the social determinants of child language and propose they be embedded into surveillance models. This has the potential to reach more children and those living in disadvantaged circumstances. In the accompanying paper we combine this information with evidence-informed early prevention/intervention approaches and propose the design and implementation of an early language public health framework. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on the subject There are several well-documented challenges in accurately identifying in the early years children who are at later risk of DLD and reaching those most in need of language support. What this study adds to existing knowledge A combination of child, family and environmental determinants, collectively and cumulatively, play out over time and dramatically increase the risk of later language problems, in particular those children living in disadvantaged circumstances. We propose an improved surveillance system that incorporates these determinants be developed and that this be part of a whole of system approach to child language in the early years. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Clinicians intuitively act to prioritize children with multiple features or risks; however, they can only do so for those who present or are identified to be at risk. Given many children with language problems are not being reached by many early language services, it is reasonable to ask if this knowledge can be integrated to improve reach. Or is a different surveillance model required?
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da Silva MH, Wertzner HF, Haynes C, Azoni CAS. Characterization of the phonological system in low-income Brazilian preschoolers. Codas 2023; 35:e20220189. [PMID: 37729319 PMCID: PMC10723580 DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20232022189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to characterize the phonological skills of low-income preschool children in a city in the Natal in the Northeast, Brazil. METHODS The researchers assessed the phonological skills of 90 children (from 5 to 6:11) in early childhood education in three public schools located in regions of social and economic vulnerability. The evaluators used the phonology subtests of the Test of Childhood language (ABFW) children's language test. In addition to performing the standard analysis they examined the following: Phonological Processes (PP), Percentage of Correct Consonants (PCC), Percentage of Correct Consonants Revised (PCC-R), and Process Density Index (PDI). The Spearman's Correlation Coefficient test was used to analyze for correlations among the PCC, PCC-R, and PDI. RESULTS According to the cutoff values of children who speak Brazilian Portuguese (BP), adequacy of the PCC and PCC-R values was observed in most participants (PCC: 82 children - 91.1%; PCC-R: 87 children - 94.6%). The processes of liquid simplification (LS), consonant clusters simplification (CCS), final consonant simplification (FCS) were productive of which the CCS (32.2%) and FCS (20%) are still expected for age and LS are not. There was a robust negative correlation between the variables PCC x PDI and PCC-R x PDI. CONCLUSION Most children showed adequate phonological development. Variations were observed in syllabic segments, especially in the coda, which reflect the influence of regional linguistic differences. The evidence obtained regarding the phonological performance of children within this region contributes to a more accurate speech-language diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Helena da Silva
- Programa de Pós-graduação Associado em Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN - Natal (RN), Brasil.
- Universidade Federal da Paraíba - UFPB - João Pessoa (PB), Brasil.
- Universidade Estadual de Ciências da Saúde de Alagoas - UNCISAL - Maceió (AL), Brasil.
- Laboratório LEIA - Linguagem Escrita, Interdisciplinaridade e Aprendizagem, Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN - Natal (RN), Brasil.
| | - Haydée Fiszbein Wertzner
- Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina - FM, Universidade de São Paulo USP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências da Reabilitação, Faculdade de Medicina - FM, Universidade de São Paulo USP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
- Laboratório de Investigação Fonoaudiológica em Fonologia, Faculdade de Medicina - FM, Universidade de São Paulo USP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
| | - Charles Haynes
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston (MA), United States of America.
| | - Cíntia Alves Salgado Azoni
- Programa de Pós-graduação Associado em Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN - Natal (RN), Brasil.
- Universidade Federal da Paraíba - UFPB - João Pessoa (PB), Brasil.
- Universidade Estadual de Ciências da Saúde de Alagoas - UNCISAL - Maceió (AL), Brasil.
- Laboratório LEIA - Linguagem Escrita, Interdisciplinaridade e Aprendizagem, Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN - Natal (RN), Brasil.
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Tatsumi T, Sala G. Learning conversational dependency: Children's response using un in Japanese. J Child Lang 2023; 50:1226-1244. [PMID: 35786206 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000922000344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
This study investigates how Japanese-speaking children learn interactional dependencies in conversations that determine the use of un, a token typically used as a positive response for yes-no questions, backchannel, and acknowledgement. We hypothesise that children learn to produce un appropriately by recognising different types of cues occurring in the immediately preceding turns. We built a set of generalised linear models on the longitudinal conversation data from seven children aged 1 to 5 years and their caregivers. Our models revealed that children not only increased their un production, but also learned to attend relevant cues in the preceding turns to understand when to respond by producing un. Children increasingly produced un when their interlocutors asked a yes-no question or signalled the continuation of their own speech. These results illustrate how children learn the probabilistic dependency between adjacent turns, and become able to participate in conversational interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Giovanni Sala
- National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan
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Nogueira GDR, Lemos SMA, Britto DBDOE. Activities and participation of children with language disorders in outpatient care according to the ICF. Codas 2023; 35:e20220007. [PMID: 37556703 PMCID: PMC10446747 DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20232022007pt] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 08/11/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE To identify the main categories of the Activities and Participation component of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health and to verify the association with age, gender, education, and speech therapy diagnosis in children who are assisted by an oral language clinic. METHODS This is an analytical and cross-sectional observational study, carried out with secondary data from 32 medical records of children with the majority male, mean age of 41.03 months, in early childhood education and language disorder associated with other conditions. The main speech-language pathology manifestations were coded according to the pre-selected categories of the Activities and Participation component, and descriptive and bivariate statistical analyzes were performed, and the Fisher's Exact test was used with a significance level of 5%. RESULTS The descriptive analysis of the pre-selected categories allowed us to verify a high number of "Not informed" answers, with a higher percentage in vocal expression without speech (d331) performance (93.8%), making decisions (d177) ability (90.6%), problem solving (d175) performance (65.6%) and capacity (87.5%), reception of oral messages (d310) performance (65.6%) and eating (d550) capacity (65.6%). Among the 24 categories selected, 12 jointly contemplated the Qualifiers of Performance and Capacity. There was a statistically significant association between the three categories with sociodemographic data and speech therapy diagnoses. CONCLUSION Difficulties were identified in several categories of the Activities and Participation component and statistically significant associations between them and sociodemographic data and speech therapy diagnoses, showing the impacts of oral language disorders on the activities and participation of children assisted in an outpatient speech therapy service.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stela Maris Aguiar Lemos
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG - Belo Horizonte (MG), Brasil.
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Tallas-Mahajna N, Armon-Lotem S, Saiegh-Haddad E. Emergence of verb-pattern morphology in young Arabic speakers: morphological and semantic features. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1127640. [PMID: 37251063 PMCID: PMC10213558 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1127640] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Arabic, a Semitic language, displays a particularly rich derivational morphological system with all verb stems consisting of a semantic root and a prosodic verb-pattern. Such regular and frequently encountered knowledge is expected to be acquired early. The present study presents a developmental perspective on the relative contribution of morphological and semantic complexity to the acquisition of verbs in Spoken Arabic. Method Verbs in a spontaneous corpus from 133 typically developing children, 2; 6-6; 0-year-old, were coded for type and token frequency of verbal patterns and root type, and classified according to semantic complexity. Results Results support an item-based emergence driven by semantic complexity at the earliest stages of acquisition. A developmental expansion in the diversity of verbal patterns and morphological complexity was observed with age. Morphological complexity is only identified when the same root appears in different verb patterns. Discussion The late emergence of the same root in different verb patterns indicates that the perception of verb patterns as abstract linguistic entities beyond the actual verbs is attained later than the semantically-constrained verbs in earlier childhood. We conclude that whereas semantic complexity obstructs verbs from emerging in the lexicon in younger age groups, morphological complexity constitutes no such obstruction, since their perception as morphological devices is attained later in acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naila Tallas-Mahajna
- Department of English Literature and Linguistics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- Al-Qasemi Academic College, Baqa al-Gharbiyye, Israel
| | - Sharon Armon-Lotem
- Department of English Literature and Linguistics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Elinor Saiegh-Haddad
- Department of English Literature and Linguistics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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Edgar EV, Todd JT, Bahrick LE. Intersensory processing of faces and voices at 6 months predicts language outcomes at 18, 24, and 36 months of age. Infancy 2023; 28:569-596. [PMID: 36760157 PMCID: PMC10564323 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2021] [Revised: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 01/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
Intersensory processing of social events (e.g., matching sights and sounds of audiovisual speech) is a critical foundation for language development. Two recently developed protocols, the Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP) and the Intersensory Processing Efficiency Protocol (IPEP), assess individual differences in intersensory processing at a sufficiently fine-grained level for predicting developmental outcomes. Recent research using the MAAP demonstrates 12-month intersensory processing of face-voice synchrony predicts language outcomes at 18- and 24-months, holding traditional predictors (parent language input, SES) constant. Here, we build on these findings testing younger infants using the IPEP, a more comprehensive, fine-grained index of intersensory processing. Using a longitudinal sample of 103 infants, we tested whether intersensory processing (speed, accuracy) of faces and voices at 3- and 6-months predicts language outcomes at 12-, 18-, 24-, and 36-months, holding traditional predictors constant. Results demonstrate intersensory processing of faces and voices at 6-months (but not 3-months) accounted for significant unique variance in language outcomes at 18-, 24-, and 36-months, beyond that of traditional predictors. Findings highlight the importance of intersensory processing of face-voice synchrony as a foundation for language development as early as 6-months and reveal that individual differences assessed by the IPEP predict language outcomes even 2.5-years later.
