Prospective relations between maternal autonomy support and child executive functioning: investigating the mediating role of child language ability.

PubMed

Matte-Gagné, Célia; Bernier, Annie

2011-12-01

Although emerging evidence suggests that parental behavior is related to the development of child executive functioning (EF), the mechanisms through which parenting affects child EF have yet to be investigated. The goal of this study was to examine the potential mediating role of child language in the prospective relation between maternal autonomy support and child EF. A total of 53 mother-infant dyads took part in three home visits at 15months, 2years, and 3years, allowing for the assessment of maternal autonomy support (T1), child expressive vocabulary (T2), and child EF (T3). The results suggested that child language played a mediating role in the relation between maternal autonomy support and child performance on EF tasks entailing a strong impulse control component above and beyond child previous EF and family socioeconomic status (SES). In contrast, no such mediating role of language was found with EF tasks tapping mostly into working memory and set shifting. Thus, this study highlights one pathway through which parenting can affect child executive control. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Beyond Baby Talk: From Sounds to Sentences--A Parent's Complete Guide to Language Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Apel, Kenn; Masterson, Julie J.

Noting that the early years of a child's life are the most critical for speech and language development and that parents are the child's primary language role model, this book is designed to help parents become knowledgeable on the topic of child language development during their first six years. Chapter 1 covers the infant's first year and the…

Language competence in forensic interviews for suspected child sexual abuse.

PubMed

Fontes, Lisa A; Tishelman, Amy C

2016-08-01

Forensic interviews with children for suspected child sexual abuse require meeting children "where they are" in terms of their developmental level, readiness to disclose, culture, and language. The field lacks research indicating how to accommodate children's diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This article focuses on language competence, defined here as the ability of an organization and its personnel (in this case, Child Advocacy Centers and forensic interviewers) to communicate effectively with clients regardless of their preferred language(s). In this qualitative study, 39 U.S. child forensic interviewers and child advocacy center directors discussed their experiences, practices, and opinions regarding interviews with children and families who are not native speakers of English. Topics include the importance of interviewing children in their preferred language, problems in interpreted interviews, bilingual interviews, and current and recommended procedures. Recommendations for practice and further research are included. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Child Care Enrollment Decisions Among Dual Language Learner Families: The Role of Spanish Language Instruction in the Child Care Setting

PubMed Central

Miller, Elizabeth B.

2016-01-01

Data from the Head Start Impact Study (N = 1,141) and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, 2009 Cohort (N = 825) were used to describe child care enrollment decisions among Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learner (DLL) families. In particular, logistic regression models tested which child, family, and institutional characteristics predicted enrollment in early care and education (ECE) settings that used Spanish for instruction versus enrollment in settings that did not use Spanish. Results showed that whether the child’s first language was exclusively Spanish and whether other DLL families previously attended the ECE arrangement strongly predicted whether that child enrolled. Policy implications for Head Start-eligible Spanish-speaking DLLs are discussed. PMID:26900255

A Comparative Analysis of Pausing in Child and Adult Storytelling

PubMed Central

Redford, Melissa A.

2012-01-01

The goals of the current study were (1) to assess differences in child and adult pausing, and (2) to determine whether characteristics of child and adult pausing can be explained by the same language variables. Spontaneous speech samples were obtained from ten 5-year-olds and their accompanying parent using a storytelling/retelling task. Analyses of pause frequency, duration, variation in durations, and pause location indicated that pause time decreased with retelling, but not with age group except when child and adult pausing was considered in its speech and language context. The results suggest that differences in child and adult pausing reflect differences in child and adult language, not in the cognitive resources allocated to language production PMID:23772097

Child Language Research: Building on the Past, Looking to the Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perera, Katharine

1994-01-01

Outlines descriptive, theoretical, and methodological advances in child language research since the first volume of the "Journal of Child Language" was published. Papers in this volume build on earlier research, point the way to new research avenues, and open new lines of inquiry. (Contains 36 references.) (JP)

The Role of Oral Language Interactions in English Literacy Learning: A Case Study of a First Grade Korean Child

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Kwangok

2011-01-01

This paper is a qualitative case study of a Korean first grade child. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of a first grade Korean child's oral language interactions with teachers, parents, peers, and community members and to examine how a child's oral language impacts his literacy learning in English. The data were…

The Treatment of in Kenya's Pre- And Post-Independent Education Com- Missions and in the Constitution of 2010

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Njoroge, Martin C.; Gathigia, Moses Gatambuki

2017-01-01

An indigenous or community language is the language that nurtures the child in the early years of his or her life. The UNESCO land mark publication in 1953 underscores the importance of educating children in their community languages: an education that is packaged in a language which the child does not understand is simply difficult for the child.…

Formulas in First and Second Language Acquisition. Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, No. 18.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vihman, Marilyn May

The use of formulaic speech is seen as a learning strategy in children's first language (L1) acquisition to a limited extent, and to an even greater extent in their second language (L2) acquisition. While the first utterances of the child learning L1 are mostly one-word constructions, many of them are routine words or phrases that the child learns…

The Contribution of Two Categories of Parent Verbal Responsiveness to Later Language for Toddlers and Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum

PubMed Central

Haebig, Eileen; McDuffie, Andrea; Weismer, Susan Ellis

2013-01-01

Purpose Longitudinal associations between two categories of parent verbal responsiveness and language comprehension and production one year later were examined in 40 toddlers and preschoolers with a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method Parent-child play samples using a standard toy set were digitally captured and coded for child engagement with objects and communication acts and for parent verbal responses to play and communication. Results After controlling for parent education, child engagement and initial language level, only parent directives for language that followed into the child's focus of attention accounted for unique variance in predicting both comprehension and production one year later. A series of exploratory analyses revealed that parent comments that followed into the child's focus of attention also accounted for unique variance in later comprehension and production for children who were minimally verbal at the initial time period. Conclusions Child developmental level may warrant different types of linguistic input to facilitate language learning. Children with ASD who have minimal linguistic skills may benefit from parent language input that follows into the child’s focus of attention. Children with ASD who are verbally fluent may need more advanced language input to facilitate language development. PMID:22878512

GESTURE'S ROLE IN CREATING AND LEARNING LANGUAGE.

PubMed

Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2010-09-22

Imagine a child who has never seen or heard language. Would such a child be able to invent a language? Despite what one might guess, the answer is "yes". This chapter describes children who are congenitally deaf and cannot learn the spoken language that surrounds them. In addition, the children have not been exposed to sign language, either by their hearing parents or their oral schools. Nevertheless, the children use their hands to communicate--they gesture--and those gestures take on many of the forms and functions of language (Goldin-Meadow 2003a). The properties of language that we find in these gestures are just those properties that do not need to be handed down from generation to generation, but can be reinvented by a child de novo. They are the resilient properties of language, properties that all children, deaf or hearing, come to language-learning ready to develop. In contrast to these deaf children who are inventing language with their hands, hearing children are learning language from a linguistic model. But they too produce gestures, as do all hearing speakers (Feyereisen and de Lannoy 1991; Goldin-Meadow 2003b; Kendon 1980; McNeill 1992). Indeed, young hearing children often use gesture to communicate before they use words. Interestingly, changes in a child's gestures not only predate but also predict changes in the child's early language, suggesting that gesture may be playing a role in the language-learning process. This chapter begins with a description of the gestures the deaf child produces without speech. These gestures assume the full burden of communication and take on a language-like form--they are language. This phenomenon stands in contrast to the gestures hearing speakers produce with speech. These gestures share the burden of communication with speech and do not take on a language-like form--they are part of language.

Expressive language disorder - developmental

MedlinePlus

If you are concerned about a child's language development, have the child tested. ... Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2012:chap 45. Simms MD. Language development and communication disorders. In: Kliegman RM, Stanton BF, ...

Handbook of Child Language Acquisition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritchie, William C., Ed.; Bhatia, Tej K., Ed.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the major areas of research in the field of child language acquisition. It is divided into seven parts and 19 chapters. Part I is an introduction and overview. Part II covers central issues in the study of child language acquisition, focusing on syntax, including those of innateness, maturation, and…

Language Brokering, Autonomy, Parent-Child Bonding, Biculturalism, and Depression: A Study of Mexican American Adolescents from Immigrant Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Love, Julia A.; Buriel, Raymond

2007-01-01

This study examines the relationship between language brokering, parent-child bonding, perceived autonomy, biculturalism, and depression for Mexican American adolescents. It was hypothesized that adolescent language brokers who reported a strong parent-child bond and high levels of psychological autonomy, privilege, and responsibility would also…

Movement Based Language: The Van Dijk Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magin, Kevin D.

The paper examines the development of language in the deaf blind child with emphasis on the child's motoric behavior and imitation as the initial step in language acquisition. Discussed are the following early developmental stages: symbionic (the close physical and emotional identification of child with the mother to be or new mother); resonance…

Quality of caregiver-child play interactions with toddlers born preterm and full term: Antecedents and language outcome.

PubMed

Loi, Elizabeth C; Vaca, Kelsey E C; Ashland, Melanie D; Marchman, Virginia A; Fernald, Anne; Feldman, Heidi M

2017-12-01

Preterm birth may leave long-term effects on the interactions between caregivers and children. Language skills are sensitive to the quality of caregiver-child interactions. Compare the quality of caregiver-child play interactions in toddlers born preterm (PT) and full term (FT) at age 22months (corrected for degree of prematurity) and evaluate the degree of association between caregiver-child interactions, antecedent demographic and language factors, and subsequent language skill. A longitudinal descriptive cohort study. 39 PT and 39 FT toddlers individually matched on sex and socioeconomic status (SES). The outcome measures were dimensions of caregiver-child interactions, rated from a videotaped play session at age 22months in relation to receptive language assessments at ages 18 and 36months. Caregiver intrusiveness was greater in the PT than FT group. A composite score of child interactional behaviors was associated with a composite score of caregiver interactional behaviors. The caregiver composite measure was associated with later receptive vocabulary at 36months. PT-FT group membership did not moderate the association between caregiver interactional behavior and later receptive vocabulary. The quality of caregiver interactional behavior had similar associations with concurrent child interactional behavior and subsequent language outcome in the PT and FT groups. Greater caregiver sensitivity/responsiveness, verbal elaboration, and less intrusiveness support receptive language development in typically developing toddlers and toddlers at risk for language difficulty. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Does Improving Joint Attention in Low-Quality Child-Care Enhance Language Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rudd, Loretta C.; Cain, David W.; Saxon, Terrill F.

2008-01-01

This study examined effects of professional development for child-care staff on language acquisition of children ages 14-36 months. Child-care staff from 44 child-care centres agreed to participate in the study. Child-care staff from one-half of the child-care centres were randomly assigned to a one-time, four-hour workshop followed by three…

Can bilingual two-year-olds code-switch?

PubMed

Lanza, E

1992-10-01

Sociolinguists have investigated language mixing as code-switching in the speech of bilingual children three years old and older. Language mixing by bilingual two-year-olds, however, has generally been interpreted in the child language literature as a sign of the child's lack of language differentiation. The present study applies perspectives from sociolinguistics to investigate the language mixing of a bilingual two-year-old acquiring Norwegian and English simultaneously in Norway. Monthly recordings of the child's spontaneous speech in interactions with her parents were made from the age of 2;0 to 2;7. An investigation into the formal aspects of the child's mixing and the context of the mixing reveals that she does differentiate her language use in contextually sensitive ways, hence that she can code-switch. This investigation stresses the need to examine more carefully the roles of dominance and context in the language mixing of young bilingual children.

Language Maintenance in a Multilingual Family: Informal Heritage Language Lessons in Parent-Child Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kheirkhah, Mina; Cekaite, Asta

2015-01-01

The present study explores language socialization patterns in a Persian-Kurdish family in Sweden and examines how "one-parent, one-language" family language policies are instantiated and negotiated in parent-child interactions. The data consist of video-recordings and ethnographic observations of family interactions, as well as…

Relationship between Maternal Language Parameters and the Child's Language Competency and Developmental Condition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hooshyar, Nahid T.

Maternal language directed to 21 nonhandicapped, 21 Down syndrome, and 19 language impaired preschool children was examined. The three groups (all Caucasian and middle-class) were matched in mean length of utterance (MLU) and in developmental skills as measured on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Mother-child language interaction was…

The Multiple Role of Oral Language Assessment: Language Status, Research, and Curriculum Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matluck, Joseph H.

An oral language assessment test not only can determine the relative proficiency of a child in one or more languages and his or her language preference, but also can provide diagnostic information as to the child's strengths and weaknesses in each language. This information can serve as a guide to curriculum development and to prescriptive…

Using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system in preschool classrooms with children with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Dykstra, Jessica R; Sabatos-Devito, Maura G; Irvin, Dwight W; Boyd, Brian A; Hume, Kara A; Odom, Sam L

2013-09-01

This study describes the language environment of preschool programs serving children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and examines relationships between child characteristics and an automated measure of adult and child language in the classroom. The Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system was used with 40 children with ASD to collect data on adult and child language. Standardized assessments were administered to obtain language, cognitive, and autism severity scores for participants. With a mean of over 5 hours of recording across two days several months apart, there was a mean of 3.6 child vocalizations per minute, 1.0 conversational turns (in which either the adult or child respond to the other within 5 seconds) per minute, and 29.2 adult words per minute. Two of the three LENA variables were significantly correlated with language age-equivalents. Cognitive age-equivalents were also significantly correlated with two LENA variables. Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule severity scores and LENA variables were not significantly correlated. Implications for using the LENA system with children with ASD in the school environment are discussed.

Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, Volume 25. Proceedings of the Annual Child Language Research Forum (18th, Stanford, CA, April 4-6, 1986).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanford Univ., CA. Dept. of Linguistics.

Papers on child language development include: "Sentence Frame Effects on Children's Category Judgments" (Alison K. Adams); "Color Similarity in Children's Classifications and Extension of Object Labels" (Dare Baldwin); "Situational Properties of Early Verb Meaning" (Pol Cuvelier); "Similarity, Specificity, and…

Using No Child Left Behind Waivers to Improve English Language Learner Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Theodora

2012-01-01

The No Child Left Behind law fundamentally changed the expectations and data that schools should have for their English language learner students. The landmark 1974 Lau v. Nichols Supreme Court case concluded that students who speak English as a second language have a right to a "meaningful education." But No Child Left Behind--a…

Language and Literacy Acquisition through Parental Mediation in American Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailes, Cynthia Neese; Erting, Lynne C.; Thumann-Prezioso, Carlene; Erting, Carol J.

2009-01-01

This longitudinal case study examined the language and literacy acquisition of a Deaf child as mediated by her signing Deaf parents during her first three years of life. Results indicate that the parents' interactions with their child were guided by linguistic and cultural knowledge that produced an intuitive use of child-directed signing (CDSi)…

Child vs. Adult in Second Language Acquisition: Some Reflections.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banu, Rahela

The popular view that children have an advantage in learning a second language has considerable support in research, although it is not uncontested. One approach proposes that the child possesses a unique capacity for language that the adult no longer has. Another view argues that the child's brain is more flexible. A third approach assumes that…

Negotiation of Meaning Strategies in Child EFL Mainstream and CLIL Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Azkarai, Agurtzane; Imaz Agirre, Ainara

2016-01-01

Research on child English as a second language (ESL) learners has shown the benefits of task-based interaction for the use of different negotiation of meaning (NoM) strategies, which have been claimed to lead to second language learning. However, research on child interaction in foreign language settings is scarce, specifically research on a new…

Attachment Security and Language Development in an Italian Sample: The Role of Premature Birth and Maternal Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costantini, Alessandro; Cassibba, Rosalinda; Coppola, Gabrielle; Castoro, Germana

2012-01-01

We investigated the influence of biological immaturity and attachment security on linguistic development and tested whether maternal language mediated the impact of security on the child's linguistic abilities. Forty mother-child dyads were followed longitudinally, with the child's attachment security assessed at 24 months of age through trained…

34 CFR 303.401 - Definitions of consent, native language, and personally identifiable information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... which consent is sought, in the parent's native language or other mode of communication; (2) The parent... proficiency, means the language or mode of communication normally used by the parent of a child eligible under... child's parent, or other family member; (2) The address of the child; (3) A personal identifier, such as...

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) in school-aged children with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Allen, Jessica; Marshall, Chloë R

2011-01-01

Parents play a critical role in their child's language development. Therefore, advising parents of a child with language difficulties on how to facilitate their child's language might benefit the child. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) has been developed specifically for this purpose. In PCIT, the speech-and-language therapist (SLT) works collaboratively with parents, altering interaction styles to make interaction more appropriate to their child's level of communicative needs. This study investigates the effectiveness of PCIT in 8-10-year-old children with specific language impairment (SLI) in the expressive domain. It aimed to identify whether PCIT had any significant impact on the following communication parameters of the child: verbal initiations, verbal and non-verbal responses, mean length of utterance (MLU), and proportion of child-to-parent utterances. Sixteen children with SLI and their parents were randomly assigned to two groups: treated or delayed treatment (control). The treated group took part in PCIT over a 4-week block, and then returned to the clinic for a final session after a 6-week consolidation period with no input from the therapist. The treated and control group were assessed in terms of the different communication parameters at three time points: pre-therapy, post-therapy (after the 4-week block) and at the final session (after the consolidation period), through video analysis. It was hypothesized that all communication parameters would significantly increase in the treated group over time and that no significant differences would be found in the control group. All the children in the treated group made language gains during spontaneous interactions with their parents. In comparison with the control group, PCIT had a positive effect on three of the five communication parameters: verbal initiations, MLU and the proportion of child-to-parent utterances. There was a marginal effect on verbal responses, and a trend towards such an effect for non-verbal responses. Despite the small group sizes, this study provides preliminary evidence that PCIT can achieve its treatment goals with 8-10-year-olds who have expressive language impairments. This has potentially important implications for how mainstream speech and language services provide intervention to school-aged children. In contrast to direct one-to-one therapy, PCIT offers a single block of therapy where the parents' communication and interaction skills are developed to provide the child with an appropriate language-rich environment, which in turn could be more cost-effective for the service provider. © 2010 Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists.

Bilingualism, Language Disorders and Intercultural Families in Contemporary Italy: Family Relations, Transmission of Language and Representations of Otherness.

PubMed

Bruno, Davide; Balottin, Umberto; Berlincioni, Vanna; Moro, Marie Rose

2016-03-01

This study aims to show how language disorders in children affect language transmission and the mixedness experience in intercultural families. To this end, it adopts a qualitative method of study based on the administration of ad hoc interviews to intercultural couples who consulted our Child Neuropsychiatry Service because of language disorders in their children. One of the main consequences, when the child of an intercultural couple presents a language disorder and a diagnostic process has to be initiated, may be interruption of the transmission of the second language, especially if it is the mother's language. The decision to do this, which may be taken on the advice of teachers and health professionals, but also because the parents themselves often attribute their child's language disorder to his bilingual condition, affects not only the relationship between the mother and her child, but also processes in the construction of parenthood and in the structuring of the child's personality and the plurality of his affiliations. A clear understanding of how the dialectic between the categories of "alien" and "familiar" is managed in these contemporary families, which have to reckon with the condition of otherness, is crucial for psychiatrists and psychotherapists working in settings in which cultural difference is an issue to consider.

Sources of Variability in Children’s Language Growth

PubMed Central

Huttenlocher, Janellen; Waterfall, Heidi; Vasilyeva, Marina; Vevea, Jack; Hedges, Larry V.

2010-01-01

The present longitudinal study examines the role of caregiver speech in language development, especially syntactic development, using 47 parent-child pairs of diverse SES background from 14 to 46 months. We assess the diversity (variety) of words and syntactic structures produced by caregivers and children. We use lagged correlations to examine language growth and its relation to caregiver speech. Results show substantial individual differences among children, and indicate that diversity of earlier caregiver speech significantly predicts corresponding diversity in later child speech. For vocabulary, earlier child speech also predicts later caregiver speech, suggesting mutual influence. However, for syntax, earlier child speech does not significantly predict later caregiver speech, suggesting a causal flow from caregiver to child. Finally, demographic factors, notably SES, are related to language growth, and are, at least partially, mediated by differences in caregiver speech, showing the pervasive influence of caregiver speech on language growth. PMID:20832781

Why talk with children matters: clinical implications of infant- and child-directed speech research.

PubMed

Ratner, Nan Bernstein

2013-11-01

This article reviews basic features of infant- or child-directed speech, with particular attention to those aspects of the register that have been shown to impact profiles of child language development. It then discusses concerns that arise when describing adult input to children with language delay or disorder, or children at risk for depressed language skills. The article concludes with some recommendations for parent counseling in such cases, as well as methods that speech-language pathologists can use to improve the quality and quantity of language input to language-learning children. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Language Arts for Today's Children. NCTE Curriculum Series, Volume Two.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Council of Teachers of English, Champaign, IL. Commission on the English Curriculum.

This volume on elementary language programs is divided into four related parts. Part 1 discusses the sources of any effective language program: an understanding of the child's need for language, a knowledge of child development, and an awareness of the continuity essential to growth in language. Part 2 treats the main areas of the language…

Caregiver Talk to Young Spanish-English Bilinguals: Comparing Direct Observation and Parent-Report Measures of Dual-Language Exposure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marchman, Virginia A.; Martínez, Lucía Z.; Hurtado, Nereyda; Grüter, Theres; Fernald, Anne

2017-01-01

In research on language development by bilingual children, the early language environment is commonly characterized in terms of the relative amount of exposure a child gets to each language based on parent report. Little is known about how absolute measures of child-directed speech in two languages relate to language growth. In this study of…

The Influence of Maternal Pragmatics on the Language Skills of Children with Autism.

PubMed

Stern, Yael S; Maltman, Nell; Roberts, Megan Y

2017-06-01

This study examined the relationship between mothers' pragmatics and child language in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and non-ASD language delay (LD) mother-child dyads. Participants consisted of 20 dyads of mothers and their toddlers aged 24 to 48 months, with ASD (n = 10) or non-ASD LD (n = 10). Groups were matched on child chronological age, language, and cognition. Maternal pragmatic language was qualified based on the degree of pragmatic violations during a semistructured interview, and was examined in relation to both child language, as measured by the Preschool Language Scale-4 and maternal use of language facilitation strategies during play. Lower rates of maternal pragmatic violations were associated with higher expressive language scores in children with ASD, and with higher receptive language scores for children with non-ASD LD. Within ASD dyads, maternal pragmatic violations were negatively related to mothers' use of linguistic expansions. These findings indicate that parental pragmatics likely contribute to early language learning, and that the effects of maternal pragmatics on early language in ASD may be indirect (e.g., through parents' use of facilitative strategies). Parent-mediated language interventions for ASD should therefore consider parent pragmatics, especially given that pragmatic differences have been identified in unaffected family members of individuals with ASD.

The Influence of Maternal Pragmatics on the Language Skills of Children with Autism

PubMed Central

Stern, Yael S.; Maltman, Nell; Roberts, Megan Y.

2017-01-01

Objective This study examined the relationship between mothers’ pragmatics and child language in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and non-ASD language delay (LD) mother-child dyads. Methods Participants consisted of 20 dyads of mothers and their toddlers aged 24 to 48 months, with ASD (n = 10) or non-ASD LD (n = 10). Groups were matched on child chronological age, language, and cognition. Maternal pragmatic language was qualified based on the degree of pragmatic violations during a semistructured interview, and was examined in relation to both child language, as measured by the Preschool Language Scale-4 and maternal use of language facilitation strategies during play. Results Lower rates of maternal pragmatic violations were associated with higher expressive language scores in children with ASD, and with higher receptive language scores for children with non-ASD LD. Within ASD dyads, maternal pragmatic violations were negatively related to mothers’ use of linguistic expansions. Conclusion These findings indicate that parental pragmatics likely contribute to early language learning, and that the effects of maternal pragmatics on early language in ASD may be indirect (e.g., through parents’ use of facilitative strategies). Parent-mediated language interventions for ASD should therefore consider parent pragmatics, especially given that pragmatic differences have been identified in unaffected family members of individuals with ASD. PMID:28514238

Early relations between language development and the quality of mother-child interaction in very-low-birth-weight children.

PubMed

Stolt, S; Korja, R; Matomäki, J; Lapinleimu, H; Haataja, L; Lehtonen, L

2014-05-01

It is not clearly understood how the quality of early mother-child interaction influences language development in very-low-birth-weight children (VLBW). We aim to analyze associations between early language and the quality of mother-child interaction, and, the predictive value of the features of early mother-child interaction on language development at 24 months of corrected age in VLBW children. A longitudinal prospective follow-up study design was used. The participants were 28 VLBW children and 34 full-term controls. Language development was measured using different methods at 6, 12 and at 24 months of age. The quality of mother-child interaction was assessed using PC-ERA method at 6 and at 12 months of age. Associations between the features of early interaction and language development were different in the groups of VLBW and full-term children. There were no significant correlations between the features of mother-child interaction and language skills when measured at the same age in the VLBW group. Significant longitudinal correlations were detected in the VLBW group especially if the quality of early interactions was measured at six months and language skills at 2 years of age. However, when the predictive value of the features of early interactions for later poor language performance was analyzed separately, the features of early interaction predicted language skills in the VLBW group only weakly. The biological factors may influence on the language development more in the VLBW children than in the full-term children. The results also underline the role of maternal and dyadic factors in early interactions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Development of Language Behavior in an Autistic Child Using a Total Communication Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Morris

Following a review of the literature, the paper describes a total communication approach to the language development of a 4-year-old autistic child. It is explained that the child was videotaped while being trained to simultaneously use elements of American sign language together with the correct spoken word or words. Training procedures are…

Associations among Head Start Fathers' Involvement with Their Preschoolers and Child Language Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagan, Jay; Iglesias, Aquiles; Kaufman, Rebecca

2016-01-01

This study examined the associations among child language competence during father-child play interactions, fathers' time spent volunteering in their preschool-age child's Head Start classroom over the course of one school year, amount of father play and reading to the child at home, and fathers' positive control during play. The sample of 68…

Prospective Relations between Maternal Autonomy Support and Child Executive Functioning: Investigating the Mediating Role of Child Language Ability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matte-Gagne, Celia; Bernier, Annie

2011-01-01

Although emerging evidence suggests that parental behavior is related to the development of child executive functioning (EF), the mechanisms through which parenting affects child EF have yet to be investigated. The goal of this study was to examine the potential mediating role of child language in the prospective relation between maternal autonomy…

Child Care Effects in Context: Quality, Stability, and Multiplicity in Nonmaternal Child Care Arrangements during the First 15 Months of Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tran, Henry; Weinraub, Marsha

2006-01-01

Main and interactive effects of child care quality, stability, and multiplicity on infants' attachment security, language comprehension, language production, and cognitive development at 15 months were examined using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. Thirty-nine percent of the…

Language Delays and Child Depressive Symptoms: the Role of Early Stimulation in the Home.

PubMed

Herman, Keith C; Cohen, Daniel; Owens, Sarah; Latimore, Tracey; Reinke, Wendy M; Burrell, Lori; McFarlane, Elizabeth; Duggan, Anne

2016-07-01

The present study investigated the role of early stimulation in the home and child language delays in the emergence of depressive symptoms. Data were from a longitudinal study of at-risk children in Hawaii (n = 587). Low learning stimulation in the home at age 3 and language delays in first grade both significantly increased risk for child depressive symptoms in third grade. Structural equation modeling supported the hypothesized path models from home learning environment at age 3 to depressive symptoms in third grade controlling for a host of correlated constructs (maternal depression, child temperament, and child internalizing symptoms). Total language skills in the first grade mediated the effect of home learning environment on depressive symptoms. The study and findings fit well with a nurturing environment perspective. Implications for understanding the etiology of child depression and for designing interventions and prevention strategies are discussed.

Talking to children matters: Early language experience strengthens processing and builds vocabulary

PubMed Central

Weisleder, Adriana; Fernald, Anne

2016-01-01

Infants differ substantially in their rates of language growth, and slower growth predicts later academic difficulties. This study explored how the amount of speech to infants in Spanish-speaking families low in socioeconomic status (SES) influenced the development of children's skill in real-time language processing and vocabulary learning. All-day recordings of parent-infant interactions at home revealed striking variability among families in how much speech caregivers addressed to their child. Infants who experienced more child-directed speech became more efficient in processing familiar words in real time and had larger expressive vocabularies by 24 months, although speech simply overheard by the child was unrelated to vocabulary outcomes. Mediation analyses showed that the effect of child-directed speech on expressive vocabulary was explained by infants’ language-processing efficiency, suggesting that richer language experience strengthens processing skills that facilitate language growth. PMID:24022649

Reciprocal Influences between Maternal Language and Children's Language and Cognitive Development in Low-Income Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Lulu; Spier, Elizabeth T.; Tamis-Lemonda, Catherine S.

2014-01-01

We examined reciprocal associations between early maternal language use and children's language and cognitive development in seventy ethnically diverse, low-income families. Mother-child dyads were videotaped when children were aged 2;0 and 3;0. Video transcripts were analyzed for quantity and lexical diversity of maternal and child language.…

Stability of Language in Childhood: A Multi-Age, -Domain, -Measure, and -Source Study

PubMed Central

Bornstein, Marc H.; Putnick, Diane L.

2011-01-01

The stability of language across childhood is traditionally assessed by exploring longitudinal relations between individual language measures. However, language encompasses many domains and varies with different sources (child speech, parental report, experimenter assessment). This study evaluated individual variation in multiple age-appropriate measures of child language derived from multiple sources and stability between their latent variables in 192 young children across more than 2 years. Structural equation modeling demonstrated the loading of multiple measures of child language from different sources on single latent variables of language at ages 20 and 48 months. A large stability coefficient (r = .84) obtained between the 2 language latent variables. This stability obtained even when accounting for family socioeconomic status, maternal verbal intelligence, education, speech, and tendency to respond in a socially desirable fashion, and child social competence. Stability was also equivalent for children in diverse childcare situations and for girls and boys. Across age, from the beginning of language acquisition to just before school entry, aggregating multiple age-appropriate methods and measures at each age and multiple reporters, children show strong stability of individual differences in general language development. PMID:22004343

What's in a name? Coming to terms with the child's linguistic environment.

PubMed

Saxton, Matthew

2008-08-01

This article reviews the proliferation of terms that have been coined to denote the language environment of the young child. It is argued that terms are often deployed by researchers without due consideration of their appropriateness for particular empirical studies. It is further suggested that just three of the dozen or more available terms meet the needs of child language researchers in most instances: CHILD-DIRECTED SPEECH, INFANT-DIRECTED SPEECH AND EXPOSURE LANGUAGE. The phenomena denoted by these terms are then considered. The term register is generally borrowed for this purpose from sociolinguistics. However, close inspection of this concept reveals that the notion of register needs to be constrained, in specified ways, in order to be of any real value within the field of child language research.

Child-Adult Differences in Implicit and Explicit Second Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lichtman, Karen Melissa

2012-01-01

Mainstream linguistics has long held that there is a fundamental difference between adult and child language learning (Bley-Vroman, 1990; Johnson & Newport, 1989; DeKeyser, 2000; Paradis, 2004). This difference is often framed as a change from implicit language learning in childhood to explicit language learning in adulthood, which is…

Language Acquisition by Children with Down Syndrome: A Naturalistic Approach to Assisting Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vilaseca, R.M.; Del Rio, M-J.

2004-01-01

Many child language studies emphasize the value of verbal and social support, of 'scaffolding' processes and mutual adjustments that naturally occur in adult-child interactions in everyday contexts. Based on such theories, this study attempted to improve the language and communication skills in children with special educational needs through…

Speech and Language Development of the Preschool Child; A Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McElroy, Colleen Wilkinson

Language acquisition and development by the child is explored and related to other areas of maturation and the environment. The nine chapters of the book are: I. Historical Perspective (discusses the student's attitude toward language, the effects of his attitude, factors that might hamper the study of language, and, briefly, various theories of…

Factors Influencing the Selection of Standardized Tests for the Diagnosis of Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Betz, Stacy K.; Eickhoff, Jessica R.; Sullivan, Shanleigh F.

2013-01-01

Purpose: Standardized tests are one of the primary assessment tools used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to diagnose child language impairment. Numerous child language tests are commercially available; however, it is unknown what factors lead clinicians to select particular tests to use in clinical practice. This study investigated whether…

Child Modifiability as a Predictor of Language Abilities in Deaf Children Who Use American Sign Language.

PubMed

Mann, Wolfgang; Peña, Elizabeth D; Morgan, Gary

2015-08-01

This research explored the use of dynamic assessment (DA) for language-learning abilities in signing deaf children from deaf and hearing families. Thirty-seven deaf children, aged 6 to 11 years, were identified as either stronger (n = 26) or weaker (n = 11) language learners according to teacher or speech-language pathologist report. All children received 2 scripted, mediated learning experience sessions targeting vocabulary knowledge—specifically, the use of semantic categories that were carried out in American Sign Language. Participant responses to learning were measured in terms of an index of child modifiability. This index was determined separately at the end of the 2 individual sessions. It combined ratings reflecting each child's learning abilities and responses to mediation, including social-emotional behavior, cognitive arousal, and cognitive elaboration. Group results showed that modifiability ratings were significantly better for stronger language learners than for weaker language learners. The strongest predictors of language ability were cognitive arousal and cognitive elaboration. Mediator ratings of child modifiability (i.e., combined score of social-emotional factors and cognitive factors) are highly sensitive to language-learning abilities in deaf children who use sign language as their primary mode of communication. This method can be used to design targeted interventions.

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Title III: Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students. 107th Congress, 1st Session.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, Washington, DC.

This report describes the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Title III: Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students. Part A describes the English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act. Its four subparts include the following: (1) grants and subgrants for English language acquisition…

Dynamic Adaptation in Child-Adult Language Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Dijk, Marijn; van Geert, Paul; Korecky-Kröll, Katharina; Maillochon, Isabelle; Laaha, Sabine; Dressler, Wolfgang U.; Bassano, Dominique

2013-01-01

When speaking to young children, adults adapt their language to that of the child. In this article, we suggest that this child-directed speech (CDS) is the result of a transactional process of dynamic adaptation between the child and the adult. The study compares developmental trajectories of three children to those of the CDS of their caregivers.…

Analysis on the Difficulties Faced by a Bilingual Child in Reading and Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardiyanti, Rizki

2017-01-01

Bilingual child ability in two languages is become popular issue in the comparison of those two languages. In this paper, the Indonesian bilingual child has parent, school and course using English actively, then his environment using Bahasa Indonesia. This research was conducted to measure ability and difficulties faced by bilingual child in…

Input and Uptake at 7 Months Predicts Toddler Vocabulary: The Role of Child-Directed Speech and Infant Processing Skills in Language Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newman, Rochelle S.; Rowe, Meredith L.; Ratner, Nan Bernstein

2016-01-01

Both the input directed to the child, and the child's ability to process that input, are likely to impact the child's language acquisition. We explore how these factors inter-relate by tracking the relationships among: (a) lexical properties of maternal child-directed speech to prelinguistic (7-month-old) infants (N = 121); (b) these infants'…

PSYCHOLINGUISTIC SIMILARITIES IN THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN AS NATIVE LANGUAGES.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

SLOBIN, DAN I.

ONE APPROACH TO CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IS THAT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL, GENERATIVE GRAMMAR WHICH EMPHASIZES MAN'S ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND AND PRODUCE AN UNLIMITED VARIETY OF SENTENCES THROUGH CONTROL OF A LIMITED NUMBER OF LANGUAGE RULES. THUS, A CHILD LEARNS TO SPEAK BY DEVELOPING HIS OWN THEORIES OF THE STRUCTURE OF HIS LANGUAGE. STUDIES OF…

The Practical Side of Working with Parent-Child Interaction Therapy with Preschool Children with Language Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klatte, Inge S.; Roulstone, Sue

2016-01-01

A common early intervention approach for preschool children with language problems is parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT). PCIT has positive effects for children with expressive language problems. It appears that speech and language therapists (SLTs) conduct this therapy in many different ways. This might be because of the variety of…

Language acquisition from a biolinguistic perspective.

PubMed

Crain, Stephen; Koring, Loes; Thornton, Rosalind

2017-10-01

This paper describes the biolinguistic approach to language acquisition. We contrast the biolinguistic approach with a usage-based approach. We argue that the biolinguistic approach is superior because it provides more accurate and more extensive generalizations about the properties of human languages, as well as a better account of how children acquire human languages. To distinguish between these accounts, we focus on how child and adult language differ both in sentence production and in sentence understanding. We argue that the observed differences resist explanation using the cognitive mechanisms that are invoked by the usage-based approach. In contrast, the biolinguistic approach explains the qualitative parametric differences between child and adult language. Explaining how child and adult language differ and demonstrating that children perceive unity despite apparent diversity are two of the hallmarks of the biolinguistic approach to language acquisition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Caregiver talk to young Spanish-English bilinguals: Comparing direct observation and parent-report measures of dual-language exposure

PubMed Central

Marchman, Virginia A.; Martínez, Lucía Z.; Hurtado, Nereyda; Grüter, Theres; Fernald, Anne

2016-01-01

In research on language development by bilingual children, the early language environment is commonly characterized in terms of the relative amount of exposure a child gets to each language based on parent report. Little is known about how absolute measures of child-directed speech in two languages relate to language growth. In this study of 3-year-old Spanish-English bilinguals (n = 18), traditional parent-report estimates of exposure were compared to measures of the number of Spanish and English words children heard during naturalistic audio recordings. While the two estimates were moderately correlated, observed numbers of child-directed words were more consistently predictive of children's processing speed and standardized test performance, even when controlling for reported proportion of exposure. These findings highlight the importance of caregiver engagement in bilingual children's language outcomes in both of the languages they are learning. PMID:27197746

Questions You May Want to Ask Your Child's Speech-Language Pathologist = Preguntas que usted le podria hacer al patologo del habla y el lenguaje de su hijo

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007

2007-01-01

This accordion style pamphlet, dual sided with English and Spanish text, suggests questions for parents to ask their Speech-Language Pathologist and speech and language therapy services for their children. Sample questions include: How will I participate in my child's therapy sessions? How do you decide how much time my child will spend on speech…

"It's the Way You Talk to Them." The Child's Environment: Early Years Practitioners' Perceptions of Its Influence on Speech and Language Development, Its Assessment and Environment Targeted Interventions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Julie; Lewis, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

Speech and language delay occurs in approximately 6% of the child population, and interventions to support this group of children focus on the child and/or the communicative environment. Evidence about the effectiveness of interventions that focus on the environment as well as the (reported) practices of speech and language therapists (SLTs) and…

Child Language Acquisition: Contrasting Theoretical Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ambridge, Ben; Lieven, Elena V. M.

2011-01-01

Is children's language acquisition based on innate linguistic structures or built from cognitive and communicative skills? This book summarises the major theoretical debates in all of the core domains of child language acquisition research (phonology, word-learning, inflectional morphology, syntax and binding) and includes a complete introduction…

The Relation Between Child Versus Parent Report of Chronic Fatigue and Language/Literacy Skills in School-Age Children with Cochlear Implants.

PubMed

Werfel, Krystal L; Hendricks, Alison Eisel

2016-01-01

Preliminary evidence suggests that children with hearing loss experience elevated levels of chronic fatigue compared with children with normal hearing. Chronic fatigue is associated with decreased academic performance in many clinical populations. Children with cochlear implants as a group exhibit deficits in language and literacy skills; however, the relation between chronic fatigue and language and literacy skills for children with cochlear implants is unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore subjective ratings of chronic fatigue by children with cochlear implants and their parents, as well as the relation between chronic fatigue and language and literacy skills in this population. Nineteen children with cochlear implants in grades 3 to 6 and one of their parents separately completed a subjective chronic fatigue scale, on which they rated how much the child experienced physical, sleep/rest, and cognitive fatigue over the past month. In addition, children completed an assessment battery that included measures of speech perception, oral language, word reading, and spelling. Children and parents reported different levels of chronic child physical and sleep/rest fatigue. In both cases, parents reported significantly less fatigue than did children. Children and parents did not report different levels of chronic child cognitive fatigue. Child report of physical fatigue was related to speech perception, language, reading, and spelling. Child report of sleep/rest and cognitive fatigue was related to speech perception and language but not to reading or spelling. Parent report of child fatigue was not related to children's language and literacy skills. Taken as a whole, results suggested that parents under-estimate the fatigue experienced by children with cochlear implants. Child report of physical fatigue was robustly related to language and literacy skills. Children with cochlear implants are likely more accurate at reporting physical fatigue than cognitive fatigue. Clinical practice should take fatigue into account when developing treatment plans for children with cochlear implants, and research should continue to develop a comprehensive model of fatigue in children with cochlear implants.

The Influences of Child Intelligibility and Rate on Caregiver Responses to Toddlers With and Without Cleft Palate.

PubMed

Frey, Jennifer R; Kaiser, Ann P; Scherer, Nancy J

2018-02-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of child speech intelligibility and rate on caregivers' linguistic responses. This study compared the language use of children with cleft palate with or without cleft lip (CP±L) and their caregivers' responses. Descriptive analyses of children's language and caregivers' responses and a multilevel analysis of caregiver responsivity were conducted to determine whether there were differences in children's productive language and caregivers' responses to different types of child utterances. Play-based caregiver-child interactions were video recorded in a clinic setting. Thirty-eight children (19 toddlers with nonsyndromic repaired CP±L and 19 toddlers with typical language development) between 17 and 37 months old and their primary caregivers participated. Child and caregiver measures were obtained from transcribed and coded video recordings and included the rate, total number of words, and number of different words spoken by children and their caregivers, intelligibility of child utterances, and form of caregiver responses. Findings from this study suggest caregivers are highly responsive to toddlers' communication attempts, regardless of the intelligibility of those utterances. However, opportunities to respond were fewer for children with CP±L. Significant differences were observed in children's intelligibility and productive language and in caregivers' use of questions in response to unintelligible utterances of children with and without CP±L. This study provides information about differences in children with CP±L's language use and caregivers' responses to spoken language of toddlers with and without CP±L.

Parents' Child-Directed Communication and Child Language Development: A Longitudinal Study with Italian Toddlers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Majorano, Marinella; Rainieri, Chiara; Corsano, Paola

2013-01-01

The present study focuses on the characteristics of parental child-directed communication and its relationship with child language development. For this purpose, thirty-six toddlers (18 males and 18 females) and their parents were observed in a laboratory during triadic free play at ages 1;3 and 1;9. The characteristics of the maternal and…

Language development in the early school years: the importance of close relationships with teachers.

PubMed

Spilt, Jantine L; Koomen, Helma M Y; Harrison, Linda J

2015-02-01

This longitudinal study examined developmental links between closeness in teacher-child relationships and children's receptive language ability from the end of the preschool years into the early elementary years, while controlling for changes in peer interaction quality and child behavioral functioning. The sample included children and their parents and teachers (N = 4,983) participating in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) at ages 4-5, 6-7, and 8-9 years (3 waves). Teachers reported on levels of closeness in relationships with individual children. Independent assessments of receptive language were employed. Parents and teachers reported on peer interaction problems and child conduct problems. Results indicated reciprocal associations between close teacher-child relationships and receptive language development above and beyond associations with peer interaction quality and child behavioral functioning. However, the effects were only modest. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Deficits in Narrative Abilities in Child British Sign Language Users with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herman, Ros; Rowley, Katherine; Mason, Kathryn; Morgan, Gary

2014-01-01

This study details the first ever investigation of narrative skills in a group of 17 deaf signing children who have been diagnosed with disorders in their British Sign Language development compared with a control group of 17 deaf child signers matched for age, gender, education, quantity, and quality of language exposure and non-verbal…

Caught in the Middle: Child Language Brokering as a Form of Unrecognised Language Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antonini, Rachele

2016-01-01

This paper will present the findings of a wide-scale research aimed at studying the phenomenon of Child Language Brokering (henceforth CLB) in Italy. After providing a description of recent immigration patterns and the provision of language services in Italy, and an overview of current research in this field, this study will discuss narrative data…

Oral Language: Expression of Thought.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anastasiow, Nicholas

A child's language reflects his thought processes and his level of development. Motor, emotional, and language development all have a direct relationship to the child's cognitive functioning--each follows the pattern of moving from gross and loosely differentiated states to refined and differentiated systems. Research in early childhood education…

Community-based early intervention for language delay: a preliminary investigation.

PubMed

Ciccone, Natalie; Hennessey, Neville; Stokes, Stephanie F

2012-01-01

A trial parent-focused early intervention (PFEI) programme for children with delayed language development is reported in which current research evidence was translated and applied within the constraints of available of clinical resources. The programme, based at a primary school, was run by a speech-language pathologist with speech-language pathology students. To investigate the changes in child language development and parent and child interactions following attendance at the PFEI. Eighteen parents and their children attended six, weekly group sessions in which parents were provided with strategies to maximize language learning in everyday contexts. Pre- and post-programme assessments of vocabulary size and measures of parent-child interaction were collected. Parents and children significantly increased their communicative interactions from pre- to post-treatment. Children's expressive vocabulary size and language skills increased significantly. Large-effect sizes were observed. The positive outcomes of the intervention programme contribute to the evidence base of intervention strategies and forms of service delivery for children at risk of language delay. © 2012 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Language Outcomes at 7 Years: Early Predictors and Co-Occurring Difficulties.

PubMed

McKean, Cristina; Reilly, Sheena; Bavin, Edith L; Bretherton, Lesley; Cini, Eileen; Conway, Laura; Cook, Fallon; Eadie, Patricia; Prior, Margot; Wake, Melissa; Mensah, Fiona

2017-03-01

To examine at 7 years the language abilities of children, the salience of early life factors and language scores as predictors of language outcome, and co-occurring difficulties METHODS: A longitudinal cohort study of 1910 infants recruited at age 8 to 10 months. Exposures included early life factors (sex, prematurity, birth weight/order, twin birth, socioeconomic status, non-English speaking background,family history of speech/language difficulties); maternal factors (mental health, vocabulary, education, and age); and child language ability at 2 and 4 years. Outcomes were 7-year standardized receptive or expressive language scores (low language: ≥1.25 SD below the mean), and co-occurring difficulties (autism, literacy, social, emotional, and behavioral adjustment, and health-related quality of life). Almost 19% of children (22/1204;18.9%) met criteria for low language at 7 years. Early life factors explained 9-13% of variation in language scores, increasing to 39-58% when child language scores at ages 2 and 4 were included. Early life factors moderately discriminated between children with and without low language (area under the curve: 0.68-0.72), strengthening to good discrimination with language scores at ages 2 and 4 (area under the curve: 0.85-0.94). Low language at age 7 was associated with concurrent difficulties in literacy, social-emotional and behavioral difficulties, and limitations in school and psychosocial functioning. Child language ability at 4 years more accurately predicted low language at 7 than a range of early child, family, and environmental factors. Low language at 7 years was associated with a higher prevalence of co-occurring difficulties. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Prenatal mercury exposure, maternal seafood consumption and associations with child language at five years.

PubMed

Vejrup, Kristine; Brandlistuen, Ragnhild Eek; Brantsæter, Anne Lise; Knutsen, Helle Katrine; Caspersen, Ida Henriette; Alexander, Jan; Lundh, Thomas; Meltzer, Helle Margrete; Magnus, Per; Haugen, Margaretha

2018-01-01

Methyl mercury (MeHg) is a well-known neurotoxin and evidence suggests that also low level exposure may affect prenatal neurodevelopment. Uncertainty exists as to whether the maternal MeHg burden in Norway might affect child neurodevelopment. To evaluate the association between prenatal mercury exposure, maternal seafood consumption and child language and communication skills at age five. The study sample comprised 38,581 mother-child pairs in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. Maternal mercury blood concentration in gestational week 17 was analysed in a sub-sample of 2239 women. Prenatal mercury exposure from maternal diet was calculated from a validated FFQ answered in mid-pregnancy. Mothers reported children's language and communications skills at age five by a questionnaire including questions from the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), the Speech and Language Assessment Scale (SLAS) and the Twenty Statements about Language-Related Difficulties (language 20). We performed linear regression analyses adjusting for maternal characteristics, nutritional status and socioeconomic factors. Median maternal blood mercury concentration was 1.03μg/L, dietary mercury exposure was 0.15μg/kgbw/wk, and seafood intake was 217g/wk. Blood mercury concentrations were not associated with any language and communication scales. Increased dietary mercury exposure was significantly associated with improved SLAS scores when mothers had a seafood intake below 400g/wk in the adjusted analysis. Sibling matched analysis showed a small significant adverse association between those above the 90th percentile dietary mercury exposure and the SLAS scores. Maternal seafood intake during pregnancy was positively associated with the language and communication scales. Low levels of prenatal mercury exposure were positively associated with language and communication skills at five years. However, the matched sibling analyses suggested an adverse association between mercury and child language skills in the highest exposure group. This indicates that prenatal low level mercury exposure still needs our attention. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing Child and Adolescent Pragmatic Language Competencies: Toward Evidence-Based Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Robert L.; Grizzle, Kenneth L.

2008-01-01

Using language appropriately and effectively in social contexts requires pragmatic language competencies (PLCs). Increasingly, deficits in PLCs are linked to child and adolescent disorders, including autism spectrum, externalizing, and internalizing disorders. As the role of PLCs expands in diagnosis and treatment of developmental psychopathology,…

Early Education of the Language-Learning Handicapped Child.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Easter Seal Treatment Center of Montgomery County, Rockville, MD.

The brochure descrbies a demonstration program on the early education of the language learning handicapped preschool child. Discussed are symptoms of the language learning problem (such as misunderstanding what is said), a remedial approach based on specific disability intervention, the Easter Seal Treatment Center, project objectives (such as the…

A Comparative Study of Vygotsky's Perspectives on Child Language Development with Nativism and Behaviorism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dastpak, Mehdi; Behjat, Fatemeh; Taghinezhad, Ali

2017-01-01

This study aimed at investigating the similarities and differences between Vygotsky's perspectives on child language development with nativism and behaviorism. Proposing the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development, Vygotsky emphasized the role of collaborative interaction, scaffolding, and guided participation in language learning. Nativists, on…

Parental Broad Autism Phenotype and the Language Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flippin, Michelle; Watson, Linda R.

2018-01-01

Father-child and mother-child interactions were examined in order to investigate concurrent associations between three characteristics of parental broad autism phenotype (i.e., aloofness, rigidity, pragmatic language deficits), parental verbal responsiveness, and language skills of children with ASD. Results for mothers indicated that aloofness…

34 CFR 303.403 - Prior notice; native language.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... services to the child and the child's family. (b) Content of notice. The notice must be in sufficient... mode of communication of the parent is not a written language, the public agency, or designated service... parent in the parent's native language or other mode of communication; (ii) The parent understands the...

Stories That Sing: Stimulating Oral Language in Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huffine, Karen; Ellis, DiAnn

Research indicates the importance of the relationship between music, adult/child interaction, language practice, rhythm, repetition, familiarity of content, and story time, and a child's oral language development. Folk songs that have been illustrated and put into book form--"stories that sing"--can be used by parents and teachers to…

The French-Farsi Simultaneous Early Bilingualism in an Iranian Child--Study on the Regularity of the Presence of the Minority Language in the First Lexical Productions of a Bilingual Child

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jalilian, Sahar; Rahmatian, Rouhollah; Safa, Parivash; Letafati, Roya

2017-01-01

In a simultaneous bilingual education, there are many factors that can affect its success, primarily the age of the child and socio-cognitive elements. This phenomenon can be initially studied in the first lexical productions of either language in a child. The present study focuses on the early lexical developments of a child, who lives in the…

A Case Study: A Guide to Working with a Language Impaired Child.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sapir, Selma G.; Rainho, Sergio

The document presents the case study of the interaction of a graduate student in traning, her supervisor, an 8 year old child with a language learning problem, and the child's mother. It involves a process which entails the careful matching of the child to tutor, the tutor to supervisor, and intensive work with the mother. It also is based on what…

Motherese, affect, and vocabulary development: dyadic communicative interactions in infants and toddlers.

PubMed

Dave, Shruti; Mastergeorge, Ann M; Olswang, Lesley B

2018-07-01

Responsive parental communication during an infant's first year has been positively associated with later language outcomes. This study explores responsivity in mother-infant communication by modeling how change in guiding language between 7 and 11 months influences toddler vocabulary development. In a group of 32 mother-child dyads, change in early maternal guiding language positively predicted child language outcomes measured at 18 and 24 months. In contrast, a number of other linguistic variables - including total utterances and non-guiding language - did not correlate with toddler vocabulary development, suggesting a critical role of responsive change in infant-directed communication. We further assessed whether maternal affect during early communication influenced toddler vocabulary outcomes, finding that dominant affect during early mother-infant communications correlated to lower child language outcomes. These findings provide evidence that responsive parenting should not only be assessed longitudinally, but unique contributions of language and affect should also be concurrently considered in future study.

The phonological-distributional coherence hypothesis: cross-linguistic evidence in language acquisition.

PubMed

Monaghan, Padraic; Christiansen, Morten H; Chater, Nick

2007-12-01

Several phonological and prosodic properties of words have been shown to relate to differences between grammatical categories. Distributional information about grammatical categories is also a rich source in the child's language environment. In this paper we hypothesise that such cues operate in tandem for developing the child's knowledge about grammatical categories. We term this the Phonological-Distributional Coherence Hypothesis (PDCH). We tested the PDCH by analysing phonological and distributional information in distinguishing open from closed class words and nouns from verbs in four languages: English, Dutch, French, and Japanese. We found an interaction between phonological and distributional cues for all four languages indicating that when distributional cues were less reliable, phonological cues were stronger. This provides converging evidence that language is structured such that language learning benefits from the integration of information about category from contextual and sound-based sources, and that the child's language environment is less impoverished than we might suspect.

Using Experience Language (LEA Variation) to Teach an Autistic-Like Child with a Visual Disorder to Read (and Write and Talk).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Terry R.

The author, a university professor, describes his experiences in teaching language to his autistic-like son who also has visual impairments. "Experience Language," an adaptation of Language Experience Approach (LEA) is described, and its contributions to the child's reading, writing, and talking are noted. Suggestions are made on the importance of…

Patterns of Adult-Child Linguistic Interaction in Integrated Day Care Groups.

PubMed

Girolametto, Luigi; Hoaken, Lisa; Weitzman, Elaine; Lieshout, Riet van

2000-04-01

This study investigated the language input of eight childcare providers to children with developmental disabilities, including language delay, who were integrated into community day care centers. Structural and discourse features of the adults' language input was compared across two groups (integrated, typical) and two naturalistic day care contexts (book reading, play dough activity). The eight children with developmental disabilities and language delay were between 33-50 months of age; 32 normally developing peers ranged in age from 32-53 months of age. Adult-child interactions were transcribed and coded to yield estimates of structural indices (number of utterances, rate, mean length of utterances, ratio of different words to total words used (TTR) and discourse features (directive, interactive, language-modelling) of their language input. The language input addressed to the children with developmental disabilities was directive and not finely tuned to their expressive language levels. In turn, these children interacted infrequently with the adult or with the other children. Contextual comparisons indicated that the play dough activity promoted adult-child interaction that was less directive and more interaction-promoting than book reading, and that children interacted more frequently in the play-dough activity. Implications for speech-language pathologists include the need for collaborative consultation in integrated settings, modification of adult-child play contexts to promote interaction, and training childcare providers to use language input that promotes communication development.

Morphosyntactic annotation of CHILDES transcripts*

PubMed Central

SAGAE, KENJI; DAVIS, ERIC; LAVIE, ALON; MACWHINNEY, BRIAN; WINTNER, SHULY

2014-01-01

Corpora of child language are essential for research in child language acquisition and psycholinguistics. Linguistic annotation of the corpora provides researchers with better means for exploring the development of grammatical constructions and their usage. We describe a project whose goal is to annotate the English section of the CHILDES database with grammatical relations in the form of labeled dependency structures. We have produced a corpus of over 18,800 utterances (approximately 65,000 words) with manually curated gold-standard grammatical relation annotations. Using this corpus, we have developed a highly accurate data-driven parser for the English CHILDES data, which we used to automatically annotate the remainder of the English section of CHILDES. We have also extended the parser to Spanish, and are currently working on supporting more languages. The parser and the manually and automatically annotated data are freely available for research purposes. PMID:20334720

Mother-Child Interaction and Early Language Skills in Children Born to Mothers with Substance Abuse and Psychiatric Problems.

PubMed

J Haabrekke, Kristin; Siqveland, Torill; Smith, Lars; Wentzel-Larsen, Tore; Walhovd, Kristine B; Moe, Vibeke

2015-10-01

This prospective, longitudinal study with data collected at four time points investigated how maternal psychiatric symptoms, substance abuse and maternal intrusiveness in interaction were related to early child language skills. Three groups of mothers were recruited during pregnancy: One from residential treatment institutions for substance abuse (n = 18), one from psychiatric outpatient treatment (n = 22) and one from well-baby clinics (n = 30). Maternal substance abuse and anti-social and borderline personality traits were assessed during pregnancy, postpartum depression at 3 months, maternal intrusiveness in interaction at 12 months, and child language skills at 2 years. Results showed that the mothers in the substance abuse group had the lowest level of education, they were younger and they were more likely to be single mothers than the mothers in the two other groups. There was a significant difference in expressive language between children born to mothers with substance abuse problems and those born to comparison mothers, however not when controlling for maternal age, education and single parenthood. No group differences in receptive language skills were detected. Results further showed that maternal intrusiveness observed in mother-child interaction at 12 months was significantly related to child expressive language at 2 years, also when controlling for socio-demographic risk factors. This suggests that in addition to addressing substance abuse and psychiatric problems, there is a need for applying treatment models promoting sensitive caregiving, in order to enhance child expressive language skills.

Language of perfectionistic parents predicting child anxiety diagnostic status.

PubMed

Affrunti, Nicholas W; Geronimi, Elena M C; Woodruff-Borden, Janet

2015-03-01

Previous research has identified parental perfectionism as a risk factor for child anxiety. Yet few studies investigated why parental perfectionism may play such a role. Based on research suggesting parental verbal information and language use are associated with increased child fear beliefs and anxiety, the current study investigated the linguistic style of perfectionistic mothers and its relation to child anxiety. Participants were 71 mother-child dyads. Children were 3-12 years old, 57.7% female, and 30 were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Analyses showed that parental perfectionism was associated with increased second person pronouns, decreased adverbs, negative emotion words, and anger words. Second person pronouns and negative emotion words predicted child anxiety diagnostic status and mediated the relation between maternal perfectionism and child anxiety. These findings suggest that parental perfectionism may be associated with a specific language style that is related to child anxiety. Implications and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language, cognitive flexibility, and explicit false belief understanding: longitudinal analysis in typical development and specific language impairment.

PubMed

Farrant, Brad M; Maybery, Murray T; Fletcher, Janet

2012-01-01

The hypothesis that language plays a role in theory-of-mind (ToM) development is supported by a number of lines of evidence (e.g., H. Lohmann & M. Tomasello, 2003). The current study sought to further investigate the relations between maternal language input, memory for false sentential complements, cognitive flexibility, and the development of explicit false belief understanding in 91 English-speaking typically developing children (M age = 61.3 months) and 30 children with specific language impairment (M age = 63.0 months). Concurrent and longitudinal findings converge in supporting a model in which maternal language input predicts the child's memory for false complements, which predicts cognitive flexibility, which in turn predicts explicit false belief understanding. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Effects of maternal sensitivity and cognitive and linguistic stimulation on cochlear implant users' language development over four years.

PubMed

Quittner, Alexandra L; Cruz, Ivette; Barker, David H; Tobey, Emily; Eisenberg, Laurie S; Niparko, John K

2013-02-01

To examine the effects of observed maternal sensitivity (MS), cognitive stimulation (CS), and linguistic stimulation on the 4-year growth of oral language in young, deaf children receiving a cochlear implant. Previous studies of cochlear implants have not considered the effects of parental behaviors on language outcomes. In this prospective, multisite study, we evaluated parent-child interactions during structured and unstructured play tasks and their effects on oral language development in 188 deaf children receiving a cochlear implant and 97 normal-hearing children as controls. Parent-child interactions were rated on a 7-point scale using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Early Childcare Study codes, which have well-established psychometric properties. Language was assessed using the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories, the Reynell Developmental Language Scales, and the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language. We used mixed longitudinal modeling to test our hypotheses. After accounting for early hearing experience and child and family demographics, MS and CS predicted significant increases in the growth of oral language. Linguistic stimulation was related to language growth only in the context of high MS. The magnitude of effects of MS and CS on the growth of language was similar to that found for age at cochlear implantation, suggesting that addressing parenting behaviors is a critical target for early language learning after implantation. Copyright © 2013 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Experiences in the Bilingual Education of a Child of Pre-School Age.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zierer, Ernesto

1978-01-01

This article describes a plan to develop bilingualism carried out by the parents of a child of pre-school age who died of brain cancer at the age of five. The child learned German, the language of his father, and Spanish, the language of his mother, consecutively. (CFM)

Early Parental Depression and Child Language Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paulson, James F.; Keefe, Heather A.; Leiferman, Jenn A.

2009-01-01

Objective: To examine the effects of early maternal and paternal depression on child expressive language at age 24 months and the role that parent-to-child reading may play in this pathway. Participants and methods: The 9-month and 24-month waves from a national prospective study of children and their families, the Early Childhood Longitudinal…

Hindrances for Parents in Enhancing Child Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Topping, Keith; Dekhinet, Rayenne; Zeedyk, Suzanne

2011-01-01

This review explores challenges and barriers to parent-child interaction which leads to language development in the first 3 years of the child's life. Seven databases yielded 1,750 hits, reduced to 49 evidence-based studies, many of which still had methodological imperfections. Evidence was quite strong in relation to socio-economic status,…

Implementing Whole Language: Collaboration, Communication and Coordination.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dumas, Colleen

A parent of a kindergarten child in Texas began observing her child's classroom when she noticed that the whole language instructional approach described to parents before the beginning of school was apparently not being implemented as stated. The parent was surprised when her child's teacher suggested, after only six weeks of instruction, that…

Teacher-Child Relationships in Preschool Period: The Roles of Child Temperament and Language Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoleri, Sibel

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine how children's temperament and language skills predict the effects of teacher-child relationships in preschool. Parents and preschool teachers completed three questionnaires: The Student-Teacher Relationship Scale, the Marmara Development Scale and the Short Temperament Scale for Children. The relational…

Child First: A Belief, an Attitude, and a Path to Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulholland, Jane

2013-01-01

Child First is a national campaign to ensure that deaf children have their right to language recognized and fulfilled regardless of which educational method is specified in the Individualized Education Program (IEP). Whether the child's family embraces American Sign Language (ASL), speech reading, a system of signs that encodes English, or a…

Language Acquisition in a Child with Cornelia De Lange Syndrome.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodban, Marjorie T.

The paper describes a successful attempt to stimulate expressive language in Becky, a young child with Cornelia de Lange syndrome, a condition characterized by moderate to severe mental retardation, dwarfed stature, and excessive body hair. The child participated in infant stimulation and individual speech therapy and her expressive output has…

Maternal Work Absence: A Longitudinal Study of Language Impairment and Behavior Problems in Preschool Children

PubMed Central

Nes, Ragnhild B.; Hauge, Lars J.; Kornstad, Tom; Landolt, Markus A.; Irgens, Lorentz; Eskedal, Leif; Kristensen, Petter; Vollrath, Margarete E.

2015-01-01

Combining work and family responsibilities is challenging when children have special needs, and mothers commonly make employment-related adjustments. In this study, the authors examined associations between maternal work absence and child language impairment and behavior problems in preschool children. Questionnaire data at child age 3 years from 33,778 mothers participating in the prospective population-based Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study were linked to national register data on employment and long-term physician-certified sick leave at child age 3–5 years. Mothers who reported having a child with language impairment had a consistently higher risk of not being employed and were at increased risk of taking long-term sick leave at child age 5 years. Co-occurring problems were associated with excess risk. Language impairments in preschool children, in particular when they are co-occurring with behavior problems, are likely to have a range of negative short- and long-term consequences for the financial and overall health and well-being of mothers and their families. PMID:27087703

Vowel space development in a child acquiring English and Spanish from birth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andruski, Jean; Kim, Sahyang; Nathan, Geoffrey; Casielles, Eugenia; Work, Richard

2005-04-01

To date, research on bilingual first language acquisition has tended to focus on the development of higher levels of language, with relatively few analyses of the acoustic characteristics of bilingual infants' and childrens' speech. Since monolingual infants begin to show perceptual divisions of vowel space that resemble adult native speakers divisions by about 6 months of age [Kuhl et al., Science 255, 606-608 (1992)], bilingual childrens' vowel production may provide evidence of their awareness of language differences relatively early during language development. This paper will examine the development of vowel categories in a child whose mother is a native speaker of Castilian Spanish, and whose father is a native speaker of American English. Each parent speaks to the child only in her/his native language. For this study, recordings made at the ages of 2;5 and 2;10 were analyzed and F1-F2 measurements were made of vowels from the stressed syllables of content words. The development of vowel space is compared across ages within each language, and across languages at each age. In addition, the child's productions are compared with the mother's and father's vocalic productions, which provide the predominant input in Spanish and English respectively.

Paired variability indices in assessing speech rhythm in Spanish/English bilingual language acquisition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Work, Richard; Andruski, Jean; Casielles, Eugenia; Kim, Sahyang; Nathan, Geoff

2005-04-01

Traditionally, English is classified as a stress-timed language while Spanish is classified as syllable-timed. Examining the contrasting development of rhythmic patterns in bilingual first language acquisition should provide information on how this differentiation takes place. As part of a longitudinal study, speech samples were taken of a Spanish/English bilingual child of Argentinean parents living in the Midwestern United States between the ages of 1;8 and 3;2. Spanish is spoken at home and English input comes primarily from an English day care the child attends 5 days a week. The parents act as interlocutors for Spanish recordings with a native speaker interacting with the child for the English recordings. Following the work of Grabe, Post and Watson (1999) and Grabe and Low (2002) a normalized Pairwise Variability Index (PVI) is used which compares, in utterances of minimally four syllables, the durations of vocalic intervals in successive syllables. Comparisons are then made between the rhythmic patterns of the child's productions within each language over time and between languages at comparable MLUs. Comparisons are also made with the rhythmic patterns of the adult productions of each language. Results will be analyzed for signs of native speaker-like rhythmic production in the child.

Language as Labor: Semantic Activities as the Basis for Language Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riegel, Klaus F.

The processes by which the young child recognizes and regenerates some invariant and organizational properties of language are discussed. In these processes the child conjoins and contrasts recurrent segments--perhaps a recurrent word--of the messages presented to him. After repeated exposure to messages containing a common segment, the child…

Coaching Parents to Use Naturalistic Language and Communication Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akamoglu, Yusuf; Dinnebeil, Laurie

2017-01-01

Naturalistic language and communication strategies (i.e., naturalistic teaching strategies) refer to practices that are used to promote the child's language and communication skills either through verbal (e.g., spoken words) or nonverbal (e.g., gestures, signs) interactions between an adult (e.g., parent, teacher) and a child. Use of naturalistic…

An Analysis of Child Caregivers' Language during Book Sharing with Toddler-Age Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhyner, Paula M.

2007-01-01

Increasing enrollment in childcare centers has led to questions about the extent to which those environments foster child development in areas such as language. This study examined the language of childcare center caregivers during book sharing with children to describe caregivers' use of linguistic structures (declarative, imperative, and …

Sing a Song Please: Musical Contexts and Language Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howarth, Lisa M.; Conti-Ramsden, Gina

1987-01-01

Six language-impaired children, aged 4-7, were studied in two routinized contexts (a lesson without music and a singing session) and child-teacher talk was analyzed. Results showed that the addition of music to a routinized context has the potential to increase the language-impaired child's ability to interact non-verbally. (Author/JDD)

Beginning Literacy with Language: Young Children Learning at Home and School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dickinson, David K., Ed.; Tabors, Patton O., Ed.

Based on findings of the Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development, this book examines the relationship between early parent-child and teacher-child interactions and children's kindergarten language and literacy skills. Participating in the study were more than 70 young children from diverse backgrounds whose home and school…

Language Acquisition Patterns in Normal and Handicapped Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, Steven F.; Rogers-Warren, Ann

Delayed language development is compared to normal development along six basic parameters, and the problem of language delay among handicapped children is addressed. Interaction characteristics that occur at an early stage between the mother and handicapped child are also reviewed, along with the way parents tend to compensate for their child's…

Child Safety: MedlinePlus Health Topic

MedlinePlus

... Infant and Newborn Care Internet Safety Motor Vehicle Safety School Health Other Languages Find health information in languages other than English on Child Safety Disclaimers MedlinePlus links to health information from the ...

Characteristics of Parent-Child Interactions: A Systematic Review of Studies Comparing Children with Primary Language Impairment and Their Typically Developing Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackwell, Anna K. M.; Harding, Sam; Babayigit, Selma; Roulstone, Sue

2015-01-01

The importance of parent-child interaction (PCI) for language development has been well established. This has led many speech and language therapy (SLT) interventions to focus on modifying PCI as a means to improving children's early language delay. However, the success of such programs is mixed. The current review compares PCI, observed in…

Causal effects on child language development: A review of studies in communication sciences and disorders.

PubMed

Rogers, Clare R; Nulty, Karissa L; Betancourt, Mariana Aparicio; DeThorne, Laura S

2015-01-01

We reviewed recent studies published across key journals within the field of communication sciences and disorders (CSD) to survey what causal influences on child language development were being considered. Specifically, we reviewed a total of 2921 abstracts published within the following journals between 2003 and 2013: Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools (LSHSS); American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP); Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (JSLHR); Journal of Communication Disorders (JCD); and the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders (IJLCD). Of the 346 eligible articles that addressed causal factors on child language development across the five journals, 11% were categorized as Genetic (37/346), 83% (287/346) were categorized as Environmental, and 6% (22/346) were categorized as Mixed. The bulk of studies addressing environmental influences focused on therapist intervention (154/296=52%), family/caregiver linguistic input (65/296=22%), or family/caregiver qualities (39/296=13%). A more in-depth review of all eligible studies published in 2013 (n=34) revealed that family/caregiver qualities served as the most commonly controlled environmental factor (e.g., SES) and only 3 studies explicitly noted the possibility of gene-environment interplay. This review highlighted the need to expand the research base for the field of CSD to include a broader range of environmental influences on child language development (e.g., diet, toxin exposure, stress) and to consider more directly the complex and dynamic interplay between genetic and environmental effects. Readers will be able to highlight causal factors on child language development that have been studied over the past decade in CSD and recognize additional influences worthy of consideration. In addition, readers will become familiar with basic tenets of developmental systems theory, including the complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors that shapes child development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The impact of maternal post-partum depression on the language development of children at 12 months.

PubMed

Quevedo, L A; Silva, R A; Godoy, R; Jansen, K; Matos, M B; Tavares Pinheiro, K A; Pinheiro, R T

2012-05-01

Language is one of the most important acquisitions made during childhood. Before verbal language, a child develops a range of skills and behaviours that allow the child to acquire all communication skills. Factors such as environmental factors, socio-economic status and interaction with parents can affect the acquisition of vocabulary in children. Post-partum depression can negatively affect the first interactions with the child and, consequently, the emotional, social and cognitive development of the child. To analyse the effect of the duration of the mother's depression on the language development of children at 12 months old. This was a longitudinal study. The participants of this study were mothers who had received prenatal care from the Brazilian National System of Public Health in Pelotas city, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The mothers were interviewed at two different time points: from 30 to 90 days after delivery and at 12 months after delivery; the children were also evaluated at this later time point. To diagnose maternal depression, we used the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, and to assess child development, we used the language scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development III. We followed 296 dyads. Maternal depression at both time points (post partum and at 12 months) was significantly associated with the language development of infants at 12 months of age. This impact was accentuated when related to the duration of the disorder. Older women and women with more than two children were more likely to have children with poorer language development, while women who were the primary caregiver had children with higher scores on the language test. The findings indicate that maternal age, parity, primary caregiver status and duration of post-partum depression are associated with the language development of the child. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Auditory Processing Disorder (For Parents)

MedlinePlus

... or other speech-language difficulties? Are verbal (word) math problems difficult for your child? Is your child ... inferences from conversations, understanding riddles, or comprehending verbal math problems — require heightened auditory processing and language levels. ...

Automated Assessment of Child Vocalization Development Using LENA.

PubMed

Richards, Jeffrey A; Xu, Dongxin; Gilkerson, Jill; Yapanel, Umit; Gray, Sharmistha; Paul, Terrance

2017-07-12

To produce a novel, efficient measure of children's expressive vocal development on the basis of automatic vocalization assessment (AVA), child vocalizations were automatically identified and extracted from audio recordings using Language Environment Analysis (LENA) System technology. Assessment was based on full-day audio recordings collected in a child's unrestricted, natural language environment. AVA estimates were derived using automatic speech recognition modeling techniques to categorize and quantify the sounds in child vocalizations (e.g., protophones and phonemes). These were expressed as phone and biphone frequencies, reduced to principal components, and inputted to age-based multiple linear regression models to predict independently collected criterion-expressive language scores. From these models, we generated vocal development AVA estimates as age-standardized scores and development age estimates. AVA estimates demonstrated strong statistical reliability and validity when compared with standard criterion expressive language assessments. Automated analysis of child vocalizations extracted from full-day recordings in natural settings offers a novel and efficient means to assess children's expressive vocal development. More research remains to identify specific mechanisms of operation.

Lexical and Grammatical Interference in the Speech of a Bilingual Child. Studies in Linguistics and Language Learning, Volume I.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kinzel, Paul F.

The spontaneous speech of a six-year-old bilingual child was analyzed for this study. The child has lived in the United States and English is her primary language but her parents speak only French in the home and she has spent several months in France during three visits there. The data used in this study were collected in the child's home by her…

Teaching Science to a Profoundly Deaf Child in a Mainstream Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spicer, Sally

2016-01-01

From her experience of teaching a profoundly deaf child learning science with British Sign Language (BSL) as the child's first language, Sally Spicer learned methods that could be good practice for all learners. In this article, Sally Spicer shares how providing an opportunity for first-hand experience to develop knowledge and understanding of…

Constructing Language: Evidence from a French-English Bilingual Child

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macrory, Gee

2007-01-01

This paper presents evidence from a French-English bilingual child between the ages of two years three months and three years five months, growing up bilingually from birth, with a French mother and English father in an English speaking environment. In focussing upon questions in the child's two languages, and charting in some detail the emergence…

Impacts of Teacher-Child Managed Whole-Group Language and Literacy Instruction on the Depth of Preschoolers' Social Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Tzu-Jung; Justice, Laura M.; Emery, Alyssa A.; Mashburn, Andrew J.; Pentimonti, Jill M.

2017-01-01

Research Findings: This study examined the potential impacts of ongoing participation (twice weekly for 30 weeks) in teacher-child managed whole-group language and literacy instruction on prekindergarten children's social interaction with classmates. Teacher-child managed whole-group instruction that provides children with opportunities to engage…

A Comparison of the Links between Emotional Availability and Language Gain in Young Children with and without Hearing Loss.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pressman, Leah J.; Pipp-Siegel, Sandra; Yoshinaga-Itano, Christine; Kubicek, Lorraine; Emde, Robert N.

1999-01-01

A study involving 21 toddlers with hearing impairments and 21 typical toddlers and their mothers found that child emotional availability made significant positive predictors of language gain. Maternal emotional availability, however, made significantly greater positive predictors of child language gain for children with hearing impairments than…

Thirty-Five Years of Care of Child Language in Egypt

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kotby, M. Nasser; El-Sady, Safaa; Hegazi, Mona

2010-01-01

The team of the Unit of Phoniatrics and Logopedics of the Ain Shams University Clinic in Cairo, Egypt, has worked for three and half decades to spread awareness of child language disorders. This involved publications to inform the public, as well as health care professionals, about the needs of children with delayed language, through description…

Comparing Language and Literacy Environments in Two Types of Infant-Toddler Child Care Centers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norris, Deborah J.

2017-01-01

Language development is a significant milestone in the infant/toddler years; vocabulary by 2 years of age is predictive of later school success. It has been recognized within the bioecological systems theoretical framework that language develops as a result of an interplay between characteristics of the child, features of the setting, and…

Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children. Child Language and Child Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oller, D. Kimbrough, Ed.; Eilers, Rebecca E., Ed.

This collection of papers reports research on the effects of bilingual learning on the ability to speak two languages and the ability to acquire full literacy in both. There are 12 chapters in 4 parts. Part 1, "Background," includes (1) "Assessing the Effects of Bilingualism: A Background" (D. Kimbrough Oller and Barbara Zurer…

Knowledge of an Aboriginal Language and School Outcomes for Children and Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guevremont, Anne; Kohen, Dafna E.

2012-01-01

This study uses data from the child and adult components of the 2001 Canadian Aboriginal Peoples Survey to examine what factors are related to speaking an Aboriginal language and how speaking an Aboriginal language is related to school outcomes. Even after controlling for child and family factors (age, sex, health status, household income, number…

Early Acquisition of Basic Word Order in Japanese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sugisaki, Koji

2008-01-01

The acquisition of word order has been one of the central issues in the study of child language. One striking finding from the detailed investigation of various child languages is that from the earliest observable stages, children are highly sensitive to the basic word order of their target language. However, the evidence so far comes mainly from…

Learning Grammatical Categories from Distributional Cues: Flexible Frames for Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. Clair, Michelle C.; Monaghan, Padraic; Christiansen, Morten H.

2010-01-01

Numerous distributional cues in the child's environment may potentially assist in language learning, but what cues are useful to the child and when are these cues utilised? We propose that the most useful source of distributional cue is a flexible frame surrounding the word, where the language learner integrates information from the preceding and…

Improving Latino Children's Early Language and Literacy Development: Key Features of Early Childhood Education within Family Literacy Programmes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jung, Youngok; Zuniga, Stephen; Howes, Carollee; Jeon, Hyun-Joo; Parrish, Deborah; Quick, Heather; Manship, Karen; Hauser, Alison

2016-01-01

Noting the lack of research on how early childhood education (ECE) programmes within family literacy programmes influence Latino children's early language and literacy development, this study examined key features of ECE programmes, specifically teacher-child interactions and child engagement in language and literacy activities and how these…

Books, toys, parent-child interaction, and development in young Latino children.

PubMed

Tomopoulos, Suzy; Dreyer, Benard P; Tamis-LeMonda, Catherine; Flynn, Virginia; Rovira, Irene; Tineo, Wendy; Mendelsohn, Alan L

2006-01-01

To describe the interrelationships between books and toys in the home, parent-child interaction, and child development at 21 months among low-income Latino children. Latino mother-infant dyads enrolled in a level 1 nursery and infants were followed to 21 months. The subjects consisted of the control group of a larger intervention study. At 6 and 18 months, the number of books and toys in the home and the frequency of reading aloud were measured by the StimQ. At 21 months, child cognitive and language development and parent-child interaction were assessed by the Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI), the Preschool Language Scale-3 (PLS-3), and the Caregiver-Child Interaction Rating Scale, respectively. Eligibility for early intervention (EI) services was determined on the basis of the MDI and PLS-3. Data were obtained for 46 (63.0%) of 73 at 21 months. In multiple regression analysis, books provided at 18 months predicted both cognition (semipartial correlation [sr] = .49, P= .001) and receptive language (sr = .37, P= .02), whereas toys provided at both 6 and 18 months predicted 21-month receptive language (sr = .40, P= .01; sr = .32, P= .047, respectively). Reading aloud by parents > or =4 days a week was associated with decreased EI eligibility (adjusted odds ratio = 0.16, 95% confidence interval 0.03-0.99). Reading aloud and provision of toys are associated with better child cognitive and language development as well as with decreased likelihood of EI eligibility.

Responsiveness of Child Care Providers in Interactions With Toddlers and Preschoolers.

PubMed

Girolametto, Luigi; Weitzman, Elaine

2002-10-01

This exploratory study investigated the responsive language input of 26 child care providers to young children enrolled in community child care centers. Three subtypes of responsive interaction strategies were rated and compared across two age groups (toddlers, preschoolers) and two naturalistic contexts (book reading, play dough activity). The toddlers were between 17 and 33 months of age and the preschoolers were between 30 and 53 months of age. Caregiver-child interactions were rated using the Teacher Interaction and Language Rating Scale (Girolametto, Weitzman, & Greenberg, 2000) to provide information about the frequency of responsive language strategies. Caregivers used similar levels of child-centered and interaction-promoting strategies with both age groups, but used more labelling with toddlers and more topic extensions with preschoolers. The context of the interaction exerted a systematic influence on the caregivers' use of responsive strategies, with the play dough activity providing the most responsive input overall. There was a strong positive relationship between all three subtypes of caregivers' responsiveness and variation in the preschoolers' language productivity. In contrast, only interaction-promoting strategies were positively related to measures of the toddlers' language productivity. The results of this study suggest that caregivers' responsiveness in group interactions is highly dependent on the context of the interaction and, to a lesser extent, on the language abilities of the children. Future research is required to determine if inservice training can enhance levels of responsiveness and accelerate language learning in young children in group care.

Automatic generation of the index of productive syntax for child language transcripts.

PubMed

Hassanali, Khairun-nisa; Liu, Yang; Iglesias, Aquiles; Solorio, Thamar; Dollaghan, Christine

2014-03-01

The index of productive syntax (IPSyn; Scarborough (Applied Psycholinguistics 11:1-22, 1990) is a measure of syntactic development in child language that has been used in research and clinical settings to investigate the grammatical development of various groups of children. However, IPSyn is mostly calculated manually, which is an extremely laborious process. In this article, we describe the AC-IPSyn system, which automatically calculates the IPSyn score for child language transcripts using natural language processing techniques. Our results show that the AC-IPSyn system performs at levels comparable to scores computed manually. The AC-IPSyn system can be downloaded from www.hlt.utdallas.edu/~nisa/ipsyn.html .

Relation between language experiences in preschool classrooms and children's kindergarten and fourth-grade language and reading abilities.

PubMed

Dickinson, David K; Porche, Michelle V

2011-01-01

Indirect effects of preschool classroom indexes of teacher talk were tested on fourth-grade outcomes for 57 students from low-income families in a longitudinal study of classroom and home influences on reading. Detailed observations and audiotaped teacher and child language data were coded to measure content and quantity of verbal interactions in preschool classrooms. Preschool teachers' use of sophisticated vocabulary during free play predicted fourth-grade reading comprehension and word recognition (mean age=9; 7), with effects mediated by kindergarten child language measures (mean age=5; 6). In large group preschool settings, teachers' attention-getting utterances were directly related to later comprehension. Preschool teachers' correcting utterances and analytic talk about books, and early support in the home for literacy predicted fourth-grade vocabulary, as mediated by kindergarten receptive vocabulary. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Parenting stress in parents of children with cochlear implants: relationships among parent stress, child language, and unilateral versus bilateral implants.