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Fortunato-Tavares T, Schwartz RG, Andrade CRFD, Houston D, Marton K. Are prosodic effects on sentence comprehension dependent on age? Codas 2023; 35:e20210062. [PMID: 36888745 PMCID: PMC10010431 DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20212021062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 03/08/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE to investigate prosodic boundary effects on the comprehension of attachment ambiguities in Brazilian Portuguese and to test two hypotheses relying on the notion of boundary strength: the absolute boundary hypothesis (ABH) and the relative boundary hypothesis (RBH). Manipulations of prosodic structure influence how listeners interpret syntactically ambiguous sentences. However, the role of prosody in spoken language comprehension of sentences has received limited attention in languages other than English, particularly from a developmental perspective. METHODS Twenty-three adults and 15 children participated in a computerized sentence comprehension task involving syntactically ambiguous sentences. Each sentence was recorded in eight different prosodic forms with acoustic manipulations of F0, duration and pause varying the boundary size to reflect predictions of the ABH and RBH. RESULTS Children and adults differed in how prosody influenced their syntactic processing and children were significantly slower than adults. Results indicated that interpretation of sentences varied according to their prosodic forms. CONCLUSION Neither the ABH or the RBH explained how children and adults who speak Brazilian Portuguese use prosodic boundaries to disambiguate sentences. There is evidence that the way prosodic boundaries influence disambiguation varies cross-linguistically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talita Fortunato-Tavares
- Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences Department, Lehman College, City University of New York - New York (NY), USA.,Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, The Graduate Center, City University of New York - New York (NY), USA
| | - Richard G Schwartz
- Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, The Graduate Center, City University of New York - New York (NY), USA
| | - Claudia Regina Furquim de Andrade
- Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil
| | - Derek Houston
- The Ohio State University College of Medicine - Columbus (OH), USA
| | - Klara Marton
- Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, The Graduate Center, City University of New York - New York (NY), USA.,Communication Arts, Sciences and Disorders, Brooklyn College, City University of New York - New York (NY), USA
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14
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Faes J, De Maeyer S, Gillis S. Speech intelligibility of children with an auditory brainstem implant: a triple-case study. Clin Linguist Phon 2022; 36:1067-1092. [PMID: 35380929 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2021.1988148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2021] [Revised: 09/11/2021] [Accepted: 09/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Auditory brainstem implantation (ABI) is a relative recent development in paediatric hearing restoration. Consequently, young-implanted children's productive language has not received much attention. This study investigated speech intelligibility of children with ABI (N = 3) in comparison to children with cochlear implants (CI) and children with typical hearing (TH). Spontaneous speech samples were recorded from children representing the three groups matched on cumulative vocabulary level. Untrained listeners (N = 101) rated the intelligibility of one-word utterances on a continuous scale and transcribed each utterance. The rating task yielded a numerical score between 0 and 100, and similarities and differences between the listeners' transcriptions were captured by a relative entropy score. The speech intelligibility of children with CI and children with TH was similar. Speech intelligibility of children with ABI was well below that of the children with CI and TH. But whereas one child with ABI's intelligibility approached that of the control groups with increasing lexicon size, the intelligibility of the two other children with ABI did not develop in a similar direction. Overall, speech intelligibility was only moderate in the three groups of children, with quite low ratings and considerable differences in the listeners' transcriptions, resulting in high relative entropy scores.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sven De Maeyer
- Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
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15
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Steultjens E, Lindenschot M, Diepeveen S, Zajec J, de Groot I, Nijhuis-van der Sanden R, Koene S, Graff M. Tailored interviewing to uncover the perspectives of children with multiple disabilities on daily activities: A qualitative analyses of interview methods and interviewer skills. Aust Occup Ther J 2022; 70:175-189. [PMID: 36149673 DOI: 10.1111/1440-1630.12842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2022] [Revised: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Uncovering the perspective of children with multiple disabilities is important in health care to enable person-centred health care. For occupational therapists, uncovering the child perspective on meaningful activities is necessary to set appropriate goals for treatment. It is not always evident that children with multiple disabilities can express themselves in an interview. The interviewer should adapt his communication to the child. In literature, alternative communication is widely studied, but a clear algorithm for deciding what to use to successfully gain insight into the child perspective is missing. This study aims to identify helpful interview techniques and interviewer skills and how they can be used to effectively uncover the perspective of children. METHODS Videos of nine interviews with children with a mitochondrial disorder, conducted by an occupational therapist, were analysed by five researchers. The interviews were analysed to see how well the interviewee had obtained the child's perspectives followed by observation of communicative abilities of the child and the types of questions the interviewer asked. A qualitative directed content analysis of the semi-structured interviews followed. FINDINGS An interview pattern was observed in the children's communication leading to six successful interviews. Children communicated verbally on four different levels and also used non-verbal communication. The interviewer used five types of questions, which varied between and within the children. The content analysis resulted in two themes: parental influences and interviewer skills. CONCLUSION Results show the importance of matching the type of questions to the verbal communication level of the child and revealed several interviewer skills and techniques. An overview to guide tailor-made interviewing is presented. The interviewer has a major role in successful interviewing and thus in enabling the inclusion of the child perspective in research and care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Steultjens
- Department of Occupational Therapy/Speech and Language Therapy, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Research Group Neurorehabilitation, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Marieke Lindenschot
- Department of Occupational Therapy/Speech and Language Therapy, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Research Group Neurorehabilitation, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of IQ Healthcare, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Sanne Diepeveen
- Department of Occupational Therapy/Speech and Language Therapy, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Research Group Neurorehabilitation, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Jana Zajec
- Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Imelda de Groot
- Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ria Nijhuis-van der Sanden
- Department of IQ Healthcare, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Saskia Koene
- Department of Paediatrics, Radboud Center for Mitochondrial Medicine, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Maud Graff
- Department of IQ Healthcare, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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16
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Rocha HAL, Correia LL, Leite ÁJM, Rocha SGMO, Albuquerque LDS, Machado MMT, Campos JS, e Silva AC, Sudfeld CR. Positive Parenting Behaviors and Child Development in Ceará, Brazil: A Population-Based Study. Children (Basel) 2022; 9:children9081246. [PMID: 36010136 PMCID: PMC9406953 DOI: 10.3390/children9081246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Parenting practices have been identified as a key determinant of children’s developmental outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of parenting practices with child development in a cross-sectional population-based study in a low-income state in northeastern Brazil. The study included data on 3566 caregiver−child pairs, and the children were aged 0−66 months. Positive parenting behaviors (PPBs) were conceptualized in areas of interactive play, social development, and speech and language interactions. Child development was evaluated using the Brazilian Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationships. We found that a greater number of PPBs was associated with better child development domain scores. Among infants < 1 year, each additional PPB was associated with a 0.32 standardized mean difference (SMD) greater communication (95% CI: 0.24−0.41) and 0.38 SMD greater problem-solving scores (95% CI: 0.24−0.52). Among children aged 4−6 years old, each additional PPB was associated with improved communication (SMD: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.13−0.32), problem solving (SMD: 0.21; 95% CI: 0.10−0.32) and personal−social domain scores (SMD: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.17−0.36). Our findings indicate that PPB were robustly associated with better outcomes across developmental domains among Brazilian children. Programs and interventions that support PPB can contribute to improvements in development outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hermano A. L. Rocha
- Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60020-181, CE, Brazil
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +55-85-3366-8044
| | - Luciano L. Correia
- Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60020-181, CE, Brazil
| | - Álvaro J. M. Leite
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60020-181, CE, Brazil
| | - Sabrina G. M. O. Rocha
- Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60020-181, CE, Brazil
- Integração Saúde Ensino Comunidade, University Center Unichristus, Fortaleza 60020-181, CE, Brazil
| | - Lucas de S. Albuquerque
- Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60020-181, CE, Brazil
| | - Márcia M. T. Machado
- Department of Community Health, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60020-181, CE, Brazil
| | - Jocileide S. Campos
- Integração Saúde Ensino Comunidade, University Center Unichristus, Fortaleza 60020-181, CE, Brazil
| | - Anamaria C. e Silva
- Integração Saúde Ensino Comunidade, University Center Unichristus, Fortaleza 60020-181, CE, Brazil
| | - Christopher R. Sudfeld
- Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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Abstract
This study purposed to provide a bibliometric overview of child language (CL) research from 1900 to 2021 and identify major trends in CL. A total of 48,453 research articles related to the CL were identified from the Web of Science. Co-authorship, co-word, and co-citation analysis was conducted by using VOSviewer and CiteSpace. The following was analyzed: annual distribution of related papers; related disciplines; mainstream journals; geographical and institutional distribution; hot topics; keyword burst detection; and co-citation analysis of journals, authors, and references. Results showed that, under the impact of new empirical methods and new theories, the field of CL is undergoing great changes. Research hotspot and the research trends mainly concentrated on autism spectrum disorder, school readiness, oral language, reading comprehension, exposure, bilingualism, vocabulary, input, skills, kindergarten, cochlear implants, and intervention. More and more pieces of research focus on the individual difference in CL development and the importance of intervention in language education by typically developing children and some children with disabilities or language disorders. Besides, child second language acquisition also attracted a lot of attention. This bibliometric analysis is of great reference significance for researchers to understand the progress and discipline development trend in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingrong Guo
- College of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China
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18
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Yang JS, Rosvold C, Bernstein Ratner N. Measurement of Lexical Diversity in Children's Spoken Language: Computational and Conceptual Considerations. Front Psychol 2022; 13:905789. [PMID: 35814069 PMCID: PMC9257278 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.905789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Type-Token Ratio (TTR), given its relatively simple hand computation, is one of the few LSA measures calculated by clinicians in everyday practice. However, it has significant well-documented shortcomings; these include instability as a function of sample size, and absence of clear developmental profiles over early childhood. A variety of alternative measures of lexical diversity have been proposed; some, such as Number of Different Words/100 (NDW) can also be computed by hand. However, others, such as Vocabulary Diversity (VocD) and the Moving Average Type Token Ratio (MATTR) rely on complex resampling algorithms that cannot be conducted by hand. To date, no large-scale study of all four measures has evaluated how well any capture typical developmental trends over early childhood, or whether any reliably distinguish typical from atypical profiles of expressive child language ability. Materials and Methods We conducted linear and non-linear regression analyses for TTR, NDW, VocD, and MATTR scores for samples taken from 946 corpora from typically developing preschool children (ages 2-6 years), engaged in adult-child toy play, from the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES). These were contrasted with 504 samples from children known to have delayed expressive language skills (total n = 1,454 samples). We also conducted a separate sub-analysis which examined possible contextual effects of sampling environment on lexical diversity. Results Only VocD showed significantly different mean scores between the typically -developing children and delayed developing children group. Using TTR would actually misdiagnose typical children and miss children with known language impairment. However, computation of VocD as a function of toy interactions was significant and emerges as a further caution in use of lexical diversity as a valid proxy index of children's expressive vocabulary skill. Discussion This large scale statistical comparison of computer-implemented algorithms for expressive lexical profiles in young children with traditional, hand-calculated measures showed that only VocD met criteria for evidence-based use in LSA. However, VocD was impacted by sample elicitation context, suggesting that non-linguistic factors, such as engagement with elicitation props, contaminate estimates of spoken lexical skill in young children. Implications and suggested directions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji Seung Yang
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Carly Rosvold
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Nan Bernstein Ratner
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, College Park, MD, United States
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19
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Villega CDCS, Chacon L. Hesitations and relative proeminence in prosodic constituents in children's speech. Codas 2022; 34:e20200220. [PMID: 35019076 PMCID: PMC9769412 DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20212020220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE to verify if hesitations would occur, preferably, in strong or weak positions of four of the prosodic constituents: phonological utterance, intonational phrase, phonological phrase and clitic group. METHODS the data were extracted from a bank composed of 147 interview situations recorded with children aged 5-6 years. Was used the principle of relative prominence for the analysis of prosodic constituents. From this principle, the hesitant occurrences identified in prominent elements in the organization of each of the prosodic constituents was considered as for strong position and, as in a weak position, the hesitant occurrences identified in parts of constituents that surround the prominent positions. The judges detected 2.399 hesitant occurrences. RESULTS the following total hesitations were identified in strong and weak positions, respectively: (1) in the phonological utterance = 305 (28.37%) and 770 (71.63%); (2) in the intonational phrase = 285 (20.67%) and 1094 (79.33%); (3) in the phonological phrase = 129 (16.49%) and 653 (83.51%); and (4) in the clitic group = 154 (15.21%) and 859 (84.79%). CONCLUSION although hesitant occurrences have been identified in strong positions in all prosodic constituents analyzed, there was prevalence due to the weak position. This result corroborates studies that claim that hesitations would occur in non-nuclear prosodic portions. Furthermore to this confirmation, the results reinforce the effectiveness of the prosodic phonology model in relation to the principle of relative prominence.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lourenço Chacon
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos Linguísticos, Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP - São José do Rio Preto (SP), Brasil.
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20
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Hage SVR, Sawasaki LY, Hyter Y, Fernandes FDM. Social Communication and pragmatic skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder. Codas 2021; 34:e20210075. [PMID: 34932641 PMCID: PMC9769414 DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20212021075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Accepted: 05/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE to assess the pragmatic and social communicative abilities of children with Typical Language Development (TLD), Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). METHODS Participants were 40 parents and 29 teachers of 40 children ages between 3 and 6 years. Ten children had DLD, ten had ASD and 20 had typical development. All participants answered to the questionnaire of the "Assessment of Pragmatic Language and Social Communication - APLSC - parent and professional reports - beta research version. Data were submitted to statistical analysis. RESULTS The assessment tool was useful in identifying the difference in performance of children with different social communicative profiles. CONCLUSION Children with ASD presented social and pragmatic impairments that were more significant than those presented by children with DLD. However, both children with ASD and with DLD presented more social pragmatic difficulties than children with TLD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Vasconcelos Rocha Hage
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru – FOB, Universidade de São Paulo – USP, Bauru (SP), Brasil.
| | - Lidiane Yumi Sawasaki
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru – FOB, Universidade de São Paulo – USP, Bauru (SP), Brasil.
| | - Yvette Hyter
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, Western Michigan University, Kalamasoo (MI), Estados Unidos da America.
| | - Fernanda Dreux Miranda Fernandes
- Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina – FM, Universidade de São Paulo – USP, São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
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21
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Ribeiro EHP, Haduo MDH, Ribeiro CDC, Lamônica DAC. Silver-Russell syndrome: clinical, neurodevelopmental and communication characteristics: clinical case studies. Codas 2021; 34:e20200273. [PMID: 34705922 PMCID: PMC9886125 DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20212020273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Accepted: 03/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Silver Russell Syndrome (SRS) is a genetically heterogeneous condition with a clinical phenotype that includes intrauterine and postnatal growth restriction, craniofacial alterations, body asymmetries, low body mass index, and feeding difficulties. Alterations in motor development, global coordination, and speech are expected. The current study aims to present the syndrome, neurodevelopment, and communication characteristics of three male children diagnosed with the syndrome, aged 16, 18, and 44 months, respectively. Ethical principles were followed. An analysis of the medical records, aiming to collect information of the anamnesis, conducted with the guardians, and of the assessment carried out with the children was performed. The assessment was performed by applying the following instruments: Communicative Behavior Observation (CBO), Development Screening Test Denver-II (TSDD-II), and the Early Language Milestone Scale (ELMS). The survey of characteristics confirmed the SRS hypothesis; it was verified a delay in communicative behavior for all participants in CBO; in TSDD-II there was a delay in gross motor, fine motor-adaptive, language, and social personal skills. Scores below expectations were found for receptive auditory and expressive auditory functions, with receptive abilities more developed than expressive abilities, in ELM. The SRS deserves to be recognized by the scientific community, since the phenotypic characteristics and the data from the previous life allow the hypothesis of the syndrome to be raised, aiming at an early correct diagnosis and therapeutic planning that minimizes the harmful effects of this condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eduarda Hanna Porto Ribeiro
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru, Universidade de São Paulo – FOB/USP - Bauru (SP), Brasil.
| | - Michele Dias Hayssi Haduo
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru, Universidade de São Paulo – FOB/USP - Bauru (SP), Brasil.
| | - Camila da Costa Ribeiro
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru, Universidade de São Paulo – FOB/USP - Bauru (SP), Brasil.