PubMed

Sarant, Julia; Garrard, Philippa

2014-01-01

Little attention has been focused on stress levels of parents of children with cochlear implants (CIs). This study examined the stress experience of 70 parents of children with CIs by comparing stress levels in this group of parents to those in parents of children without disabilities, identifying primary stressors, examining the relationship between parent stress and child language, and comparing stress in parents of children with bilateral and unilateral CIs. Parents completed a parent stress questionnaire, and the receptive vocabulary and language abilities of the children were evaluated. Results indicated that these parents had a higher incidence of stress than the normative population. Parent stress levels and child language outcomes were negatively correlated. Child behavior and lack of spousal and social support were the prime causes of parent stress. Parents of children with bilateral CIs were significantly less stressed than were parents of children with unilateral CIs.

Parent Stress and Perceptions of Language Development: Comparing Down Syndrome and Other Developmental Disabilities

PubMed Central

Smith, Ashlyn L.; Romski, MaryAnn; Sevcik, Rose A.; Adamson, Lauren B.; Barker, R. Michael

2013-01-01

This study extended research on the Down syndrome advantage by examining differences in parent stress and parent perceptions of language development between 29 parents of young children with Down syndrome and 82 parents of children with other developmental disabilities. Parents of children with Down syndrome reported lower levels of total stress, child-related stress, and stress surrounding the parent-child interaction. Parents of children in both groups reported that they felt successful in their ability to impact their children’s communication development but did differ on perceptions of difficulty such that parents of children with Down syndrome perceived their children’s communication difficulties as less severe despite the children exhibiting similar language skills. Finally, after accounting for potential explanatory confounding variables, child diagnosis remained a significant predictor of parent stress and perceptions of language development. Results highlight the importance of considering etiology when assisting families raising a child with a disability. PMID:24753637

Comparison of child obesity prevention and control content in mainstream and Spanish-language US parenting magazines.

PubMed

Kalin, Sari R; Fung, Teresa T

2013-01-01

Mass media coverage of child obesity is rising, paralleling the child obesity epidemic's growth, and there is evidence that parents seek parenting advice from media sources. Yet little to no research has examined the coverage of child obesity in parenting magazines or Spanish-language media. The purpose of this study was to use qualitative and quantitative content analysis methods to identify, quantify, and compare strategies for child obesity prevention and control presented in mainstream and Spanish-language US parenting magazines. Child obesity-related editorial content in 68 mainstream and 20 Spanish-language magazine issues published over 32 months was gathered. Magazine content was coded with a manual developed by refining themes from the sample and from an evidence-based child obesity prevention action plan. Seventy-three articles related to child obesity prevention and control were identified. Most focused on parental behavior change rather than environmental change, and only 3 in 10 articles referred to the social context in which parental behavior change takes place. Child obesity-focused articles were not given high prominence; only one in four articles in the entire sample referred to child obesity as a growing problem or epidemic. Key differences between genres reflect culturally important Latino themes, including family focus and changing health beliefs around child weight status. Given mass media's potential influence on parenting practices and public perceptions, nutrition communication professionals and registered dietitians need to work to reframe media coverage of childhood obesity as an environmental problem that requires broad-based policy solutions. Spanish-speaking media can be an ally in helping Latina women change cultural health beliefs around child weight status. Copyright © 2013 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Speech and language support: How physicians can identify and treat speech and language delays in the office setting.

PubMed

Moharir, Madhavi; Barnett, Noel; Taras, Jillian; Cole, Martha; Ford-Jones, E Lee; Levin, Leo

2014-01-01

Failure to recognize and intervene early in speech and language delays can lead to multifaceted and potentially severe consequences for early child development and later literacy skills. While routine evaluations of speech and language during well-child visits are recommended, there is no standardized (office) approach to facilitate this. Furthermore, extensive wait times for speech and language pathology consultation represent valuable lost time for the child and family. Using speech and language expertise, and paediatric collaboration, key content for an office-based tool was developed. early and accurate identification of speech and language delays as well as children at risk for literacy challenges; appropriate referral to speech and language services when required; and teaching and, thus, empowering parents to create rich and responsive language environments at home. Using this tool, in combination with the Canadian Paediatric Society's Read, Speak, Sing and Grow Literacy Initiative, physicians will be better positioned to offer practical strategies to caregivers to enhance children's speech and language capabilities. The tool represents a strategy to evaluate speech and language delays. It depicts age-specific linguistic/phonetic milestones and suggests interventions. The tool represents a practical interim treatment while the family is waiting for formal speech and language therapy consultation.

Predictors of second language acquisition in Latino children with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Gutiérrez-Clellen, Vera; Simon-Cereijido, Gabriela; Sweet, Monica

2012-02-01

This study evaluated the extent to which the language of intervention, the child's development in Spanish, and the effects of English vocabulary, use, proficiency, and exposure predict differences in the rates of acquisition of English in Latino children with specific language impairment (SLI). In this randomized controlled trial, 188 Latino preschoolers with SLI participated in a small-group academic enrichment program for 12 weeks and were followed up 3 and 5 months later. Children were randomly assigned to either a bilingual or an English-only program. Predictors of English growth included measures of Spanish language skills and English vocabulary, use, proficiency, and exposure. Performance on English outcomes (i.e., picture description and narrative sample) was assessed over time. A series of longitudinal models were tested via multilevel modeling with baseline and posttreatment measures nested within child. Children demonstrated growth on the English outcomes over time. The language of intervention, Spanish skills, English vocabulary, and English use significantly predicted differences in rates of growth across children for specific measures of English development. This study underscores the role of the child's first language skills, the child's level of English vocabulary development, and level of English use for predicting differences in English acquisition in Latino preschoolers with SLI. These factors should be carefully considered in making clinical decisions.

The influence of maternal language responsiveness on the expressive speech production of children with autism spectrum disorders: a microanalysis of mother-child play interactions.

PubMed

Walton, Katherine M; Ingersoll, Brooke R

2015-05-01

Adult responsiveness is related to language development both in young typically developing children and in children with autism spectrum disorders, such that parents who use more responsive language with their children have children who develop better language skills over time. This study used a micro-analytic technique to examine how two facets of maternal utterances, relationship to child focus of attention and degree of demandingness, influenced the immediate use of appropriate expressive language of preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorders (n = 28) and toddlers with typical development (n = 16) within a naturalistic mother-child play session. Mothers' use of follow-in demanding language was most likely to elicit appropriate expressive speech in both children with autism spectrum disorders and children with typical development. For children with autism spectrum disorders, but not children with typical development, mothers' use of orienting cues conferred an additional benefit for expressive speech production. These findings are consistent with the naturalistic behavioral intervention philosophy and suggest that following a child's lead while prompting for language is likely to elicit speech production in children with autism spectrum disorders and children with typical development. Furthermore, using orienting cues may help children with autism spectrum disorders to verbally respond. © The Author(s) 2014.

Harmonic biases in child learners: In support of language universals

PubMed Central

Culbertson, Jennifer; Newport, Elissa L.

2015-01-01

A fundamental question for cognitive science concerns the ways in which languages are shaped by the biases of language learners. Recent research using laboratory language learning paradigms, primarily with adults, has shown that structures or rules that are common in the languages of the world are learned or processed more easily than patterns that are rare or unattested. Here we target child learners, investigating a set of biases for word order learning in the noun phrase studied by Culbertson, Smolensky & Legendre (2012) in college-age adults. We provide the first evidence that child learners exhibit a preference for typologically common harmonic word order patterns—those which preserve the order of the head with respect to its complements—validating the psychological reality of a principle formalized in many different linguistic theories. We also discuss important differences between child and adult learners in terms of both the strength and content of the biases at play during language learning. In particular, the bias favoring harmonic patterns is markedly stronger in children than adults, and children (unlike adults) acquire adjective ordering more readily than numeral ordering. The results point to the importance of investigating learning biases across development in order to understand how these biases may shape the history and structure of natural languages. PMID:25800352

The Role of Language Skill in Child Psychopathology: Implications for Intervention in the Early Years.

PubMed

Salmon, Karen; O'Kearney, Richard; Reese, Elaine; Fortune, Clare-Ann

2016-12-01

In this narrative review, we suggest that children's language skill should be targeted in clinical interventions for children with emotional and behavioral difficulties in the preschool years. We propose that language skill predicts childhood emotional and behavioral problems and this relationship may be mediated by children's self-regulation and emotion understanding skills. In the first sections, we review recent high-quality longitudinal studies which together demonstrate that that children's early language skill predicts: (1) emotional and behavioral problems, and this relationship is stronger than the reverse pattern; (2) self-regulation skill; this pattern may be stronger than the reverse pattern but moderated by child age. Findings also suggest that self-regulation skill mediates the relation between early language skill and children's emotional and behavioral problems. There is insufficient evidence regarding the mediating role of emotion understanding. In subsequent sections, we review evidence demonstrating that: (1) particular kinds of developmentally targeted parent-child conversations play a vital role in the development of language skill, and (2) some current clinical interventions, directly or indirectly, have a beneficial impact on children's vocabulary and narrative skills, but most approaches are ad hoc. Targeting language via parent-child conversation has the potential to improve the outcomes of current clinical interventions in the preschool years.

Risk factors for proper oral language development in children: a systematic literature review.

PubMed

Gurgel, Léia Gonçalves; Vidor, Deisi Cristina Gollo Marques; Joly, Maria Cristina Rodrigues Azevedo; Reppold, Caroline Tozzi

2014-01-01

To conduct a systematic review of literature production related to risk factors for proper oral language development in children. We used the terms "child language," "risk factors," and "randomized controlled trial" in MEDLINE (accessed via PubMed), Lilacs, SciELO, and The Cochrane Library from January 1980 to February 2014. Randomized controlled trials involving the study of some risk factors related to child language were included. Works with individuals who were not from the age group 0-12 years and presented no reliable definition of risk factors were excluded. The research findings were classified according to their theme and categorized methodological aspects. We observed the lack of a standardized list of risk factors for language available for health professionals. The main risk factor mentioned was family dynamics, followed by interaction with parents, immediate social environment, and encouragement given to the child in the first years of life. It was also observed that organic hazards such as brain injury, persistent otitis media, and cardiac surgery, besides the type of food and parental counseling, may be related to language disorders. More randomized controlled trials involving the evaluation of risk factors for child language and the creation of further studies involving children above 6 years of age and males are needed.

Long-Term Stability of Core Language Skill in Children with Contrasting Language Skills

PubMed Central

Bornstein, Marc H.; Hahn, Chun-Shin; Putnick, Diane L.

2016-01-01

This four-wave longitudinal study evaluated stability of core language skill in 421 European American and African American children, half of whom were identified as low (n = 201) and half of whom were average-to-high (n = 220) in later language skill. Structural equation modeling supported loadings of multivariate age-appropriate multisource measures of child language on single latent variables of core language skill at 15 and 25 months and 5 and 11 years. Significant stability coefficients were obtained between language latent variables for children of low and average-to-high language skill, even accounting for child positive social interaction and nonverbal intelligence, maternal education and language, and family home environment. Prospects for children with different language skills and intervention implications are discussed. PMID:26998572

Autism and Bilingualism: A Qualitative Interview Study of Parents' Perspectives and Experiences.

PubMed

Hampton, Sarah; Rabagliati, Hugh; Sorace, Antonella; Fletcher-Watson, Sue

2017-02-01

Research into how bilingual parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make choices about their children's language environment is scarce. This study aimed to explore this issue, focusing on understanding how bilingual parents of children with ASD may make different language exposure choices compared with bilingual parents of children without ASD. Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 bilingual parents with a child with ASD and 18 bilingual parents with a typically developing (TD) child. Thematic analysis revealed that, in contrast to parents of TD children, parents with a child with ASD expressed concerns that a bilingual environment would cause confusion for their child and exacerbate language delays. This was particularly common for parents of children with lower verbal ability. Parents also identified potential benefits of bilingualism, particularly in terms of maintaining a close and affectionate bond with their child. Parents of children with ASD have concerns about bilingualism not present for parents of TD children, and these concerns are greater for parents of children with lower verbal ability. Future research in this area should take into account factors such as parent-child bonds as well as communication and language development.

Maternal Responsiveness Predicts Child Language at Ages 3 and 4 in a Community-Based Sample of Slow-to-Talk Toddlers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson, Sophie; Levickis, Penny; Down, Kate; Nicholls, Ruth; Wake, Melissa

2015-01-01

Background: Maternal responsiveness has been shown to predict child language outcomes in clinical samples of children with language delay and non-representative samples of typically developing children. An effective and timely measure of maternal responsiveness for use at the population level has not yet been established. Aims: To determine…

The Home Literacy Environment: Exploring How Media and Parent-Child Interactions Are Associated with Children's Language Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liebeskind, Kara G.; Piotrowski, Jessica T.; Lapierre, Matthew A.; Linebarger, Deborah L.

2014-01-01

Children who start school with strong language skills initiate a trajectory of academic success, while children with weaker skills are likely to struggle. Research has demonstrated that media and parent-child interactions, both characteristics of the home literacy environment, influence children's language skills. Using a national sample of…

Early Pragmatic Differentiation in Japanese and German: A Case Study of a Developing Trilingual Child in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nibun, Yukari; Wigglesworth, Gillian

2014-01-01

While acquisition of more than one language from birth is a relatively common phenomenon, whether children under two years of age use their languages in a differentiated manner has not yet been established. The current study investigates the pragmatic differentiation of a child who lives in Australia and was acquiring two minority languages,…

Marginalizing English as a Second Language Teacher Expertise: The Exclusionary Consequence of "No Child Left Behind"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, Candace A.; de Jong, Ester J.; Platt, Elizabeth J.

2008-01-01

"No Child Left Behind" (NCLB, 2001) fails to recognize English as a second language (ESL) as a specialized academic discipline in which teachers should be "highly qualified." In this paper we examine the impact of this policy failure on the practice of teachers of K-12 English language learners (ELLs), particularly in the…

Relevant Responding in Pragmatic Language Impairment: The Role of Language Variation in the Information-Soliciting Utterance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vigil, Vannesa T.; Eyer, Julia A.; Hardee, W Paul

2005-01-01

Responding relevantly to an information-soliciting utterance (ISU) is required of a school-age child many times daily. For the child with pragmatic language difficulties, this may be especially problematic, yet clinicians have had few data to design intervention for improving these skills. This small-scale study looks at the ability of a child…

Reading Aloud to Children: Benefits and Implications for Acquiring Literacy Before Schooling Begins.

PubMed

Massaro, Dominic W

2017-01-01

Extensive experience in written language might provide children the opportunity to learn to read in the same manner they learn spoken language. One potential type of written language immersion is reading aloud to children, which is additionally valuable because the vocabulary in picture books is richer and more extensive than that found in child-directed speech. This study continues a comparison between these 2 communication media by evaluating their relative linguistic and cognitive complexity. Although reading grade level has been used only to assess the complexity of written language, it was also applied to both child-directed and adult-directed speech. Five measures of reading grade level gave an average grade level of 4.2 for picture books, 1.9 for child-directed speech, and 3.0 for adult-directed speech. The language in picture books is more challenging than that found in both child-directed and adult-directed speech. It is proposed that this difference between written and spoken language is the formal versus informal genre of their occurrence rather than their text or oral medium. The value of reading books aloud therefore exposes children to a linguistic and cognitive complexity not typically found in speech to children.

The language growth of spanish-speaking English language learners.

PubMed

Rojas, Raúl; Iglesias, Aquiles

2013-01-01

Although the research literature regarding language growth trajectories is burgeoning, the shape and direction of English Language Learners' (ELLs) language growth trajectories are largely not known. This study used growth curve modeling to determine the shape of ELLs' language growth trajectories across 12,248 oral narrative language samples (6,516 Spanish; 5,732 English) produced by 1,723 ELLs during the first 3 years of formal schooling (M age at first observation = 5 years 7 months). Results indicated distinct trajectories of language growth over time for each language differentially impacted by summer vacation and gender, significant intra- and interindividual differences in initial status and growth rates across both languages, and language-specific relations between language growth and initial status. Implications of ELLs' language growth are discussed. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Language development in a non-vocal child.

PubMed

Rogow, S M

1994-01-01

Many children who cannot speak, comprehend both oral and written language. Having knowledge of language is not the same as being able to use language for social transactions. Non-vocal children learn to use augmented and assisted systems, but they experience specific difficulties in initiating and maintaining conversations and making use of the pragmatic functions of language. The purpose of this study was to investigate the semantic and syntactic knowledge of a child with severe multiple disabilities who can read and write and comprehend two languages, but does not initiate conversation. The study demonstrates that high levels of language comprehension and ability to read and write do not automatically transfer to conversational competence or narrative ability.

Predictors of Language Gains Among School-Age Children With Language Impairment in the Public Schools.

PubMed

Justice, Laura M; Jiang, Hui; Logan, Jessica A; Schmitt, Mary Beth

2017-06-10

This study aimed to identify child-level characteristics that predict gains in language skills for children with language impairment who were receiving therapy within the public schools. The therapy provided represented business-as-usual speech/language treatment provided by speech-language pathologists in the public schools. The sample included 272 kindergartners and first-graders with language impairment who participated in a larger study titled "Speech-Therapy Experiences in the Public Schools." Multilevel regression analyses were applied to examine the extent to which select child-level characteristics, including age, nonverbal cognition, memory, phonological awareness, vocabulary, behavior problems, and self-regulation, predicted children's language gains over an academic year. Pratt indices were computed to establish the relative importance of the predictors of interest. Phonological awareness and vocabulary skill related to greater gains in language skills, and together they accounted for nearly 70% of the explained variance, or 10% of total variance at child level. Externalizing behavior, nonverbal cognition, and age were also potentially important predictors of language gains. This study significantly advances our understanding of the characteristics of children that may contribute to their language gains while receiving therapy in the public schools. Researchers can explore how these characteristics may serve to moderate treatment outcomes, whereas clinicians can assess how these characteristics may factor into understanding treatment responses.

Volubility as a Mediator in the Associations between Conversational Language Measures and Child Temperament

PubMed Central

DeThorne, Laura Segebart; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Mahurin-Smith, Jamie; Coletto, Mary-Kelsey; Petrill, Stephen A.

2015-01-01

Background Despite support for the use of conversational language measures, concerns remain regarding the extent to which they may be confounded with aspects of child temperament, extraversion in particular. Aims This study of 161 twins from the Western Reserve Reading Project (WRRP) examined the associations between children’s conversational language use and three key aspects of child temperament: Surgency (i.e., introversion/extraversion), Effortful Control (i.e., attention and task persistence), and Negative Affectivity (e.g., fear, anger, sadness). Child biological sex was considered as a possible moderating factor. Methods & Procedures Correlational analyses were conducted between aspects of temperament during early school-age years (i.e., 7 to 8 yrs), as measured by the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire-Short Form (CBQ; Putnam & Rothbart, 2006), and six different measures of children’s conversational language use: total number of complete and intelligible utterances (TCICU), number of total words (NTW), mean length of utterance (MLU), total number of conjunctions (TNC), number of different words (NDW), and measure D (i.e., a measure of lexical diversity). Values for NTW, TNC, and NDW were derived both on the entire sample and on the first 100 C-units. Correlations between language and temperament were compared between girls and boys using the Fisher r-to-z transformation to examine the significance of potential moderating effects. Outcomes & Results Children’s reported variability in Effortful Control did not correlate significantly with any of the child language measures. In contrast, children’s Negative Affectivity and Surgency tended to demonstrate positive, albeit modest, correlations with those conversational language measures that were derived from the sample as a whole, rather than from a standardized number of utterances. MLU, as well as measures of NDW and NTW derived from standardized sample lengths of 100 C-units, did not correlate with any measure of child temperament. TNC demonstrated an unexpected negative correlation with child Surgency when it was derived from a standardized number of C-units but not when derived from the entire sample length. Child biological sex did not moderate the significant associations between language and temperament measures. Conclusions & Implications Overall, measures that control for volubility did not correlate significantly with child temperament; however, measures that reflected volubility tended to correlate weakly with some aspects of temperament, particularly Surgency. Results provide a degree of discriminant evidence for the validity of MLU and measures of type (i.e., NDW) and token use (i.e., NTW) when derived from a standardized number of utterances. PMID:22026571

Maternal input to children with specific language impairment during shared book reading: is mothers' language in tune with their children's production?

PubMed

Majorano, Marinella; Lavelli, Manuela

2014-01-01

The literature on input addressed to children with specific language impairment (SLI) has shown contrasting results on the role that parents assume during conversational interactions. Some studies have shown that parents compensate for the child's linguistic limitations. In contrast, other studies have indicated that mothers are able to adjust their communication in response to their children's language characteristics. To assess the 'closeness of fit' between maternal input and child language profiles in children with SLI during shared book reading. To achieve this aim, the individual linguistic features of a group of children with SLI and their mothers were compared with those of two typically developing (TD) groups and the 'distances' (i.e., the differences between the mother's and her child's linguistic indices) within each dyad were compared. Three groups of children with their mothers participated in the study: 14 children with expressive SLI, 14 language age-matched TD children (LA-matched group), and 14 chronological age-matched TD children (CA-matched group). Each mother-child dyad was videotaped during two weekly sessions of shared book reading, at home. All sessions were entirely transcribed. For each session, the following indices were then considered: whole-word phonological indices, grammatical categories and lexical indices for types and tokens, and the distance between the mother's and the child's linguistic indices within individual dyads. Analysis of the differences between phonological, lexical and morphosyntactic characteristics of the mothers' and children's language indicated that both children with SLI and their mothers produced adjectives and adverbs with lower phonological complexity and with higher frequency of use compared with the CA-matched group, and nouns with lower frequency of use and higher age of acquisition compared with the LA-matched group. In addition, individual dyads within the SLI group displayed reduced distances between linguistic indices produced by the mother and child compared with dyads within the CA-matched group. On the whole these findings suggest that mothers of children with SLI are able to tune their language to their children's linguistic limitations. These findings may contribute to improving early intervention programmes with children with SLI by focusing on the mother-child interaction during shared book reading. © 2013 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Home literacy environment profiles of children with language impairment: associations with caregiver- and child-specific factors.

PubMed

Tambyraja, Sherine R; Schmitt, Mary Beth; Farquharson, Kelly; Justice, Laura M

2017-03-01

Numerous studies suggest a positive relationship between the home literacy environment (HLE) and children's language and literacy skills, yet very little research has focused on the HLE of children with language impairment (LI). Children with LI are at risk for reading difficulties; thus, understanding the nature and frequency of their home literacy interactions is warranted. To identify unique HLE profiles within a large sample of children with LI, and to determine relevant caregiver- and child-specific factors that predict children's profile membership. Participants were 195 kindergarten and first-grade children with LI who were receiving school-based language therapy. Caregivers completed a comprehensive questionnaire regarding their child's HLE, and the extent to which their child engaged in shared book reading, were taught about letters, initiated or asked to be read to, and chose to read independently. Caregivers also answered questions regarding the highest level of maternal education, caregiver history of reading difficulties, and caregiver reading habits. Children completed a language and literacy battery in the fall of their academic year. Latent profile analyses indicated a three-profile solution, representing high, average and low frequency of the selected HLE indicators. Multinomial regression further revealed that caregivers' own reading habits influenced children's profile membership, as did child age and language abilities. These results highlight the considerable variability in the frequency of home literacy interactions of children with LI. Future work examining relations between familial reading practices and literacy outcomes for children with LI is warranted. © 2016 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Music and Sign Language to Promote Infant and Toddler Communication and Enhance Parent-Child Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colwell, Cynthia; Memmott, Jenny; Meeker-Miller, Anne

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of using music and/or sign language to promote early communication in infants and toddlers (6-20 months) and to enhance parent-child interactions. Three groups used for this study were pairs of participants (care-giver(s) and child) assigned to each group: 1) Music Alone 2) Sign Language…

Design and Psychometric Considerations for Assessments of Speaking Proficiency: The English Language Development Assessment (ELDA) as Illustration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrara, Steve

2008-01-01

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires all states to assess the English proficiency of English language learners each school year. Under Title I and Title III of No Child Left Behind, states are required to measure the annual growth of students' English language development in reading, listening, writing, and speaking and in comprehension…

Why We Need To Watch, Look, and Listen When Young Children Write: What We Can Learn from Them about Their Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntosh, Margaret

The intricate quilt pattern of child language development can be pieced together from the numerous swatches of each child's language fabric which have been gathered by watching, looking, and listening when young children write. The necessity of watching, looking, and listening is demonstrated by the example of a preschooler's verbal protocol which…

The Cognitive Validity of Child English Language Tests: What Young Language Learners and Their Native-Speaking Peers Can Reveal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winke, Paula; Lee, Shinhye; Ahn, Jieun Irene; Choi, Ina; Cui, Yaqiong; Yoon, Hyung-Jo

2018-01-01

This study investigated the cognitive validity of two child English language tests. Some teachers maintain that these types of tests may be cognitively invalid because native-English-speaking children would not do well on them (Winke, 2011). So the researchers had native speakers and learners of English aged 7 to 9 take sample versions of two…

An Exploratory Study of Selected Aspects of the Relationship Between Family Interaction and Language Development in Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hubbell, Robert Denton

Sixteen middle class, four-person families were used in a study comparing communicative behavior of parents interacting with a younger child (3 or 4 years old) whose language skills were developing, and with an older child (6 or 7 years old) whose basic language skills were established. Combinations of sex of siblings and sibling position were…

Developmental Asynchrony in the Acquisition of Subject Properties in Child L2 English and Spanish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pladevall-Ballester, Elisabet

2016-01-01

Given that L1A of subject properties in non-null subject languages emerges later than that of null subject languages, this study aims at determining to what extent the same pattern of acquisition is observed in early child L2A in bilingual immersion settings where English and Spanish are both source and target languages. Using an elicited oral…

School Leavers with Learning Disabilities Moving from Child to Adult Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) Teams: SLTs' Views of Successful and Less Successful Transition Co-Working Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCartney, Elspeth; Muir, Margaret

2017-01-01

School-leaving for pupils with long-term speech, language, swallowing or communication difficulties requires careful management. Speech and language therapists (SLTs) support communication, secure assistive technology and manage swallowing difficulties post-school. UK SLTs are employed by health services, with child SLT teams based in schools.…

Does the Shallow Structures Proposal Account for Qualitative Differences in First and Second Language Processing?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sabourin, Laura

2006-01-01

In their Keynote Article, Clahsen and Felser (CF) provide a detailed summary and comparison of grammatical processing in adult first language (L1) speakers, child L1 speakers, and second language (L2) speakers. CF conclude that child and adult L1 processing makes use of a continuous parsing mechanism, and that any differences found in processing…

The Impact of Bimodal Bilingual Parental Input on the Communication and Language Development of a Young Deaf Child

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levesque, Elizabeth; Brown, P. Margaret; Wigglesworth, Gillian

2014-01-01

This study explores the impact of bimodal bilingual parental input on the communication and language development of a young deaf child. The participants in this case study were a severe-to-profoundly deaf boy and his hearing parents, who were enrolled in a bilingual (English and Australian Sign Language) homebased early intervention programme. The…

Timing of High-Quality Child Care and Cognitive, Language, and Preacademic Development

PubMed Central

Li, Weilin; Farkas, George; Duncan, Greg J.; Burchinal, Margaret R.; Vandell, Deborah Lowe

2014-01-01

The effects of high- versus low-quality child care during 2 developmental periods (infant–toddlerhood and preschool) were examined using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Propensity score matching was used to account for differences in families who used different combinations of child care quality during the 2 developmental periods. Findings indicated that cognitive, language, and preacademic skills prior to school entry were highest among children who experienced high-quality care in both the infant–toddler and preschool periods, somewhat lower among children who experienced high-quality child care during only 1 of these periods, and lowest among children who experienced low-quality care during both periods. Irrespective of the care received during infancy–toddlerhood, high-quality preschool care was related to better language and preacademic outcomes at the end of the preschool period; high-quality infant–toddler care, irrespective of preschool care, was related to better memory skills at the end of the preschool period. PMID:23127299

Predicting behavior problems in deaf and hearing children: The influences of language, attention, and parent–child communication

PubMed Central

Barker, David H.; Quittner, Alexandra L.; Fink, Nancy E.; Eisenberg, Laurie S.; Tobey, Emily A.; Niparko, John K.

2009-01-01

The development of language and communication may play an important role in the emergence of behavioral problems in young children, but they are rarely included in predictive models of behavioral development. In this study, cross-sectional relationships between language, attention, and behavior problems were examined using parent report, videotaped observations, and performance measures in a sample of 116 severely and profoundly deaf and 69 normally hearing children ages 1.5 to 5 years. Secondary analyses were performed on data collected as part of the Childhood Development After Cochlear Implantation Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hearing-impaired children showed more language, attention, and behavioral difficulties, and spent less time communicating with their parents than normally hearing children. Structural equation modeling indicated there were significant relationships between language, attention, and child behavior problems. Language was associated with behavior problems both directly and indirectly through effects on attention. Amount of parent–child communication was not related to behavior problems. PMID:19338689

Predicting behavior problems in deaf and hearing children: the influences of language, attention, and parent-child communication.

PubMed

Barker, David H; Quittner, Alexandra L; Fink, Nancy E; Eisenberg, Laurie S; Tobey, Emily A; Niparko, John K

2009-01-01

The development of language and communication may play an important role in the emergence of behavioral problems in young children, but they are rarely included in predictive models of behavioral development. In this study, cross-sectional relationships between language, attention, and behavior problems were examined using parent report, videotaped observations, and performance measures in a sample of 116 severely and profoundly deaf and 69 normally hearing children ages 1.5 to 5 years. Secondary analyses were performed on data collected as part of the Childhood Development After Cochlear Implantation Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hearing-impaired children showed more language, attention, and behavioral difficulties, and spent less time communicating with their parents than normally hearing children. Structural equation modeling indicated there were significant relationships between language, attention, and child behavior problems. Language was associated with behavior problems both directly and indirectly through effects on attention. Amount of parent-child communication was not related to behavior problems.

Sources of variability in language development of children with cochlear implants: age at implantation, parental language, and early features of children's language construction.

PubMed

Szagun, Gisela; Schramm, Satyam A

2016-05-01

The aim of the present study was to analyze the relative influence of age at implantation, parental expansions, and child language internal factors on grammatical progress in children with cochlear implants (CI). Data analyses used two longitudinal corpora of spontaneous speech samples, one with twenty-two and one with twenty-six children, implanted between 0;6 and 3;10. Analyses were performed on the combined and separate samples. Regression analyses indicate that early child MLU is the strongest predictor of child MLU two and two-and-a-half years later, followed by parental expansions and age at implantation. Associations between earliest MLU gains and MLU two years later point to stability of individual differences. Early type and token frequencies of determiners predict MLU two years later more strongly than early frequency of lexical words. We conclude that features of CI children's very early language have considerable predictive value for later language outcomes.

Modifying the verbal expression of a child with autistic behaviors.

PubMed

Hargrave, E; Swisher, L

1975-06-01

The Bell and Howell Language Master was used in conjunction with the Monterey Language Program to modify the verbal expression of a nine-year-old boy with autistic behaviors. The goal was to train the child to correctly name up to 10 pictures presented individually. Two training modes were used. For one, the therapist spoke at the time (live voice). For the other, she presented a tape recording of her voice via a Language Master. The results suggested that the child's responses to the Language Master were as good as, if not better than, his responses to the live-voice presentations. In addition, observation indicated that he responded more readily to the Language Master presentations. His spontaneous speech was also noted by independent observers to improve in his classroom and in his home. Possible reasons for the improvement in verbal expression are considered.

Learning grammatical categories from distributional cues: flexible frames for language acquisition.

PubMed

St Clair, Michelle C; Monaghan, Padraic; Christiansen, Morten H

2010-09-01

Numerous distributional cues in the child's environment may potentially assist in language learning, but what cues are useful to the child and when are these cues utilised? We propose that the most useful source of distributional cue is a flexible frame surrounding the word, where the language learner integrates information from the preceding and the succeeding word for grammatical categorisation. In corpus analyses of child-directed speech together with computational models of category acquisition, we show that these flexible frames are computationally advantageous for language learning, as they benefit from the coverage of bigram information across a large proportion of the language environment as well as exploiting the enhanced accuracy of trigram information. Flexible frames are also consistent with the developmental trajectory of children's sensitivity to different sources of distributional information, and they are therefore a useful and usable information source for supporting the acquisition of grammatical categories. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Speech and language support: How physicians can identify and treat speech and language delays in the office setting

PubMed Central

Moharir, Madhavi; Barnett, Noel; Taras, Jillian; Cole, Martha; Ford-Jones, E Lee; Levin, Leo

2014-01-01

Failure to recognize and intervene early in speech and language delays can lead to multifaceted and potentially severe consequences for early child development and later literacy skills. While routine evaluations of speech and language during well-child visits are recommended, there is no standardized (office) approach to facilitate this. Furthermore, extensive wait times for speech and language pathology consultation represent valuable lost time for the child and family. Using speech and language expertise, and paediatric collaboration, key content for an office-based tool was developed. The tool aimed to help physicians achieve three main goals: early and accurate identification of speech and language delays as well as children at risk for literacy challenges; appropriate referral to speech and language services when required; and teaching and, thus, empowering parents to create rich and responsive language environments at home. Using this tool, in combination with the Canadian Paediatric Society’s Read, Speak, Sing and Grow Literacy Initiative, physicians will be better positioned to offer practical strategies to caregivers to enhance children’s speech and language capabilities. The tool represents a strategy to evaluate speech and language delays. It depicts age-specific linguistic/phonetic milestones and suggests interventions. The tool represents a practical interim treatment while the family is waiting for formal speech and language therapy consultation. PMID:24627648

Effects of the teach-model-coach-review instructional approach on caregiver use of language support strategies and children's expressive language skills.

PubMed

Roberts, Megan Y; Kaiser, Ann P; Wolfe, Cathy E; Bryant, Julie D; Spidalieri, Alexandria M

2014-10-01

In this study, the authors examined the effects of the Teach-Model-Coach-Review instructional approach on caregivers' use of four enhanced milieu teaching (EMT) language support strategies and on their children's use of expressive language. Four caregiver-child dyads participated in a single-subject, multiple-baseline study. Children were between 24 and 42 months of age and had language impairment. Interventionists used the Teach-Model-Coach-Review instructional approach to teach caregivers to use matched turns, expansions, time delays, and milieu teaching prompts during 24 individualized clinic sessions. Caregiver use of each EMT language support strategy and child use of communication targets were the dependent variables. The caregivers demonstrated increases in their use of each EMT language support strategy after instruction. Generalization and maintenance of strategy use to the home was limited, indicating that teaching across routines is necessary to achieve maximal outcomes. All children demonstrated gains in their use of communication targets and in their performance on norm-referenced measures of language. The results indicate that the Teach-Model-Coach-Review instructional approach resulted in increased use of EMT language support strategies by caregivers. Caregiver use of these strategies was associated with positive changes in child language skills.

Developmental delay in communication among toddlers and its relationship to caregiving behavior among violence-exposed, posttraumatically stressed mothers.

PubMed

Torrisi, R; Arnautovic, E; Pointet Perizzolo, V C; Vital, M; Manini, A; Suardi, F; Gex-Fabry, M; Rusconi Serpa, S; Schechter, D S

2018-05-10

This study aimed to understand if maternal interpersonal violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder (IPV-PTSD) is associated with delayed language development among very young children ("toddlers"). Data were collected from 61 mothers and toddlers (ages 12-42 months, mean age = 25.6 months SD = 8.70). Child expressive and receptive language development was assessed by the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) communication subscale (ASQCS) that measures language acquisition. Observed maternal caregiving behavior was coded from videos of 10-min free-play interactions via the CARE-Index. Correlations, Mann-Whitney tests, and multiple linear regression were performed. There was no significant association between maternal IPV-PTSD severity and the ASQCS. Maternal IPV-PTSD severity was associated with continuous maternal behavior variables (i.e. sensitive and controlling behavior on the CARE-Index) across the entire sample and regardless of child gender. Maternal sensitivity was positively and significantly associated with the ASQCS. Controlling behavior was negatively and significantly associated with the ASQCS. Results are consistent with the literature that while maternal IPV-PTSD severity is not associated with child language delays, the quality of maternal interactive behavior is associated both with child language development and with maternal IPV-PTSD severity. Further study is needed to understand if the level of child language development contributes to intergenerational risk or resilience for relational violence and/or victimization. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the school and home language environments of preschool-aged children with ASD.

PubMed

Burgess, Sloane; Audet, Lisa; Harjusola-Webb, Sanna

2013-01-01

The purpose of this research was to begin to characterize and compare the school and home language environments of 10 preschool-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Naturalistic language samples were collected from each child, utilizing Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) digital voice recorder technology, at 3-month intervals over the course of one year. LENA software was used to identify 15-min segments of each sample that represented the highest number of adult words used during interactions with each child for all school and home language samples. Selected segments were transcribed and analyzed using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT). LENA data was utilized to evaluate quantitative characteristics of the school and home language environments and SALT data was utilized to evaluate quantitative and qualitative characteristics of language environment. Results revealed many similarities in home and school language environments including the degree of semantic richness, and complexity of adult language, types of utterances, and pragmatic functions of utterances used by adults during interactions with child participants. Study implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. The reader will be able to, (1) describe how two language sampling technologies can be utilized together to collect and analyze language samples, (2) describe characteristics of the school and home language environments of young children with ASD, and (3) identify environmental factors that may lead to more positive expressive language outcomes of young children with ASD. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Overall intelligibility, articulation, resonance, voice and language in a child with Nager syndrome.

PubMed

Van Lierde, Kristiane M; Luyten, Anke; Mortier, Geert; Tijskens, Anouk; Bettens, Kim; Vermeersch, Hubert

2011-02-01

The purpose of this study was to provide a description of the language and speech (intelligibility, voice, resonance, articulation) in a 7-year-old Dutch speaking boy with Nager syndrome. To reveal these features comparison was made with an age and gender related child with a similar palatal or hearing problem. Language was tested with an age appropriate language test namely the Dutch version of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals. Regarding articulation a phonetic inventory, phonetic analysis and phonological process analysis was performed. A nominal scale with four categories was used to judge the overall speech intelligibility. A voice and resonance assessment included a videolaryngostroboscopy, a perceptual evaluation, acoustic analysis and nasometry. The most striking communication problems in this child were expressive and receptive language delay, moderately impaired speech intelligibility, the presence of phonetic and phonological disorders, resonance disorders and a high-pitched voice. The explanation for this pattern of communication is not completely straightforward. The language and the phonological impairment, only present in the child with the Nager syndrome, are not part of a more general developmental delay. The resonance disorders can be related to the cleft palate, but were not present in the child with the isolated cleft palate. One might assume that the cul-de-sac resonance and the much decreased mandibular movement and the restricted tongue lifting are caused by the restricted jaw mobility and micrognathia. To what extent the suggested mandibular distraction osteogenesis in early childhood allows increased mandibular movement and better speech outcome with increased oral resonance is subject for further research. According to the results of this study the speech and language management must be focused on receptive and expressive language skills and linguistic conceptualization, correct phonetic placement and the modification of hypernasality and nasal emission. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

What do parents know about their children's comprehension of emotions? accuracy of parental estimates in a community sample of pre-schoolers.

PubMed

Kårstad, S B; Kvello, O; Wichstrøm, L; Berg-Nielsen, T S

2014-05-01

Parents' ability to correctly perceive their child's skills has implications for how the child develops. In some studies, parents have shown to overestimate their child's abilities in areas such as IQ, memory and language. Emotion Comprehension (EC) is a skill central to children's emotion regulation, initially learned from their parents. In this cross-sectional study we first tested children's EC and then asked parents to estimate the child's performance. Thus, a measure of accuracy between child performance and parents' estimates was obtained. Subsequently, we obtained information on child and parent factors that might predict parents' accuracy in estimating their child's EC. Child EC and parental accuracy of estimation was tested by studying a community sample of 882 4-year-olds who completed the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC). The parents were instructed to guess their children's responses on the TEC. Predictors of parental accuracy of estimation were child actual performance on the TEC, child language comprehension, observed parent-child interaction, the education level of the parent, and child mental health. Ninety-one per cent of the parents overestimated their children's EC. On average, parents estimated that their 4-year-old children would display the level of EC corresponding to a 7-year-old. Accuracy of parental estimation was predicted by child high performance on the TEC, child advanced language comprehension, and more optimal parent-child interaction. Parents' ability to estimate the level of their child's EC was characterized by a substantial overestimation. The more competent the child, and the more sensitive and structuring the parent was interacting with the child, the more accurate the parent was in the estimation of their child's EC. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Stability of Core Language Skill Stability of Core Language Skill from Early Childhood to Adolescence: A Latent Variable Approach

PubMed Central

Bornstein, Marc H.; Hahn, Chun-Shin; Putnick, Diane L.; Suwalsky, Joan T. D.

2014-01-01

This four-wave prospective longitudinal study evaluated stability of language in 324 children from early childhood to adolescence. Structural equation modeling supported loadings of multiple age-appropriate multi-source measures of child language on single-factor core language skills at 20 months and 4, 10, and 14 years. Large stability coefficients (standardized indirect effect = .46) were obtained between language latent variables from early childhood to adolescence and accounting for child nonverbal intelligence and social competence and maternal verbal intelligence, education, speech, and social desirability. Stability coefficients were similar for girls and boys. Stability of core language skill was stronger from 4 to 10 to 14 years than from 20 months to 4 years, so early intervention to improve lagging language is recommended. PMID:25165797

A minority perspective in the diagnosis of child language disorders.

PubMed

Seymour, H N; Bland, L

1991-01-01

The effective diagnosis and treatment of persons from diverse minority language backgrounds has become an important issue in the field of speech and language pathology. Yet, many SLPs have had little or no formal training in minority language, there is a paucity of normative data on language acquisition in minority groups, and there are few standardized speech and language tests appropriate for these groups. We described a diagnostic process that addresses these problems. The diagnostic protocol we have proposed for a child from a Black English-speaking background characterizes many of the major issues in treating minority children. In summary, we proposed four assessment strategies: gathering referral source data; making direct observations; using standardized tests of non-speech and language behavior (cognition, perception, motor, etc.); and eliciting language samples and probes.

The Role of Diminutives in the Acquisition of Russian Gender: Can Elements of Child-Directed Speech Aid in Learning Morphology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kempe, Vera; Brooks, Patricia J.

2005-01-01

This study investigated second-language (L2) learning to gain a better understanding of learning mechanisms that also operate in child first-language L1 learners. The research was inspired by research on the beneficial effects of child-directed speech CDS. We tried to examine whether such benefits can be observed in the domain of inflectional…

Early second language acquisition: a comparison of the linguistic output of a pre-school child acquiring English as a second language with that of a monolingual peer.

PubMed

Letts, C A

1991-08-01

Two pre-school children were recorded at regular intervals over a 9-month period while playing freely together. One child was acquiring English as a second language, whilst the other was a monolingual English speaker. The sociolinguistic domain was such that the children were likely to be motivated to communicate with each other in English. A variety of quantitative measures were taken from the transcribed data, including measures of utterance type, length, type-token ratios, use of auxiliaries and morphology. The child for whom English was a second language was found to be well able to interact on equal terms with his partner, despite being somewhat less advanced in some aspects of English language development by the end of the sampling period. Whilst he appeared to be consolidating his language skills during this time, his monolingual partner appeared to be developing rapidly. It is hoped that normative longitudinal data of this kind will be of use in the accurate assessment of children from dual language backgrounds, who may be referred for speech and language therapy.

Maternal communicative behaviours and interaction quality as predictors of language development: findings from a community-based study of slow-to-talk toddlers.

PubMed

Conway, Laura J; Levickis, Penny A; Smith, Jodie; Mensah, Fiona; Wake, Melissa; Reilly, Sheena

2018-03-01

Identifying risk and protective factors for language development informs interventions for children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Maternal responsive and intrusive communicative behaviours are associated with language development. Mother-child interaction quality may influence how children use these behaviours in language learning. To identify (1) communicative behaviours and interaction quality associated with language outcomes; (2) whether the association between a maternal intrusive behaviour (directive) and child language scores changed alongside a maternal responsive behaviour (expansion); and (3) whether interaction quality modified these associations. Language skills were assessed at 24, 36 and 48 months in 197 community-recruited children who were slow to talk at 18 months. Mothers and 24-month-olds were video-recorded playing at home. Maternal praise, missed opportunities, and successful and unsuccessful directives (i.e., whether followed by the child) were coded during a 10-min segment. Interaction quality was rated using a seven-point fluency and connectedness (FC) scale, during a 5-min segment. Linear regressions examined associations between these behaviours/rating and language scores. Interaction analysis and simple slopes explored effect modification by FC. There was no evidence that missed opportunities or praise were associated with language scores. Higher rates of successful directives in the unadjusted model and unsuccessful directives in the adjusted model were associated with lower 24-month-old receptive language scores (e.g., unsuccessful directives effect size (ES) = -0.41). The association between unsuccessful directives and receptive language was weaker when adjusting for co-occurring expansions (ES = -0.34). Both types of directives were associated with poorer receptive and expressive language scores in adjusted models at 36 and 48 months (e.g., unsuccessful directive and 48-month receptive language, ES = -0.66). FC was positively associated with 24-, 36- and 48-month language scores in adjusted models (e.g., receptive language at 24 months, ES = 0.21, at 48 months, ES = 0.18). Interaction analysis showed the negative association between successful directives and 24-month receptive language existed primarily in poorly connected dyads with low FC levels. These findings illustrate the effects of the combined interaction between different maternal communicative behaviours and features of the interaction itself on child language development, and the need to consider both in research and practice. Whilst more intrusive directives were associated with poorer language scores, this association attenuated when adjusting for co-occurring responsive expansions, and the association was strongest for children in lower quality interactions. This work may inform clinical practice by helping clinicians target the most appropriate communicative behaviours for specific mother-child dyads. © 2017 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Child language interventions in public health: a systematic literature review.

PubMed

De Cesaro, Bruna Campos; Gurgel, Léia Gonçalves; Nunes, Gabriela Pisoni Canedo; Reppold, Caroline Tozzi

2013-01-01

Systematically review the literature on interventions in children's language in primary health care. One searched the electronic databases (January 1980 to March 2013) MEDLINE (accessed by PubMed), Scopus, Lilacs and Scielo. The search terms used were "child language", "primary health care", "randomized controlled trial" and "intervention studies" (in English, Portuguese and Spanish). There were included any randomized controlled trials that addressed the issues child language and primary health care. The analysis was based on the type of language intervention conducted in primary health care. Seven studies were included and used intervention strategies such as interactive video, guidance for parents and group therapy. Individuals of both genders were included in the seven studies. The age of the children participant in the samples of the articles included in this review ranged from zero to 11 years. These seven studies used approaches that included only parents, parents and children or just children. The mainly intervention in language on primary health care, used in randomized controlled trials, involved the use of interactional video. Several professionals, beyond speech and language therapist, been inserted in the language interventions on primary health care, demonstrating the importance of interdisciplinary work. None of the articles mentioned aspects related to hearing. There was scarcity of randomized controlled trials that address on language and public health, either in Brazil or internationally.

Bridging a Cultural Divide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Previdi, Patricia; Belfrage, Mary; Hu, Florence

2005-01-01

Playing an active role in a child's education can be especially difficult for parents of English Language Learners (ELL) and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students. Differences in cultural beliefs and language are often barriers to effective parent-school interaction. Such cultural discontinuities between home and school can affect a child's…

Three Years Old, Going on Four.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luetke-Stahlman, Barbara

1990-01-01

The adoptive mother of a hearing-impaired preschool girl describes ways the family has integrated language practice into every facet of the child's life. The paper focuses on practicing speech, learning language, getting ready for reading, using computers, family involvement in signing, socialization and independence, child care, preschool team…

Role of maternal gesture use in speech use by children with fragile X syndrome.

PubMed

Hahn, Laura J; Zimmer, B Jean; Brady, Nancy C; Swinburne Romine, Rebecca E; Fleming, Kandace K

2014-05-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate how maternal gesture relates to speech production by children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). Participants were 27 young children with FXS (23 boys, 4 girls) and their mothers. Videotaped home observations were conducted between the ages of 25 and 37 months (toddler period) and again between the ages of 60 and 71 months (child period). The videos were later coded for types of maternal utterances and maternal gestures that preceded child speech productions. Children were also assessed with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning at both ages. Maternal gesture use in the toddler period was positively related to expressive language scores at both age periods and was related to receptive language scores in the child period. Maternal proximal pointing, in comparison to other gestures, evoked more speech responses from children during the mother-child interactions, particularly when combined with wh-questions. This study adds to the growing body of research on the importance of contextual variables, such as maternal gestures, in child language development. Parental gesture use may be an easily added ingredient to parent-focused early language intervention programs.

Wh-Questions in Child L2 French: Derivational Complexity and Its Interactions with L1 Properties, Length of Exposure, Age of Exposure, and the Input

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prévost, Philippe; Strik, Nelleke; Tuller, Laurie

2014-01-01

This study investigates how derivational complexity interacts with first language (L1) properties, second language (L2) input, age of first exposure to the target language, and length of exposure in child L2 acquisition. We compared elicited production of "wh"-questions in French in two groups of 15 participants each, one with L1 English…

First Language Acquisition and Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena

2011-01-01

"First language acquisition" commonly means the acquisition of a single language in childhood, regardless of the number of languages in a child's natural environment. Language acquisition is variously viewed as predetermined, wondrous, a source of concern, and as developing through formal processes. "First language teaching" concerns schooling in…

Roots and Rogues in German Child Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duffield, Nigel

2008-01-01

This article is concerned with the proper characterization of subject omission at a particular stage in German child language. It focuses on post-verbal null subjects in finite clauses, here termed Rogues. It is argued that the statistically significant presence of Rogues, in conjunction with their distinct developmental profile, speaks against a…

Language Arts: Exceptional Child Education Curriculum K-12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curran, Teresa; And Others

The Exceptional Child Education (ECE) program of Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky, presents this language arts curriculum for use with K-12 students who have learning problems. The ECE program uses the curriculum and materials of the general education program whenever appropriate, but has access to special instructional…

Teacher-Child Relationships, Behavior Regulation, and Language Gain among At-Risk Preschoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmitt, Mary Beth; Pentimonti, Jill M.; Justice, Laura M.

2012-01-01

Many preschoolers from low socioeconomic-status (SES) backgrounds demonstrate lags in their language development, and preschool participation is viewed as an important means for mitigating these lags. In this study, we investigated how teacher-child relationship quality and children's behavior regulation within preschool classrooms were associated…

Socioeconomic Status and Parent-Child Relationships Predict Metacognitive Questions to Preschoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, R. Bruce; Foster, Brandon J.

2014-01-01

The importance of metacognitive language exposure to early educational achievement is widely recognized in the development literature. However, few studies have explored parents' metacognitive language, while accounting for family SES and stress within the parent-child relationship. This is a preliminary descriptive study to explore…

Deficits in narrative abilities in child British Sign Language users with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Herman, Ros; Rowley, Katherine; Mason, Kathryn; Morgan, Gary

2014-01-01

This study details the first ever investigation of narrative skills in a group of 17 deaf signing children who have been diagnosed with disorders in their British Sign Language development compared with a control group of 17 deaf child signers matched for age, gender, education, quantity, and quality of language exposure and non-verbal intelligence. Children were asked to generate a narrative based on events in a language free video. Narratives were analysed for global structure, information content and local level grammatical devices, especially verb morphology. The language-impaired group produced shorter, less structured and grammatically simpler narratives than controls, with verb morphology particularly impaired. Despite major differences in how sign and spoken languages are articulated, narrative is shown to be a reliable marker of language impairment across the modality boundaries. © 2014 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Cross-language synonyms in the lexicons of bilingual infants: one language or two?

PubMed

Pearson, B Z; Fernández, S; Oller, D K

1995-06-01

This study tests the widely-cited claim from Volterra & Taeschner (1978), which is reinforced by Clark's PRINCIPLE OF CONTRAST (1987), that young simultaneous bilingual children reject cross-language synonyms in their earliest lexicons. The rejection of translation equivalents is taken by Volterra & Taeschner as support for the idea that the bilingual child possesses a single-language system which includes elements from both languages. We examine first the accuracy of the empirical claim and then its adequacy as support for the argument that bilingual children do not have independent lexical systems in each language. The vocabularies of 27 developing bilinguals were recorded at varying intervals between ages 0;8 and 2;6 using the MacArthur CDI, a standardized parent report form in English and Spanish. The two single-language vocabularies of each bilingual child were compared to determine how many pairs of translation equivalents (TEs) were reported for each child at different stages of development. TEs were observed for all children but one, with an average of 30% of all words coded in the two languages, both at early stages (in vocabularies of 2-12 words) and later (up to 500 words). Thus, Volterra & Taeschner's empirical claim was not upheld. Further, the number of TEs in the bilinguals' two lexicons was shown to be similar to the number of lexical items which co-occurred in the monolingual lexicons of two different children, as observed in 34 random pairings for between-child comparisons. It remains to be shown, therefore, that the bilinguals' lexicons are not composed of two independent systems at a very early age. Furthermore, the results appear to rule out the operation of a strong principle of contrast across languages in early bilingualism.

Timing of high-quality child care and cognitive, language, and preacademic development.

PubMed

Li, Weilin; Farkas, George; Duncan, Greg J; Burchinal, Margaret R; Vandell, Deborah Lowe

2013-08-01

The effects of high- versus low-quality child care during 2 developmental periods (infant-toddlerhood and preschool) were examined using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Propensity score matching was used to account for differences in families who used different combinations of child care quality during the 2 developmental periods. Findings indicated that cognitive, language, and preacademic skills prior to school entry were highest among children who experienced high-quality care in both the infant-toddler and preschool periods, somewhat lower among children who experienced high-quality child care during only 1 of these periods, and lowest among children who experienced low-quality care during both periods. Irrespective of the care received during infancy-toddlerhood, high-quality preschool care was related to better language and preacademic outcomes at the end of the preschool period; high-quality infant-toddler care, irrespective of preschool care, was related to better memory skills at the end of the preschool period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

Mexican-American and Anglo-American mothers' beliefs and values about child rearing, education, and language impairment.

PubMed

Rodriguez, Barbara L; Olswang, Lesley B

2003-11-01

This study investigated the cross-cultural and intra cultural diversity of mothers' beliefs and values regarding child rearing, education, and the causes of language impairment. Thirty Mexican-American and 30 Anglo-American mothers of children with language impairments completed 2 questionnaires, and 10 randomly selected mothers from each group participated in an interview. In addition, the Mexican-American mothers completed an acculturation rating scale. Results indicated that Mexican-American mothers held more strongly traditional, authoritarian, and conforming educational and child rearing beliefs and values than Anglo-American mothers. Mexican-American mothers cited extrinsic attributes as the cause of their children's language impairment, whereas Anglo-American mothers cited intrinsic attributes. Mexican-American mothers exhibited differences in their beliefs that were related to their level of acculturation to the mainstream culture.

Semantic Structure in Vocabulary Knowledge Interacts With Lexical and Sentence Processing in Infancy.

PubMed

Borovsky, Arielle; Ellis, Erica M; Evans, Julia L; Elman, Jeffrey L

2016-11-01

Although the size of a child's vocabulary associates with language-processing skills, little is understood regarding how this relation emerges. This investigation asks whether and how the structure of vocabulary knowledge affects language processing in English-learning 24-month-old children (N = 32; 18 F, 14 M). Parental vocabulary report was used to calculate semantic density in several early-acquired semantic categories. Performance on two language-processing tasks (lexical recognition and sentence processing) was compared as a function of semantic density. In both tasks, real-time comprehension was facilitated for higher density items, whereas lower density items experienced more interference. The findings indicate that language-processing skills develop heterogeneously and are influenced by the semantic network surrounding a known word. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Study of child language development and disorders in Iran: A systematic review of the literature.

PubMed

Kazemi, Yalda; Stringer, Helen; Klee, Thomas

2015-01-01

Child language development and disorder in Iran has been the focus for research by different professions, the most prominent ones among them being psychologists and speech therapists. Epidemiological studies indicate that between 8% and 12% of children show noticeable signs of language impairment in the preschool years; however, research on child language in Iran is not extensive compared to studies in English speaking countries, which are currently the basis of clinical decision-making in Iran. Consequently, there is no information about the prevalence of child language disorders in Iranian population. This review summarizes Iranian studies on child language development and disorder in the preschool years and aims to systematically find the most studied topics in the field of normal development, the assessment and diagnosis of language impairments as well as exploring the current gaps within the body of literature. Three main Iranian academic websites of indexed articles along with four other nonIranian databases were scrutinized for all relevant articles according to the inclusion criteria: Iranian studies within the field of Persian language development and disorders in preschool children published up to December 2013. They are classified according to the hierarchy of evidence and weighed against the criteria of critical appraisal of study types. As this is a type of nonintervention systematic review, the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses is modified to be more compatible to the designs of eligible studies, including descriptive studies, test-developing and/or diagnostic studies. Several limitations made the process of searching and retrieving problematic; e.g., lack of unified keywords and incompatibility of Persian typing structure embedded in Iranian search engines. Overall, eligible studies met the criteria up to the third level of the hierarchy of evidence that shows the necessity of conducting studies with higher levels of design and quality.

The Contribution of Early Communication Quality to Low-Income Children's Language Success.

PubMed

Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Adamson, Lauren B; Bakeman, Roger; Owen, Margaret Tresch; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Pace, Amy; Yust, Paula K S; Suma, Katharine

2015-07-01

The disparity in the amount and quality of language that low-income children hear relative to their more-affluent peers is often referred to as the 30-million-word gap. Here, we expand the literature about this disparity by reporting the relative contributions of the quality of early parent-child communication and the quantity of language input in 60 low-income families. Including both successful and struggling language learners from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we noted wide variation in the quality of nonverbal and verbal interactions (symbol-infused joint engagement, routines and rituals, fluent and connected communication) at 24 months, which accounted for 27% of the variance in expressive language 1 year later. These indicators of quality were considerably more potent predictors of later language ability than was the quantity of mothers' words during the interaction or sensitive parenting. Bridging the word gap requires attention to how caregivers and children establish a communication foundation within low-income families. © The Author(s) 2015.

Social Withdrawal Behaviour at One Year of Age Is Associated with Delays in Reaching Language Milestones in the EDEN Mother-Child Cohort Study.

PubMed

Guedeney, Antoine; Forhan, Anne; Larroque, Beatrice; de Agostini, Maria; Pingault, Jean-Baptiste; Heude, Barbara

2016-01-01

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between social withdrawal behaviour at one year and motor and language milestones. One-year old children from the EDEN French population-based birth cohort study (Study on the pre- and postnatal determinants of the child's development and prospective health Birth Cohort Study) were included. Social withdrawal at one year was assessed by trained midwives using the Alarm Distress BaBy (ADBB) scale. Midwives concurrently examined infants' motor and language milestones. Parents reported on child's psychomotor and language milestones, during the interview with the midwife. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, social withdrawal behaviour was significantly associated with concurrent delays in motor and language milestones assessed by the midwife or the parents. Higher scores on social withdrawal behaviour as assessed with the ADBB were associated with delays in reaching language milestones, and to a lesser extent with lower motor ability scores. Taking the contribution of social withdrawal behaviour into account may help understand the unfolding of developmental difficulties in children.

Speech and language development in six infants adopted from China.

PubMed

Price, Johanna R; Pollock, Karen E; Oller, D Kimbrough

2006-07-01

Children adopted from China currently represent the largest group of newly internationally adopted children in the US. An exploratory investigation of the communicative development of six young females adopted at ages 9 to 17 months from China by US families was conducted. Children were followed longitudinally from approximately three months post-adoption to age three years. English language skills were assessed at approximately three-month intervals, detailed communicative analyses were conducted at six months post-adoption, and outcomes were measured at three years of age. Results indicated wide variability in rates of English language development. Phonological, social-communicative, and lexical bases of communication were intact for each child at six months post-adoption. At age three years, four of the children demonstrated speech and language skills within one standard deviation of standardized test norms, one child demonstrated skills above the normal range, and one child's skills were below the normal range. This study provides evidence of the resiliency of children's language learning abilities.

Promoting language and social communication development in babies through an early storybook reading intervention.

PubMed

Brown, Michelle I; Westerveld, Marleen F; Trembath, David; Gillon, Gail T

2017-12-15

This study examined the effectiveness of low- and high-intensity early storybook reading (ESR) intervention workshops delivered to parents for promoting their babies language and social communication development. These workshops educated parents on how to provide a stimulating home reading environment and engage in parent-child interactions during ESR. Parent-child dyads (n = 32); child age: 3-12 months, were assigned into two intervention conditions: low and high intensity (LI versus HI) groups. Both groups received the same ESR strategies; however, the HI group received additional intervention time, demonstrations and support. Outcome measures were assessed pre-intervention, one and three months post-intervention and when the child turned 2 years of age. A significant time-group interaction with increased performance in the HI group was observed for language scores immediately post-intervention (p = 0.007) and at 2-years-of-age (p = 0.022). Significantly higher broader social communication scores were associated with the HI group at each of the time points (p = 0.018, p = 0.001 and p = 0.021, respectively). Simple main effect revealed that both groups demonstrated a significant improvement in language, broader social communication and home reading practices scores. ESR intervention workshops may promote language and broader social communication skills. The HI ESR intervention workshop was associated with significantly higher language and broader social communication scores.

Bilingual Mothers' Language Choice in Child-Directed Speech: Continuity and Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Houwer, Annick; Bornstein, Marc H.

2016-01-01

An important aspect of Family Language Policy in bilingual families is parental language choice. Little is known about the continuity in parental language choice and the factors affecting it. This longitudinal study explores maternal language choice over time. Thirty-one bilingual mothers provided reports of what language(s) they spoke with their…

Can language acquisition be facilitated in cochlear implanted children? Comparison of cognitive and behavioral psychologists' viewpoints.

PubMed

Monshizadeh, Leila; Vameghi, Roshanak; Yadegari, Fariba; Sajedi, Firoozeh; Hashemi, Seyed Basir

2016-11-08

To study how language acquisition can be facilitated for cochlear implanted children based on cognitive and behavioral psychology viewpoints? To accomplish this objective, literature related to behaviorist and cognitive psychology prospects about language acquisition were studied and some relevant books as well as Medline, Cochrane Library, Google scholar, ISI web of knowledge and Scopus databases were searched. Among 25 articles that were selected, only 11 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Based on the inclusion criteria, review articles, expert opinion studies, non-experimental and experimental studies that clearly focused on behavioral and cognitive factors affecting language acquisition in children were selected. Finally, the selected articles were appraised according to guidelines of appraisal of medical studies. Due to the importance of the cochlear implanted child's language performance, the comparison of behaviorist and cognitive psychology points of view in child language acquisition was done. Since each theoretical basis, has its own positive effects on language, and since the two are not in opposition to one another, it can be said that a set of behavioral and cognitive factors might facilitate the process of language acquisition in children. Behavioral psychologists believe that repetition, as well as immediate reinforcement of child's language behavior help him easily acquire the language during a language intervention program, while cognitive psychologists emphasize on the relationship between information processing, memory improvement through repetitively using words along with "associated" pictures and objects, motor development and language acquisition. It is recommended to use a combined approach based on both theoretical frameworks while planning a language intervention program.

Case report: acquisition of three spoken languages by a child with a cochlear implant.

PubMed

Francis, Alexander L; Ho, Diana Wai Lam

2003-03-01

There have been only two reports of multilingual cochlear implant users to date, and both of these were postlingually deafened adults. Here we report the case of a 6-year-old early-deafened child who is acquiring Cantonese, English and Mandarin in Hong Kong. He and two age-matched peers with similar educational backgrounds were tested using common, standardized tests of vocabulary and expressive and receptive language skills (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Revised) and Reynell Developmental Language Scales version II). Results show that this child is acquiring Cantonese, English and Mandarin to a degree comparable to two classmates with normal hearing and similar educational and social backgrounds.

Pragmatic Language Impairment and Associated Behavioural Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ketelaars, Mieke P.; Cuperus, Juliane; Jansonius, Kino; Verhoeven, Ludo

2010-01-01

Background: Specific language impairment (SLI) is diagnosed when a child shows isolated structural language problems. The diagnosis of pragmatic language impairment (PLI) is given to children who show difficulties with the use of language in context. Unlike children with SLI, these children tend to show relatively intact structural language skills…

Conditions Which Promote Urban Child Language: A Base for Beginning Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siegel, Florence

1979-01-01

Reports an investigation of the most appropriate tutorial setting for the generation of natural urban child language for experience stories. Concludes that the condition that tapped the most profuse linguistic performance for student-created reading material among Black sixth grade students was tutoring by a White adult professional teacher. (FL)

LANGUAGE AND COGNITION IN THE YOUNG CHILD.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ANISFELD, MOSHE

THE LITERATURE ON INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT APPEARS TO ATTRIBUTE TO THE YOUNG CHILD A HIGH LEVEL OF LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT AND A RELATIVELY LOW LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT IN OTHER COGNITIVE SPHERES. IN AN ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE THIS DISCREPANCY, THE AUTHOR ADVANCED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE DESCRIPTIONS OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT ARE BASED ON AN ANALYSIS OF THE…

Evaluating Dialogue Competence in Naturally Occurring Child-Child Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naerland, Terje

2011-01-01

The principal aim of this paper is to contribute to the pursuit of evaluating pragmatic language competence in preschool years by observation-based data. Initially, the relations between age and language development measured as mean length of utterance (MLU) and three dialogue skills are described. The occurrences of "focus on the dialogue…

Setting Limits: The Child Who Uses Inappropriate Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenberg, Polly

2004-01-01

This article discusses how to work with a child who uses inappropriate language. The words inappropriately used by young children are grouped into five categories: (1) names of body parts considered as private, and their nicknames; (2) bathroom words and body products; (3) religion-related words; (4) sexually charged words overheard when adults…

Language Development in the Early School Years: The Importance of Close Relationships with Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spilt, Jantine L.; Koomen, Helma M. Y.; Harrison, Linda J.

2015-01-01

This longitudinal study examined developmental links between closeness in teacher-child relationships and children's receptive language ability from the end of the preschool years into the early elementary years, while controlling for changes in peer interaction quality and child behavioral functioning. The sample included children and their…

The Readiness Nursery in a Medical School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silver, Archie A.

Differential diagnosis of delayed language development in the preschool child at the Readiness Nursery of the New York University Medical School can be shown by three case histories. Diagnosis requires identification of factors involved in the origin and development of the child's language deficit both at the time of diagnosis and at the critical…

25 CFR 23.82 - Assistance in identifying language interpreters.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Assistance in identifying language interpreters. 23.82 Section 23.82 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HUMAN SERVICES INDIAN CHILD... request of a party in an Indian child custody proceeding or of a court, the Secretary or his/her designee...

Teacher-Child Relationships and Classroom-Learning Behaviours of Children with Developmental Language Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhoad-Drogalis, Anna; Justice, Laura M.; Sawyer, Brook E.; O'Connell, Ann A.

2018-01-01

Background: Children with developmental language disorders (DLDs) often struggle with classroom behaviour. No study has examined whether positive teacher-child relationships may act as a protective factor for children with DLDs in that these serve to enhance children's important classroom-learning behaviours. Aims: To examine the association…

Is "Two" a Plural Marker in Early Child Language?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barner, David; Lui, Toni; Zapf, Jennifer

2012-01-01

Is "two" ever a plural marker in child language? By some accounts, children bootstrap the distinction between the words "one" and "two" by observing their use with singular-plural marking ("one ball/two balls"). Others argue that the numeral "two" marks plurality before children begin using numerals to denote precise quantities. We tested the…

Peer Tutoring with Child-Centered Play Therapy Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vavreck, Sarah; Esposito, Judy

2012-01-01

The focus of this paper is on responses from fifth grade peer tutors who were trained to use child-centered play therapy language during tutoring sessions with kindergarteners. The focus of this project was to identify academic and social/emotional benefits of participating in the program. Results indicated that participation in the program…

The Phonological-Distributional Coherence Hypothesis: Cross-Linguistic Evidence in Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monaghan, Padraic; Christiansen, Morten H.; Chater, Nick

2007-01-01

Several phonological and prosodic properties of words have been shown to relate to differences between grammatical categories. Distributional information about grammatical categories is also a rich source in the child's language environment. In this paper we hypothesise that such cues operate in tandem for developing the child's knowledge about…

Identifying Gifted Bilingual Hispanic Kindergartners with Alternative Sociocultural Dual Language Assessments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez, Virginia; And Others

Two case studies are presented here to highlight the importance of identifying cultural giftedness in language-minority children who are monolingual Spanish or bilingual Spanish dominant with low English proficiency. In one study, the child was monolingual, Spanish-dominant and culturally or non-verbally gifted; in the other, the child was an…

Modality, Infinitives, and Finite Bare Verbs in Dutch and English Child Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blom, Elma

2007-01-01

This article focuses on the meaning of nonfinite clauses ("root infinitives") in Dutch and English child language. I present experimental and naturalistic data confirming the claim that Dutch root infinitives are more often modal than English root infinitives. This cross-linguistic difference is significantly smaller than previously assumed,…

What's in the input? Frequent frames in child-directed speech offer distributional cues to grammatical categories in Spanish and English

PubMed Central

Weisleder, Adriana; Waxman, Sandra R.

2010-01-01

Recent analyses have revealed that child-directed speech contains distributional regularities that could, in principle, support young children's discovery of distinct grammatical categories (noun, verb, adjective). In particular, a distributional unit known as the frequent frame appears to be especially informative (Mintz, 2003). However, analyses have focused almost exclusively on the distributional information available in English. Because languages differ considerably in how the grammatical forms are marked within utterances, the scarcity of cross-linguistic evidence represents an unfortunate gap. We therefore advance the developmental evidence by analyzing the distributional information available in frequent frames across two languages (Spanish and English), across sentence positions (phrase medial and phrase final), and across grammatical forms (noun, verb, adjective). We selected six parent-child corpora from the CHILDES database (3 English; 3 Spanish), and analyzed the input when children were 2;6 years or younger. In each language, frequent frames did indeed offer systematic cues to grammatical category assignment. We also identify differences in the accuracy of these frames across languages, sentences positions, and grammatical classes. PMID:19698207

What's in the input? Frequent frames in child-directed speech offer distributional cues to grammatical categories in Spanish and English.

PubMed

Weisleder, Adriana; Waxman, Sandra R

2010-11-01

Recent analyses have revealed that child-directed speech contains distributional regularities that could, in principle, support young children's discovery of distinct grammatical categories (noun, verb, adjective). In particular, a distributional unit known as the frequent frame appears to be especially informative (Mintz, 2003). However, analyses have focused almost exclusively on the distributional information available in English. Because languages differ considerably in how the grammatical forms are marked within utterances, the scarcity of cross-linguistic evidence represents an unfortunate gap. We therefore advance the developmental evidence by analyzing the distributional information available in frequent frames across two languages (Spanish and English), across sentence positions (phrase medial and phrase final), and across grammatical forms (noun, verb, adjective). We selected six parent-child corpora from the CHILDES database (three English; three Spanish), and analyzed the input when children were aged 2 ; 6 or younger. In each language, frequent frames did indeed offer systematic cues to grammatical category assignment. We also identify differences in the accuracy of these frames across languages, sentences positions and grammatical classes.

Relationship between early language skills and the development of inattention/hyperactivity symptoms during the preschool period: Results of the EDEN mother-child cohort.

PubMed

Peyre, Hugo; Galera, Cedric; van der Waerden, Judith; Hoertel, Nicolas; Bernard, Jonathan Y; Melchior, Maria; Ramus, Franck

2016-11-08

This study aims to examine bidirectional relationships between children's language skills and Inattention/Hyperactivity (IH) symptoms during preschool. Children (N = 1459) from the EDEN mother-child cohort were assessed at ages 3 and 5.5 years. Language skills were evaluated using the WPPSI-III, NEPSY and ELOLA batteries. Children's behavior, including IH symptoms, was assessed using the parent-rated Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Using a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach, we examined the relationship between language skills and IH symptoms, as well as potential mediating processes. SEM analyses indicated a small negative effect of language skills at 3 years on ADHD symptoms at 5.5 years after adjusting for IH symptoms at 3 years (β =-0.12, SE = 0.04, p-value = 0.002). Interpersonal difficulties did not mediate the relationship between early language skills and later IH symptoms, nor was this association reduced after adjusting for a broad range of pre- and postnatal environmental factors and performance IQ. Among different language skills, receptive syntax at 3 years was most strongly related to IH symptoms at 5.5 years. Poor language skills at age 3 may predict IH symptoms when a child enters primary school. Implications for the understanding and the prevention of the co-occurrence of language disorders and ADHD are discussed.

Parenting Predictors of Cognitive Skills and Emotion Knowledge in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Preschoolers

PubMed Central

Merz, Emily C.; Zucker, Tricia A.; Landry, Susan H.; Williams, Jeffrey M.; Assel, Michael; Taylor, Heather B.; Lonigan, Christopher J.; Phillips, Beth M.; Clancy-Menchetti, Jeanine; Barnes, Marcia A.; Eisenberg, Nancy; de Villiers, Jill

2014-01-01

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal associations of parental responsiveness and inferential language input with cognitive skills and emotion knowledge among socioeconomically disadvantaged preschoolers. Parents and 2- to 4-year-old children (mean age = 3.21 years; N=284) participated in a parent-child free play session, and children completed cognitive (language, early literacy, early mathematics) and emotion knowledge assessments. One year later, children completed the same assessment battery. Parental responsiveness was coded from the videotaped parent-child free play sessions, and parental inferential language input was coded from transcripts of a subset of 127 of these sessions. All analyses controlled for child age, gender, and parental education, and longitudinal analyses controlled for initial skill level. Parental responsiveness significantly predicted all concurrent cognitive skills as well as literacy, math, and emotion knowledge one year later. Parental inferential language input was significantly positively associated with children's concurrent emotion knowledge. In longitudinal analyses, an interaction was found such that for children with stronger initial language skills, higher levels of parental inferential language input facilitated greater vocabulary development, whereas for children with weaker initial language skills, there was no association between parental inferential language input and change in children's vocabulary skills. These findings further our understanding of the roles of parental responsiveness and inferential language input in promoting children's school readiness skills. PMID:25576967

[Multilingualism and child psychiatry: on differential diagnoses of language disorder, specific learning disorder, and selective mutism].

PubMed

Tamiya, Satoshi

2014-01-01

Multilingualism poses unique psychiatric problems, especially in the field of child psychiatry. The author discusses several linguistic and transcultural issues in relation to Language Disorder, Specific Learning Disorder and Selective Mutism. Linguistic characteristics of multiple language development, including so-called profile effects and code-switching, need to be understood for differential diagnosis. It is also emphasized that Language Disorder in a bilingual person is not different or worse than that in a monolingual person. Second language proficiency, cultural background and transfer from the first language all need to be considered in an evaluation for Specific Learning Disorder. Selective Mutism has to be differentiated from the silent period observed in the normal successive bilingual development. The author concludes the review by remarking on some caveats around methods of language evaluation in a multilingual person.

Bilingual Mothers' Language Choice in Child-directed Speech: Continuity and Change.

PubMed

De Houwer, Annick; Bornstein, Marc H

2016-01-01

An important aspect of Family Language Policy in bilingual families is parental language choice. Little is known about the continuity in parental language choice and the factors affecting it. This longitudinal study explores maternal language choice over time. Thirty-one bilingual mothers provided reports of what language(s) they spoke with their children. Mother-child interactions were videotaped when children were pre-verbal (5M), producing words in two languages (20M), and fluent speakers (53M). All children had heard two languages from birth in the home. Most mothers reported addressing children in the same single language. Observational data confirmed mothers' use of mainly a single language in interactions with their children, but also showed the occasional use of the other language in over half the sample when children were 20 months. Once children were 53 months mothers again used only the same language they reported speaking to children. These findings reveal a possible effect of children's overall level of language development and demonstrate the difficulty of adhering to a strict "one person, one language" policy. The fact that there was longitudinal continuity in the language most mothers mainly spoke with children provided children with cumulative language input learning opportunities.

Child-Robot Interactions for Second Language Tutoring to Preschool Children

PubMed Central

Vogt, Paul; de Haas, Mirjam; de Jong, Chiara; Baxter, Peta; Krahmer, Emiel

2017-01-01

In this digital age social robots will increasingly be used for educational purposes, such as second language tutoring. In this perspective article, we propose a number of design features to develop a child-friendly social robot that can effectively support children in second language learning, and we discuss some technical challenges for developing these. The features we propose include choices to develop the robot such that it can act as a peer to motivate the child during second language learning and build trust at the same time, while still being more knowledgeable than the child and scaffolding that knowledge in adult-like manner. We also believe that the first impressions children have about robots are crucial for them to build trust and common ground, which would support child-robot interactions in the long term. We therefore propose a strategy to introduce the robot in a safe way to toddlers. Other features relate to the ability to adapt to individual children’s language proficiency, respond contingently, both temporally and semantically, establish joint attention, use meaningful gestures, provide effective feedback and monitor children’s learning progress. Technical challenges we observe include automatic speech recognition (ASR) for children, reliable object recognition to facilitate semantic contingency and establishing joint attention, and developing human-like gestures with a robot that does not have the same morphology humans have. We briefly discuss an experiment in which we investigate how children respond to different forms of feedback the robot can give. PMID:28303094

Child-Robot Interactions for Second Language Tutoring to Preschool Children.

PubMed

Vogt, Paul; de Haas, Mirjam; de Jong, Chiara; Baxter, Peta; Krahmer, Emiel

2017-01-01

In this digital age social robots will increasingly be used for educational purposes, such as second language tutoring. In this perspective article, we propose a number of design features to develop a child-friendly social robot that can effectively support children in second language learning, and we discuss some technical challenges for developing these. The features we propose include choices to develop the robot such that it can act as a peer to motivate the child during second language learning and build trust at the same time, while still being more knowledgeable than the child and scaffolding that knowledge in adult-like manner. We also believe that the first impressions children have about robots are crucial for them to build trust and common ground, which would support child-robot interactions in the long term. We therefore propose a strategy to introduce the robot in a safe way to toddlers. Other features relate to the ability to adapt to individual children's language proficiency, respond contingently, both temporally and semantically, establish joint attention, use meaningful gestures, provide effective feedback and monitor children's learning progress. Technical challenges we observe include automatic speech recognition (ASR) for children, reliable object recognition to facilitate semantic contingency and establishing joint attention, and developing human-like gestures with a robot that does not have the same morphology humans have. We briefly discuss an experiment in which we investigate how children respond to different forms of feedback the robot can give.

Language Brokering and Depressive Symptoms in Mexican-American Adolescents: Parent-Child Alienation and Resilience as Moderators.

PubMed

Kim, Su Yeong; Hou, Yang; Gonzalez, Yolanda

2017-05-01

This study aimed to untangle the mixed effects of language brokering by examining a contextual factor (i.e., parent-child alienation) and a personal attribute (i.e., resilience) that may relate to adolescents' feelings during translating (i.e., sense of burden and efficacy) and that may moderate the association between such feelings and adolescent depressive symptoms. Participants included 557 adolescent language brokers (M age  = 12.96) in Mexican-American families. Results showed that adolescents with a strong sense of alienation from parents or low resilience (a) experienced more burden or less efficacy in translating and (b) were more susceptible to the detrimental effects of feeling a sense of burden and the beneficial effects of experiencing a sense of efficacy, as measured by depressive symptoms. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

An empirical generative framework for computational modeling of language acquisition.

PubMed

Waterfall, Heidi R; Sandbank, Ben; Onnis, Luca; Edelman, Shimon

2010-06-01

This paper reports progress in developing a computer model of language acquisition in the form of (1) a generative grammar that is (2) algorithmically learnable from realistic corpus data, (3) viable in its large-scale quantitative performance and (4) psychologically real. First, we describe new algorithmic methods for unsupervised learning of generative grammars from raw CHILDES data and give an account of the generative performance of the acquired grammars. Next, we summarize findings from recent longitudinal and experimental work that suggests how certain statistically prominent structural properties of child-directed speech may facilitate language acquisition. We then present a series of new analyses of CHILDES data indicating that the desired properties are indeed present in realistic child-directed speech corpora. Finally, we suggest how our computational results, behavioral findings, and corpus-based insights can be integrated into a next-generation model aimed at meeting the four requirements of our modeling framework.

Thinking or feeling? An exploratory study of maternal scaffolding, child mental state talk, and emotion understanding in language-impaired and typically developing school-aged children.

PubMed

Yuill, Nicola; Little, Sarah

2018-06-01

Mother-child mental state talk (MST) supports children's developing social-emotional understanding. In typically developing (TD) children, family conversations about emotion, cognition, and causes have been linked to children's emotion understanding. Specific language impairment (SLI) may compromise developing emotion understanding and adjustment. We investigated emotion understanding in children with SLI and TD, in relation to mother-child conversation. Specifically, is cognitive, emotion, or causal MST more important for child emotion understanding and how might maternal scaffolding support this? Nine 5- to 9-year-old children with SLI and nine age-matched typically developing (TD) children, and their mothers. We assessed children's language, emotion understanding and reported behavioural adjustment. Mother-child conversations were coded for MST, including emotion, cognition, and causal talk, and for scaffolding of causal talk. Children with SLI scored lower than TD children on emotion understanding and adjustment. Mothers in each group provided similar amounts of cognitive, emotion, and causal talk, but SLI children used proportionally less cognitive and causal talk than TD children did, and more such child talk predicted better child emotion understanding. Child emotion talk did not differ between groups and did not predict emotion understanding. Both groups participated in maternal-scaffolded causal talk, but causal talk about emotion was more frequent in TD children, and such talk predicted higher emotion understanding. Cognitive and causal language scaffolded by mothers provides tools for articulating increasingly complex ideas about emotion, predicting children's emotion understanding. Our study provides a robust method for studying scaffolding processes for understanding causes of emotion. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Assessing recall in mothers' retrospective reports: concerns over children's speech and language development.

PubMed

Russell, Ginny; Miller, Laura L; Ford, Tamsin; Golding, Jean

2014-01-01

Retrospective recall about children's symptoms is used to establish early developmental patterns in clinical practice and is also utilised in child psychopathology research. Some studies have indicated that the accuracy of retrospective recall is influenced by life events. Our hypothesis was that an intervention: speech and language therapy, would adversely affect the accuracy of parent recall of early concerns about their child's speech and language development. Mothers (n = 5,390) reported on their child's speech development (child male to female ratio = 50:50) when their children were aged 18 or 30 months, and also reported on these early concerns retrospectively, 10 years later, when their children were 13 years old. Overall reliability of retrospective recall was good, 86 % of respondents accurately recalling their earlier concerns. As hypothesised, however, the speech and language intervention was strongly associated with inaccurate retrospective recall about concerns in the early years (Relative Risk Ratio = 19.03; 95 % CI:14.78-24.48). Attendance at speech therapy was associated with increased recall of concerns that were not reported at the time. The study suggests caution is required when interpreting retrospective reports of abnormal child development as recall may be influenced by intervening events.