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22
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Abstract
Interface Delay is a theory of syntactic development, which attempts to explain an array of constructions that are slow to develop, which are characterized by being sensitive to discourse-pragmatic considerations of the type associated with the natural semantic class of definites. The theory claims that neither syntax itself, nor the discourse-pragmatic abilities related to executive function and theory of mind themselves are slow to develop. Rather, the claim is that the nexus or interface between the two cognitive domains is slow to develop. We review the development of subjects in child Spanish as an example of this delayed growth trajectory. Further, we review evidence that a delay in the development of tense causes concomitant delays in the seemingly unrelated phenomena of non-nominative case subject pronoun use and un-inverted wh- questions.
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23
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Vázquez-Salas A, Hubert C, Villalobos A, Sánchez-Ferrer J, Ortega-Olvera C, Romero M, Barrientos-Gutiérrez T. [Factors associated with early childhooddevelopment in mexican children]. Salud Publica Mex 2021; 62:714-724. [PMID: 33620968 DOI: 10.21149/11869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2020] [Accepted: 09/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To estimate levels of early childhood develop-ment (ECD) and associated factors in Mexican population aged 19-59 months. MATERIALS AND METHODS The Ensanut 2018-19 evaluated ECD using the Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) and level of language develop-ment. We used multivariate models, with logistic or linear regression, depending on the outcome variable. RESULTS Children of wealthier households and with children's books at home are more likely of having an adequate ECDI; in contrast, children who experienced violent discipline methods are less likely. Children living in rural areas, with more highly educated mothers, who were not undernourished, and with support for learning have higher language scores. CONCLUSIONS Public policies aimed to enhance early childhood development should take into account the associated modifiable factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Argelia Vázquez-Salas
- Conacyt, Centro de Investigación en Salud Poblacional, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública. Cuernavaca, Morelos, México
| | - Celia Hubert
- Centro de Investigación en Salud Poblacional, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública. Ciudad de México, México
| | - Aremis Villalobos
- Centro de Investigación en Salud Poblacional, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública. Ciudad de México, México
| | - José Sánchez-Ferrer
- Centro de Investigación en Salud Poblacional, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública. Ciudad de México, México
| | - Carolina Ortega-Olvera
- Facultad de Enfermería y Nutrición, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí. San Luis Potosí, México
| | - Martín Romero
- Centro de Investigación en Evaluación y Encuestas, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública. Ciudad de México, México
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24
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian MacWhinney
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Vera Kempe
- Division of Psychology, Abertay University, Dundee, United Kingdom
| | - Patricia J Brooks
- Department of Psychology, College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center, CUNY, Staten Island, NY, United States
| | - Ping Li
- Faculty of Humanities, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
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25
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Yuen I, Xu Rattanasone N, Schmidt E, Macdonald G, Holt R, Demuth K. Five-year-olds produce prosodic cues to distinguish compounds from lists in Australian English. J Child Lang 2021; 48:110-128. [PMID: 32398184 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000920000227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Although previous research has indicated that five-year-olds can use acoustic cues to disambiguate compounds (N1 + N2) from lists (N1, N2) (e.g., 'ice-cream' vs. 'ice, cream') (Yoshida & Katz, 2004, 2006), their productions are not yet fully adult-like (Wells, Peppé & Goulandris, 2004). The goal of this study was to examine this issue in Australian English-speaking children, with a focus on their use of F0, word duration, and pauses. Twenty-four five-year-olds and 20 adults participated in an elicited production experiment. Like adults, children produced distinct F0 patterns for the two structures. They also used longer word durations and more pauses in lists compared to compounds, indicating the presence of a boundary in lists. However, unlike adults, they also inappropriately inserted more pauses within the compound, suggesting the presence of a boundary in compounds as well. The implications for understanding children's developing knowledge of how to map acoustic cues to prosodic structures are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Yuen
- Macquarie University, Department of Linguistics, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia
| | - Nan Xu Rattanasone
- Macquarie University, Department of Linguistics, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia
| | | | | | - Rebecca Holt
- Macquarie University, Department of Linguistics, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia
| | - Katherine Demuth
- Macquarie University, Department of Linguistics, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia
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26
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Raneri D, VON Holzen K, Newman R, Bernstein Ratner N. Change in maternal speech rate to preverbal infants over the first two years of life. J Child Lang 2020; 47:1263-1275. [PMID: 32157973 DOI: 10.1017/s030500091900093x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Aims: Although IDS is typically described as slower than adult-directed speech (ADS), potential impacts of slower speech on language development have not been examined. We explored whether IDS speech rates in 42 mother-infant dyads at four time periods predicted children's language outcomes at two years. Method: We correlated IDS speech rate with child language outcomes at two years, and contrasted outcomes in dyads displaying high/low rate profiles. Outcomes: Slower IDS rate at 7 months significantly correlated with vocabulary knowledge at two years. Slowed IDS may benefit child language learning even before children first speak.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniele Raneri
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, the University of Maryland
| | - Katie VON Holzen
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, the University of Maryland
| | - Rochelle Newman
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, the University of Maryland
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27
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Abstract
Early language environment plays a critical role in child language development. The Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA™) system allows researchers and clinicians to collect daylong recordings and obtain automated measures to characterize a child's language environment. This meta-analysis evaluates the predictability of LENA's automated measures for language skills in young children. We systematically searched reports for associations between LENA's automated measures, specifically, adult word count (AWC), conversational turn count (CTC), and child vocalization count (CVC), and language skills in children younger than 48 months. Using robust variance estimation, we calculated weighted mean effect sizes and conducted moderator analyses exploring the factors that might affect this relationship. The results revealed an overall medium effect size for the correlation between LENA's automated measures and language skills. This relationship was largely consistent regardless of child developmental status, publication status, language assessment modality and method, or the age at which the LENA recording was taken; however, the effect was weakly moderated by the gap between LENA recordings and language measures taken. Among the three measures, there were medium associations between CTC and CVC and language, whereas there was a small-to-medium association between AWC and language. These findings extend beyond validation work conducted by the LENA Research Foundation and suggest certain predictive strength of LENA's automated measures for child language. We discussed possible mechanisms underlying the observed associations, as well as the theoretical, methodological, and clinical implications of these findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanyuan Wang
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University, 915 Olentangy River Road # 4000, Columbus, OH
| | - Rondeline Williams
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University, 915 Olentangy River Road # 4000, Columbus, OH
| | - Laura Dilley
- Department of Communicative Sciences & Disorders, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
| | - Derek M Houston
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University, 915 Olentangy River Road # 4000, Columbus, OH.,Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205
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Abstract
Our aim was to assess whether infants influence the quantity and quality of their mothers' speech to them and, in turn, whether this maternal speech influences children's later language. As 189 mothers interacted with each of their twins at age 0;5, we calculated the number of utterances, the proportion of sensitive utterances, and the proportion of self-repeated utterances they produced. We later assessed the twins' language comprehension and production when they were 1;6, 2;6, and 5;2. Quantity of maternal speech predicted child language at 5;2, whereas sensitivity predicted child language at 2;6 and 5;2 and partial self-repetition predicted child language at 1;6. Conversely, sensitivity and partial self-repetition in maternal speech at 0;5 were associated with genetic factors from the child, indicating that infant characteristics influence the quality of maternal speech. Overall, our findings stress the importance of considering both directions in the association between maternal speech and child characteristics.
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Bornstein MH, Putnick DL, Bohr Y, Abdelmaseh M, Lee CY, Esposito G. Maternal Sensitivity and Language in Infancy Each Promotes Child Core Language Skill in Preschool. Early Child Res Q 2020; 51:483-489. [PMID: 32280159 PMCID: PMC7147483 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Supporting language skills in the early years is important because children who begin school with stronger language skills continue to perform well later in their language as well as academic and socioemotional growth. This three-wave longitudinal study of 50 mother-infant dyads reveals that maternal sensitivity and maternal language at 5 months each uniquely predicts child language at 49 months, controlling for age, education, and maternal verbal IQ as well as maternal supportive presence at 49 months. These findings reinforce the importance of maternal sensitivity and maternal language in infancy for child language development and specify that early maternal sensitivity and language, apart from maternal age, education, and IQ as well as later sensitivity, contribute to child language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc H. Bornstein
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
- Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, UK
| | - Diane L. Putnick
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
| | - Yvonne Bohr
- La Marsh Centre for Child and Youth Research, York University
| | | | | | - Gianluca Esposito
- Psychology Programme, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Italy
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30
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Dias DC, Rondon-Melo S, Molini-Avejonas DR. Sensitivity and specificity of a low-cost screening protocol for identifying children at risk for language disorders. Clinics (Sao Paulo) 2020; 75:e1426. [PMID: 32294668 PMCID: PMC7137860 DOI: 10.6061/clinics/2020/e1426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To compare the diagnostic accuracy of a low-cost screening test for identifying children at risk for language disorders with that of a specific language assessment. METHODS The study was conducted during a polio vaccination campaign in basic health units in western São Paulo, Brazil. The parents/guardians of 1000 children aged between 0 and 5 years were asked to answer questions of a specific screening test. The instrument consisted of a uniform set of questions about the main milestones in language development (from 0 to 5 years of age) with scaled scores to assess responses. There were no exclusion criteria. After the screening test, the children were referred to a specific language assessment by ABFW, following a determined flow of referrals. The results obtained in the screening were compared to those obtained in the specific language assessment; then, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values were determined for the screening test. Children who failed the screening test also underwent an audiological evaluation. The statistical significance was set at 5%. RESULTS The majority of the participants were aged between 4 and 5 years (21.82%) and were male (51.6%). The sensitivity and specificity values were 82.5% and 98.93%, respectively. The area under the curve was 0.907 (0.887-0.925), and the screening test showed 96% accuracy. CONCLUSIONS The screening test showed high diagnostic efficiency in determining the risk of language disorders in children aged between 0 and 5 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Cardilli Dias
- Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina (FMUSP), Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BR
| | - Silmara Rondon-Melo
- Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina (FMUSP), Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BR
| | - Daniela Regina Molini-Avejonas
- Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina (FMUSP), Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BR
- Corresponding author. E-mail:
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31
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Prime H, Wade M, Gonzalez A. The link between maternal and child verbal abilities: An indirect effect through maternal responsiveness. Dev Sci 2019; 23:e12907. [PMID: 31571333 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2019] [Revised: 09/13/2019] [Accepted: 09/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Language abilities in early childhood show stability over time and play an important role in the development of other cognitive processes. Identifying modifiable environmental risk factors is important to informing prevention and early intervention efforts. Maternal verbal ability has been previously linked to child verbal ability. The current study examined whether maternal and child verbal abilities were linked indirectly through early childhood maternal responsiveness. Data come from a longitudinal birth cohort study. Participants included 133 mothers and their children recruited from maternity wards shortly after birth. Maternal verbal ability was measured using the Vocabulary subtest from the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Second Edition (child age 8 months). Child verbal ability was assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (36 months). A latent maternal responsiveness variable was estimated using three developmentally sensitive indicators; one during infancy (child age 8 months) and two when children were 36 months. Results of a structural equation model indicated a significant indirect effect from maternal verbal abilities to child verbal abilities through maternal responsiveness. This indirect path was significant even after inclusion of another indirect path from maternal executive functioning to child verbal ability through maternal responsiveness (which was not significant). Future studies will benefit from experimental, genetically sensitive and/or cross-lagged designs to allow for conclusions related to directionality and causality. This body of research has implications for the study of the intergenerational transmission of verbal abilities and associated skills, behaviours and adaptive outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather Prime
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.,Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Mark Wade
- Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Andrea Gonzalez
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.,Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
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32
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VanDam M, Yoshinaga-Itano C. Use of the LENA Autism Screen with Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Medicina (Kaunas) 2019; 55:E495. [PMID: 31426435 PMCID: PMC6723169 DOI: 10.3390/medicina55080495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2019] [Revised: 07/27/2019] [Accepted: 08/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Background and Objectives: This systematic review reports the evidence from the literature concerning the potential for using an automated vocal analysis, the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA, LENA Research Foundation, Boulder, CO, USA) in the screening process for children at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH). ASD and D/HH have increased comorbidity, but current behavioral diagnostic and screening tools have limitations. The LENA Language Autism Screen (LLAS) may offer an additional tool to disambiguate ASD from D/HH in young children. Materials and Methods: We examine empirical reports that use automatic vocal analysis methods to differentiate disordered from typically developing children. Results: Consensus across the sampled scientific literature shows support for use of automatic methods for screening and disambiguation of children with ASD and D/HH. There is some evidence of vocal differentiation between ASD, D/HH, and typically-developing children warranting use of the LLAS, but additional empirical evidence is needed to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the tool. Conclusions: The findings reported here warrant further, more substantive, methodologically-sound research that is fully powered to show a reliable difference. Findings may be useful for both clinicians and researchers in better identification and understanding of communication disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark VanDam
- Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Washington State University, Spokane, WA 99202, USA.
- Hearing Oral Program of Excellence (HOPE), Spokane, WA 99202, USA.
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33
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Ingram D. When morphological ability exceeds syntactic ability: A case study. Clin Linguist Phon 2019; 33:60-67. [PMID: 31274361 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2018.1538390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2018] [Revised: 10/15/2018] [Accepted: 10/16/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
This article addresses the question of whether children classified as having a specific language impairment are such due to a particular problem in inflectional morphology. This has been claimed to be the case for some time. An effort is made here to propose that there may be an age effect behind that result. To support this possibility, a case study of a much older child with specific language impairment is presented. The participant is Tom, a child with a language impairment who underwent language intervention between the ages 9;4 and 10;3. During that period, language samples were taken at five different times (MLUs 5.3-6.0). They were analyzed to examine both Tom's morphological and syntactic abilities. The results indicated that he did quite well with English noun and verb inflections, but was unable to generate complex sentence structures. If there were a period when he had such difficulties, it was overcome by the time of the sampling. A lexical explanation is given which argues that bound morphology will appear better than syntax in cases where children are older and thus have had time to acquire the various inflected words as individual lexical items.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Ingram
- a Department of Speech and Hearing Science , Arizona State University , Scottsdale , AZ , USA
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34
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Levickis P, Reilly S, Girolametto L, Ukoumunne OC, Wake M. Associations between maternal responsive linguistic input and child language performance at age 4 in a community-based sample of slow-to-talk toddlers. Child Care Health Dev 2018; 44:776-783. [PMID: 30043426 DOI: 10.1111/cch.12600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2017] [Revised: 06/25/2018] [Accepted: 07/01/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In a community sample of slow-to-talk toddlers, we aimed to (a) quantify how well maternal responsive behaviors at age 2 years predict language ability at age 4 and (b) examine whether maternal responsive behaviors more accurately predict low language status at age 4 than does expressive vocabulary measured at age 2 years. DESIGN OR METHODS Prospective community-based longitudinal study. At child age 18 months, 1,138 parents completed a 100-word expressive vocabulary checklist within a population survey; 251 (22.1%) children scored ≤20th percentile and were eligible for the current study. Potential predictors at 2 years were (a) responsive language behaviors derived from videotaped parent-child free-play samples and (b) late-talker status. Outcomes were (a) Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool Second Edition receptive and expressive language standard score at 4 years and (b) low language status (standard score > 1.25 standard deviations below the mean on expressive or receptive language). RESULTS Two hundred eight (82.9% of 251) participants were retained to age 4. In adjusted linear regression analyses, maternal expansions predicted higher receptive (p < 0.001, partial R2 = 6.5%) and expressive (p < 0.001, partial R2 = 7.7%), whereas labels predicted lower receptive (p = 0.01, partial R2 = 2.8%) and expressive (p = 0.007, partial R2 = 3.5%) language scores at 4. The logistic regression model containing only responsive behaviors achieved "fair" predictive ability of low language status at age 4 (area under curve [AUC] = 0.79), slightly better than the model containing only late-talker status (AUC = 0.74). This improved to "good" predictive ability with inclusion of other known risk factors (AUC = 0.82). CONCLUSION A combination of short measures of different dimensions, such as parent responsive behaviors, in addition to a child's earlier language skills increases the ability to predict language outcomes at age 4 to a precision that is approaching clinical value. Research to further enhance predictive values should be a priority, enabling health professionals to identify which slow-to-talk toddlers most likely will or will not experience later poorer language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Penny Levickis