Caregivers' suffix frequencies and suffix acquisition by language impaired, late talking, and typically developing children.

PubMed

Warlaumont, Anne S; Jarmulowicz, Linda

2012-11-01

Acquisition of regular inflectional suffixes is an integral part of grammatical development in English and delayed acquisition of certain inflectional suffixes is a hallmark of language impairment. We investigate the relationship between input frequency and grammatical suffix acquisition, analyzing 217 transcripts of mother-child (ages 1 ; 11-6 ; 9) conversations from the CHILDES database. Maternal suffix frequency correlates with previously reported rank orders of acquisition and with child suffix frequency. Percentages of children using a suffix are consistent with frequencies in caregiver speech. Although late talkers acquire suffixes later than typically developing children, order of acquisition is similar across populations. Furthermore, the third person singular and past tense verb suffixes, weaknesses for children with language impairment, are less frequent in caregiver speech than the plural noun suffix, a relative strength in language impairment. Similar findings hold across typical, SLI and late talker populations, suggesting that frequency plays a role in suffix acquisition.

Examining the communication skills of a young cochlear implant pioneer.

PubMed

Connor, Carol McDonald

2006-01-01

The purpose of this longitudinal case study was to closely examine one deaf child's experience with a cochlear implant and his speech, language, and communication skills from kindergarten through middle and high school using both developmental and sociocultural frameworks. The target child was one of the first children to receive a cochlear implant in the United States in 1988, when he was 5 years of age. The developmental analysis revealed that prior to receiving a cochlear implant the child demonstrated profound delays in speech and language skill development. His speech and language skills grew slowly during the first 3-4 years following implantation, very rapidly from about 5 through 7 years postimplantation, then slowed to rates that were highly similar to same-age peers with normal hearing. The sociocultural analysis revealed that the child's communicative competence improved; that he used sign language but use of sign language decreased as his oral communication skills improved; that as his oral communication skills improved, the adults talked and directed the topic of conversation less frequently; and that topics became less concrete and more personal over time. The results of this study indicate that we may learn more about how to support children who use cochlear implants by examining what they are saying as well as how they are saying it.

Genetic and Environmental Links Between Natural Language Use and Cognitive Ability in Toddlers.

PubMed

Canfield, Caitlin F; Edelson, Lisa R; Saudino, Kimberly J

2017-03-01

Although the phenotypic correlation between language and nonverbal cognitive ability is well-documented, studies examining the etiology of the covariance between these abilities are scant, particularly in very young children. The goal of this study was to address this gap in the literature by examining the genetic and environmental links between language use, assessed through conversational language samples, and nonverbal cognition in a sample of 3-year-old twins (N = 281 pairs). Significant genetic and nonshared environmental influences were found for nonverbal cognitive ability and language measures, including mean length of utterance and number of different words, as well as significant genetic covariance between cognitive ability and both language measures. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Do early care and education services improve language development for maltreated children? Evidence from a national child welfare sample.

PubMed

Merritt, Darcey H; Klein, Sacha

2015-01-01

Young children under 6 years old are over-represented in the U.S. child welfare system (CWS). Due to their exposure to early deprivation and trauma, they are also highly vulnerable to developmental problems, including language delays. High quality early care and education (ECE) programs (e.g. preschool, Head Start) can improve children's development and so policymakers have begun calling for increased enrollment of CWS-supervised children in these programs. However, it is not a given that ECE will benefit all children who experience maltreatment. Some types of maltreatment may result in trauma-related learning and behavior challenges or developmental deficits that cause children to respond to ECE settings differently. The current study uses data from a nationally representative survey of children in the U.S. child welfare system, the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II, to assess whether young CWS-supervised children (N=1,652) who were enrolled in ECE had better language development outcomes 18 months later than those not enrolled in ECE. We also explore whether the type of maltreatment that brought children to the CWS' attention moderates the relationship between ECE and children's language development. After controlling for children's initial scores on the Preschool Language Scale (PLS-3), type(s) of maltreatment experienced, and child and caregiver demographics, we found that ECE participation predicted better PLS-3 scores at follow-up, with a positive interaction between ECE participation and supervisory neglect. ECE seems to be beneficial for CWS-involved children's early language development, especially for children referred to the CWS because they lack appropriate parent supervision at home. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of home literacy practices in preschool children's language and emergent literacy skills.

PubMed

Roberts, Joanne; Jurgens, Julia; Burchinal, Margaret

2005-04-01

This study examined how 4 specific measures of home literacy practices (i.e., shared book reading frequency, maternal book reading strategies, child's enjoyment of reading, and maternal sensitivity) and a global measure of the quality and responsiveness of the home environment during the preschool years predicted children's language and emergent literacy skills between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Study participants were 72 African American children and their mothers or primary guardians primarily from low-income families whose home literacy environment and development have been followed since infancy. Annually, between 18 months and 5 years of age, the children's mothers were interviewed about the frequency they read to their child and how much their child enjoyed being read to, and the overall quality and responsiveness of the home environment were observed. Mothers also were observed reading to their child once a year at 2, 3, and 4 years of age, and maternal sensitivity and types of maternal book reading strategies were coded. Children's receptive and expressive language and vocabulary were assessed annually between 3 years of age and kindergarten entry, and emergent literacy skills were assessed at 4 years and kindergarten entry. The specific home literacy practices showed moderate to large correlations with each other, and only a few significant associations with the language and literacy outcomes, after controlling for maternal education, maternal reading skills, and the child's gender. The global measure of overall responsiveness and support of the home environment was the strongest predictor of children's language and early literacy skills and contributed over and above the specific literacy practice measures in predicting children's early language and literacy development.

Large-Scale Behavior-Change Initiative for Infant and Young Child Feeding Advanced Language and Motor Development in a Cluster-Randomized Program Evaluation in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Frongillo, Edward A; Nguyen, Phuong H; Saha, Kuntal K; Sanghvi, Tina; Afsana, Kaosar; Haque, Raisul; Baker, Jean; Ruel, Marie T; Rawat, Rahul; Menon, Purnima

2017-02-01

Promoting adequate nutrition through interventions to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) has the potential to contribute to child development. We examined whether an intensive intervention package that was aimed at improving IYCF at scale through the Alive & Thrive initiative in Bangladesh also advanced language and gross motor development, and whether advancements in language and gross motor development were explained through improved complementary feeding. A cluster-randomized design compared 2 intervention packages: intensive interpersonal counseling on IYCF, mass media campaign, and community mobilization (intensive) compared with usual nutrition counseling and mass media campaign (nonintensive). Twenty subdistricts were randomly assigned to receive either the intensive or the nonintensive intervention. Household surveys were conducted at baseline (2010) and at endline (2014) in the same communities (n = ∼4000 children aged 0-47.9 mo for each round). Child development was measured by asking mothers if their child had reached each of multiple milestones, with some observed. Linear regression accounting for clustering was used to derive difference-in-differences (DID) impact estimates, and path analysis was used to examine developmental advancement through indicators of improved IYCF and other factors. The DID in language development between intensive and nonintensive groups was 1.05 milestones (P = 0.001) among children aged 6-23.9 mo and 0.76 milestones (P = 0.038) among children aged 24-47.9 mo. For gross motor development, the DID was 0.85 milestones (P = 0.035) among children aged 6-23.9 mo. The differences observed corresponded to age- and sex-adjusted effect sizes of 0.35 for language and 0.23 for gross motor development. Developmental advancement at 6-23.9 mo was partially explained through improved minimum dietary diversity and the consumption of iron-rich food. Intensive IYCF intervention differentially advanced language and gross motor development, which was partially explained through improved complementary feeding. Measuring a diverse set of child outcomes, including functional outcomes such as child development, is important when evaluating integrated nutrition programs. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01678716. © 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

Bilingual Mothers' Language Choice in Child-directed Speech: Continuity and Change

PubMed Central

De Houwer, Annick; Bornstein, Marc H.

2016-01-01

An important aspect of Family Language Policy in bilingual families is parental language choice. Little is known about the continuity in parental language choice and the factors affecting it. This longitudinal study explores maternal language choice over time. Thirty-one bilingual mothers provided reports of what language(s) they spoke with their children. Mother-child interactions were videotaped when children were pre-verbal (5M), producing words in two languages (20M), and fluent speakers (53M). All children had heard two languages from birth in the home. Most mothers reported addressing children in the same single language. Observational data confirmed mothers' use of mainly a single language in interactions with their children, but also showed the occasional use of the other language in over half the sample when children were 20 months. Once children were 53 months mothers again used only the same language they reported speaking to children. These findings reveal a possible effect of children's overall level of language development and demonstrate the difficulty of adhering to a strict “one person, one language” policy. The fact that there was longitudinal continuity in the language most mothers mainly spoke with children provided children with cumulative language input learning opportunities. PMID:28210008

Improving Your Child's Listening and Language Skills: A Parent's Guide to Language Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Ruth; And Others

The parent's guide reviews normal speech and language development and discusses ways in which parents of young children with language problems facilitate that development. Terms such as speech, communication, and receptive and expressive language are defined, and stages in receptive/expressive language development are charted. Implications for…

Multilingual Children Increase Language Differentiation by Indexing Communities of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Shannessy, Carmel

2015-01-01

An area in need of study in child language acquisition is that of complex multilingual contexts in which there is little language separation by interlocutor or domain. Little is known about how multilingual children use language to construct their identities in each language or in both languages. Identity construction in monolingual contexts has…

Maintaining and Developing Indigenous Languages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reyhner, John

Dr. Joshua Fishman, a world renowned sociolinguist and expert on endangered languages, postulates a continuum of eight stages of language loss for indigenous languages. The most-endangered languages are in stage 8 and only have a few elderly speakers. In stage 7 only adults beyond child-bearing age still speak the tribal language. In stage 6 there…

The Differential Effect of Three Naturalistic Language Interventions on Language Use in Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ingersoll, Brooke

2011-01-01

Naturalistic interventions show promise for improving language in children with autism. Specific interventions differ in direct elicitation of child language and indirect language stimulation, and thus may produce different language outcomes. This study compared the effects of responsive interaction, milieu teaching, and a combined intervention on…

Child Care Data and Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Finance.

A publication releasing the most important current statistics, reports, statutory language, and regulations on child care is presented. Data are presented under the following general topics: (1) Child Care Services and Working Mothers, (2) Child Care Arrangements of Working Mothers Today, (3) Federal Assistance for Child Care, (4) How Much Does…

Parent and Child Fluency in a Common Language: Implications for the Parent–Child Relationship and Later Academic Success in Mexican American Families

PubMed Central

Schofield, Thomas; Beaumont, Kelly; Widaman, Keith; Jochem, Rachel; Robins, Richard; Conger, Rand

2013-01-01

The current study tested elements of the theoretical model of Portes and Rumbaut (1996), which proposes that parent–child differences in English fluency in immigrant families affect various family processes that, in turn, relate to changes in academic success. The current study of 674 Mexican- origin families provided support for the model in that parent–child fluency in a common language was associated with several dimensions of the parent–child relationship, including communication, role reversal, and conflict. In turn, these family processes predicted child academic performance, school problems, and academic aspirations and expectations. The current findings extend the Portes and Rumbaut (1996) model, however, inasmuch as joint fluency in either English or Spanish was associated with better parent–child relationships. The findings have implications for educational and human service issues involving Mexican Americans and other immigrant groups. PMID:23244454

Toddlers, Electronic Media, and Language Development: What Researchers Know So Far

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guernsey, Lisa

2013-01-01

Electronic media--whether child-oriented videos and games or background television--is increasingly embedded in young children's lives, raising questions of its impact on children's language skills. New research presents a multitextured picture of how different types of e-media--depending on content, context, and a child's age--can help and hurt.…

Commentary on "Reading Comprehension Is Not a Single Ability": Implications for Child Language Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ukrainetz, Teresa A.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This commentary responds to the implications for child language intervention of Catts and Kamhi's (2017) call to move from viewing reading comprehension as a single ability to recognizing it as a complex constellation of reader, text, and activity. Method: Reading comprehension, as Catts and Kamhi explain, is very complicated. In this…

Parental Support for Language Development during Joint Book Reading for Young Children with Hearing Loss

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DesJardin, Jean L.; Doll, Emily R.; Stika, Carren J.; Eisenberg, Laurie S.; Johnson, Karen J.; Ganguly, Dianne Hammes; Colson, Bethany G.; Henning, Shirley C.

2014-01-01

Parent and child joint book reading (JBR) characteristics and parent facilitative language techniques (FLTs) were investigated in two groups of parents and their young children; children with normal hearing (NH; "n" = 60) and children with hearing loss (HL; "n" = 45). Parent-child dyads were videotaped during JBR interactions,…

Bilingual Competence and Bilingual Proficiency in Child Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Francis, Norbert

2011-01-01

When two or more languages are part of a child's world, we are presented with a rich opportunity to learn something about language in general and about how the mind works. In this book, Norbert Francis examines the development of bilingual proficiency and the different kinds of competence that come together in making up its component parts. In…

Relationships between Early Child Factors and School Readiness Skills in Young Children with Hearing Loss

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrington, Marjorie; DesJardin, Jean L.; Shea, Lynn C.

2010-01-01

The goal of this longitudinal study is to examine the relationships between early child factors (i.e., age at identification, enrollment in early intervention, oral language skills) and school readiness skills (i.e., conceptual knowledge) in a group of young children with hearing loss (HL). Standardized language, cognition, and conceptual…

Doble Research Supplement (Digest of Bilingual Education).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berney, Tomi D., Ed.; Eisenberg, Anne, Ed.

This bulletin summarizes the arguments for bilingual education in the United States. More than one language is needed as the medium of instruction where the child's mother tongue may not be English. Instruction in a weaker language not only retards reading, but arithmetic and other subjects are not as well learned if the child must cope with…

THE BIRTH OF LANGUAGE, THE CASE HISTORY OF A NON-VERBAL CHILD.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

KASTEIN, SHULAMITH; TRACE, BARBARA

THE HISTORY OF A CHILD WITH BEHAVIOR AND LANGUAGE DISORDERS IS WRITTEN BY THE MOTHER IN CONJUNCTION WITH A SPEECH PATHOLOGIST. WRITTEN FROM A PROFESSIONAL VIEWPOINT, THE CASE HISTORY PRESENTS MEDICAL, EDUCATIONAL, PHYSICAL, AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS AS THEY OCCURRED FROM BIRTH TO 11 YEARS OF AGE. TESTING PROCEDURES AND RESULTS, DIAGNOSIS, AND…

Child Sexual Abuse in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lalor, Kevin

2004-01-01

Objective: This article reviews the English-language literature on child sexual abuse in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The focus is on the sexual abuse of children in the home/community, as opposed to the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Methods: English language, peer-reviewed papers cited in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) are…

Understanding Others and Understanding Language: How Do Children Do It?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Talbot J.

2012-01-01

Does the child's emerging understanding of other minds interact with his/her growing understanding of language? If so, in what ways? This paper focuses on the recent proposals of Daniel Hutto and colleagues regarding the role played by the child's developing skills in narrative discourse in his/her acquisition of folk-psychological understanding.…

Parenting of children with Down syndrome compared to fragile X syndrome.

PubMed

Sterling, Audra; Warren, Steven F

2018-01-01

Children with Down syndrome (DS) and fragile X syndrome (FXS) struggle with language development. Parenting variables, such as responsiveness to children's communication attempts (Maternal Responsivity), and techniques used to support and teach appropriate behavior (Behavior Management) are known to have a significant impact on early child development. We examined these two aspects of parenting style via coded, videotaped parent-child interactions in two groups of participants matched on child age (2-5 years) and child expressive language level: mothers of children with DS and mothers of children with FXS. The mothers differed in their use of gestures and redirecting the child's attention. Overall, mothers in both groups of children appeared to adapt appropriately to their children's developmental needs.

Language Problems Among Abused and Neglected Children: A Meta-Analytic Review.

PubMed

Sylvestre, Audette; Bussières, Ève-Line; Bouchard, Caroline

2016-02-01

Research data show that exposure to abuse and neglect has detrimental effects on a child's language development. In this meta-analysis, we analyze studies (k = 23), to compare the language skills (receptive language, expressive language, pragmatics) of children who have experienced abuse and/or neglect with the language skills of children who have not experienced abuse and/or neglect and to examine whether age or type of maltreatment moderate the relationship between maltreatment and language skills. Results confirm that the language skills of children who have experienced abuse and/or neglect are delayed when compared to children who have not experienced abuse and/or neglect. Compared to older children, young children seem particularly vulnerable to abuse and neglect. No significant differences were demonstrated concerning the type of maltreatment suffered by the child. These findings support the necessity of early detection of language problems in abused and neglected children as well as early intervention in order to implement interventions that will positively stimulate their development. © The Author(s) 2015.

Your Laptop to the Rescue: Using the Child Language Data Exchange System Archive and CLAN Utilities to Improve Child Language Sample Analysis.

PubMed

Ratner, Nan Bernstein; MacWhinney, Brian

2016-05-01

In this article, we review the advantages of language sample analysis (LSA) and explain how clinicians can make the process of LSA faster, easier, more accurate, and more insightful than LSA done "by hand" by using free, available software programs such as Computerized Language Analysis (CLAN). We demonstrate the utility of CLAN analysis in studying the expressive language of a very large cohort of 24-month-old toddlers tracked in a recent longitudinal study; toddlers in particular are the most likely group to receive LSA by clinicians, but existing reference "norms" for this population are based on fairly small cohorts of children. Finally, we demonstrate how a CLAN utility such as KidEval can now extract potential normative data from the very large number of corpora now available for English and other languages at the Child Language Data Exchange System project site. Most of the LSA measures that we studied appear to show developmental profiles suggesting that they may be of specifically higher value for children at certain ages, because they do not show an even developmental trajectory from 2 to 7 years of age. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Acquisition of speech rhythm in first language.

PubMed

Polyanskaya, Leona; Ordin, Mikhail

2015-09-01

Analysis of English rhythm in speech produced by children and adults revealed that speech rhythm becomes increasingly more stress-timed as language acquisition progresses. Children reach the adult-like target by 11 to 12 years. The employed speech elicitation paradigm ensured that the sentences produced by adults and children at different ages were comparable in terms of lexical content, segmental composition, and phonotactic complexity. Detected differences between child and adult rhythm and between rhythm in child speech at various ages cannot be attributed to acquisition of phonotactic language features or vocabulary, and indicate the development of language-specific phonetic timing in the course of acquisition.

The impact of input quality on early sign development in native and non-native language learners.

PubMed

Lu, Jenny; Jones, Anna; Morgan, Gary

2016-05-01

There is debate about how input variation influences child language. Most deaf children are exposed to a sign language from their non-fluent hearing parents and experience a delay in exposure to accessible language. A small number of children receive language input from their deaf parents who are fluent signers. Thus it is possible to document the impact of quality of input on early sign acquisition. The current study explores the outcomes of differential input in two groups of children aged two to five years: deaf children of hearing parents (DCHP) and deaf children of deaf parents (DCDP). Analysis of child sign language revealed DCDP had a more developed vocabulary and more phonological handshape types compared with DCHP. In naturalistic conversations deaf parents used more sign tokens and more phonological types than hearing parents. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of early input on subsequent language abilities.

Using norm-referenced tests to determine severity of language impairment in children: disconnect between U.S. policy makers and test developers.

PubMed

Spaulding, Tammie J; Swartwout Szulga, Margaret; Figueroa, Cecilia

2012-04-01

The purpose of this study was to identify various U.S. state education departments' criteria for determining the severity of language impairment in children, with particular focus on the use of norm-referenced tests. A secondary objective was to determine if norm-referenced tests of child language were developed for the purpose of identifying the severity of children's language impairment. Published procedures for severity determinations were obtained from U.S. state education departments. In addition, manuals for 45 norm-referenced tests of child language were reviewed to determine if each test was designed to identify the degree of a child's language impairment. Consistency was evaluated among state criteria, test developers' intentions, and test characteristics. At the time of this study, 8 states published guidelines for determining the severity of language impairment, and each specified the use of norm-referenced tests for this purpose. The degree of use and cutoff-point criteria for severity determination varied across states. No cutoff-point criteria aligned with the severity cutoff points described within the test manuals. Furthermore, tests that included severity information lacked empirical data on how the severity categories were derived. Researchers and clinicians should be cautious in determining the severity of children's language impairment using norm-referenced test performance given the inconsistency in guidelines and lack of empirical data within test manuals to support this use.

The Weaker Language in Early Child Bilingualism: Acquiring a First Language as a Second Language?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meisel, Jurgen M.

2007-01-01

Past research demonstrates that first language (L1)-like competence in each language can be attained in simultaneous acquisition of bilingualism by mere exposure to the target languages. The question is whether this is also true for the "weaker" language (WL). The WL hypothesis claims that the WL differs fundamentally from monolingual L1 and…

Predictors of Language Gains among School-Age Children with Language Impairment in the Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Justice, Laura M.; Jiang, Hui; Logan, Jessica A.; Schmitt, Mary Beth

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study aimed to identify child-level characteristics that predict gains in language skills for children with language impairment who were receiving therapy within the public schools. The therapy provided represented business-as-usual speech/language treatment provided by speech-language pathologists in the public schools. Method: The…

The Impact of Early Social Interactions on Later Language Development in Spanish-English Bilingual Infants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramírez-Esparza, Nairán; García-Sierra, Adrián; Kuhl, Patricia K.

2017-01-01

This study tested the impact of child-directed language input on language development in Spanish-English bilingual infants (N = 25, 11- and 14-month-olds from the Seattle metropolitan area), across languages and independently for each language, controlling for socioeconomic status. Language input was characterized by social interaction variables,…

The influence of maternal acculturation on child body mass index at age 24 months.

PubMed

Sussner, Katarina M; Lindsay, Ana C; Peterson, Karen E

2009-02-01

Obesity rates in preschool-aged children are greatest among Latinos. Studies of the relationship of acculturation to obesity among Latino immigrants have primarily focused on adults and adolescents. We examined the influence of maternal acculturation on child body mass index (BMI) at age 24 and 36 months among predominantly Latino, low-income mother-child pairs enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. Maternal characteristics were obtained from interviewer-administered surveys conducted in English or Spanish at 6 to 20 weeks postpartum among 679 participants in a randomized controlled trial of a health promotion intervention in two urban areas in the Northeast. Acculturation measures included: nativity (born in the United States vs foreign born), parents' nativity, years of US residence (<8 years vs > or =8 years), and exclusive use of native language vs nonexclusive use (mixed or English only). Following repeated mailings and telephone calls requesting permission to obtain their child's height and weight from Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children records, informed consent was obtained from 108 mothers. Multivariable linear regression models of maternal acculturation and child BMI z score at age 24 months and age 36 months were estimated among all mother-child pairs and within immigrant-only mother-child pairs, adjusting for relevant maternal characteristics. At age 24 months, children of mothers with exclusive use of native language had higher BMI z scores compared to children of mothers with nonexclusive use among 91 mother-child pairs (beta=.74, P=0.02) and within 63 immigrant-only mother-child pairs (beta=.92, P=0.009). Exclusive use of native language was associated with greater BMI in children as young as age 24 months. Future research should examine the mechanisms by which mothers' language acculturation may affect proximal determinants of energy balance in preschool children, including breastfeeding practices, dietary intake, and physical activity.

Teacher-child relationships and classroom-learning behaviours of children with developmental language disorders.

PubMed

Rhoad-Drogalis, Anna; Justice, Laura M; Sawyer, Brook E; O'Connell, Ann A

2018-03-01

Children with developmental language disorders (DLDs) often struggle with classroom behaviour. No study has examined whether positive teacher-child relationships may act as a protective factor for children with DLDs in that these serve to enhance children's important classroom-learning behaviours. To examine the association between the quality of teacher-child relationships and teacher-rated classroom-learning behaviours of children with DLDs in both preschool and kindergarten. Longitudinal data were collected on 191 preschoolers (mean = 42.4 months of age, SD = 11.6 months) with DLDs in special education classrooms during preschool and in kindergarten. Teacher-child relationship quality was assessed in preschool, and children's classroom-learning behaviours were measured in preschool and kindergarten. Regression models were used to examine the relationship between teacher-child relationship quality and children's concurrent and future classroom-learning behaviours. Positive teacher-child relationship quality in preschool was associated with better classroom-learning behaviours in preschool and kindergarten for children with DLDs. Preschool teacher-child relationship quality characterized by low levels of conflict and high levels of closeness was associated with positive classroom-learning behaviours during preschool. Teacher-child conflict but not closeness was predictive of children's classroom-learning behaviours in kindergarten. These results suggest that the quality of the teacher-child relationship for children with DLDs during preschool is associated within their learning-related behaviours in the classroom both concurrently and in the subsequent year. Findings suggest that teacher-child relationships should be explored as a mechanism for improving the learning-related behaviours of children with DLDs. © 2017 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Language Brokering and Depressive Symptoms in Mexican-american Adolescents: Parent-Child Alienation and Resilience as Moderators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Su Yeong; Hou, Yang; Gonzalez, Yolanda

2017-01-01

This study aimed to untangle the mixed effects of language brokering by examining a contextual factor (i.e., parent-child alienation) and a personal attribute (i.e., resilience) that may relate to adolescents' feelings during translating (i.e., sense of burden and efficacy) and that may moderate the association between such feelings and adolescent…

Caregivers' Use of Metacognitive Language in Child Care Centers: Prevalence and Predictors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frampton, Kristen L.; Perlman, Michal; Jenkins, Jennifer M.

2009-01-01

Use of metacognitive language by child care center staff in classrooms that serve preschool-aged children was examined. Staff's use of mental-state talk, perspective-taking talk, and activity-relevant questioning with children were coded in a series of 20-s snapshots taken over the course of one full morning per classroom. A total of 3401…

Language Learning and the Young Child. Learning Package No. 43.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simic, Marge, Comp.; Smith, Carl, Ed.

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on language learning and the young child is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a…

Solving the Puzzle: Dual Language Learners with Challenging Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nemeth, Karen; Brillante, Pamela

2011-01-01

It can be difficult for any teacher to support a child whose behavior is disruptive, but a language barrier can certainly complicate the situation. Children who are new to English may not be able to tell teachers what's going on. This makes it even more important for teachers to learn specific strategies to interpret the child's actions and plan…

Evaluating the Relationship among Parents' Oral and Written Language Skills, the Home Literacy Environment, and Their Preschool Children's Emergent Literacy Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Nicole A.

2011-01-01

Studies have examined the impact of parents' educational level on their child's emergent literacy skills and have found positive associations (Korat, 2009). However, a review of the literature indicates that previous studies have not investigated whether parents' oral and written language skills relate to their child's emergent oral and written…

Home Literacy Exposure and Early Language and Literacy Skills in Children Who Struggle with Behavior and Attention Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haak, Jill; Downer, Jason; Reeve, Ronald

2012-01-01

Research Findings: This study investigated the relationships between behavior and attention problems and early language and literacy outcomes for 4-year-olds who experienced varied early home literacy environments. Participants were 1,364 children enrolled in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care…

Effects of Home Environment and Center-Based Child Care Quality on Children's Language, Communication, and Literacy Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinto, Ana Isabel; Pessanha, Manuela; Aguiar, Cecilia

2013-01-01

This study examined the joint effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children's language, communication, and early literacy development, while also considering prior developmental level. Participants were 95 children (46 boys), assessed as toddlers (mean age = 26.33 months; Time 1) and preschoolers (mean age = 68.71…

Partners in Language: A Guide for Parents. (Companeros En El Idioma: Guia para Los Padres).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Speech and Hearing Association, Washington, DC.

This is a bilingual book about language development of the young child. It is written for parents, with the objective of providing them with skills to help their children learn to talk. Emphasis is on maintaining communication between parent and child from infancy in a non-pressured, accepting, and positive environment. Developmental (normative)…

A Demonstration Project of Speech Training for the Preschool Cleft Palate Child. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Robert J.

To ascertain the efficacy of a program of language and speech stimulation for the preschool cleft palate child, a research and demonstration project was conducted using 137 subjects (ages 18 to 72 months) with defects involving the soft palate. Their language and speech skills were matched with those of a noncleft peer group revealing that the…

No Child Left with Crayons: The Imperative of Arts-Based Education and Research with Language "Minority" and Other Minoritized Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chappell, Sharon Verner; Cahnmann-Taylor, Melisa

2013-01-01

Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, public discourse on "failing schools" as measured by high-stakes standardized tests has disproportionately affected students from minoritized communities (such as language, race, class, dis/ability), emphasizing climates of assessment at the expense of broader, more democratic, and…

Language Outcomes for Children of Low-Income Families Enrolled in Auditory Verbal Therapy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogan, Sarah; Stokes, Jacqueline; Weller, Isobel

2010-01-01

A common misconception about families in the UK who choose to participate in an Auditory Verbal (AV) approach for their child with hearing impairment, is that they are uniformly from affluent backgrounds. It is asserted that the good spoken language outcomes in these children are a product of the child's social background and family's values…

School Climate, Teacher-Child Closeness, and Low-Income Children’s Academic Skills in Kindergarten

PubMed Central

Lowenstein, Amy E.; Friedman-Krauss, Allison H.; Raver, C. Cybele; Jones, Stephanie M.; Pess, Rachel A.

2015-01-01

In this study we used data on a sample of children in the Chicago Public Schools in areas of concentrated poverty-related disadvantage to examine associations between school climate and low-income children’s language/literacy and math skills during the transition to kindergarten. We also explored whether teacher-child closeness moderated these associations. Multilevel modeling analyses conducted using a sample of 242 children nested in 102 elementary schools revealed that low adult support in the school was significantly associated with children’s poorer language/literacy and math skills in kindergarten. Teacher-child closeness predicted children’s higher language/literacy and math scores and moderated the association between low adult support and children’s academic skills. Among children who were high on closeness with their teacher, those in schools with high levels of adult support showed stronger language/literacy and math skills. There were no significant associations between adult support and the academic skills of children with medium or low levels of teacher-child closeness. Results shed light on the importance of adult support at both school and classroom levels in promoting low-income children’s academic skills during the transition to kindergarten. PMID:26925186

Higher Order Language Competence and Adolescent Mental Health

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Nancy J.; Farnia, Fataneh; Im-Bolter, Nancie

2013-01-01

Background: Clinic and community-based epidemiological studies have shown an association between child psychopathology and language impairment. The demands on language for social and academic adjustment shift dramatically during adolescence and the ability to understand the nonliteral meaning in language represented by higher order language…

Linguistic Diversity in First Language Acquisition Research: Moving beyond the Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Barbara F.; Forshaw, William; Nordlinger, Rachel; Wigglesworth, Gillian

2015-01-01

The field of first language acquisition (FLA) needs to take into account data from the broadest typological array of languages and language-learning environments if it is to identify potential universals in child language development, and how these interact with socio-cultural mechanisms of acquisition. Yet undertaking FLA research in remote…

Issues in Vertical Scaling of a K-12 English Language Proficiency Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenyon, Dorry M.; MacGregor, David; Li, Dongyang; Cook, H. Gary

2011-01-01

One of the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act is that states show adequate yearly progress in their English language learners' (ELLs) acquisition of English language proficiency. States are required to assess ELLs' English language proficiency annually in four language domains (listening, reading, writing, and speaking) to measure their…

Convergence between parent report and direct assessment of language and attention in culturally and linguistically diverse children

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Parent report is commonly used to assess language and attention in children for research and clinical purposes. It is therefore important to understand the convergent validity of parent-report tools in comparison to direct assessments of language and attention. In particular, cultural and linguistic background may influence this convergence. In this study a group of six- to eight-year old children (N = 110) completed direct assessments of language and attention and their parents reported on the same areas. Convergence between assessment types was explored using correlations. Possible influences of ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic) and of parent report language (English or Spanish) were explored using hierarchical linear regression. Correlations between parent report and direct child assessments were significant for both language and attention, suggesting convergence between assessment types. Ethnicity and parent report language did not moderate the relationships between direct child assessments and parent report tools for either attention or language. PMID:28683131

Convergence between parent report and direct assessment of language and attention in culturally and linguistically diverse children.

PubMed

Ebert, Kerry Danahy

2017-01-01

Parent report is commonly used to assess language and attention in children for research and clinical purposes. It is therefore important to understand the convergent validity of parent-report tools in comparison to direct assessments of language and attention. In particular, cultural and linguistic background may influence this convergence. In this study a group of six- to eight-year old children (N = 110) completed direct assessments of language and attention and their parents reported on the same areas. Convergence between assessment types was explored using correlations. Possible influences of ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic) and of parent report language (English or Spanish) were explored using hierarchical linear regression. Correlations between parent report and direct child assessments were significant for both language and attention, suggesting convergence between assessment types. Ethnicity and parent report language did not moderate the relationships between direct child assessments and parent report tools for either attention or language.

One-Parent-One-Language (OPOL) Families: Is the Majority Language-Speaking Parent Instrumental in the Minority Language Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Venables, Elizabeth; Eisenchlas, Susana A.; Schalley, Andrea C.

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to examine the strategies majority language-speaking parents use to support the development of the minority language in families who follow the pattern of exposure known as one-parent-one-language (OPOL). In this particular pattern of raising a child bilingually, each parent speaks only their own native language to their…

Integrating Language, Pragmatics, and Social Intervention in a Single-Subject Case Study of a Child With a Developmental Social Communication Disorder.

PubMed

Adams, Catherine; Gaile, Jacqueline; Lockton, Elaine; Freed, Jenny

2015-10-01

This clinical focus article presents an illustration of a complex communication intervention, the Social Communication Intervention Programme (SCIP), as delivered to a child who has a social communication disorder (SCD). The SCIP intervention combined language processing and pragmatic and social understanding therapies in a program of individualized therapy activities and in close liaison with families. The study used an enhanced AB single-subject design in which an 8-year-old child with an SCD participated in 20 therapy sessions with a specialist speech-language pathologist. A procedure of matching assessment findings to intervention choices was followed to construct an individualized treatment program. Examples of intervention content and the embedded structure of SCIP are illustrated. Observational and formal measurements of receptive and expressive language, conversation, and parent-teacher ratings of social communication were completed before therapy, after therapy, and at a 6-month follow-up session. Outcomes revealed change in total and receptive language scores but not in expressive language. Conversation showed marked improvement in responsiveness, appreciation of listener knowledge, turn taking, and adaptation of discourse style. Teacher-reported outcomes included improved classroom behavior and enhanced literacy skills. Parent-reported outcomes included improved verbal interactions with family members and personal narratives. This clinical focus article demonstrates the complexity of needs in a child with an SCD and how these can be addressed in individualized intervention. Findings are discussed in relation to the essential nature of language support including pragmatic therapy for children with SCDs. Discussion of the role of formal and functional outcome measurement as well as the proximity of chosen outcomes to the intervention is included.

The impact of language barriers and immigration status on the care experience for Spanish-speaking caregivers of patients with pediatric cancer.

PubMed

Zamora, Eduardo R; Kaul, Sapna; Kirchhoff, Anne C; Gwilliam, Vannina; Jimenez, Ornella A; Morreall, Deborah K; Montenegro, Roberto E; Kinney, Anita Y; Fluchel, Mark N

2016-12-01

An increasing proportion of pediatric cancer patients in the United States are Latino and many have Spanish-speaking immigrant parents with limited English proficiency (LEP). Little is known about how language or undocumented immigration status impacts their care experience. A cross-sectional survey was administered to English (N = 310) and Spanish-speaking LEP (N = 56) caregivers of pediatric cancer patients. To assess differences in healthcare experiences between the language groups, t-tests and chi-square statistics were used. Multivariable logistic regression evaluated associations between primary language and knowledge of clinical trial status. Spanish-speaking caregivers were more likely to report higher rates of quitting or changing jobs as a direct result of their child's cancer, and their children were more likely to experience a delay in education. Although Spanish-speaking caregivers reported higher satisfaction with care, 32% reported feeling that their child would have received better care if English was their primary language. Spanish-speaking caregivers were more likely to incorrectly identify whether their child was on a clinical trial compared with English-speaking caregivers. The majority of Spanish-speaking caregivers reported at least one undocumented caregiver in the household and 11% of them avoided or delayed medical care for their child due to concerns over their undocumented immigration status. Language barriers and undocumented immigration status may negatively impact the quality of informed decision-making and the care experience for Spanish-speaking LEP caregivers of pediatric cancer patients. These families may benefit from culturally appropriate Spanish language resources to improve communication and open a dialogue regarding undocumented immigration status. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Automated Analysis of Child Phonetic Production Using Naturalistic Recordings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Dongxin; Richards, Jeffrey A.; Gilkerson, Jill

2014-01-01

Purpose: Conventional resource-intensive methods for child phonetic development studies are often impractical for sampling and analyzing child vocalizations in sufficient quantity. The purpose of this study was to provide new information on early language development by an automated analysis of child phonetic production using naturalistic…

Directiveness in teachers' language input to toddlers and preschoolers in day care.

PubMed

Girolametto, L; Weitzman, E; van Lieshout, R; Duff, D

2000-10-01

Five subtypes of directiveness were examined in the interactions of day care teachers with toddler and preschooler groups. The instructional context (book reading, play dough) yielded significant differences across all five subtypes of directiveness, indicating that these two activities elicited different types of teacher-child discourse. Book reading was characterized by significantly more behavior and response control and less conversation control in comparison with the play-dough activity. Correlations between teachers' directiveness and child language productivity indicated that behavior control and turn-taking control were associated with low levels of productivity, whereas conversation control was associated with the highest levels of productivity. The results of this study confirm that instructional context is an important mediator of teachers' directiveness and suggest that subtypes of directiveness have differential effects on child language output.

La investigacion sovietica en psicologia de la actividad linguistica (Soviet Investigations in Psychology Relating to Linguistic Processes)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prucha, J.

1975-01-01

Surveys the actual state of Russian research on verbal behavior as seen from the field of psychology. The research is in four parts: (1) language and thought, especially internal language, (2) neurological aspects of language, (3) child language, and (4) psychology of language learning and teaching for native and foreign languages. (Text is in…

Factors Associated with Expressive and Receptive Language in French-Speaking Toddlers Clinically Diagnosed with Language Delay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sylvestre, Audette; Desmarais, Chantal; Meyer, Francois; Bairati, Isabelle; Rouleau, Nancie; Merette, Chantal

2012-01-01

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine child and environmental factors known to be associated to language development and how they relate to results in expressive vocabulary, expressive language, and receptive language in language-delayed toddlers. The cross-sectional data on 96 French-speaking children aged 18-36 months were…

Language Use in a "One Parent-One Language" Mandarin-English Bilingual Family: Noun versus Verb Use and Language Mixing Compared to Maternal Perception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Qiu, Chen; Winsler, Adam

2017-01-01

Via naturalistic observations, parent interview, and direct assessments, we examined language proficiency, language use, and differentiation of a 3-year, 4-month-old bilingual child exposed to Mandarin and English via the "one parent-one language" principle. Although noun versus verb dominance has been explored across verb-based…

Outcome Measurement Using Naturalistic Language Samples: A Feasibility Pilot Study Using Language Transcription Software and Speech and Language Therapy Assistants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overton, Sarah; Wren, Yvonne

2014-01-01

The ultimate aim of intervention for children with language impairment is an improvement in their functional language skills. Baseline and outcome measurement of this is often problematic however and practitioners commonly resort to using formal assessments that may not adequately reflect the child's competence. Language sampling,…

Increasing the odds: applying emergentist theory in language intervention.

PubMed

Poll, Gerard H

2011-10-01

This review introduces emergentism, which is a leading theory of language development that states that language ability is the product of interactions between the child's language environment and his or her learning capabilities. The review suggests ways in which emergentism provides a theoretical rationale for interventions that are designed to address developmental language delays in young children. A review of selected literature on emergentist theory and research is presented, with a focus on the acquisition of early morphology and syntax. A significant method for developing and testing emergentist theory, connectionist modeling, is described. Key themes from both connectionist and behavioral studies are summarized and applied with specific examples to language intervention techniques. A case study is presented to integrate elements of emergentism with language intervention. Evaluating the theoretical foundation for language interventions is an important step in evidence-based practice. This article introduces three themes in the emergentist literature that have implications for language intervention: (a) sufficiency of language input, (b) active engagement of the child with the input, and (c) factors that increase the odds for correctly mapping language form to meaning. Evidence supporting the importance of these factors in effective language intervention is presented, along with limitations in that evidence.

Body Mass Index: Calculator for Child and Teen

MedlinePlus

... Healthy Weight Sample Link BMI Percentile Calculator for Child and Teen English Version Language: English Español (Spanish) ... and Weight Accurately At Home BMI Calculator for Child and Teen ( English | Metric ) 1. Birth Date : Month: ...

Quantity and Quality of Caregivers' Linguistic Input to 18-Month and 3-Year-Old Children Who Are Hard of Hearing.