- School of Education, Communication & Language Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.,Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Australia
| | - Sheena Reilly
- Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Australia.,Health Executive, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.,Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Luigi Girolametto
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Obioha C Ukoumunne
- NIHR CLAHRC South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC), University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, UK
| | - Melissa Wake
- Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Australia.,Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.,Department of Paediatrics and the Liggins Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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Nicolielo-Carrilho AP, Crenitte PAP, Lopes-Herrera SA, Hage SRDV. Relationship between phonological working memory, metacognitive skills and reading comprehension in children with learning disabilities. J Appl Oral Sci 2018; 26:e20170414. [PMID: 30043932 PMCID: PMC6063463 DOI: 10.1590/1678-7757-2017-0414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2017] [Revised: 04/05/2018] [Accepted: 04/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE Reading requires the activation of several cognitive processes, some of which are basic, e.g. recognizing letters and words, whereas others are complex, such as working memory and ability to think about one's own learning strategies. One condition for fulfilling a complex cognitive task, such as understanding a text, is the ability to maintain and process information, which depends on working memory. OBJECTIVE To analyze the ability of using metacognitive strategies for reading, the phonological working memory of school children with learning disabilities, and also determine if there is relation between these skills and reading comprehension. METHOD The sample consisted of 30 school-age children and teenagers of both genders, aged 8 to 12 years, who were enrolled in primary school. They were divided in two groups, experimental (EG) and control (CG). All children were subjected to evaluation of reading comprehension, phonological working memory, and use of metacognitive skills for reading. The results were compared between groups through the Mann-Whitney test, and correlation between variables was analyzed through Spearman correlation test. RESULT Statistical comparison between EG and CG showed statistically significant difference. Positive and effective correlation was observed between reading comprehension, phonological working memory and metacognitive tests. CONCLUSION children with learning disabilities presented deficits in phonological working memory and use of metacognitive strategies. The positive and effective correlation between the abilities analyzed suggests that failure in the phonological working memory and use of metacognitive strategies interfere with reading comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Paola Nicolielo-Carrilho
- Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru, Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Bauru, São Paulo, Brasil
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36
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Bannard C, Rosner M, Matthews D. What's Worth Talking About? Information Theory Reveals How Children Balance Informativeness and Ease of Production. Psychol Sci 2017; 28:954-966. [PMID: 28598257 DOI: 10.1177/0956797617699848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Of all the things a person could say in a given situation, what determines what is worth saying? Greenfield's principle of informativeness states that right from the onset of language, humans selectively comment on whatever they find unexpected. In this article, we quantify this tendency using information-theoretic measures and report on a study in which we tested the counterintuitive prediction that children will produce words that have a low frequency given the context, because these will be most informative. Using corpora of child-directed speech, we identified adjectives that varied in how informative (i.e., unexpected) they were given the noun they modified. In an initial experiment ( N = 31) and in a replication ( N = 13), 3-year-olds heard an experimenter use these adjectives to describe pictures. The children's task was then to describe the pictures to another person. As the information content of the experimenter's adjective increased, so did children's tendency to comment on the feature that adjective had encoded. Furthermore, our analyses suggest that children balance informativeness with a competing drive to ease production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Bannard
- 1 Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool
| | - Marla Rosner
- 2 Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin
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37
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de-Paula EM, Porta G, Tannuri ACA, Tannuri U, Befi-Lopes DM. Language assessment of children with severe liver disease in a public service in Brazil. Clinics (Sao Paulo) 2017; 72:351-357. [PMID: 28658434 PMCID: PMC5463267 DOI: 10.6061/clinics/2017(06)04] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2016] [Accepted: 03/10/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research was to compare language development (expressive and receptive skills) in children awaiting liver transplantation with that of children who have already undergone the surgical procedure. METHODS: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with 76 children divided into groups, as follows: 31 children who were candidates for liver transplantation (Group 1; G1), 45 children who had already undergone liver transplantation (Group 2; G2), and a control group (CG) of 60 healthy, normally developing children. Health status information was gathered, and the Test of Early Language Development (TELD)-3 was used to assess language skills. Family household monthly income data were also gathered using a specific questionnaire. RESULTS: G1 had poorer language performance compared with G2 and the CG. G2 had lower language performance when compared with the CG. However, when considering the TELD-3 standard scores, G2 had scores within normal limits. The regression analysis indicated age as a risk factor for language deficits in Group 1 and family income as a risk factor for language deficits in G2. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that children with chronic liver disease have delays in language development. Transplanted children have linguistic performance within normal limits, but their scores tended to be lower than the CG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erica Macêdo de-Paula
- Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BR
- *Corresponding author. E-mail:
| | - Gilda Porta
- Unidade de Hepatologia, Instituto da Crianca, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BR
| | - Ana Cristina Aoun Tannuri
- Divisão de Cirurgia Pediatrica e Unidade de Transplante de Figado, Instituto da Crianca, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BR
| | - Uenis Tannuri
- Divisão de Cirurgia Pediatrica e Unidade de Transplante de Figado, Instituto da Crianca, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BR
| | - Debora Maria Befi-Lopes
- Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, BR
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38
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Armstrong R, Scott JG, Whitehouse AJO, Copland DA, Mcmahon KL, Arnott W. Late talkers and later language outcomes: Predicting the different language trajectories. Int J Speech Lang Pathol 2017; 19:237-250. [PMID: 28440674 DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2017.1296191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2016] [Accepted: 02/11/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The aim of the current study was to investigate the risk factors present at 2 years for children who showed language difficulties that persisted from 2 to 10 years and difficulties that emerged later, at 10 years. METHOD Participants (n = 783) were drawn from the Raine Study in Western Australia. Patterns of change from 2 to 10 years were identified based on child performance on the Language Development Survey and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, respectively. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to test whether parental, family and child characteristics present at 2 years predicted poorer language outcomes at age 10. RESULT Across the 8 year period, 5.6% of the children displayed consistently low language skills, 5.9% improved skills and 23.2% deteriorated skills. Compared to children with consistently typical skills, the deteriorated group was more likely to have mothers who smoked during pregnancy, fathers with incomplete secondary education, low family income, poor early literacy environment and be male. Children showing consistently low language skills were more likely to have mothers who smoked during pregnancy than late talkers whose early delays improved. CONCLUSION Results provide evidence of some modifiable risk factors at 2 years which are associated with language outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Armstrong
- a School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- b Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- c Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland , Brisbane , Australia
| | - James G Scott
- b Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- d Metro North Mental Health , The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital , Brisbane , Australia
| | - Andrew J O Whitehouse
- e Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia , Perth , Australia , and
| | - David A Copland
- a School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- b Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Katie L Mcmahon
- c Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland , Brisbane , Australia
| | - Wendy Arnott
- a School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- f Hear and Say Centre , Brisbane , Australia
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Arnhold A, Chen A, Järvikivi J. Acquiring Complex Focus-Marking: Finnish 4- to 5-Year-Olds Use Prosody and Word Order in Interaction. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1886. [PMID: 27990130 PMCID: PMC5131328 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2016] [Accepted: 11/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Using a language game to elicit short sentences in various information structural conditions, we found that Finnish 4- to 5-year-olds already exhibit a characteristic interaction between prosody and word order in marking information structure. Providing insights into the acquisition of this complex system of interactions, the production data showed interesting parallels to adult speakers of Finnish on the one hand and to children acquiring other languages on the other hand. Analyzing a total of 571 sentences produced by 16 children, we found that children rarely adjusted input word order, but did systematically avoid marked OVS order in contrastive object focus condition. Focus condition also significantly affected four prosodic parameters, f0, duration, pauses and voice quality. Differing slightly from effects displayed in adult Finnish speech, the children produced larger f0 ranges for words in contrastive focus and smaller ones for unfocused words, varied only the duration of object constituents to be longer in focus and shorter in unfocused condition, inserted more pauses before and after focused constituents and systematically modified their use of non-modal voice quality only in utterances with narrow focus. Crucially, these effects were modulated by word order. In contrast to comparable data from children acquiring Germanic languages, the present findings reflect the more central role of word order and of interactions between word order and prosody in marking information structure in Finnish. Thus, the study highlights the role of the target language in determining linguistic development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anja Arnhold
- Department of Linguistics, University of KonstanzKonstanz, Germany; Department of Linguistics, University of AlbertaEdmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Aoju Chen
- Department of Languages, Literature and Communication, Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Utrecht University Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Juhani Järvikivi
- Department of Linguistics, University of Alberta Edmonton, AB, Canada
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Bennetts SK, Mensah FK, Westrupp EM, Hackworth NJ, Reilly S. The Agreement between Parent-Reported and Directly Measured Child Language and Parenting Behaviors. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1710. [PMID: 27891102 PMCID: PMC5104739 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2016] [Accepted: 10/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Parenting behaviors are commonly targeted in early interventions to improve children's language development. Accurate measurement of both parenting behaviors and children's language outcomes is thus crucial for sensitive assessment of intervention outcomes. To date, only a small number of studies have compared parent-reported and directly measured behaviors, and these have been hampered by small sample sizes and inaccurate statistical techniques, such as correlations. The Bland-Altman Method and Reduced Major Axis regression represent more reliable alternatives because they allow us to quantify fixed and proportional bias between measures. In this study, we draw on data from two Australian early childhood cohorts (N = 201 parents and slow-to-talk toddlers aged 24 months; and N = 218 parents and children aged 6-36 months experiencing social adversity) to (1) examine agreement and quantify bias between parent-reported and direct measures, and (2) to determine socio-demographic predictors of the differences between parent-reported and direct measures. Measures of child language and parenting behaviors were collected from parents and their children. Our findings support the utility of the Bland-Altman Method and Reduced Major Axis regression in comparing measurement methods. Results indicated stronger agreement between parent-reported and directly measured child language, and poorer agreement between measures of parenting behaviors. Child age was associated with difference scores for child language; however, the direction varied for each cohort. Parents who rated their child's temperament as more difficult tended to report lower language scores on the parent questionnaire, compared to the directly measured scores. Older parents tended to report lower parenting responsiveness on the parent questionnaire, compared to directly measured scores. Finally, speaking a language other than English was associated with less responsive parenting behaviors on the videotaped observation compared to the parent questionnaire. Variation in patterns of agreement across the distribution of scores highlighted the importance of assessing agreement comprehensively, providing strong evidence that simple correlations are grossly insufficient for method comparisons. We discuss implications for researchers and clinicians, including guidance for measurement selection, and the potential to reduce financial and time-related expenses and improve data quality. Further research is required to determine whether findings described here are reflected in more representative populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon K Bennetts
- Department of Paediatrics, The University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia; Murdoch Childrens Research InstituteParkville, VIC, Australia; Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe UniversityMelbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Fiona K Mensah
- Department of Paediatrics, The University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia; Murdoch Childrens Research InstituteParkville, VIC, Australia; The Royal Children's HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Elizabeth M Westrupp
- Department of Paediatrics, The University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia; Murdoch Childrens Research InstituteParkville, VIC, Australia; Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe UniversityMelbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Naomi J Hackworth
- Murdoch Childrens Research InstituteParkville, VIC, Australia; Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe UniversityMelbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Sheena Reilly
- Department of Paediatrics, The University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia; Murdoch Childrens Research InstituteParkville, VIC, Australia; The Royal Children's HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia; Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith UniversityGold Coast, QLD, Australia
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41
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VanDam M, Warlaumont AS, Bergelson E, Cristia A, Soderstrom M, De Palma P, MacWhinney B. HomeBank: An Online Repository of Daylong Child-Centered Audio Recordings. Semin Speech Lang 2016; 37:128-42. [PMID: 27111272 PMCID: PMC5570530 DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1580745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
HomeBank is introduced here. It is a public, permanent, extensible, online database of daylong audio recorded in naturalistic environments. HomeBank serves two primary purposes. First, it is a repository for raw audio and associated files: one database requires special permissions, and another redacted database allows unrestricted public access. Associated files include metadata such as participant demographics and clinical diagnostics, automated annotations, and human-generated transcriptions and annotations. Many recordings use the child-perspective LENA recorders (LENA Research Foundation, Boulder, Colorado, United States), but various recordings and metadata can be accommodated. The HomeBank database can have both vetted and unvetted recordings, with different levels of accessibility. Additionally, HomeBank is an open repository for processing and analysis tools for HomeBank or similar data sets. HomeBank is flexible for users and contributors, making primary data available to researchers, especially those in child development, linguistics, and audio engineering. HomeBank facilitates researchers' access to large-scale data and tools, linking the acoustic, auditory, and linguistic characteristics of children's environments with a variety of variables including socioeconomic status, family characteristics, language trajectories, and disorders. Automated processing applied to daylong home audio recordings is now becoming widely used in early intervention initiatives, helping parents to provide richer speech input to at-risk children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark VanDam
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Washington State University, and Spokane Hearing Oral Program of Excellence (HOPE), Spokane, Washington
| | - Anne S. Warlaumont
- Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, California
| | - Elika Bergelson
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York
| | - Alejandrina Cristia
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Département d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | | | - Paul De Palma
- Department of Computer Science, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington
| | - Brian MacWhinney
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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42
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Abstract
The AC-IPSyn computerised system for scoring the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) was evaluated. Twenty language samples, ten taken at 30 months and ten of the same children at 42 months, were each scored for the IPSyn by hand and by AC-IPSyn. Point differences and point-to-point reliability were examined at the levels of the total, subscale, and individual structure scores. Points missed and erroneously given at each level were also analysed. The difference in total scores between manual and AC-IPSyn scoring was relatively small; point-to-point agreement was lower than reported elsewhere. Age differences were also found. AC-IPSyn accuracy varied by subscale and structure, with results suggesting that AC-IPSyn be used at this point in conjunction with hand scoring of more error-prone and low frequency structures. The relatively small total point difference masked the lower reliability revealed by other measures, demonstrating the importance of detailed comparisons of manual and machine scoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelyn P Altenberg
- a Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences , Hofstra University , Hempstead , NY , USA
| | - Jenny A Roberts
- a Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences , Hofstra University , Hempstead , NY , USA
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43
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Levinson SC. Turn-taking in Human Communication--Origins and Implications for Language Processing. Trends Cogn Sci 2015; 20:6-14. [PMID: 26651245 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2015.10.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 231] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2015] [Revised: 10/26/2015] [Accepted: 10/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Most language usage is interactive, involving rapid turn-taking. The turn-taking system has a number of striking properties: turns are short and responses are remarkably rapid, but turns are of varying length and often of very complex construction such that the underlying cognitive processing is highly compressed. Although neglected in cognitive science, the system has deep implications for language processing and acquisition that are only now becoming clear. Appearing earlier in ontogeny than linguistic competence, it is also found across all the major primate clades. This suggests a possible phylogenetic continuity, which may provide key insights into language evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen C Levinson
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, NL-6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Owen Van Horne AJ, Green Fager M. Quantifying the relative contributions of lexical and phonological factors to regular past tense accuracy. Int J Speech Lang Pathol 2015; 17:605-616. [PMID: 25879455 PMCID: PMC4608859 DOI: 10.3109/17549507.2015.1034174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Children with specific language impairment (SLI) frequently have difficulty producing the past tense. This study aimed to quantify the relative influence of telicity (i.e. the completedness of an event), verb frequency and stem final phonemes on the production of past tense by school-age children with SLI and their typically-developing (TD) peers. METHOD Archival elicited production data from children with SLI between the ages of 6-9 and TD peers aged 4-8 were re-analysed. Past tense accuracy was predicted using measures of telicity, verb frequency measures and properties of the final consonant of the verb stem. RESULT All children were highly accurate when verbs were telic, the inflected form was frequently heard in the past tense and the word ended in a sonorant/non-alveolar consonant. All children were less accurate when verbs were atelic, rarely heard in the past tense or ended in a word final obstruent or alveolar consonant. SLI status depressed overall accuracy rates, but did not influence how facilitative a given factor was. CONCLUSION Some factors that have been believed to be useful only when children are first discovering past tense, such as telicity, appear to be influential in later years as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda J. Owen Van Horne
- Dept. Of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Iowa
- Member, DeLTA Center, University of Iowa
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45
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Haendler Y, Kliegl R, Adani F. Discourse accessibility constraints in children's processing of object relative clauses. Front Psychol 2015; 6:860. [PMID: 26157410 PMCID: PMC4477058 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2015] [Accepted: 06/11/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Children's poor performance on object relative clauses has been explained in terms of intervention locality. This approach predicts that object relatives with a full DP head and an embedded pronominal subject are easier than object relatives in which both the head noun and the embedded subject are full DPs. This prediction is shared by other accounts formulated to explain processing mechanisms. We conducted a visual-world study designed to test the off-line comprehension and on-line processing of object relatives in German-speaking 5-year-olds. Children were tested on three types of object relatives, all having a full DP head noun and differing with respect to the type of nominal phrase that appeared in the embedded subject position: another full DP, a 1st- or a 3rd-person pronoun. Grammatical skills and memory capacity were also assessed in order to see whether and how they affect children's performance. Most accurately processed were object relatives with 1st-person pronoun, independently of children's language and memory skills. Performance on object relatives with two full DPs was overall more accurate than on object relatives with 3rd-person pronoun. In the former condition, children with stronger grammatical skills accurately processed the structure and their memory abilities determined how fast they were; in the latter condition, children only processed accurately the structure if they were strong both in their grammatical skills and in their memory capacity. The results are discussed in the light of accounts that predict different pronoun effects like the ones we find, which depend on the referential properties of the pronouns. We then discuss which role language and memory abilities might have in processing object relatives with various embedded nominal phrases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yair Haendler