PubMed

Ambrose, Sophie E; Walker, Elizabeth A; Unflat-Berry, Lauren M; Oleson, Jacob J; Moeller, Mary Pat

2015-01-01

The primary objective of this study was to examine the quantity and quality of caregiver talk directed to children who are hard of hearing (CHH) compared with children with normal hearing (CNH). For the CHH only, the study explored how caregiver input changed as a function of child age (18 months versus 3 years), which child and family factors contributed to variance in caregiver linguistic input at 18 months and 3 years, and how caregiver talk at 18 months related to child language outcomes at 3 years. Participants were 59 CNH and 156 children with bilateral, mild-to-severe hearing loss. When children were approximately 18 months and/or 3 years of age, caregivers and children participated in a 5-min semistructured, conversational interaction. Interactions were transcribed and coded for two features of caregiver input representing quantity (number of total utterances and number of total words) and four features representing quality (number of different words, mean length of utterance in morphemes, proportion of utterances that were high level, and proportion of utterances that were directing). In addition, at the 18-month visit, parents completed a standardized questionnaire regarding their child's communication development. At the 3-year visit, a clinician administered a standardized language measure. At the 18-month visit, the CHH were exposed to a greater proportion of directing utterances than the CNH. At the 3-year visit, there were significant differences between the CNH and CHH for number of total words and all four of the quality variables, with the CHH being exposed to fewer words and lower quality input. Caregivers generally provided higher quality input to CHH at the 3-year visit compared with the 18-month visit. At the 18-month visit, quantity variables, but not quality variables, were related to several child and family factors. At the 3-year visit, the variable most strongly related to caregiver input was child language. Longitudinal analyses indicated that quality, but not quantity, of caregiver linguistic input at 18 months was related to child language abilities at 3 years, with directing utterances accounting for significant unique variance in child language outcomes. Although caregivers of CHH increased their use of quality features of linguistic input over time, the differences when compared with CNH suggest that some caregivers may need additional support to provide their children with optimal language learning environments. This is particularly important given the relationships that were identified between quality features of caregivers' linguistic input and children's language abilities. Family supports should include a focus on developing a style that is conversational eliciting as opposed to directive.

The words children hear: Picture books and the statistics for language learning

PubMed Central

Montag, Jessica L.; Jones, Michael N.; Smith, Linda B.

2015-01-01

Young children learn language from the speech they hear. Previous work suggests that the statistical diversity of words and of linguistic contexts is associated with better language outcomes. One potential source of lexical diversity is the text of picture books that caregivers read aloud to children. Many parents begin reading to their children shortly after birth, so this is potentially an important source of linguistic input for many children. We constructed a corpus of 100 children’s picture books and compared word type and token counts to a matched sample of child-directed speech. Overall, the picture books contained more unique word types than the child-directed speech. Further, individual picture books generally contained more unique word types than length-matched, child-directed conversations. The text of picture books may be an important source of vocabulary for young children, and these findings suggest a mechanism that underlies the language benefits associated with reading to children. PMID:26243292

The Words Children Hear: Picture Books and the Statistics for Language Learning.

PubMed

Montag, Jessica L; Jones, Michael N; Smith, Linda B

2015-09-01

Young children learn language from the speech they hear. Previous work suggests that greater statistical diversity of words and of linguistic contexts is associated with better language outcomes. One potential source of lexical diversity is the text of picture books that caregivers read aloud to children. Many parents begin reading to their children shortly after birth, so this is potentially an important source of linguistic input for many children. We constructed a corpus of 100 children's picture books and compared word type and token counts in that sample and a matched sample of child-directed speech. Overall, the picture books contained more unique word types than the child-directed speech. Further, individual picture books generally contained more unique word types than length-matched, child-directed conversations. The text of picture books may be an important source of vocabulary for young children, and these findings suggest a mechanism that underlies the language benefits associated with reading to children. © The Author(s) 2015.

Play Therapy in Elementary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landreth, Garry L.; Ray, Dee C.; Bratton, Sue C.

2009-01-01

Because the child's world is a world of action and activity, play therapy provides the psychologist in elementary-school settings with an opportunity to enter the child's world. In the play therapy relationship, toys are like the child's words and play is the child's language. Therefore, children play out their problems, experiences, concerns, and…

English Language Proficiency and Early School Attainment Among Children Learning English as an Additional Language.

PubMed

Whiteside, Katie E; Gooch, Debbie; Norbury, Courtenay F

2017-05-01

Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) often experience lower academic attainment than monolingual peers. In this study, teachers provided ratings of English language proficiency and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning for 782 children with EAL and 6,485 monolingual children in reception year (ages 4-5). Academic attainment was assessed in reception and Year 2 (ages 6-7). Relative to monolingual peers with comparable English language proficiency, children with EAL displayed fewer social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in reception, were equally likely to meet curriculum targets in reception, and were more likely to meet targets in Year 2. Academic attainment and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in children with EAL are associated with English language proficiency at school entry. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.

Bilingualism and Biliteracy in Down Syndrome: Insights From a Case Study.

PubMed

Burgoyne, Kelly; Duff, Fiona J; Nielsen, Dea; Ulicheva, Anastasia; Snowling, Margaret J

2016-12-01

We present the case study of MB-a bilingual child with Down syndrome (DS) who speaks Russian (first language [L1]) and English (second language [L2]) and has learned to read in two different alphabets with different symbol systems. We demonstrate that, in terms of oral language, MB is as proficient in Russian as English, with a mild advantage for reading in English, her language of formal instruction. MB's L1 abilities were compared with those of 11 Russian-speaking typically developing monolinguals and her L2 abilities to those of 15 English-speaking typically developing monolinguals and six monolingual English-speaking children with DS; each group achieving the same level of word reading ability as MB. We conclude that learning two languages in the presence of a learning difficulty need have no detrimental effect on either a child's language or literacy development.

Bilingualism and Biliteracy in Down Syndrome: Insights From a Case Study

PubMed Central

Burgoyne, Kelly; Duff, Fiona J.; Nielsen, Dea; Ulicheva, Anastasia

2016-01-01

We present the case study of MB—a bilingual child with Down syndrome (DS) who speaks Russian (first language [L1]) and English (second language [L2]) and has learned to read in two different alphabets with different symbol systems. We demonstrate that, in terms of oral language, MB is as proficient in Russian as English, with a mild advantage for reading in English, her language of formal instruction. MB's L1 abilities were compared with those of 11 Russian‐speaking typically developing monolinguals and her L2 abilities to those of 15 English‐speaking typically developing monolinguals and six monolingual English‐speaking children with DS; each group achieving the same level of word reading ability as MB. We conclude that learning two languages in the presence of a learning difficulty need have no detrimental effect on either a child's language or literacy development. PMID:27917003

Caregiver communication to the child as moderator and mediator of genes for language.

PubMed

Onnis, Luca

2017-05-15

Human language appears to be unique among natural communication systems, and such uniqueness impinges on both nature and nurture. Human babies are endowed with cognitive abilities that predispose them to learn language, and this process cannot operate in an impoverished environment. To be effectively complete the acquisition of human language in human children requires highly socialised forms of learning, scaffolded over years of prolonged and intense caretaker-child interactions. How genes and environment operate in shaping language is unknown. These two components have traditionally been considered as independent, and often pitted against each other in terms of the nature versus nurture debate. This perspective article considers how innate abilities and experience might instead work together. In particular, it envisages potential scenarios for research, in which early caregiver verbal and non-verbal attachment practices may mediate or moderate the expression of human genetic systems for language. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Bootstrapping language acquisition.

PubMed

Abend, Omri; Kwiatkowski, Tom; Smith, Nathaniel J; Goldwater, Sharon; Steedman, Mark

2017-07-01

The semantic bootstrapping hypothesis proposes that children acquire their native language through exposure to sentences of the language paired with structured representations of their meaning, whose component substructures can be associated with words and syntactic structures used to express these concepts. The child's task is then to learn a language-specific grammar and lexicon based on (probably contextually ambiguous, possibly somewhat noisy) pairs of sentences and their meaning representations (logical forms). Starting from these assumptions, we develop a Bayesian probabilistic account of semantically bootstrapped first-language acquisition in the child, based on techniques from computational parsing and interpretation of unrestricted text. Our learner jointly models (a) word learning: the mapping between components of the given sentential meaning and lexical words (or phrases) of the language, and (b) syntax learning: the projection of lexical elements onto sentences by universal construction-free syntactic rules. Using an incremental learning algorithm, we apply the model to a dataset of real syntactically complex child-directed utterances and (pseudo) logical forms, the latter including contextually plausible but irrelevant distractors. Taking the Eve section of the CHILDES corpus as input, the model simulates several well-documented phenomena from the developmental literature. In particular, the model exhibits syntactic bootstrapping effects (in which previously learned constructions facilitate the learning of novel words), sudden jumps in learning without explicit parameter setting, acceleration of word-learning (the "vocabulary spurt"), an initial bias favoring the learning of nouns over verbs, and one-shot learning of words and their meanings. The learner thus demonstrates how statistical learning over structured representations can provide a unified account for these seemingly disparate phenomena. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reliability and validity of the PedsQL™ Multidimensional Fatigue Scale in Japan.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Kyoko; Okano, Yoshiyuki; Hohashi, Naohiro

2011-09-01

To examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese-language version of the PedsQL™ Multidimensional Fatigue Scale and to investigate the agreement between child self-reported fatigue and parent proxy-reported fatigue. The Japanese-language version of the PedsQL™ Multidimensional Fatigue Scale was administered to 652 preschoolers and schoolchildren aged 5-12 and their parents, and to 91 parents of preschool children aged 1-4. Internal consistency reliability was 0.62-0.87 for children and 0.81-0.93 for parents. Known-group validity was examined between a group of healthy samples (n = 530) and chronic condition sample (n = 102); the chronically ill group reported a significantly higher perceived fatigue problem. Correlations between child self- and parent proxy reports ranged from poor to fair. In subgroups identified by cluster analysis based on child self-reported scores, the greatest agreement between child and parent reports was seen in the good HRQOL group, while the least occurred in the poor HRQOL group. The parents overestimated their child's fatigue more when the child's HRQOL was low. The Japanese-language version of the PedsQL™ Multidimensional Fatigue Scale demonstrated good reliability and validity and could be useful in evaluating Japanese children in school and health care settings.

Story discourse and use of mental state language between mothers and school-aged children with and without visual impairment.

PubMed

Tadić, Valerija; Pring, Linda; Dale, Naomi

2013-01-01

Lack of sight compromises insight into other people's mental states. Little is known about the role of maternal language in assisting the development of mental state language in children with visual impairment (VI). To investigate mental state language strategies of mothers of school-aged children with VI and to compare these with mothers of comparable children with typically developing vision. To investigate whether the characteristics of mother-child discourse were associated with the child's socio-communicative competence. Mother-child discourse with twelve 6-12-year-old children with VI was coded during a shared book-reading narrative and compared with 14 typically sighted children matched in age and verbal ability. Mothers of children with VI elaborated more and made significantly more references to story characters' mental states and descriptive elaborations than mothers of sighted children. Mental state elaborations of mothers in the VI group related positively with the level produced by their children, with the association remaining after mothers' overall verbosity and children's developmental levels were controlled for. Frequency of maternal elaborations, including their mental state language, was related to socio-communicative competence of children with VI. The findings offer insights into the potential contribution of maternal verbal scaffolding to mentalistic language and social-communicative competences of children with VI. © 2013 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Stepping Stones to Others' Minds: Maternal Talk Relates to Child Mental State Language and Emotion Understanding at 15, 24, and 33 Months

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taumoepeau, Mele; Ruffman, Ted

2008-01-01

This continuation of a previous study (Taumoepeau & Ruffman, 2006) examined the longitudinal relation between maternal mental state talk to 15- and 24-month-olds and their later mental state language and emotion understanding (N = 74). The previous study found that maternal talk about the child's desires to 15-month-old children uniquely predicted…

Evander Childs High School. Career Exploration Opportunities for Bilingual Students, 1981-1982. O.E.E. Evaluation Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keyes, Jose Luis; And Others

The Career Exploration Opportunities for Bilingual Students (C.E.O.B.S.) program at Evander Childs High School in the Bronx, New York City, served 100 ninth and tenth grade Spanish speaking students of limited English proficiency during 1981-82. The project provided instruction in English as a second language and Spanish language skills; bilingual…

Promoting Mother-Infant Book Sharing and Infant Attention and Language Development in an Impoverished South African Population: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Peter J.; Vally, Zahir; Cooper, Hallam; Radford, Theo; Sharples, Arthur; Tomlinson, Mark; Murray, Lynne

2014-01-01

The low rates of child literacy in South Africa are cause for considerable concern. Research from the developed world shows that parental sharing of picture books with infants and young children is beneficial for child language and cognitive development, as well as literacy skills. We conducted a pilot study to examine whether such benefits might…

Bilingualism as Conceptualized and Bilingualism as Lived: A Critical Examination of the Monolingual Socialization of a Child with Autism in a Bilingual Family

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Betty

2016-01-01

This is an ethnographic and discourse analytic case study of a bilingual, minority-language family of a six-year-old child with autism whose family members were committed to speaking English with him. Drawing on "family language policy," the study examines the tensions between the family members' stated beliefs, management efforts, and…

No Child Left Behind in Art Education Policy: A Review of Key Recommendations for Arts Language Revisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grey, Anne C.

2010-01-01

From bipartisan origins and a laudable intent, the No Child Left Behind (Act) of 2001 has profoundly altered the condition of art education. A historical vantage point and review of literature reveals the current status of pending arts language revisions to the NCLB Act, as well as a pressing need to examine the key recommendations and to consider…

Encouraging Usage of an Endangered Ancestral Language: A Supportive Role for Caregivers' Deictic Gestures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuksel, Peri; Brooks, Patricia J.

2017-01-01

Many ancestral languages (AL) are at imminent risk of extinction due to societal changes that pressure minority communities to assimilate with dominant cultures and forego usage of their AL. This study aimed to encourage caregiver-child dyads to converse in Lazuri, an endangered AL in Rize, Turkey. Dyads (N = 59; child age M = 30.7 months, range…

Not Just "Situaciones de la Vida": Professionalization and Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Andes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hornberger, Nancy H.; Swinehart, Karl F.

2012-01-01

Within discourses of language endangerment, life stages such as child language acquisition, adolescent language shift, and the death of community elders figure prominently, but what of the role of other, intermediate life stages during adulthood and professional life in the course of language obsolescence or revitalization? Drawing from long-term…

A Stronger Reason for the Right to Sign Languages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trovato, Sara

2013-01-01

Is the right to sign language only the right to a minority language? Holding a capability (not a disability) approach, and building on the psycholinguistic literature on sign language acquisition, I make the point that this right is of a stronger nature, since only sign languages can guarantee that each deaf child will properly develop the…

Eithne: A Study of Second Language Development. CLCS Occasional Paper No. 15.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Maire

The acquisition of Irish as a second language in a four-year-old child of bilingual parents attending an Irish-language preschool group in Ireland is chronicled, with emphasis on the characteristic features of her language learning process and the factors determining which language she uses with others. The study was based on transcribed…

Language Policy and Bilingual Education in Arizona and Washington State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Eric J.; Johnson, David Cassels

2015-01-01

In this paper, we compare the bilingual/language education policies of Arizona and Washington to show that state-level language policy plays a critical role in shaping the appropriation of federal language policy [No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), Title III] and how different state-level language policies impact the district level of policy…

We Need to Communicate! Helping Hearing Parents of Deaf Children Learn American Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weaver, Kimberly A.; Starner, Thad

2011-01-01

Language immersion from birth is crucial to a child's language development. However, language immersion can be particularly challenging for hearing parents of deaf children to provide as they may have to overcome many difficulties while learning American Sign Language (ASL). We are in the process of creating a mobile application to help hearing…

A Case of Specific Language Impairment in a Deaf Signer of American Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quinto-Pozos, David; Singleton, Jenny L.; Hauser, Peter C.

2017-01-01

This article describes the case of a deaf native signer of American Sign Language (ASL) with a specific language impairment (SLI). School records documented normal cognitive development but atypical language development. Data include school records; interviews with the child, his mother, and school professionals; ASL and English evaluations; and a…

Imitative Production of Regular Past Tense -Ed by English-Speaking Children with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalal, Rinky Harish; Loeb, Diane Frome

2005-01-01

Background: Language intervention procedures often involve the speech-language pathologist highlighting or making more salient forms that are problematic for the child with a language impairment. According to limited processing accounts of specific language impairment (SLI), one way to increase the saliency of a form is to manipulate its sentence…

Auditory Technology and Its Impact on Bilingual Deaf Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mertes, Jennifer

2015-01-01

Brain imaging studies suggest that children can simultaneously develop, learn, and use two languages. A visual language, such as American Sign Language (ASL), facilitates development at the earliest possible moments in a child's life. Spoken language development can be delayed due to diagnostic evaluations, device fittings, and auditory skill…

Washington English Language Proficiency Assessment (WELPA). Form C 2015. Interpretation Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 2015

2015-01-01

The "Washington English Language Proficiency Assessment" (WELPA) is a No Child Left Behind (NCLB)-compliant instrument that is used in Grades K-12 as a formal and standardized method of measuring language proficiency. The test results provide important information for classifying English Language Learners (ELLs) and subsequently for…

Language Competence in Movement: A Child's Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laursen, Helle Pia; Mogensen, Naja Dahlstrup

2016-01-01

This article examines how, in a multilingual perspective, language competence is experienced, talked about and practiced by language users themselves. By viewing children as active co-creators of the spaces in which language is used, this article contributes to a research tradition in which focus is shifted from viewing the individual's language…

Honoring the Child with Dyslexia in a Montessori Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skotheim, Meghan Kane

2009-01-01

Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are all language activities. The human capacity for speaking and listening has a biological foundation: wherever there are people, there is spoken language. Acquiring spoken language is an unconscious activity, and, barring any physical deformity or language learning disability, like severe autism, all…

Teachers' Perceptions of Language Teaching for English Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schulz, Yoshiko

2017-01-01

Under the No Child Left Behind's educational accountability requirements, the U.S.'s mainstream classroom teachers were responsible for all students' academic language and content knowledge development regardless of students' academic or linguistic backgrounds. A lack of teachers' language awareness appeared to be responsible for teachers'…

Patterns of Language Comprehension Deficit in Abused and Neglected Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Lynn; And Others

1988-01-01

A study of the relationship between child abuse/neglect and language disability compared 30 abused, generally neglected, or severely neglected children, aged 3-8, to 10 nonabused controls. Results on language comprehension tests suggest that abused and severely neglected children show greater difficulty with language comprehension tasks than their…

Increasing the Odds: Applying Emergentist Theory in Language Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poll, Gerard H.

2011-01-01

Purpose: This review introduces emergentism, which is a leading theory of language development that states that language ability is the product of interactions between the child's language environment and his or her learning capabilities. The review suggests ways in which emergentism provides a theoretical rationale for interventions that are…

Developmental Comparisons of Implicit and Explicit Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lichtman, Karen

2013-01-01

Conventional wisdom holds that children learn languages implicitly whereas older learners learn languages explicitly, and some have claimed that after puberty only explicit language learning is possible. However, older learners often receive more explicit instruction than child L2 learners, which may affect their learning strategies. This study…

The Mexican American Child: Language, Cognition, and Social Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia, Eugene E., Ed.

The nine articles are divided into three general topics: language, cognition, and social development. Eduardo Hernandez-Chavez discusses strategies in early second language acquisition and their implications for bilingual instruction. Eugene E. Garcia, Lento Maez, and Gustavo Gonzales examine the incidence of language switching in Spanish/English…

Rocking & Rolling: Supporting Infants, Toddlers, and Their Families. One Language, Two Languages, Three Languages . . . More?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prieto, H. Victoria

2009-01-01

The belief that a child has to abandon his home language to learn English implies that the young brain has limited learning capacity. Early childhood teachers need to help families understand that children can learn two languages at the same time. What matters is that the infant/toddler is in an effective language-learning environment, whether it…

The role of preschool teacher-child interactions in academic adjustment: An intervention study with Playing-2-gether.

PubMed

Van Craeyevelt, Sanne; Verschueren, Karine; Vancraeyveldt, Caroline; Wouters, Sofie; Colpin, Hilde

2017-09-01

Social relationships can serve as important risk or protective factors for child development in general, and academic adjustment in particular. This study investigated the role of teacher-child interactions in academic adjustment among preschool boys at risk of externalizing behaviour, using a randomized controlled trial study with Playing-2-gether (P2G), a 12-week indicated two-component intervention aimed at improving the affective quality of the teacher-child relationship and teacher behaviour management. In a sample of 175 preschool boys showing signs of externalizing behaviour (M age  = 4 years, 9 months, SD age  = 7 months) and their teachers, we investigated P2G effects on academic engagement as well as on language achievement. Academic engagement was rated by teachers at three occasions within one school year (T1 = pretest, T3 = post-test, and T2 = in-between intervention components). Language achievement was assessed by researchers at pre- and post-test, using a standardized test. Cross-lagged path analyses revealed a direct intervention effect of P2G on academic engagement at Time 2. In addition, a significant indirect intervention effect was found on academic engagement at Time 3 through academic engagement at Time 2. Finally, academic engagement at Time 2 was found to predict language achievement at post-test. A marginally significant indirect intervention effect was found on language achievement at Time 3, through academic engagement at Time 2. This intervention study suggests that teacher-child interactions predict academic engagement over time, which in turn improves language achievement among preschool boys at risk of externalizing behaviour. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Bilateral versus unilateral cochlear implants in children: a study of spoken language outcomes.

PubMed

Sarant, Julia; Harris, David; Bennet, Lisa; Bant, Sharyn

2014-01-01

Although it has been established that bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) offer additional speech perception and localization benefits to many children with severe to profound hearing loss, whether these improved perceptual abilities facilitate significantly better language development has not yet been clearly established. The aims of this study were to compare language abilities of children having unilateral and bilateral CIs to quantify the rate of any improvement in language attributable to bilateral CIs and to document other predictors of language development in children with CIs. The receptive vocabulary and language development of 91 children was assessed when they were aged either 5 or 8 years old by using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (fourth edition), and either the Preschool Language Scales (fourth edition) or the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (fourth edition), respectively. Cognitive ability, parent involvement in children's intervention or education programs, and family reading habits were also evaluated. Language outcomes were examined by using linear regression analyses. The influence of elements of parenting style, child characteristics, and family background as predictors of outcomes were examined. Children using bilateral CIs achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes and significantly higher scores on the Core and Expressive Language subscales of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (fourth edition) than did comparable children with unilateral CIs. Scores on the Preschool Language Scales (fourth edition) did not differ significantly between children with unilateral and bilateral CIs. Bilateral CI use was found to predict significantly faster rates of vocabulary and language development than unilateral CI use; the magnitude of this effect was moderated by child age at activation of the bilateral CI. In terms of parenting style, high levels of parental involvement, low amounts of screen time, and more time spent by adults reading to children facilitated significantly better vocabulary and language outcomes. In terms of child characteristics, higher cognitive ability and female sex were predictive of significantly better language outcomes. When family background factors were examined, having tertiary-educated primary caregivers and a family history of hearing loss were significantly predictive of better outcomes. Birth order was also found to have a significant negative effect on both vocabulary and language outcomes, with each older sibling predicting a 5 to 10% decrease in scores. Children with bilateral CIs achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes, and 8-year-old children with bilateral CIs had significantly better language outcomes than did children with unilateral CIs. These improvements were moderated by children's ages at both first and second CIs. The outcomes were also significantly predicted by a number of factors related to parenting, child characteristics, and family background. Fifty-one percent of the variance in vocabulary outcomes and between 59 to 69% of the variance in language outcomes was predicted by the regression models.

Culture-specific links between maternal executive function, parenting, and preschool children's executive function in South Korea.

PubMed

Lee, Min Kyung; Baker, Sara; Whitebread, David

2018-06-01

Research on the relationships between parental factors and children's executive function (EF) has been conducted mainly in Western cultures. This study provides the first empirical test, in a non-Western context, of how maternal EF and parenting behaviours relate to child EF. South Korean mothers and their preschool children (N = 95 dyads) completed EF tasks. Two aspects of parental scaffolding were observed during a puzzle task: contingency (i.e., adjusting among levels of scaffolding according to the child's ongoing evidence of understanding) and intrusiveness (i.e., directive, mother-centred interactions). Maternal EF and maternal contingency each accounted for unique variance in child EF, above and beyond child age, child language and maternal education. Maternal intrusiveness, however, was not significantly related to child EF. Additionally, no mediating role of parenting was found in the maternal and child EF link. However, child language was found to partially mediate the link between maternal contingency and child EF. These results complement prior findings by revealing distinctive patterns in the link between maternal EF, parenting behaviours, and child EF in the Korean context. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

[Occurrence of child abuse: knowledge and possibility of action of speech-language pathologists].

PubMed

Noguchi, Milica Satake; de Assis, Simone Gonçalves; Malaquias, Juaci Vitória

2006-01-01

This work presents the results of an epidemiological survey about the professional experience of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) with children and adolescents who are victims of domestic violence. To understand the occurrence of child abuse and neglect of children and adolescents treated by speech-language pathologists, characterizing the victims according to: most affected age group, gender, form of violence, aggressor, most frequent speech-language complaint, how the abuse was identified and follow-up. 500 self-administered mail surveys were sent to a random sample of professional living in Rio de Janeiro. The survey forms were identified only by numbers to assure anonymity. 224 completed surveys were mailed back. 54 respondents indicated exposure to at least one incident of abuse. The majority of victims were children, the main abuser was the mother, and physical violence was the most frequent form of abuse. The main speech disorder was late language development. In most cases, the victim himself told the therapist about the abuse--through verbal expression or other means of expression such as drawings, story telling, dramatizing or playing. As the majority of the victims abandoned speech-language therapy, it was not possible to follow-up the cases. Due to the importance if this issue and the limited Brazilian literature about Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences and child abuse, it is paramount to invest in the training of speech-language pathologists. It is the duty of speech-language pathologists to expose this complex problem and to give voice to children who are victims of violence, understanding that behind a speech-language complaint there might be a cry for help.

Language delay in severely neglected children: a cumulative or specific effect of risk factors?

PubMed

Sylvestre, Audette; Mérette, Chantal

2010-06-01

This research sought to determine if the language delay (LD) of severely neglected children under 3 years old was better explained by a cumulative risk model or by the specificity of risk factors. The objective was also to identify the risk factors with the strongest impact on LD among various biological, psychological, and environmental factors. Sixty-eight severely neglected children and their mothers participated in this cross-sectional study. Children were between 2 and 36 months of age. Data included information about the child's language development and biological, psychological, and environmental risk factors. Prevalence of LD is significantly higher in this subgroup of children than in the population as a whole. Although we observed that the risk of LD significantly increased with an increase in the cumulative count of the presence of the child's biological-psychological risk factors, the one-by-one analysis of the individual factors revealed that the cumulative effect mainly reflected the specific impact of the child's cognitive development. When we considered also the environmental risk factors, multivariate logistic regression established that cognitive development, the mother's own physical and emotional abuse experience as a child, and the mother's low acceptability level towards her child are linked to LD in severely neglected children. Language development is the result of a complex interaction between risk factors. LD in severely neglected children is better explained by the specificity of risk factors than by the cumulative risk model. Most prevention and early intervention programs promote and target an increase in the quantity and quality of language stimulation offered to the child. Our results suggest that particular attention should be given to other environmental factors, specifically the mother's psychological availability and her sensitivity towards the child. It is essential to suggest interventions targeting various ecological dimensions of neglectful mothers to help break the intergenerational neglect transmission cycle. It is also important to develop government policies and ensure that efforts among the various response networks are concerted since in-depth changes to neglect situations can only come about when all interested parties become involved. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parenting Predictors of Delay Inhibition in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Preschoolers

PubMed Central

Merz, Emily C.; Landry, Susan H.; Zucker, Tricia A.; Barnes, Marcia A.; Assel, Michael; Taylor, Heather B.; Lonigan, Christopher J.; Phillips, Beth M.; Clancy-Menchetti, Jeanine; Eisenberg, Nancy; Spinrad, Tracy L.; Valiente, Carlos; de Villiers, Jill; Consortium, the School Readiness Research

2016-01-01

This study examined longitudinal associations between specific parenting factors and delay inhibition in socioeconomically disadvantaged preschoolers. At Time 1, parents and 2- to 4-year-old children (mean age = 3.21 years; N = 247) participated in a videotaped parent-child free play session, and children completed delay inhibition tasks (gift delay-wrap, gift delay-bow, and snack delay tasks). Three months later, at Time 2, children completed the same set of tasks. Parental responsiveness was coded from the parent-child free play sessions, and parental directive language was coded from transcripts of a subset of 127 of these sessions. Structural equation modeling was used, and covariates included age, gender, language skills, parental education, and Time 1 delay inhibition. Results indicated that in separate models, Time 1 parental directive language was significantly negatively associated with Time 2 delay inhibition, and Time 1 parental responsiveness was significantly positively associated with Time 2 delay inhibition. When these parenting factors were entered simultaneously, Time 1 parental directive language significantly predicted Time 2 delay inhibition whereas Time 1 parental responsiveness was no longer significant. Findings suggest that parental language that modulates the amount of autonomy allotted the child may be an important predictor of early delay inhibition skills. PMID:27833461

Theory of Mind in Children With Specific Language Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Nilsson, Kristine Kahr; de López, Kristine Jensen

2016-01-01

The relation between language and theory of mind (ToM) has been debated for more than two decades. In a similar vein, ToM has been examined in children with specific language impairment (SLI), albeit with inconsistent results. This meta-analysis of 17 studies with 745 children between the ages of 4 and 12 found that children with SLI had substantially lower ToM performance compared to age-matched typically developing children (d = .98). This effect size was not moderated by age and gender. By revealing that children with SLI have ToM impairments, this finding emphasizes the need for further investigation into the developmental interface between language and ToM as well as the extended consequences of atypical language development. © 2015 The Authors. Child Development © 2015 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Language Comprehension in Ape and Child.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savage-Rumbaugh, E. Sue; And Others

1993-01-01

A two-year-old child and an eight-year-old bonobo exposed to spoken English and lexigrams from infancy were asked to respond to novel sentences. Both subjects comprehended novel requests and simple syntactic devices. The bonobo decoded the syntactic device of word recursion more accurately than the child; the child performed better than the bonobo…

Pediatric Health Assessments of Young Children in Child Welfare by Placement Type

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneiderman, Janet U.; Leslie, Laurel K.; Arnold-Clark, Janet S.; McDaniel, Dawn; Xie, Bin

2011-01-01

Objectives: To describe health-related problems across placement types (unrelated foster, kin foster, in-home with birth parent); to examine the association of placement and demographic/child welfare variables (child gender, age, race/ethnicity; caregiver language; type of maltreatment, and length of time receiving services from child welfare)…

Evaluation of Child Care Subsidy Strategies: Massachusetts Family Child Care Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Ann; Goodson, Barbara; Luallen, Jeremy; Fountain, Alyssa Rulf; Checkoway, Amy

2010-01-01

This report presents findings from the Massachusetts Family Child Care study, a two-year evaluation of the impacts of an early childhood education program on providers and children in family child care. The program--"LearningGames"--is designed to train caregivers to stimulate children's cognitive, language, and social-emotional…

The Equivalence of the Child Behavior Checklist/1 1/2-5 across Parent Race/Ethnicity, Income Level, and Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gross, Deborah; Fogg, Louis; Young, Michael; Ridge, Alison; Cowell, Julia Muennich; Richardson, Reginald; Sivan, Abigail

2006-01-01

This study examined the equivalence of the Child Behavior Checklist/1 1/2-5 (CBCL/1 1/2-5) in 682 parents of 2- to 4-year-old children stratified by parent race/ethnicity (African American, Latino, and non-Latino White), family income (low vs. middle-upper), and language version (Spanish vs. English). Externalizing Scale means differed by income…

Passport to ELL: Four Programs for Kindergarten through High School English Language Learners Help Teachers Fill Gaps Left by Often Out-of-Date Classroom Materials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwartzman, Ana

2004-01-01

Teachers in English Language Learning classrooms have long faced the challenge of working with children who have diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds and wide-ranging linguistic skill sets. A child from El Salvador, for example, will need to practice different pronunciation and stress patterns than a child from Vietnam. Technology can help…

A Short-Term Longitudinal Study of the Relationship between Classroom Quality and Child Language and Academic Outcomes in a State-Funded Prekindergarten Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Googe, Heather Smith

2011-01-01

The purpose of my study was to evaluate the relationship between classroom process quality and child language and academic outcomes from the beginning of the pre-kindergarten year to the beginning of the kindergarten year for one cohort of children participating in a state-funded pre-kindergarten program in South Carolina. Data for my study were…

Gestural and symbolic development among apes and humans: support for a multimodal theory of language evolution.

PubMed

Gillespie-Lynch, Kristen; Greenfield, Patricia M; Lyn, Heidi; Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue

2014-01-01

What are the implications of similarities and differences in the gestural and symbolic development of apes and humans?This focused review uses as a starting point our recent study that provided evidence that gesture supported the symbolic development of a chimpanzee, a bonobo, and a human child reared in language-enriched environments at comparable stages of communicative development. These three species constitute a complete clade, species possessing a common immediate ancestor. Communicative behaviors observed among all species in a clade are likely to have been present in the common ancestor. Similarities in the form and function of many gestures produced by the chimpanzee, bonobo, and human child suggest that shared non-verbal skills may underlie shared symbolic capacities. Indeed, an ontogenetic sequence from gesture to symbol was present across the clade but more pronounced in child than ape. Multimodal expressions of communicative intent (e.g., vocalization plus persistence or eye-contact) were normative for the child, but less common for the apes. These findings suggest that increasing multimodal expression of communicative intent may have supported the emergence of language among the ancestors of humans. Therefore, this focused review includes new studies, since our 2013 article, that support a multimodal theory of language evolution.

Vocal interaction between children with Down syndrome and their parents.

PubMed

Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy S; Warren, Steven F; Brady, Nancy; Gilkerson, Jill; Richards, Jeffrey A

2014-08-01

The purpose of this study was to describe differences in parent input and child vocal behaviors of children with Down syndrome (DS) compared with typically developing (TD) children. The goals were to describe the language learning environments at distinctly different ages in early childhood. Nine children with DS and 9 age-matched TD children participated; 4 children in each group were ages 9-11 months, and 5 were between 25 and 54 months. Measures were derived from automated vocal analysis. A digital language processor measured the richness of the child's language environment, including number of adult words, conversational turns, and child vocalizations. Analyses indicated no significant differences in words spoken by parents of younger versus older children with DS and significantly more words spoken by parents of TD children than parents of children with DS. Differences between the DS and TD groups were observed in rates of all vocal behaviors, with no differences noted between the younger versus older children with DS, and the younger TD children did not vocalize significantly more than the younger DS children. Parents of children with DS continue to provide consistent levels of input across the early language learning years; however, child vocal behaviors remain low after the age of 24 months, suggesting the need for additional and alternative intervention approaches.

Gestural and symbolic development among apes and humans: support for a multimodal theory of language evolution

PubMed Central

Gillespie-Lynch, Kristen; Greenfield, Patricia M.; Lyn, Heidi; Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue

2014-01-01

What are the implications of similarities and differences in the gestural and symbolic development of apes and humans?This focused review uses as a starting point our recent study that provided evidence that gesture supported the symbolic development of a chimpanzee, a bonobo, and a human child reared in language-enriched environments at comparable stages of communicative development. These three species constitute a complete clade, species possessing a common immediate ancestor. Communicative behaviors observed among all species in a clade are likely to have been present in the common ancestor. Similarities in the form and function of many gestures produced by the chimpanzee, bonobo, and human child suggest that shared non-verbal skills may underlie shared symbolic capacities. Indeed, an ontogenetic sequence from gesture to symbol was present across the clade but more pronounced in child than ape. Multimodal expressions of communicative intent (e.g., vocalization plus persistence or eye-contact) were normative for the child, but less common for the apes. These findings suggest that increasing multimodal expression of communicative intent may have supported the emergence of language among the ancestors of humans. Therefore, this focused review includes new studies, since our 2013 article, that support a multimodal theory of language evolution. PMID:25400607

How Much Input Is Enough? Correlating Comprehension and Child Language Input in an Endangered Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meakins, Felicity; Wigglesworth, Gillian

2013-01-01

In situations of language endangerment, the ability to understand a language tends to persevere longer than the ability to speak it. As a result, the possibility of language revival remains high even when few speakers remain. Nonetheless, this potential requires that those with high levels of comprehension received sufficient input as children for…

Late Language Emergence at 24 Months: An Epidemiological Study of Prevalence, Predictors, and Covariates

PubMed Central

Zubrick, Stephen R.; Taylor, Catherine L.; Rice, Mabel L.

2012-01-01

Purpose The primary objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of late language emergence (LLE) and to investigate the predictive status of maternal, family, and child variables. Method This is a prospective cohort study of 1766 epidemiologically ascertained twenty-four-month singleton children. The framework was an ecological model of child development, encompassing a wide range of maternal, family, and child variables. Data were obtained using postal questionnaire. Item analyses of the 6-item Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) Communication Scale yielded a composite score encompassing comprehension as well as production items. One standard deviation below the mean yielded good separation of affected from unaffected children. Analyses of bivariate relationships with maternal, family, and child variables were carried out, followed by multivariate logistic regression to predict LLE group membership. Results 13.4% of the sample showed late language emergence via the ASQ criterion; 19.1% using a single item “combining words.” Risk for LLE at 24 months was not associated with particular strata of parental educational levels, socioeconomic resources, parental mental health, parenting practices or family functioning. Significant predictors included familial history of late language emergence, male gender and early neurobiological growth. Covariates included psychosocial indicators. Conclusion Results are congruent with models of language emergence and impairment that posit a strong role for neurobiological and genetic mechanisms of onset that operate across a wide variation in maternal and family characteristics. PMID:18055773

Naturalistic Language Intervention in Inclusive Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowenthal, Barbara

1995-01-01

This review considers use of natural language instruction by early childhood teachers for children with language disabilities in inclusive environments. The following factors are addressed: child-centered approach, family involvement, classroom strategies, activity-based intervention, environmental influences, the function of play, preliteracy…

Reading the World through Words: Cultural Themes in Heritage Chinese Language Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curdt-Christiansen, Xiao Lan

2008-01-01

This paper explores the social and cultural knowledge embedded in the textbooks for language and literacy education in a Chinese heritage language school, the Zhonguo School, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It examines how Chinese language arts textbooks introduce the child reader to cultural knowledge considered legitimate and valued in China as…

Predictors of Second Language Acquisition in Latino Children with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gutierrez-Clellen, Vera; Simon-Cereijido, Gabriela; Sweet, Monica

2012-01-01

Purpose: This study evaluated the extent to which the language of intervention, the child's development in Spanish, and the effects of English vocabulary, use, proficiency, and exposure predict differences in the rates of acquisition of English in Latino children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method: In this randomized controlled trial,…

Grammatical Processing of Spoken Language in Child and Adult Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felser, Claudia; Clahsen, Harald

2009-01-01

This article presents a selective overview of studies that have investigated auditory language processing in children and late second-language (L2) learners using online methods such as event-related potentials (ERPs), eye-movement monitoring, or the cross-modal priming paradigm. Two grammatical phenomena are examined in detail, children's and…

Language and Speech Improvement for Kindergarten and First Grade. A Supplementary Handbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cole, Roberta; And Others

The 16-unit language and speech improvement handbook for kindergarten and first grade students contains an introductory section which includes a discussion of the child's developmental speech and language characteristics, a sound development chart, a speech and hearing language screening test, the Henja articulation test, and a general outline of…

Transformational Grammar and Psycholinguistics as Applied to Teaching Comprehension of German. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reeds, James A.

The relevance to elementary foreign language instruction of certain findings of child language development (native language) and the psychology of language acquisition is examined. A set of premises is proposed for a new scheme for the teaching of German based on these findings, namely, that comprehension precedes production, that language…

Parents' Role in the Early Head Start Children's Language Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griswold, Cecelia Smalls

2014-01-01

The development of language during a child's early years has been linked to parental involvement. While Early Head Start (EHS) researchers have theorized that parental involvement is an important factor in language development, there has been little research on how parents view their roles in the language development process. The purpose of this…

On "the Nurse Was a Doctor."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blaubergs, Maija S.

In this paper, the structure and the use of language are postulated as socializing agents influencing sex-role learning in three major ways: (1) sex differences occur in language use and parallel sex-role stereotypes; (2) the language that is addressed to children is usually the language of socialization which instructs the child what to do,…

Universal Reading Processes Are Modulated by Language and Writing System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perfetti, Charles A.; Harris, Lindsay N.

2013-01-01

The connections among language, writing system, and reading are part of what confronts a child in learning to read. We examine these connections in addressing how reading processes adapt to the variety of written language and how writing adapts to language. The first adaptation (reading to writing), as evidenced in behavioral and neuroscience…

Improving language comprehension in preschool children with language difficulties: a cluster randomized trial.

PubMed

Hagen, Åste M; Melby-Lervåg, Monica; Lervåg, Arne

2017-10-01

Children with language comprehension difficulties are at risk of educational and social problems, which in turn impede employment prospects in adulthood. However, few randomized trials have examined how such problems can be ameliorated during the preschool years. We conducted a cluster randomized trial in 148 preschool classrooms. Our intervention targeted language comprehension skills and lasted 1 year and 1 month, with five blocks of 6 weeks and intervention three times per week (about 75 min per week). Effects were assessed on a range of measures of language performance. Immediately after the intervention, there were moderate effects on both near, intermediate and distal measures of language performance. At delayed follow-up (7 months after the intervention), these reliable effects remained for the distal measures. It is possible to intervene in classroom settings to improve the language comprehension skills of children with language difficulties. However, it appears that such interventions need to be intensive and prolonged. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Thinking About Multiword Constructions: Usage-Based Approaches to Acquisition and Processing.