- Department of Linguistics, University of Potsdam, Potsdam Germany
| | - Reinhold Kliegl
- Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam Germany
| | - Flavia Adani
- Department of Linguistics, University of Potsdam, Potsdam Germany
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Lammertink I, Casillas M, Benders T, Post B, Fikkert P. Dutch and English toddlers' use of linguistic cues in predicting upcoming turn transitions. Front Psychol 2015; 6:495. [PMID: 25964772 PMCID: PMC4408756 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2014] [Accepted: 04/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Adults achieve successful coordination during conversation by using prosodic and lexicosyntactic cues to predict upcoming changes in speakership. We examined the relative weight of these linguistic cues in the prediction of upcoming turn structure by toddlers learning Dutch (Experiment 1; N = 21) and British English (Experiment 2; N = 20) and adult control participants (Dutch: N = 16; English: N = 20). We tracked participants' anticipatory eye movements as they watched videos of dyadic puppet conversation. We controlled the prosodic and lexicosyntactic cues to turn completion for a subset of the utterances in each conversation to create four types of target utterances (fully incomplete, incomplete syntax, incomplete prosody, and fully complete). All participants (Dutch and English toddlers and adults) used both prosodic and lexicosyntactic cues to anticipate upcoming speaker changes, but weighed lexicosyntactic cues over prosodic ones when the two were pitted against each other. The results suggest that Dutch and English toddlers are already nearly adult-like in their use of prosodic and lexicosyntactic cues in anticipating upcoming turn transitions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Imme Lammertink
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Marisa Casillas
- Language and Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Titia Benders
- School of Psychology, Newcastle University Newcastle, NSW, Australia
| | - Brechtje Post
- Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, Cambridge University Cambridge, UK
| | - Paula Fikkert
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands
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Reilly S, Tomblin B, Law J, McKean C, Mensah FK, Morgan A, Goldfeld S, Nicholson JM, Wake M. Specific language impairment: a convenient label for whom? Int J Lang Commun Disord 2014; 49:416-51. [PMID: 25142091 PMCID: PMC4303922 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 121] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2013] [Accepted: 03/01/2013] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The term 'specific language impairment' (SLI), in use since the 1980s, describes children with language impairment whose cognitive skills are within normal limits where there is no identifiable reason for the language impairment. SLI is determined by applying exclusionary criteria, so that it is defined by what it is not rather than by what it is. The recent decision to not include SLI in DSM-5 provoked much debate and concern from researchers and clinicians. AIMS To explore how the term 'specific language impairment' emerged, to consider how disorders, including SLI, are generally defined and to explore how societal changes might impact on use the term. METHODS & PROCEDURES We reviewed the literature to explore the origins of the term 'specific language impairment' and present published evidence, as well as new analyses of population data, to explore the validity of continuing to use the term. OUTCOMES & RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS We support the decision to exclude the term 'specific language impairment' from DSM-5 and conclude that the term has been a convenient label for researchers, but that the current classification is unacceptably arbitrary. Furthermore, we argue there is no empirical evidence to support the continued use of the term SLI and limited evidence that it has provided any real benefits for children and their families. In fact, the term may be disadvantageous to some due to the use of exclusionary criteria to determine eligibility for and access to speech pathology services. We propose the following recommendations. First, that the word 'specific' be removed and the label 'language impairment' be used. Second, that the exclusionary criteria be relaxed and in their place inclusionary criteria be adopted that take into account the fluid nature of language development particularly in the preschool period. Building on the goodwill and collaborations between the clinical and research communities we propose the establishment of an international consensus panel to develop an agreed definition and set of criteria for language impairment. Given the rich data now available in population studies it is possible to test the validity of these definitions and criteria. Consultation with service users and policy-makers should be incorporated into the decision-making process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheena Reilly
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
| | | | - James Law
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Newcastle University, Newcastle upon TyneUK
| | - Cristina McKean
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Newcastle University, Newcastle upon TyneUK
| | - Fiona K Mensah
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Angela Morgan
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Sharon Goldfeld
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Jan M Nicholson
- Parenting Research Centre, Victoria ParadeEast Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Melissa Wake
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
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Reilly S, Tomblin B, Law J, McKean C, Mensah FK, Morgan A, Goldfeld S, Nicholson JM, Wake M. Specific language impairment: a convenient label for whom? Int J Lang Commun Disord 2014. [PMID: 25142091 PMCID: PMC4303922 DOI: 10.1111/jlcd.1460-6984.12102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The term 'specific language impairment' (SLI), in use since the 1980s, describes children with language impairment whose cognitive skills are within normal limits where there is no identifiable reason for the language impairment. SLI is determined by applying exclusionary criteria, so that it is defined by what it is not rather than by what it is. The recent decision to not include SLI in DSM-5 provoked much debate and concern from researchers and clinicians. AIMS To explore how the term 'specific language impairment' emerged, to consider how disorders, including SLI, are generally defined and to explore how societal changes might impact on use the term. METHODS & PROCEDURES We reviewed the literature to explore the origins of the term 'specific language impairment' and present published evidence, as well as new analyses of population data, to explore the validity of continuing to use the term. OUTCOMES & RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS We support the decision to exclude the term 'specific language impairment' from DSM-5 and conclude that the term has been a convenient label for researchers, but that the current classification is unacceptably arbitrary. Furthermore, we argue there is no empirical evidence to support the continued use of the term SLI and limited evidence that it has provided any real benefits for children and their families. In fact, the term may be disadvantageous to some due to the use of exclusionary criteria to determine eligibility for and access to speech pathology services. We propose the following recommendations. First, that the word 'specific' be removed and the label 'language impairment' be used. Second, that the exclusionary criteria be relaxed and in their place inclusionary criteria be adopted that take into account the fluid nature of language development particularly in the preschool period. Building on the goodwill and collaborations between the clinical and research communities we propose the establishment of an international consensus panel to develop an agreed definition and set of criteria for language impairment. Given the rich data now available in population studies it is possible to test the validity of these definitions and criteria. Consultation with service users and policy-makers should be incorporated into the decision-making process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheena Reilly
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
| | | | - James Law
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Newcastle University, Newcastle upon TyneUK
| | - Cristina McKean
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Newcastle University, Newcastle upon TyneUK
| | - Fiona K Mensah
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Angela Morgan
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Sharon Goldfeld
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Jan M Nicholson
- Parenting Research Centre, Victoria ParadeEast Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Melissa Wake
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s HospitalParkville, VIC, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, University of MelbourneParkville, VIC, Australia
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Abstract
A national online survey was used to investigate spontaneous language sampling and analysis practices by speech-language pathologists working with children and adolescents. A total of 257 responses were received from clinicians around Australia. Results indicated that spontaneous language samples are collected on a routine basis in elicitation contexts deemed appropriate to the clients' age or developmental stage. However, language samples were generally short, often not recorded, and analysed informally. Consistent with previous research into language sampling practices, the main barrier to more detailed language sample analysis appears to be the time needed for transcription. Despite rapid technological advances in the last two decades, only 12.5% of the respondents reported using computer-assisted transcription and analysis procedures. Suggestions are made on how to promote change in clinical practice to ensure spontaneous language samples are transcribed and analysed in more detail. By transcribing the samples, detailed analysis of children's language performance can be undertaken, allowing for effective goal-setting and assisting in objective progress measuring during and following intervention.
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50
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Lagerberg D, Magnusson M. Utilization of child health services, stress, social support and child characteristics in primiparous and multiparous mothers of 18-month-old children. Scand J Public Health 2013; 41:374-83. [PMID: 23563993 DOI: 10.1177/1403494813484397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
AIM Traditionally, the child health services have laid emphasis on first-time mothers. Some researchers have argued that the needs of multiparous mothers must be considered equally important. The aim of this paper was to analyse parity-related characteristics in pairs of mothers and 18-month-old children. METHODS The study was population-based and cross-sectional. 586 primiparous mothers and 821 mothers with at least one previous child completed a questionnaire. Additional information was extracted from the child health records by the nurses. Data were collected in 2002-2003 and 2004-2005. RESULTS Compared to multiparous mothers, primiparous mothers had a higher utilization of child health services. Multiparous mothers scored higher on parental incompetence stress and felt that their work load was more demanding. Multiparous mothers reported less social support, particularly in practical respects such as baby-sitting. They considered their interaction with the child as less satisfactory than did primiparous mothers; their children participated less in shared reading and had a more restricted vocabulary. Fewer multiparous mothers assessed their own and their child's total situation as very good. CONCLUSIONS The child health services should develop competence and methods to support multiparous mothers and alleviate their workload when caring for several children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dagmar Lagerberg
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
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