PubMed

Ellis, Nick C; Ogden, Dave C

2017-07-01

Usage-based approaches to language hold that we learn multiword expressions as patterns of language from language usage, and that knowledge of these patterns underlies fluent language processing. This paper explores these claims by focusing upon verb-argument constructions (VACs) such as "V(erb) about n(oun phrase)." These are productive constructions that bind syntax, lexis, and semantics. It presents (a) analyses of usage patterns of English VACs in terms of their grammatical form, semantics, lexical constituency, and distribution patterns in large corpora; (b) patterns of VAC usage in child-directed speech and child language acquisition; and (c) investigations of VAC free-association and psycholinguistic studies of online processing. We conclude that VACs are highly patterned in usage, that this patterning drives language acquisition, and that language processing is sensitive to the forms of the syntagmatic construction and their distributional statistics, the contingency of their association with meaning, and spreading activation and prototypicality effects in semantic reference. Language users have rich implicit knowledge of the statistics of multiword sequences. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

A new measure of child vocal reciprocity in children with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Harbison, Amy L; Woynaroski, Tiffany G; Tapp, Jon; Wade, Joshua W; Warlaumont, Anne S; Yoder, Paul J

2018-06-01

Children's vocal development occurs in the context of reciprocal exchanges with a communication partner who models "speechlike" productions. We propose a new measure of child vocal reciprocity, which we define as the degree to which an adult vocal response increases the probability of an immediately following child vocal response. Vocal reciprocity is likely to be associated with the speechlikeness of vocal communication in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Two studies were conducted to test the utility of the new measure. The first used simulated vocal samples with randomly sequenced child and adult vocalizations to test the accuracy of the proposed index of child vocal reciprocity. The second was an empirical study of 21 children with ASD who were preverbal or in the early stages of language development. Daylong vocal samples collected in the natural environment were computer analyzed to derive the proposed index of child vocal reciprocity, which was highly stable when derived from two daylong vocal samples and was associated with speechlikeness of vocal communication. This association was significant even when controlling for chance probability of child vocalizations to adult vocal responses, probability of adult vocalizations, or probability of child vocalizations. A valid measure of children's vocal reciprocity might eventually improve our ability to predict which children are on track to develop useful speech and/or are most likely to respond to language intervention. A link to a free, publicly-available software program to derive the new measure of child vocal reciprocity is provided. Autism Res 2018, 11: 903-915. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Children and adults often engage in back-and-forth vocal exchanges. The extent to which they do so is believed to support children's early speech and language development. Two studies tested a new measure of child vocal reciprocity using computer-generated and real-life vocal samples of young children with autism collected in natural settings. The results provide initial evidence of accuracy, test-retest reliability, and validity of the new measure of child vocal reciprocity. A sound measure of children's vocal reciprocity might improve our ability to predict which children are on track to develop useful speech and/or are most likely to respond to language intervention. A free, publicly-available software program and manuals are provided. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Acquisition of Tense in English: Distinguishing Child Second Language from First Language and Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paradis, Johanne; Rice, Mabel L.; Crago, Martha; Marquis, Janet

2008-01-01

This study reports on a comparison of the use and knowledge of tense-marking morphemes in English by first language (L1), second language (L2), and specific language impairment (SLI) children. The objective of our research was to ascertain whether the L2 children's tense acquisition patterns were similar or dissimilar to those of the L1 and SLI…

Predictors and pathways of language and motor development in four prospective cohorts of young children in Ghana, Malawi, and Burkina Faso.

PubMed

Prado, Elizabeth L; Abbeddou, Souheila; Adu-Afarwuah, Seth; Arimond, Mary; Ashorn, Per; Ashorn, Ulla; Bendabenda, Jaden; Brown, Kenneth H; Hess, Sonja Y; Kortekangas, Emma; Lartey, Anna; Maleta, Kenneth; Oaks, Brietta M; Ocansey, Eugenia; Okronipa, Harriet; Ouédraogo, Jean Bosco; Pulakka, Anna; Somé, Jérôme W; Stewart, Christine P; Stewart, Robert C; Vosti, Stephen A; Yakes Jimenez, Elizabeth; Dewey, Kathryn G

2017-11-01

Previous reviews have identified 44 risk factors for poor early child development (ECD) in low- and middle-income countries. Further understanding of their relative influence and pathways is needed to inform the design of interventions targeting ECD. We conducted path analyses of factors associated with 18-month language and motor development in four prospective cohorts of children who participated in trials conducted as part of the International Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (iLiNS) Project in Ghana (n = 1,023), Malawi (n = 675 and 1,385), and Burkina Faso (n = 1,122). In two cohorts, women were enrolled during pregnancy. In two cohorts, infants were enrolled at 6 or 9 months. In multiple linear regression and structural equation models (SEM), we examined 22 out of 44 factors identified in previous reviews, plus 12 additional factors expected to be associated with ECD. Out of 42 indicators of the 34 factors examined, 6 were associated with 18-month language and/or motor development in 3 or 4 cohorts: child linear and ponderal growth, variety of play materials, activities with caregivers, dietary diversity, and child hemoglobin/iron status. Factors that were not associated with child development were indicators of maternal Hb/iron status, maternal illness and inflammation during pregnancy, maternal perceived stress and depression, exclusive breastfeeding during 6 months postpartum, and child diarrhea, fever, malaria, and acute respiratory infections. Associations between socioeconomic status and language development were consistently mediated to a greater extent by caregiving practices than by maternal or child biomedical conditions, while this pattern for motor development was not consistent across cohorts. Key elements of interventions to ensure quality ECD are likely to be promotion of caregiver activities with children, a variety of play materials, and a diverse diet, and prevention of faltering in linear and ponderal growth and improvement in child hemoglobin/iron status. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

The Agreement between Parent-Reported and Directly Measured Child Language and Parenting Behaviors

PubMed Central

Bennetts, Shannon K.; Mensah, Fiona K.; Westrupp, Elizabeth M.; Hackworth, Naomi J.; Reilly, Sheena

2016-01-01

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. PMID:27891102

Maternal cell phone use in early pregnancy and child's language, communication and motor skills at 3 and 5 years: the Norwegian mother and child cohort study (MoBa).

PubMed

Papadopoulou, Eleni; Haugen, Margaretha; Schjølberg, Synnve; Magnus, Per; Brunborg, Gunnar; Vrijheid, Martine; Alexander, Jan

2017-09-05

Cell phone use during pregnancy is a public health concern. We investigated the association between maternal cell phone use in pregnancy and child's language, communication and motor skills at 3 and 5 years. This prospective study includes 45,389 mother-child pairs, participants of the MoBa, recruited at mid-pregnancy from 1999 to 2008. Maternal frequency of cell phone use in early pregnancy and child language, communication and motor skills at 3 and 5 years, were assessed by questionnaires. Logistic regression was used to estimate the associations. No cell phone use in early pregnancy was reported by 9.8% of women, while 39%, 46.9% and 4.3% of the women were categorized as low, medium and high cell phone users. Children of cell phone user mothers had 17% (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.77, 0.89) lower adjusted risk of having low sentence complexity at 3 years, compared to children of non-users. The risk was 13%, 22% and 29% lower by low, medium and high maternal cell phone use. Additionally, children of cell phone users had lower risk of low motor skills score at 3 years, compared to children of non-users, but this association was not found at 5 years. We found no association between maternal cell phone use and low communication skills. We reported a decreased risk of low language and motor skills at three years in relation to prenatal cell phone use, which might be explained by enhanced maternal-child interaction among cell phone users. No evidence of adverse neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal cell phone use was reported.

Mother-child language style matching predicts children's and mothers' emotion reactivity.

PubMed

Rasmussen, Hannah F; Borelli, Jessica L; Smiley, Patricia A; Cohen, Chloe; Cheung, Ryan Cheuk Ming; Fox, Schuyler; Marvin, Matthew; Blackard, Betsy

2017-05-15

Co-regulation of behavior occurring within parent-child attachment relationships is thought to be the primary means through which children develop the capacity to regulate emotion, an ability that is protective across development. Existing research on parent-child co-regulation focuses predominantly on parent-infant dyads, and operationalizes co-regulation as the matching of facial expressions; however, matching can occur on other behaviors, including vocal tone, body movement, and language. Studies with young children find that greater matching is associated with children's lower emotion reactivity, but with unknown impacts on parents. In this study we examine a recently-developed metric of behavioral matching, language style matching (LSM), a composite measure of the similarity of function word use in spoken or written language between two or more people. We test whether LSM between mothers and their school-aged children is associated with children's and mothers' physiological and subjective emotion reactivity. Children completed a standardized stressor task while their mothers observed; children's and mother's cortisol and cardiovascular reactivity were assessed, as were their subjective reports of emotion reactivity. Following the stressor, children and mothers completed independent interviews about the experience, later assessed for LSM. Higher mother-child LSM was associated with lower emotion reactivity (lower cortisol reactivity, lower reports of negative emotion) for children, and with higher maternal cardiovascular but not cortisol or subjective reactivity. Further, higher LSM was more strongly associated with lower child cortisol reactivity when mothers were more reactive themselves. We conclude that mother-child LSM, thought to reflect a history of co-regulated interaction, confers protective benefits for children, but heightened reactivity for mothers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The hearing-impaired child in the hearing society.

PubMed

Burton, M H

1983-11-01

This paper sets out to describe a method of educating the hearing-impaired which has been operating successfully for the past 18 years. The underlying tenet of our approach is that considerable communicative skills can be developed with children who have marked hearing loss. Even if the child is profoundly deaf he or she has some sensory input which can be used as the basis for training in language development. The attempt to make the most of the minimal hearing of the hearing-impaired child has proved to be successful in the vast majority of cases. The profoundly hearing-impaired child can learn to listen and to produce the spoken word. This is demonstrated by use of video-tape. The interaction of teacher with child is heard and the regional accent can be identified. The prosodic features of the speech are retained although articulation may be incomplete. Intelligibility of utterance is shown to be a combination of rhythm stress and intonation based on previously heard patterns rather than on perfectly articulated sounds. The social consequence of this approach is that child is not relegated to a minority subculture where only the deaf can communicate with the deaf but is allowed to enter into the world of normal relationships and expectations. Deaf children can be taught to listen and to use imperfectly heard patterns in order to interpret the meaning of language. This input of speech follows the natural language normally used by the child who is not deaf.

Laying a Firm Foundation: Embedding Evidence-Based Emergent Literacy Practices Into Early Intervention and Preschool Environments.

PubMed

Terrell, Pamela; Watson, Maggie

2018-04-05

As part of this clinical forum on curriculum-based intervention, the goal of this tutorial is to share research about the importance of language and literacy foundations in natural environments during emergent literacy skill development, from infancy through preschool. Following an overview of intervention models in schools by Powell (2018), best practices at home, in child care, and in preschool settings are discussed. Speech-language pathologists in these settings will be provided a toolbox of best emergent literacy practices. A review of published literature in speech-language pathology, early intervention, early childhood education, and literacy was completed. Subsequently, an overview of the impact of early home and preschool literacy experiences are described. Research-based implementation of best practice is supported with examples of shared book reading and child-led literacy embedded in play within the coaching model of early intervention. Finally, various aspects of emergent literacy skill development in the preschool years are discussed. These include phonemic awareness, print/alphabet awareness, oral language skills, and embedded/explicit literacy. Research indicates that rich home literacy environments and exposure to rich oral language provide an important foundation for the more structured literacy environments of school. Furthermore, there is a wealth of evidence to support a variety of direct and indirect intervention practices in the home, child care, and preschool contexts to support and enhance all aspects of oral and written literacy. Application of this "toolbox" of strategies should enable speech-language pathologists to address the prevention and intervention of literacy deficits within multiple environments during book and play activities. Additionally, clinicians will have techniques to share with parents, child care providers, and preschool teachers for evidence-based literacy instruction within all settings during typical daily activities.

Immigrant enclaves and obesity in preschool-aged children in Los Angeles County.

PubMed

Nobari, Tabashir Z; Wang, May-Choo; Chaparro, M Pia; Crespi, Catherine M; Koleilat, Maria; Whaley, Shannon E

2013-09-01

While neighborhood environments are increasingly recognized as important contributors to obesity risk, less has been reported on the socio-cultural aspects of neighborhoods that influence obesity development. This is especially true among immigrants, who may lack the necessary language skills to navigate their new living environments. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that young children of immigrants would be at lower obesity risk if they lived in neighborhoods where neighbors share the same language and culture. Using 2000 Census data and 2003-2009 data from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children in Los Angeles County, we examined the relation between BMI z-scores in low-income children aged 2-5 years (N = 250,029) and the concentration of neighborhood residents who spoke the same language as the children's mothers. Using multi-level modeling and adjusting for child's gender and race/ethnicity, household education, neighborhood socioeconomic status, and year the child was examined, we found that percent of neighborhood residents who spoke the same language as the child's mother was negatively associated with BMI z-scores. This relation varied by child's race/ethnicity and mother's preferred language. The relation was linear and negative among children of English-speaking Hispanic mothers and Chinese-speaking mothers. However, for Hispanic children of Spanish-speaking mothers the relation was curvilinear, initially exhibiting a positive relation which reversed at higher neighborhood concentrations of Spanish-speaking residents. Our findings suggest that living in neighborhoods where residents share the same language may influence obesity-related behaviors (namely diet and physical activity) possibly through mechanisms involving social networks, support, and norms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Temperamental and Joint Attentional Predictors of Language Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salley, Brenda J.; Dixon, Wallace E., Jr.

2007-01-01

Individual differences in child temperament have been associated with individual differences in language development. Similarly, relationships have been reported between early nonverbal social communication (joint attention) and both temperament and language. The present study examined whether individual differences in joint attention might…

Cognitive Precursors of Receptive vs. Expressive Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smolak, Linda

1982-01-01

The relationship of object permanence and classification skills to receptive and expressive language development was investigated in infants. Object permanence, classification, and parent-child verbal interaction ratings were about equally related to language comprehension functioning, while permanence was more strongly related to language…

Issues in Language Proficiency Assessment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanchez, Rosaura; And Others

Three papers on assessment and planning in bilingual education are presented. In "Language Theory Bases," Rosaura Sanchez advocates an approach toward child bilingual education that takes into account the relationship between the parallel domains of language development and cognitive development. An awareness of this relationship is…

Acculturation differences in communicating information about child mental health between Latino parents and primary care providers.

PubMed

Lê Cook, Benjamin; Brown, Jonathan D; Loder, Stephen; Wissow, Larry

2014-12-01

Significant Latino-white disparities in youth mental health care access and quality exist yet little is known about Latino parents' communication with providers about youth mental health and the role of acculturation in influencing this communication. We estimated regression models to assess the association between time in the US and the number of psychosocial issues discussed with the medical assistant (MA) and doctor, adjusting for child and parent mental health and sociodemographics. Other proxies of acculturation were also investigated including measures of Spanish and English language proficiency and nativity. Parent's length of time in the US was positively associated with their communication of: their child's psychosocial problems with their child's MA, stress in their own life with their child's MA, and their child's school problems with their child's doctor. These differences were especially apparent for parents living in the US for >10 years. Parent-child language discordance, parent and child nativity were also significantly associated with communication of psychosocial problems. Greater provider and MA awareness of variation in resistance to communicating psychosocial issues could improve communication, and improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of youth mental illness.

Maternal communicative functions and mind-mindedness at 16 months as predictors of children's internal and non-internal language at 20 months.

PubMed

Longobardi, Emiddia; Spataro, Pietro; Colonnesi, Cristina

2018-02-01

The effects of Communicative functions and Mind-Mindedness on children's language development have been typically investigated in separate studies. The present longitudinal research was therefore designed to yield new insight into the simultaneous impact of these two dimensions of maternal responsiveness on the acquisition of expressive language skills in a sample of 25 mother-child dyads. The frequencies of five communicative functions (Tutorial, Didactic, Conversational, Control and Asynchronous) and two types of mind-related comments (attuned vs. non-attuned) were assessed from a 15-min play session at 16 months. Children's expressive language was examined at both 16 months (number of word types and tokens produced, and number of words attributed to the child in the Questionnaire for Communication and Early Language development) and 20 months (number of internal and non-internal words attributed to the child in the Italian version of the Mac Arthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory). The main finding was that mothers' use of attuned mind-related comments at 16 months predicted internal state language at 20 months, above and beyond the effects of CFs and children's linguistic ability at 16 months; in addition, mothers' Tutorial function at 16 months marginally predicted non-internal state language at 20 months, after controlling for MM and children's linguistic ability at 16 months. These results suggest that different expressions of maternal responsiveness influence distinct aspects of children's expressive language in the second year of life, although the effects of MM appear to be more robust. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Early identification: Language skills and social functioning in deaf and hard of hearing preschool children.

PubMed

Netten, Anouk P; Rieffe, Carolien; Theunissen, Stephanie C P M; Soede, Wim; Dirks, Evelien; Korver, Anna M H; Konings, Saskia; Oudesluys-Murphy, Anne Marie; Dekker, Friedo W; Frijns, Johan H M

2015-12-01

Permanent childhood hearing impairment often results in speech and language problems that are already apparent in early childhood. Past studies show a clear link between language skills and the child's social-emotional functioning. The aim of this study was to examine the level of language and communication skills after the introduction of early identification services and their relation with social functioning and behavioral problems in deaf and hard of hearing children. Nationwide cross-sectional observation of a cohort of 85 early identified deaf and hard of hearing preschool children (aged 30-66 months). Parents reported on their child's communicative abilities (MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory III), social functioning and appearance of behavioral problems (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). Receptive and expressive language skills were measured using the Reynell Developmental Language Scale and the Schlichting Expressive Language Test, derived from the child's medical records. Language and communicative abilities of early identified deaf and hard of hearing children are not on a par with hearing peers. Compared to normative scores from hearing children, parents of deaf and hard of hearing children reported lower social functioning and more behavioral problems. Higher communicative abilities were related to better social functioning and less behavioral problems. No relation was found between the degree of hearing loss, age at amplification, uni- or bilateral amplification, mode of communication and social functioning and behavioral problems. These results suggest that improving the communicative abilities of deaf and hard of hearing children could improve their social-emotional functioning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does a child's language ability affect the correspondence between parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms?

PubMed

Gooch, Debbie; Maydew, Harriet; Sears, Claire; Norbury, Courtenay Frazier

2017-04-05

Rating scales are often used to identify children with potential Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), yet there are frequently discrepancies between informants which may be moderated by child characteristics. The current study asked whether correspondence between parent and teacher ratings on the Strengths and Weakness of ADHD symptoms and Normal behaviour scale (SWAN) varied systematically with child language ability. Parent and teacher SWAN questionnaires were returned for 200 children (aged 61-81 months); 106 had low language ability (LL) and 94 had typically developing language (TL). After exploring informant correspondence (using Pearson correlation) and the discrepancy between raters, we report inter-class correlation coefficients, to assess inter-rater reliability, and Cohen's kappa, to assess agreement regarding possible ADHD caseness. Correlations between informant ratings on the SWAN were moderate. Children with LL were rated as having increased inattention and hyperactivity relative to children with TL; teachers, however, rated children with LL as having more inattention than parents. Inter-rater reliability of the SWAN was good and there were no systematic differences between the LL and TL groups. Case agreement between parent and teachers was fair; this varied by language group with poorer case agreement for children with LL. Children's language abilities affect the discrepancy between informant ratings of ADHD symptomatology and the agreement between parents and teachers regarding potential ADHD caseness. The assessment of children's core language ability would be a beneficial addition to the ADHD diagnostic process.

Contribution of parenting to complex syntax development in preschool children with developmental delays or typical development.

PubMed

Moody, C T; Baker, B L; Blacher, J

2018-05-10

Despite studies of how parent-child interactions relate to early child language development, few have examined the continued contribution of parenting to more complex language skills through the preschool years. The current study explored how positive and negative parenting behaviours relate to growth in complex syntax learning from child age 3 to age 4 years, for children with typical development or developmental delays (DDs). Participants were children with or without DD (N = 60) participating in a longitudinal study of development. Parent-child interactions were transcribed and coded for parenting domains and child language. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify the contribution of parenting to complex syntax growth in children with typical development or DD. Analyses supported a final model, F(9,50) = 11.90, P < .001, including a significant three-way interaction between positive parenting behaviours, negative parenting behaviours and child delay status. This model explained 68.16% of the variance in children's complex syntax at age 4. Simple two-way interactions indicated differing effects of parenting variables for children with or without DD. Results have implications for understanding of complex syntax acquisition in young children, as well as implications for interventions. © 2018 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Preliminary Investigation of the Relationship between Parenting, Parent-Child Shared Reading Practices, and Child Development in Low-Income Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dexter, Casey A.; Stacks, Ann M.

2014-01-01

This study examined relations between parenting, shared reading practices, and child development. Participants included 28 children (M = 24.66 months, SD = 8.41 months) and their parents. Measures included naturalistic observations of parenting and shared reading quality, assessments of child cognitive and language development, and home reading…

Timing of High-Quality Child Care and Cognitive, Language, and Preacademic Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Weilin; Farkas, George; Duncan, Greg J.; Burchinal, Margaret R.; Vandell, Deborah Lowe

2013-01-01

The effects of high- versus low-quality child care during 2 developmental periods (infant-toddlerhood and preschool) were examined using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Propensity score matching was used to account for differences in families who used different combinations of child…

In the Eye of the Storm: Liability Insurance and Child Care. Policy Report No. 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Council of Churches of Christ, New York, NY.

Addressed to churches and child caregivers, this policy report seeks to describe in layman's language the reasons for the liability insurance crisis confronting child care providers. It defines insurance terms, shows how the industry sets insurance policies and rates, and describes policies currently being written for child care programs by…

Strategies That Make Sense.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lifter, Karin

1995-01-01

This commentary responds to an article on using directives in early language intervention. It stresses that interventions that tap into the child's focus of attention optimize learning opportunities. When goals are child-centered and are linked to what the child is involved in learning, interventions will be enhanced. (SW)

Child first language and adult second language are both tied to general-purpose learning systems.

PubMed

Hamrick, Phillip; Lum, Jarrad A G; Ullman, Michael T

2018-02-13

Do the mechanisms underlying language in fact serve general-purpose functions that preexist this uniquely human capacity? To address this contentious and empirically challenging issue, we systematically tested the predictions of a well-studied neurocognitive theory of language motivated by evolutionary principles. Multiple metaanalyses were performed to examine predicted links between language and two general-purpose learning systems, declarative and procedural memory. The results tied lexical abilities to learning only in declarative memory, while grammar was linked to learning in both systems in both child first language and adult second language, in specific ways. In second language learners, grammar was associated with only declarative memory at lower language experience, but with only procedural memory at higher experience. The findings yielded large effect sizes and held consistently across languages, language families, linguistic structures, and tasks, underscoring their reliability and validity. The results, which met the predicted pattern, provide comprehensive evidence that language is tied to general-purpose systems both in children acquiring their native language and adults learning an additional language. Crucially, if language learning relies on these systems, then our extensive knowledge of the systems from animal and human studies may also apply to this domain, leading to predictions that might be unwarranted in the more circumscribed study of language. Thus, by demonstrating a role for these systems in language, the findings simultaneously lay a foundation for potentially important advances in the study of this critical domain.

The Impact of Input Quality on Early Sign Development in Native and Non-Native Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Jenny; Jones, Anna; Morgan, Gary

2016-01-01

There is debate about how input variation influences child language. Most deaf children are exposed to a sign language from their non-fluent hearing parents and experience a delay in exposure to accessible language. A small number of children receive language input from their deaf parents who are fluent signers. Thus it is possible to document the…

Timelines for English Language Acquisition: A Study of the Rates of Second Language Acquisition among Hispanic English Language Learners Including Exceptionalities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixon, Jennifer J.

2012-01-01

This study explores No Child Left Behind's required timetable for English language learners (ELLs) to reach English language proficiency within five years, as outlined in the Annual Measurable Achievement Outcomes (AMAOs), despite the lack of research evidence to support this as a reasonable expectation. Analysis was conducted on the archived data…

Language, Parents' Involvement, and Social Justice: The Fight for Maintaining Minority Home Language: A Chinese-Language Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Yuxiang

2009-01-01

English-only policies and the expiration of the "Bilingual Education Act," which is now replaced by "No Child Left Behind," make it clear that English is the official language of schools in the United States with the emphasis moved from the goal of maintaining students' home languages while learning English to a focus of ignoring minority…

Measuring Pragmatic Language in Speakers with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Comparing the Children's Communication Checklist-2 and the Test of Pragmatic Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Volden, Joanne; Phillips, Linda

2010-01-01

Purpose: To compare the Children's Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2), a parent report instrument, with the Test of Pragmatic Language (TOPL), a test administered to the child, on the ability to identify pragmatic language impairment in speakers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who had age-appropriate structural language skills. Method: Sixteen…

Language disorder with mild intellectual disability in a child affected by a novel mutation of SLC6A8 gene.

PubMed

Battini, R; Chilosi, A M; Casarano, M; Moro, F; Comparini, A; Alessandrì, M G; Leuzzi, V; Tosetti, M; Cioni, G

2011-02-01

We describe the clinical and molecular features of a child harboring a novel mutation in SLC6A8 gene in association with a milder phenotype than other creatine transporter (CT1) deficient patients (OMIM 300352) [1-7]. The mutation c.757 G>C p.G253R in exon 4 of SLC6A8 was hemizygous in the child, aged 6 years and 6 months, who showed mild intellectual disability with severe speech and language delay. His carrier mother had borderline intellectual functioning. Although the neurochemical and biochemical parameters were fully consistent with those reported in the literature for subjects with CT1 deficit, in our patient within a general cognitive disability, a discrepancy between nonverbal and verbal skills was observed, confirming the peculiar vulnerability of language development under brain Cr depletion. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language acquisition for deaf children: Reducing the harms of zero tolerance to the use of alternative approaches.

PubMed

Humphries, Tom; Kushalnagar, Poorna; Mathur, Gaurav; Napoli, Donna Jo; Padden, Carol; Rathmann, Christian; Smith, Scott R

2012-04-02

Children acquire language without instruction as long as they are regularly and meaningfully engaged with an accessible human language. Today, 80% of children born deaf in the developed world are implanted with cochlear devices that allow some of them access to sound in their early years, which helps them to develop speech. However, because of brain plasticity changes during early childhood, children who have not acquired a first language in the early years might never be completely fluent in any language. If they miss this critical period for exposure to a natural language, their subsequent development of the cognitive activities that rely on a solid first language might be underdeveloped, such as literacy, memory organization, and number manipulation. An alternative to speech-exclusive approaches to language acquisition exists in the use of sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL), where acquiring a sign language is subject to the same time constraints of spoken language development. Unfortunately, so far, these alternatives are caught up in an "either - or" dilemma, leading to a highly polarized conflict about which system families should choose for their children, with little tolerance for alternatives by either side of the debate and widespread misinformation about the evidence and implications for or against either approach. The success rate with cochlear implants is highly variable. This issue is still debated, and as far as we know, there are no reliable predictors for success with implants. Yet families are often advised not to expose their child to sign language. Here absolute positions based on ideology create pressures for parents that might jeopardize the real developmental needs of deaf children. What we do know is that cochlear implants do not offer accessible language to many deaf children. By the time it is clear that the deaf child is not acquiring spoken language with cochlear devices, it might already be past the critical period, and the child runs the risk of becoming linguistically deprived. Linguistic deprivation constitutes multiple personal harms as well as harms to society (in terms of costs to our medical systems and in loss of potential productive societal participation).

Early Language and Reading Development of Bilingual Preschoolers From Low-Income Families.

PubMed

Hammer, Carol Scheffner; Miccio, Adele W

2006-01-01

Learning to read is a complex process and a number of factors affect a child's success in beginning reading. This complexity increases when a child's home language differs from that of the school and when the child comes from a home with limited economic resources. This article discusses factors that have been shown to contribute to children's success in early reading, namely-phonological awareness, letter-word identification, oral language, and the home literacy environment. Preliminary evidence suggests that bilingual children from low-income backgrounds initially perform poorly on phonological awareness and letter identification tasks, but appear to acquire these abilities quickly in kindergarten once these abilities are emphasized in early reading instruction. In addition, the findings show that bilingual preschoolers' receptive language abilities in English and Spanish positively impact their early letter-word identification abilities at the end of kindergarten. A positive relationship between bilingual preschoolers' home literacy environment and early reading outcomes has not been found to date. Educational implications for serving young, bilingual children from programs such as Head Start are discussed.

The pragmatic language, communication skills, parent-child relationships, and symptoms of children with ADHD and their playmates 18-months after a parent-delivered play-based intervention.

PubMed

Wilkes-Gillan, Sarah; Cantrill, Alycia; Parsons, Lauren; Smith, Cally; Cordier, Reinie

2017-07-01

This study examined the communication skills, pragmatic language, parent-child relationships, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms of children with ADHD and their playmates 18-months after a pilot parent-delivered intervention for improving social play skills and pragmatic language. Participants were five children with ADHD, their parents, and five typically-developing playmates. Outcomes were measured immediately post and 18-months following the intervention. Parent-rated norm-based assessments and an observational measure were used. Differences within and between the ADHD and playmate groups were examined. Children maintained all skills gained 18-months following the intervention. Compared to a normative sample, children with ADHD remained below the average range on aspects of communication skills, parent-child relationships, and ADHD symptom levels 18-months following intervention. After intervention, children with ADHD still experienced pragmatic language skills below those of their peers on norm-based assessments that measure their skills across contexts. School-based interventions are needed to facilitate ongoing skill development and generalization.

Using Language ENvironment Analysis to improve outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

PubMed

Aragon, Miranda; Yoshinaga-Itano, Christine

2012-11-01

Very little is known about the language environments of children in the United States in non-English-speaking homes. There is currently no published research that analyzes deaf or hard of hearing children in Spanish-speaking households, although the Colorado Home Intervention Program demographics indicate that these households account for 10 to 15% of the population of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. In other geographic regions in the United States, it is likely that the population of deaf and hard of hearing children from Spanish-speaking homes is considerably larger. The Spanish-speaking population in the United States has grown considerably within the last 5 to 10 years and will continue to expand. For these children to receive adequate treatment, research must be conducted to understand their language environment. The Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) System uses a small recording device to collect, analyze, and sort a child's language environment into multiple categories and analyzes variables such as child vocalizations, adult words, and conversational turn taking. The normative data for the LENA System are from families who are English-speaking. The article demonstrates the feasibility of using the LENA System to gain understanding of the language environment of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing in a Spanish-speaking household. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Mapping language to the world: the role of iconicity in the sign language input.

PubMed

Perniss, Pamela; Lu, Jenny C; Morgan, Gary; Vigliocco, Gabriella

2018-03-01

Most research on the mechanisms underlying referential mapping has assumed that learning occurs in ostensive contexts, where label and referent co-occur, and that form and meaning are linked by arbitrary convention alone. In the present study, we focus on iconicity in language, that is, resemblance relationships between form and meaning, and on non-ostensive contexts, where label and referent do not co-occur. We approach the question of language learning from the perspective of the language input. Specifically, we look at child-directed language (CDL) in British Sign Language (BSL), a language rich in iconicity due to the affordances of the visual modality. We ask whether child-directed signing exploits iconicity in the language by highlighting the similarity mapping between form and referent. We find that CDL modifications occur more often with iconic signs than with non-iconic signs. Crucially, for iconic signs, modifications are more frequent in non-ostensive contexts than in ostensive contexts. Furthermore, we find that pointing dominates in ostensive contexts, and suggest that caregivers adjust the semiotic resources recruited in CDL to context. These findings offer first evidence for a role of iconicity in the language input and suggest that iconicity may be involved in referential mapping and language learning, particularly in non-ostensive contexts. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

AAC and Early Intervention for Children with Cerebral Palsy: Parent Perceptions and Child Risk Factors

PubMed Central

Smith, Ashlyn L.; Hustad, Katherine C.

2015-01-01

The current study examined parent perceptions of communication, the focus of early intervention goals and strategies, and factors predicting the implementation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for 26, 2-year-old children with cerebral palsy. Parents completed a communication questionnaire and provided early intervention plans detailing child speech and language goals. Results indicated that receptive language had the strongest association with parent perceptions of communication. Children who were not talking received a greater number of intervention goals, had a greater variety of goals, and had more AAC goals than children who were emerging and established talkers. Finally, expressive language had the strongest influence on AAC decisions. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between parent perceptions and language skills, communication as an emphasis in early intervention, AAC intervention decisions, and the importance of receptive language. PMID:26401966

Serial auditory-evoked potentials in the diagnosis and monitoring of a child with Landau-Kleffner syndrome.

PubMed

Plyler, Erin; Harkrider, Ashley W

2013-01-01

A boy, aged 2 1/2 yr, experienced sudden deterioration of speech and language abilities. He saw multiple medical professionals across 2 yr. By almost 5 yr, his vocabulary diminished from 50 words to 4, and he was referred to our speech and hearing center. The purpose of this study was to heighten awareness of Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS) and emphasize the importance of an objective test battery that includes serial auditory-evoked potentials (AEPs) to audiologists who often are on the front lines of diagnosis and treatment delivery when faced with a child experiencing unexplained loss of the use of speech and language. Clinical report. Interview revealed a family history of seizure disorder. Normal social behaviors were observed. Acoustic reflexes and otoacoustic emissions were consistent with normal peripheral auditory function. The child could not complete behavioral audiometric testing or auditory processing tests, so serial AEPs were used to examine central nervous system function. Normal auditory brainstem responses, a replicable Na and absent Pa of the middle latency responses, and abnormal slow cortical potentials suggested dysfunction of auditory processing at the cortical level. The child was referred to a neurologist, who confirmed LKS. At age 7 1/2 yr, after 2 1/2 yr of antiepileptic medications, electroencephalographic (EEG) and audiometric measures normalized. Presently, the child communicates manually with limited use of oral information. Audiologists often are one of the first professionals to assess children with loss of speech and language of unknown origin. Objective, noninvasive, serial AEPs are a simple and valuable addition to the central audiometric test battery when evaluating a child with speech and language regression. The inclusion of these tests will markedly increase the chance for early and accurate referral, diagnosis, and monitoring of a child with LKS which is imperative for a positive prognosis. American Academy of Audiology.

Language Intervention and the Culturally Different Child.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adler, Sol

1978-01-01

After describing a variety of compensatory programs that have not been very successful for children who enter school speaking nonstandard dialects, the author describes a bidialectal program that teaches standard usage as "school language" but accepts nonstandard dialects as "everyday language," and makes the differences…

Language Impairment in Autistic Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deaton, Ann Virginia

Discussed is the language impairment of children with infantile autism. The speech patterns of autistic children, including echolalia, pronomial reversal, silent language, and voice imitation, are described. The clinical picture of the autistic child is compared to that of children with such other disorders as deafness, retardation, and…

Verdi Invades the Kindergarten.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGirr, Paula Ifft

1995-01-01

Children can complement all areas of their language learning with music, and can enhance their musical activities with language. Opportunities to experience sounds, language, and rhythmic movement support the learning and development of the whole child. Activities dealing with children's books that have musical themes, song picture books, and…

Early Language Abilities of High-Risk Infants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hubatch, Leona M.; And Others

1985-01-01

Ten children with a history of prematurity and respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) were matched with 101 full-term controls in the single-word stage of language. Control subjects demonstrated superior performance on all receptive language and child verbosity measures despite their younger age. (Author/CL)

"Show-Me Bedtime Reading'" An Unusual Study of the Benefits of Reading to Deaf Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Deborah

1989-01-01

Nine primary-age children at a residential school for the deaf were read bedtime stories using a Total Communication approach. Every child subsequently demonstrated growth on each of several language assessments, including language comprehension and expressive language. (JDD)

Whole Language as an Ecological Phenomenon: On Sustaining the Agonies of Innovative Language Arts Practices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Field, James C.; Jardine, David W.

In the area of language instruction, a network of ecological relationships exists among the teacher, the child, and the text--the sustaining and nurturing of these relationships is at the heart of whole language instruction. Moreover, this network of relationships falls prey to neither of the unsustainable extremities of "gericentrism"…

Stability of Core Language Skill from Early Childhood to Adolescence: A Latent Variable Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bornstein, Marc H.; Hahn, Chun-Shin; Putnick, Diane L.; Suwalsky, Joan T. D.

2014-01-01

This four-wave prospective longitudinal study evaluated stability of language in 324 children from early childhood to adolescence. Structural equation modeling supported loadings of multiple age-appropriate multisource measures of child language on single-factor core language skills at 20 months and 4, 10, and 14 years. Large stability…

Mother and Infant Talk about Mental States Relates to Desire Language and Emotion Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taumoepeau, Mele; Ruffman, Ted

2006-01-01

This study assessed the relation between mother mental state language and child desire language and emotion understanding in 15--24-month-olds. At both times point, mothers described pictures to their infants and mother talk was coded for mental and nonmental state language. Children were administered 2 emotion understanding tasks and their mental…

An Irish Cohort Study of Risk and Protective Factors for Infant Language Development at 9?Months

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNally, Sinéad; Quigley, Jean

2014-01-01

This nationally representative study of Irish infants explores whether the set of child and environmental factors established as predicting language outcomes aged 3?years would also predict language and communication development as early as age 9?months. Associations between infant and environmental characteristics and infant language outcomes at…

Parents' Assessment of Their Preschool Children's Bilingual Development in the Context of Family Language Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwartz, Mila; Moin, Victor

2012-01-01

Parents' assessment of children's development in the first and the second language is an essential part of their family language policy (FLP) and an important component of parent-child communication. This paper presents a pilot study focused on Russian-speaking immigrant parents' assessment of their children's language knowledge in Russian as a…

Bilingual Siblings: Language Use in Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barron-Hauwaert, Suzanne

2011-01-01

Taking a different perspective to traditional case studies on one bilingual child, this book discusses the whole family and the realities of life with two or more children and languages. What do we know about the language patterns of children in a growing and evolving bilingual family? Which languages do the siblings prefer to speak to each other?…

Development of a Tablet Application for the Screening of Receptive Vocabulary Skills in Multilingual Children: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaefer, Blanca; Bowyer-Crane, Claudine; Herrmann, Frank; Fricke, Silke

2016-01-01

For professionals working with multilingual children, detecting language deficits in a child's home language can present a challenge. This is largely due to the scarcity of standardized assessments in many children's home languages and missing normative data on multilingual language acquisition. A common approach is to translate existing English…

Family Talk about Language Diversity and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fain, Jeanne G.; Horn, Robin

2006-01-01

Family literature circles are literacy events that provide children with the opportunity to talk about a book in whatever language they choose at home prior to discussing it in English as required at school. These discussions help to create a context for language acquisition in the child's first and second language. While state law restricts one's…

Gender Differences in Children's Language: A Meta-Analysis of Slovenian Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Fekonja-Peklaj, Urška

2017-01-01

Child gender has been proved to affect toddlers'/children's language development in several studies, but its effect was not found to be stable across different ages or various aspects of language ability. The effect of gender on toddler's, children's and adolescents' language ability was examined in the present meta-analysis of ten Slovenian…

Maternal Communicative Behaviours and Interaction Quality as Predictors of Language Development: Findings from a Community-Based Study of Slow-to-Talk Toddlers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conway, Laura J.; Levickis, Penny A.; Smith, Jodie; Mensah, Fiona; Wake, Melissa; Reilly, Sheena

2018-01-01

Background: Identifying risk and protective factors for language development informs interventions for children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Maternal responsive and intrusive communicative behaviours are associated with language development. Mother-child interaction quality may influence how children use these behaviours in language…

Parent-Implemented Natural Language Paradigm to Increase Language and Play in Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gillett, Jill N.; LeBlanc, Linda A.

2007-01-01

Three parents of children with autism were taught to implement the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP). Data were collected on parent implementation, multiple measures of child language, and play. The parents were able to learn to implement the NLP procedures quickly and accurately with beneficial results for their children. Increases in the overall…

Peer effects in preschool classrooms: is children's language growth associated with their classmates' skills?

PubMed

Justice, Laura M; Petscher, Yaacov; Schatschneider, Christopher; Mashburn, Andrew

2011-01-01

With an increasing number of young children participating in preschool education, this study determined whether peer effects are present in this earliest sector of schooling. Specifically, this work examined whether peer effects were influential to preschoolers' growth in language skills over an academic year and whether peer effects manifest differently based on children's status in reference to their peers. Peer effects were assessed for 338 children in 49 classrooms. A significant interaction between the language skills of children's classmates and children's fall language skills indicated that peer effects were strongest for children with low language skills who were in classrooms that served children with relatively low skill levels, on average. Findings further showed that reference status, or children's relative standing to their peers, has the greater consequence for children with very low language skills in relation to their peers. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Story time turbocharger? Child engagement during shared reading and cerebellar activation and connectivity in preschool-age children listening to stories.

PubMed

Hutton, John S; Phelan, Kieran; Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi; Dudley, Jonathan; Altaye, Mekibib; DeWitt, Thomas; Holland, Scott K

2017-01-01

Expanding behavioral and neurobiological evidence affirms benefits of shared (especially parent-child) reading on cognitive development during early childhood. However, the majority of this evidence involves factors under caregiver control, the influence of those intrinsic to the child, such as interest or engagement in reading, largely indirect or unclear. The cerebellum is increasingly recognized as playing a "smoothing" role in higher-level cognitive processing and learning, via feedback loops with language, limbic and association cortices. We utilized functional MRI to explore the relationship between child engagement during a mother-child reading observation and neural activation and connectivity during a story listening task, in a sample of 4-year old girls. Children exhibiting greater interest and engagement in the narrative showed increased activation in right-sided cerebellar association areas during the task, and greater functional connectivity between this activation cluster and language and executive function areas. Our findings suggest a potential cerebellar "boost" mechanism responsive to child engagement level that may contribute to emergent literacy development during early childhood, and synergy between caregiver and child factors during story sharing.

Skype me! Socially contingent interactions help toddlers learn language.

PubMed

Roseberry, Sarah; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkoff, Roberta M

2014-01-01

Language learning takes place in the context of social interactions, yet the mechanisms that render social interactions useful for learning language remain unclear. This study focuses on whether social contingency might support word learning. Toddlers aged 24-30 months (N = 36) were exposed to novel verbs in one of three conditions: live interaction training, socially contingent video training over video chat, and noncontingent video training (yoked video). Results suggest that children only learned novel verbs in socially contingent interactions (live interactions and video chat). This study highlights the importance of social contingency in interactions for language learning and informs the literature on learning through screen media as the first study to examine word learning through video chat technology. © 2013 The Authors. Child Development © 2013 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Concurrent and Predictive Validity of Parent Reports of Child Language at Ages 2 and 3 Years

PubMed Central

Campbell, Thomas F.; Kurs-Lasky, Marcia; Rockette, Howard E.; Dale, Philip S.; Colborn, D. Kathleen; Paradise, Jack L.

2005-01-01

The MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI; Dale, 1996; Fenson et al., 1994), parent reports about language skills, are being used increasingly in studies of theoretical and public health importance. This study (N = 113) correlated scores on the CDI at ages 2 and 3 years with scores at age 3 years on tests of cognition and receptive language and measures from parent–child conversation. Associations indicated reasonable concurrent and predictive validity. The findings suggest that satisfactory vocabulary scores at age 2 are likely to predict normal language skills at age 3, although some children with limited skills at age 3 will have had satisfactory scores at age 2. Many children with poor vocabulary scores at 2 will have normal skills at 3. PMID:16026501

What automated vocal analysis reveals about the vocal production and language learning environment of young children with autism.

PubMed

Warren, Steven F; Gilkerson, Jill; Richards, Jeffrey A; Oller, D Kimbrough; Xu, Dongxin; Yapanel, Umit; Gray, Sharmistha

2010-05-01

The study compared the vocal production and language learning environments of 26 young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to 78 typically developing children using measures derived from automated vocal analysis. A digital language processor and audio-processing algorithms measured the amount of adult words to children and the amount of vocalizations they produced during 12-h recording periods in their natural environments. The results indicated significant differences between typically developing children and children with ASD in the characteristics of conversations, the number of conversational turns, and in child vocalizations that correlated with parent measures of various child characteristics. Automated measurement of the language learning environment of young children with ASD reveals important differences from the environments experienced by typically developing children.

Developmental status and home environment among children born to immigrant women married to Taiwanese men.

PubMed

Chen, Chwen-Jen; Hsu, Chiung-Wen; Chu, Yu-Roo; Han, Kuo-Chiang; Chien, Li-Yin

2012-04-01

The aims of this cross-sectional study were to examine (a) the developmental status and home environments of children (6-24 months) of immigrant women married to Taiwanese men, and (b) the association of child developmental status with parental socio-demographics, maternal language abilities, and home environment qualities. Participants were 61 children and their mothers from China and Vietnam. Data were collected with interviews, home observations, and developmental testing. The children had lower cognitive and language but higher motor and social development scores compared with native norms. Home environment and maternal perceived language ability were positively associated with child development. The association of home environment and maternal language ability with early childhood development was supported for immigrant populations in Taiwan. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Partnering with parents to enhance habilitation: a parent's perspective.

PubMed

Kovacs, Lisa

2012-11-01

Parents play a very important role in language habilitation for their children who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, many times parents are not aware of the difference they can make in their child's language development. It is important that professionals working with children support parents in understanding their role and identifying language learning strategies that parents can incorporate into their daily routines to increase language development opportunities. Parents also have a key role in monitoring their child's progress to assist the professionals in assessing how well the habilitation strategies they are using are working. Family support and coaching strategies that professionals can use to encourage and support the parent's role in habilitation are discussed. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Bilateral Versus Unilateral Cochlear Implants in Children: A Study of Spoken Language Outcomes

PubMed Central

Harris, David; Bennet, Lisa; Bant, Sharyn

2014-01-01

Objectives: Although it has been established that bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) offer additional speech perception and localization benefits to many children with severe to profound hearing loss, whether these improved perceptual abilities facilitate significantly better language development has not yet been clearly established. The aims of this study were to compare language abilities of children having unilateral and bilateral CIs to quantify the rate of any improvement in language attributable to bilateral CIs and to document other predictors of language development in children with CIs. Design: The receptive vocabulary and language development of 91 children was assessed when they were aged either 5 or 8 years old by using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (fourth edition), and either the Preschool Language Scales (fourth edition) or the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (fourth edition), respectively. Cognitive ability, parent involvement in children’s intervention or education programs, and family reading habits were also evaluated. Language outcomes were examined by using linear regression analyses. The influence of elements of parenting style, child characteristics, and family background as predictors of outcomes were examined. Results: Children using bilateral CIs achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes and significantly higher scores on the Core and Expressive Language subscales of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (fourth edition) than did comparable children with unilateral CIs. Scores on the Preschool Language Scales (fourth edition) did not differ significantly between children with unilateral and bilateral CIs. Bilateral CI use was found to predict significantly faster rates of vocabulary and language development than unilateral CI use; the magnitude of this effect was moderated by child age at activation of the bilateral CI. In terms of parenting style, high levels of parental involvement, low amounts of screen time, and more time spent by adults reading to children facilitated significantly better vocabulary and language outcomes. In terms of child characteristics, higher cognitive ability and female sex were predictive of significantly better language outcomes. When family background factors were examined, having tertiary-educated primary caregivers and a family history of hearing loss were significantly predictive of better outcomes. Birth order was also found to have a significant negative effect on both vocabulary and language outcomes, with each older sibling predicting a 5 to 10% decrease in scores. Conclusions: Children with bilateral CIs achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes, and 8-year-old children with bilateral CIs had significantly better language outcomes than did children with unilateral CIs. These improvements were moderated by children’s ages at both first and second CIs. The outcomes were also significantly predicted by a number of factors related to parenting, child characteristics, and family background. Fifty-one percent of the variance in vocabulary outcomes and between 59 to 69% of the variance in language outcomes was predicted by the regression models. PMID:24557003

Stability of measures from children's interviews: the effects of time, sample length, and topic.

PubMed

Heilmann, John; DeBrock, Lindsay; Riley-Tillman, T Chris

2013-08-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of, and sources of variability in, language measures from interviews collected from young school-age children. Two 10-min interviews were collected from 20 at-risk kindergarten children by an examiner using a standardized set of questions. Test-retest reliability coefficients were calculated for 8 language measures. Generalizability theory (G-theory) analyses were completed to document the variability introduced into the measures from the child, session, sample length, and topic. Significant and strong reliability correlation coefficients were observed for most of the language sample measures. The G-theory analyses revealed that most of the variance in the language measures was attributed to the child. Session, sample length, and topic accounted for negligible amounts of variance in most of the language measures. Measures from interviews were reliable across sessions, and the sample length and topic did not have a substantial impact on the reliability of the language measures. Implications regarding the clinical feasibility of language sample analysis for assessment and progress monitoring are discussed.

Phonology and Vocal Behavior in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Schoen, Elizabeth; Paul, Rhea; Chawarska, Katyrzyna

2011-01-01

Scientific Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the phonological and other vocal productions of children, 18-36 months, with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to compare these productions to those of age-matched and language-matched controls. Speech samples were obtained from 30 toddlers with ASD, 11 age-matched toddlers and 23 language-matched toddlers during either parent-child or clinician-child play sessions. Samples were coded for a variety of speech-like and non-speech vocalization productions. Toddlers with ASD produced speech-like vocalizations similar to those of language-matched peers, but produced significantly more atypical non-speech vocalizations when compared to both control groups.Toddlers with ASD show speech-like sound production that is linked to their language level, in a manner similar to that seen in typical development. The main area of difference in vocal development in this population is in the production of atypical vocalizations. Findings suggest that toddlers with autism spectrum disorders might not tune into the language model of their environment. Failure to attend to the ambient language environment negatively impacts the ability to acquire spoken language. PMID:21308998

What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: The Risk of Language Deprivation by Impairing Sign Language Development in Deaf Children.

PubMed

Hall, Wyatte C

2017-05-01

A long-standing belief is that sign language interferes with spoken language development in deaf children, despite a chronic lack of evidence supporting this belief. This deserves discussion as poor life outcomes continue to be seen in the deaf population. This commentary synthesizes research outcomes with signing and non-signing children and highlights fully accessible language as a protective factor for healthy development. Brain changes associated with language deprivation may be misrepresented as sign language interfering with spoken language outcomes of cochlear implants. This may lead to professionals and organizations advocating for preventing sign language exposure before implantation and spreading misinformation. The existence of one-time-sensitive-language acquisition window means a strong possibility of permanent brain changes when spoken language is not fully accessible to the deaf child and sign language exposure is delayed, as is often standard practice. There is no empirical evidence for the harm of sign language exposure but there is some evidence for its benefits, and there is growing evidence that lack of language access has negative implications. This includes cognitive delays, mental health difficulties, lower quality of life, higher trauma, and limited health literacy. Claims of cochlear implant- and spoken language-only approaches being more effective than sign language-inclusive approaches are not empirically supported. Cochlear implants are an unreliable standalone first-language intervention for deaf children. Priorities of deaf child development should focus on healthy growth of all developmental domains through a fully-accessible first language foundation such as sign language, rather than auditory deprivation and speech skills.

TESOL Technology Standards: Description, Implementation, Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), 2011

2011-01-01

The "TESOL Technology Standards" are applicable in a wide range of contexts: foreign language, second language, child, teen, adult, higher education, vocational education, language for specific purposes, and fully online programs; and in settings with low, medium, or high resources and access to communication technologies. Students, teachers,…

Studies in First and Second Language Acquisition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eckman, Fred R., Ed.; Hastings, Ashley J., Ed.

Papers presented at a 1977 symposium on language acquisition held at the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee are included. Contents are as follows: "Assumptions, Methods and Goals in Language Acquisition Research" (Sheldon); "The Mother as LAD: Interaction between Order and Frequency of Parental Input and Child Production"…

A Roadmap for True Accountability: Reconceptualizing Language-Learning Services, Reclassification Practices and Monitoring Systems for English Language Learners in U.S. Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slama, Rachel B.

2012-01-01

A major problem facing educators in the United States is how to determine when the nation's five million English language learners (ELL) are ready to exit language-learning programs, i.e. to be "reclassified" as fluent English proficient (R-FEP) and placed in mainstream classrooms without additional language support. No Child Left Behind…

Learning difficulties or learning English difficulties? Additional language acquisition: an update for paediatricians.

PubMed

Clifford, Vanessa; Rhodes, Anthea; Paxton, Georgia

2014-03-01

Australia is a diverse society: 26% of the population were born overseas, a further 20% have at least one parent born overseas and 19% speak a language other than English at home. Paediatricians are frequently involved in the assessment and management of non-English-speaking-background children with developmental delay, disability or learning issues. Despite the diversity of our patient population, information on how children learn additional or later languages is remarkably absent in paediatric training. An understanding of second language acquisition is essential to provide appropriate advice to this patient group. It takes a long time (5 years or more) for any student to develop academic competency in a second language, even a student who has received adequate prior schooling in their first language. Refugee students are doubly disadvantaged as they frequently have limited or interrupted prior schooling, and many are unable to read and write in their first language. We review the evidence on second language acquisition during childhood, describe support for English language learners within the Australian education system, consider refugee-background students as a special risk group and address common misconceptions about how children learn English as an additional language. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2013 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling to Examine How Individual SLPs Differentially Contribute to Children's Language and Literacy Gains in Public Schools.

PubMed

Farquharson, Kelly; Tambyraja, Sherine R; Logan, Jessica; Justice, Laura M; Schmitt, Mary Beth

2015-08-01

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to determine the unique contributions in children's language and literacy gains, over 1 academic year, that are attributable to the individual speech-language pathologist (SLP) and (b) to explore possible child- and SLP-level factors that may further explain SLPs' contributions to children's language and literacy gains. Participants were 288 kindergarten and 1st-grade children with language impairment who were currently receiving school-based language intervention from SLPs. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we partitioned the variance in children's gains in language (i.e., grammar, vocabulary) and literacy (i.e., word decoding) that could be attributed to their individual SLP. Results revealed a significant contribution of individual SLPs to children's gains in grammar, vocabulary, and word decoding. Children's fall language scores and grade were significant predictors of SLPs' contributions, although no SLP-level predictors were significant. The present study makes a first step toward incorporating implementation science and suggests that, for children receiving school-based language intervention, variance in child language and literacy gains in an academic year is at least partially attributable to SLPs. Continued work in this area should examine the possible SLP-level characteristics that may further explicate the relative contributions of SLPs.

Pragmatic Language Features of Mothers With the FMR1 Premutation Are Associated With the Language Outcomes of Adolescents and Young Adults With Fragile X Syndrome.

PubMed

Klusek, Jessica; McGrath, Sara E; Abbeduto, Leonard; Roberts, Jane E

2016-02-01

Pragmatic language difficulties have been documented as part of the FMR1 premutation phenotype, yet the interplay between these features in mothers and the language outcomes of their children with fragile X syndrome is unknown. This study aimed to determine whether pragmatic language difficulties in mothers with the FMR1 premutation are related to the language development of their children. Twenty-seven mothers with the FMR1 premutation and their adolescent/young adult sons with fragile X syndrome participated. Maternal pragmatic language violations were rated from conversational samples using the Pragmatic Rating Scale (Landa et al., 1992). Children completed standardized assessments of vocabulary, syntax, and reading. Maternal pragmatic language difficulties were significantly associated with poorer child receptive vocabulary and expressive syntax skills, with medium effect sizes. This work contributes to knowledge of the FMR1 premutation phenotype and its consequences at the family level, with the goal of identifying modifiable aspects of the child's language-learning environment that may promote the selection of treatments targeting the specific needs of families affected by fragile X. Findings contribute to our understanding of the multifaceted environment in which children with fragile X syndrome learn language and highlight the importance of family-centered intervention practices for this group.

Preschoolers' Emotion Regulation Strategy Understanding: Relations with Emotion Socialization and Child Self-Regulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cole, Pamela M.; Dennis, Tracy A.; Smith-Simon, Kristen E.; Cohen, Laura H.

2009-01-01

Preschool-age children's ability to verbally generate strategies for regulating anger and sadness, and to recognize purported effective strategies for these emotions, were examined in relation to child factors (child age, temperament, and language ability) and maternal emotion socialization (supportiveness and structuring in response to child…

Assessing Linguistic Competence: Verbal Inflection in Child Tamil

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lakshmanan, Usha

2006-01-01

Within child language acquisition research, there has been a fair amount of controversy regarding children's knowledge of the grammatical properties associated with verbal inflection (e.g., tense, agreement, and aspect). Some researchers have proposed that the child's early grammar is fundamentally different from the adult grammar, whereas others…

Maternal Sensitivity and Child Responsiveness: Associations with Social Context, Maternal Characteristics, and Child Characteristics in a Multivariate Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bornstein, Marc H.; Hendricks, Charlene; Haynes, O. Maurice; Painter, Kathleen M.

2007-01-01

This study examined unique associations of multiple distal context variables (family socioeconomic status [SES], maternal employment, and paternal parenting) and proximal maternal (personality, intelligence, and knowledge; behavior, self-perceptions, and attributions) and child (age, gender, representation, language, and sociability)…

Learning and Language: Educarer-Child Interactions in Singapore Infant-Care Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Cynthia; Lim, Sirene May-Yin

2013-01-01

While there has been extensive research exploring the quality of caregiver-child interactions in programmes for preschool children, comparatively less international research has explored the nature of caregiver-child interactions in centre-based infant-care programmes. Nine caregivers in six Singapore infant-care settings were observed and…

Use of Child Centered Play Therapy Responses in a Child Care Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muro, Joel H.; Muro, Lilia Lamar; Rose, Katherine Kensinger; Webster, Lindsey; Allen, Cassie

2017-01-01

The communication process between care providers and children can, at times, be complex. Young children typically lack the verbal language necessary for complex emotional expression. In this article, the authors contend that using some basic "child centered play therapy" (CCPT) techniques would be beneficial in enhancing communicative…

Developmental Levels of the Child's Storytelling.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Kranjc, Simona; Fekonja, Urska

Noting that examining the storytelling skills of children between 4 and 8 years of age can provide insights into the child's overall language development, this study explored the development of children's storytelling, using story coherence and story cohesion to evaluate the developmental level of the child's storytelling. Participating in the…

Child Care Centres.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Australian Dept. of Labour and National Service, Melbourne. Women's Bureau.

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) in which Australian child care facilities are surveyed to include those providing full-day care and therefore excludes kindergartens, play centers, nursery schools, and child minding centers that provide care for only part of the day. The document presents a breakdown of…

Understanding Individual Differences in Language Development across the School Years. Language and Speech Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomblin, J. Bruce, Ed.; Nippold, Marilyn A., Ed.

2014-01-01

This volume presents the findings of a large-scale study of individual differences in spoken (and heard) language development during the school years. The goal of the study was to investigate the degree to which language abilities at school entry were stable over time and influential in the child's overall success in important aspects of…

Language Attrition and Reactivation in the Context of Bilingual First Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slavkov, Nikolay

2015-01-01

This paper reports on a case study of a child raised in the context of bilingual first-language acquisition in English and Bulgarian, where the latter represents a minority (heritage) language. Using diary data and spontaneous speech recordings, the study identifies a period of loss of production in Bulgarian (1;7-2;3) and a subsequent…

Academic Achievement through FLES: A Case for Promoting Greater Access to Foreign Language Study among Young Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Carolyn; Lafayette, Robert

2010-01-01

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 established foreign languages as a core curricular content area; however, instructional emphasis continues to be placed on curricular areas that factor into state educational accountability programs. The present study explored whether foreign language study of first-year Grade 3 foreign language students who…

The Association between Morphological Awareness and Literacy in English Language Learners from Different Language Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marinova-Todd, Stefka H.; Siegel, Linda S.; Mazabel, Silvia

2013-01-01

Purpose: The main goal of this study was to examine whether the morphological structure of a child's first language determined the strength of association between morphological awareness and reading and spelling skills in English, their second language. Methods: The sample consisted of 888 Grade six students who had English as their first language…

Absence of Copula and the Notion of Simplicity: A Study of Normal Speech, Baby Talk, Foreigner Talk and Pidgins.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, Charles A.

For the linguist interested in typology and language universals, this paper suggests the usefulness of a taxonomy of copula and copula-like constructions in the world's languages and the elaboration of hypotheses of synchronic variation and diachronic change in this part of language. For the linguist interested in child language development, the…

English Language Education among Young Learners in East Asia: A Review of Current Research (2004-2014)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butler, Yuko Goto

2015-01-01

The teaching of foreign languages to young learners is growing in popularity around the world. Research in this field, particularly of English as a second/foreign language education in East Asia, is a relatively new area of empirical inquiry, and it has the potential to make significant contributions to child second-language acquisition…

Echolalia, Mitigation and Autism: Indicators from Child Characteristics for the Use of Sign Language and Other Augmentative Language Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bebko, James M.

1990-01-01

Review of literature on indicators of the effectiveness of language intervention programs for autistic children showed that mitigation in echolalia was a critical characteristic, as it implied that the prerequisites for language were accessible through speech. Children whose speech ranged from mutism to unmitigated echolalia had a more negative…

Multicompetence in L2 Language Play: A Longitudinal Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Nancy; Skalicky, Stephen; Salsbury, Tom

2014-01-01

Humor and language play have been recognized as important aspects of second language (L2) development. Qualitative studies that have documented the forms and functions of language play for adult and child L2 users have taken place largely in classroom settings. In order to gain a fuller understanding of such creative manipulations by L2 users, it…

Test Accommodations for English Language Learners Using the Student Language Assessment Plan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brantley, Sherri G.

2014-01-01

Public schools are attempting to work with a growing number of immigrant English language learners (ELLs) in the U.S. education system at a time when the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has mandated that ELLs achieve proficiency on assessments even if they have not acquired sufficient language proficiency. The purpose of this qualitative case…

Normal Language Skills and Normal Intelligence in a Child with de Lange Syndrome.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cameron, Thomas H.; Kelly, Desmond P.

1988-01-01

The subject of this case report is a two-year, seven-month-old girl with de Lange syndrome, normal intelligence, and age-appropriate language skills. She demonstrated initial delays in gross motor skills and in receptive and expressive language but responded well to intensive speech and language intervention, as well as to physical therapy.…

Trajectory and outcomes of speech language therapy in the Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS): case report.

PubMed

Misquiatti, Andréa Regina Nunes; Cristovão, Melina Pavini; Brito, Maria Claudia

2011-03-01

The aim of this study was to describe the trajectory and the outcomes of speech-language therapy in Prader-Willi syndrome through a longitudinal study of the case of an 8 year-old boy, along four years of speech-language therapy follow-up. The therapy sessions were filmed and documental analysis of information from the child's records regarding anamnesis, evaluation and speech-language therapy reports and multidisciplinary evaluations were carried out. The child presented typical characteristics of Prader-Willi syndrome, such as obesity, hyperfagia, anxiety, behavioral problems and self aggression episodes. Speech-language pathology evaluation showed orofacial hypotony, sialorrhea, hypernasal voice, cognitive deficits, oral comprehension difficulties, communication using gestures and unintelligible isolated words. Initially, speech-language therapy had the aim to promote the language development emphasizing social interaction through recreational activities. With the evolution of the case, the main focus became the development of conversation and narrative abilities. It were observed improvements in attention, symbolic play, social contact and behavior. Moreover, there was an increase in vocabulary, and evolution in oral comprehension and the development of narrative abilities. Hence, speech-language pathology intervention in the case described was effective in different linguistic levels, regarding phonological, syntactic, lexical and pragmatic abilities.

Language Comprehension and Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tanaka, Masako N.; Massad, Carolyn E.

The effectiveness of the CIRCUS language instruments for determining language comprehension and performance in the 4- and 5-year-old child is discussed. In these instruments, the use of content words is primarily studied through the use of single-word measures, such as a picture vocabulary test and an auditory discrimination test, whereas the use…

Supermarket Speak: Increasing Talk among Low-Socioeconomic Status Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ridge, Katherine E.; Weisberg, Deena Skolnick; Ilgaz, Hande; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathryn A.; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick

2015-01-01

Children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) families often fall behind their middle-class peers in early language development. But interventions designed to support their language skills are often costly and labor-intensive. This study implements an inexpensive and subtle language intervention aimed at sparking parent-child interaction in a place…

Toddler-Parent Playgroups: Empowering Parents in Language Intervention.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haas, Julie; Popowicz, Louanne

In an attempt to provide a model of language intervention tailored to toddler needs, this poster session gives an overview of a playgroup program implemented by a speech-language pathologist and an early intervention specialist. The program's aim is to improve communicative abilities while maintaining the integrity of the child-caregiver…

Bilingual First Language Acquisition: Exploring the Limits of the Language Faculty.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Genesee, Fred

2001-01-01

Reviews current research in three domains of bilingual acquisition: pragmatic features of bilingual code mixing, grammatical constraints on child bilingual code mixing, and bilingual syntactic development. Examines implications from these domains for the understanding of the limits of the mental faculty to acquire language. (Author/VWL)

Ear Infections and Language Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Joanne E.; Zeisel, Susan A.

Ear infections in infants and preschoolers can cause mild or moderate temporary hearing loss, which may in turn affect a child's ability to understand and learn language. Noting that providing children with proper medical treatment for ear infections or middle ear fluid is important in preventing possible problems with language development, this…

The Relationship between Language and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Wendy; Lorenzo-Hubert, Isabella

2008-01-01

This article was adapted from the chapter "Culture and Parental Expectations for Child Development: Concerns for Language Development and Early Learning" in "Learning to Read the World: Language and Literacy in the First Three Years" (see ED493629), published by "ZERO TO THREE." The authors describe how cultural expectations for children's…

The Development of Causal Structure without a Language Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rissman, Lilia; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2017-01-01

Across a diverse range of languages, children proceed through similar stages in their production of causal language: their initial verbs lack internal causal structure, followed by a period during which they produce causative overgeneralizations, indicating knowledge of a productive causative rule. We asked in this study whether a child not…

Statistical Word Learning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haebig, Eileen; Saffran, Jenny R.; Ellis Weismer, Susan

2017-01-01

Background: Word learning is an important component of language development that influences child outcomes across multiple domains. Despite the importance of word knowledge, word-learning mechanisms are poorly understood in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined…

Infant and Toddler Language Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Jill Englebright

A child's need for formal communication may be as much an emotional need as a cognitive need. Several theories attempt to explain children's language development, including the theories developed by B. F. Skinner, Noam Chomsky, and J. Bruner. Most children typically follow a standard sequence of language development: crying and cooing, babbling,…

Accelerating Early Language Development with Multi-Sensory Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bjorn, Piia M.; Kakkuri, Irma; Karvonen, Pirkko; Leppanen, Paavo H. T.

2012-01-01

This paper reports the outcome of a multi-sensory intervention on infant language skills. A programme titled "Rhyming Game and Exercise Club", which included kinaesthetic-tactile mother-child rhyming games performed in natural joint attention situations, was intended to accelerate Finnish six- to eight-month-old infants' language development. The…

Team-Teaching Helps Close Language Gap

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zehr, Mary Ann

2006-01-01

In the St. Paul, Minnesota public schools, "pullout" teaching is frowned upon. Instead, "collaboration" is the favored method when it comes to teaching English-language learners. For three of the past four years, the district has made adequate yearly progress for its English-language learners under the federal No Child Left…

Encouraging Spatial Talk: Using Children's Museums to Bolster Spatial Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polinsky, Naomi; Perez, Jasmin; Grehl, Mora; McCrink, Koleen

2017-01-01

Longitudinal spatial language intervention studies have shown that greater exposure to spatial language improves children's performance on spatial tasks. Can short naturalistic, spatial language interactions also evoke improved spatial performance? In this study, parents were asked to interact with their child at a block wall exhibit in a…

Out of the Mouths of Babes: Unlocking the Mysteries of Language and Voice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thurber, Christopher A.

2003-01-01

Summarizes three studies that have revolutionized child psychology by teaching us that children are biologically programmed to learn language; children's language development is orderly and pragmatic, but grammatically mysterious; and children's linguistic self-expression reveals some disturbing ways in which they have been socialized. Presents…

Language and the African American Child

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Lisa J.

2011-01-01

How do children acquire African American English? How do they develop the specific language patterns of their communities? Drawing on spontaneous speech samples and data from structured elicitation tasks, this book explains the developmental trends in the children's language. It examines topics such as the development of tense/aspect marking,…

Promoting Social Communication in a Child with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Handley, Roderick D.; Radley, Keith C.; Lum, John D. K.

2016-01-01

Social difficulties represent a major area of concern in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Social skills interventions targeting communication or language skills of children with SLI have been generally ineffective. The current study tested the efficacy of a social skills intervention consisting of multiple behavioral interventions…

A Strategy for Language Assessment of Young Children: A Combination of Two Approaches.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Donna J.; Rice, Mabel L.

1986-01-01

A proposed strategy for language assessment advocates a combination of descriptive and formal assessment measures. This approach involves a parent-clinician interview, parent-child observations, clinician-directed formal and nonformal assessment procedures, and a parent-clinician interpretation. An elaborated sample of language assessment is…

Mental Health Risk Factors Associated with Childhood Language Brokering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rainey, Vanessa R.; Flores, Valerie; Morrison, Robert G.; David, E. J. R.; Silton, Rebecca L.

2014-01-01

Serving as a language translator (broker) for family members during childhood can affect cognitive and emotional functions in both beneficial and detrimental ways. Child language brokers translate in a variety of contexts including conversations between their parents and financial, legal and medical professionals. Pressure to be involved in these…

Speech and Language Delay

MedlinePlus

... the child just doesn’t want to talk). Cerebral palsy (a movement disorder caused by brain damage). Why ... staff Categories: Family Health, Kids and TeensTags: autism, cerebral palsy, child, developmental delay, hearing loss, teenager June 1, ...

Intelligibility assessment in developmental phonological disorders: accuracy of caregiver gloss.

PubMed

Kwiatkowski, J; Shriberg, L D

1992-10-01

Fifteen caregivers each glossed a simultaneously videotaped and audiotaped sample of their child with speech delay engaged in conversation with a clinician. One of the authors generated a reference gloss for each sample, aided by (a) prior knowledge of the child's speech-language status and error patterns, (b) glosses from the child's clinician and the child's caregiver, (c) unlimited replays of the taped sample, and (d) the information gained from completing a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample. Caregivers glossed an average of 78% of the utterances and 81% of the words. A comparison of their glosses to the reference glosses suggested that they accurately understood an average of 58% of the utterances and 73% of the words. Discussion considers the implications of such findings for methodological and theoretical issues underlying children's moment-to-moment intelligibility breakdowns during speech-language processing.

Cultural Socialization and School Readiness of African American and Latino Preschoolers

PubMed Central

Caughy, Margaret O’Brien; Owen, Margaret Tresch

2014-01-01

Cultural socialization practices are common among ethnic minority parents and important for ethnic minority child development. However, little research has examined these practices among parents of very young children. In this study, we report on cultural socialization practices among a sample of parents of low income, African American (n = 179) and Latino (n = 220) preschool-age children in relation to children’s school readiness. Cultural socialization was assessed when children were 2½ years old, and child outcomes assessed one year later included pre-academic skills, receptive language, and child behavior. Children who experienced more frequent cultural socialization displayed greater pre-academic skills, better receptive language, and fewer behavior problems. This association did not differ by child gender or ethnicity. The implications of these findings for the development of parent interventions to support school readiness are discussed. PMID:25364832

Treacher Collins Syndrome

MedlinePlus

... the hearing loss, which can affect speech and language development. Particularly in the severely affected child, the size ... restored. You can facilitate your child’s speech and language development by (1) seeking early evaluation by a specialist ...

Help with Hearing

MedlinePlus

... Infections and Hearing ...................................................................................4 Tubes ............................................................................................................................4 Speech and Language Development .......................................................................6 Common Speech Disorders Related to Persistent Ear ... may be placed early to help speech and language development. If your child needs “tubes” (see below), they ...

Speech and Language Problems in Children

MedlinePlus

Children vary in their development of speech and language skills. Health care professionals have lists of milestones ... normal. These milestones help figure out whether a child is on track or if he or she ...

Language and cognitive predictors of text comprehension: evidence from multivariate analysis.

PubMed

Kim, Young-Suk

2015-01-01

Using data from children in South Korea (N = 145, Mage = 6.08), it was determined how low-level language and cognitive skills (vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, and working memory) and high-level cognitive skills (comprehension monitoring and theory of mind [ToM]) are related to listening comprehension and whether listening comprehension and word reading mediate the relations of language and cognitive skills to reading comprehension. Low-level skills predicted comprehension monitoring and ToM, which in turn predicted listening comprehension. Vocabulary and syntactic knowledge were also directly related to listening comprehension, whereas working memory was indirectly related via comprehension monitoring and ToM. Listening comprehension and word reading completely mediated the relations of language and cognitive skills to reading comprehension. © 2014 The Author. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

The gap between Spanish speakers' word reading and word knowledge: a longitudinal study.

PubMed

Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Lesaux, Nonie K

2011-01-01

This longitudinal study modeled growth rates, from ages 4.5 to 11, in English and Spanish oral language and word reading skills among 173 Spanish-speaking children from low-income households. Individual growth modeling was employed using scores from standardized measures of word reading, expressive vocabulary, and verbal short-term language memory. The trajectories demonstrate that students' rates of growth and overall ability in word reading were on par with national norms. In contrast, students' oral language skills started out below national norms and their rates of growth, although surpassing the national rates, were not sufficient to reach age-appropriate levels. The results underscore the need for increased and sustained attention to promoting this population's language development. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Reading depends on writing, in Chinese.

PubMed

Tan, Li Hai; Spinks, John A; Eden, Guinevere F; Perfetti, Charles A; Siok, Wai Ting

2005-06-14

Language development entails four fundamental and interactive abilities: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Over the past four decades, a large body of evidence has indicated that reading acquisition is strongly associated with a child's listening skills, particularly the child's sensitivity to phonological structures of spoken language. Furthermore, it has been hypothesized that the close relationship between reading and listening is manifested universally across languages and that behavioral remediation using strategies addressing phonological awareness alleviates reading difficulties in dyslexics. The prevailing view of the central role of phonological awareness in reading development is largely based on studies using Western (alphabetic) languages, which are based on phonology. The Chinese language provides a unique medium for testing this notion, because logographic characters in Chinese are based on meaning rather than phonology. Here we show that the ability to read Chinese is strongly related to a child's writing skills and that the relationship between phonological awareness and Chinese reading is much weaker than that in reports regarding alphabetic languages. We propose that the role of logograph writing in reading development is mediated by two possibly interacting mechanisms. The first is orthographic awareness, which facilitates the development of coherent, effective links among visual symbols, phonology, and semantics; the second involves the establishment of motor programs that lead to the formation of long-term motor memories of Chinese characters. These findings yield a unique insight into how cognitive systems responsible for reading development and reading disability interact, and they challenge the prominent phonological awareness view.

Literacy Skills in Children With Cochlear Implants: The Importance of Early Oral Language and Joint Storybook Reading

PubMed Central

Ambrose, Sophie E.; Eisenberg, Laurie S.

2009-01-01

The goal of this study was to longitudinally examine relationships between early factors (child and mother) that may influence children's phonological awareness and reading skills 3 years later in a group of young children with cochlear implants (N = 16). Mothers and children were videotaped during two storybook interactions, and children's oral language skills were assessed using the “Reynell Developmental Language Scales, third edition.” Three years later, phonological awareness, reading skills, and language skills were assessed using the “Phonological Awareness Test,” the “Woodcock–Johnson-III Diagnostic Reading Battery,” and the “Oral Written Language Scales.” Variables included in the data analyses were child (age, age at implant, and language skills) and mother factors (facilitative language techniques) and children's phonological awareness and reading standard scores. Results indicate that children's early expressive oral language skills and mothers’ use of a higher level facilitative language technique (open-ended question) during storybook reading, although related, each contributed uniquely to children's literacy skills. Individual analyses revealed that the children with expressive standard scores below 70 at Time 1 also performed below average (<85) on phonological awareness and total reading tasks 3 years later. Guidelines for professionals are provided to support literacy skills in young children with cochlear implants. PMID:18417463

Project ASPIRE: Spoken Language Intervention Curriculum for Parents of Low-socioeconomic Status and Their Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children.

PubMed

Suskind, Dana L; Graf, Eileen; Leffel, Kristin R; Hernandez, Marc W; Suskind, Elizabeth; Webber, Robert; Tannenbaum, Sally; Nevins, Mary Ellen

2016-02-01

To investigate the impact of a spoken language intervention curriculum aiming to improve the language environments caregivers of low socioeconomic status (SES) provide for their D/HH children with CI & HA to support children's spoken language development. Quasiexperimental. Tertiary. Thirty-two caregiver-child dyads of low-SES (as defined by caregiver education ≤ MA/MS and the income proxies = Medicaid or WIC/LINK) and children aged < 4.5 years, hearing loss of ≥ 30 dB, between 500 and 4000 Hz, using at least one amplification device with adequate amplification (hearing aid, cochlear implant, osseo-integrated device). Behavioral. Caregiver-directed educational intervention curriculum designed to improve D/HH children's early language environments. Changes in caregiver knowledge of child language development (questionnaire scores) and language behavior (word types, word tokens, utterances, mean length of utterance [MLU], LENA Adult Word Count (AWC), Conversational Turn Count (CTC)). Significant increases in caregiver questionnaire scores as well as utterances, word types, word tokens, and MLU in the treatment but not the control group. No significant changes in LENA outcomes. Results partially support the notion that caregiver-directed language enrichment interventions can change home language environments of D/HH children from low-SES backgrounds. Further longitudinal studies are necessary.

Child and environmental risk factors predicting readiness for learning in children at high risk of dyslexia.

PubMed

Dilnot, Julia; Hamilton, Lorna; Maughan, Barbara; Snowling, Margaret J

2017-02-01

We investigate the role of distal, proximal, and child risk factors as predictors of reading readiness and attention and behavior in children at risk of dyslexia. The parents of a longitudinal sample of 251 preschool children, including children at family risk of dyslexia and children with preschool language difficulties, provided measures of socioeconomic status, home literacy environment, family stresses, and child health via interviews and questionnaires. Assessments of children's reading-related skills, behavior, and attention were used to define their readiness for learning at school entry. Children at family risk of dyslexia and children with preschool language difficulties experienced more environmental adversities and health risks than controls. The risks associated with family risk of dyslexia and with language status were additive. Both home literacy environment and child health predicted reading readiness while home literacy environment and family stresses predicted attention and behavior. Family risk of dyslexia did not predict readiness to learn once other risks were controlled and so seems likely to be best conceptualized as representing gene-environment correlations. Pooling across risks defined a cumulative risk index, which was a significant predictor of reading readiness and, together with nonverbal ability, accounted for 31% of the variance between children.

Atypical brain lateralisation in the auditory cortex and language performance in 3- to 7-year-old children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: a child-customised magnetoencephalography (MEG) study.

PubMed

Yoshimura, Yuko; Kikuchi, Mitsuru; Shitamichi, Kiyomi; Ueno, Sanae; Munesue, Toshio; Ono, Yasuki; Tsubokawa, Tsunehisa; Haruta, Yasuhiro; Oi, Manabu; Niida, Yo; Remijn, Gerard B; Takahashi, Tsutomu; Suzuki, Michio; Higashida, Haruhiro; Minabe, Yoshio

2013-10-08

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is used to measure the auditory evoked magnetic field (AEF), which reflects language-related performance. In young children, however, the simultaneous quantification of the bilateral auditory-evoked response during binaural hearing is difficult using conventional adult-sized MEG systems. Recently, a child-customised MEG device has facilitated the acquisition of bi-hemispheric recordings, even in young children. Using the child-customised MEG device, we previously reported that language-related performance was reflected in the strength of the early component (P50m) of the auditory evoked magnetic field (AEF) in typically developing (TD) young children (2 to 5 years old) [Eur J Neurosci 2012, 35:644-650]. The aim of this study was to investigate how this neurophysiological index in each hemisphere is correlated with language performance in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and TD children. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure the auditory evoked magnetic field (AEF), which reflects language-related performance. We investigated the P50m that is evoked by voice stimuli (/ne/) bilaterally in 33 young children (3 to 7 years old) with ASD and in 30 young children who were typically developing (TD). The children were matched according to their age (in months) and gender. Most of the children with ASD were high-functioning subjects. The results showed that the children with ASD exhibited significantly less leftward lateralisation in their P50m intensity compared with the TD children. Furthermore, the results of a multiple regression analysis indicated that a shorter P50m latency in both hemispheres was specifically correlated with higher language-related performance in the TD children, whereas this latency was not correlated with non-verbal cognitive performance or chronological age. The children with ASD did not show any correlation between P50m latency and language-related performance; instead, increasing chronological age was a significant predictor of shorter P50m latency in the right hemisphere. Using a child-customised MEG device, we studied the P50m component that was evoked through binaural human voice stimuli in young ASD and TD children to examine differences in auditory cortex function that are associated with language development. Our results suggest that there is atypical brain function in the auditory cortex in young children with ASD, regardless of language development.

75 FR 36117 - No Child Left Behind School Facilities and Construction Negotiated Rulemaking Committee-Notice of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-24

... visit; Brief update on school facilities FY11 budget; Review any language drafted by Committee members... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Indian Affairs No Child Left Behind School Facilities and... of Indian Affairs is announcing that the No Child Left Behind School Facilities and Construction...

Bilingualism in a Two-Year-Old Child.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffmann, Charlotte; Ariza, Francisco

Infant bilingualism can be defined as a child being exposed to two or more languages from birth. Because of the dearth of first-hand research on the effect of a bilingual environment on a child's speaking patterns, parents from multilingual backgrounds raised their daughter in a bilingual environment, German and Spanish, in England. They speak to…

A New Language for Child Psychotherapy: A Response to Jerald Kay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, James J.; Borden, William

2009-01-01

Jerald Kay's article in this issue reviews important research in the areas of adult psychotherapy and neuroscience, and their implications for child psychotherapy. We respond by exploring some of the strengths and limitations of these lines of research and their implications for child psychotherapy development and research. The paper closes with…

Low- and High-Text Books Facilitate the Same Amount and Quality of Extratextual Talk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muhinyi, Amber; Hesketh, Anne

2017-01-01

Recent research suggests that caregiver-child extratextual talk during shared book reading facilitates the development of preschool children's oral language skills. This study investigated the effects of the amount of picturebook text on mother-child extratextual talk during shared book reading. Twenty-four mother-child dyads (children aged…

A Study on Turkish Motherese in the Context of Toy Play

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çakir, Hamide; Cengiz, Özge

2016-01-01

Parent-child interactions and characteristics of mothers' child-directed language have been related to children's linguistic development. Studies on parent-child interactions in Turkey have generally focused on children. There have not been many researches on Turkish motherese. This study addresses this gap by exploring the properties of Turkish…

Our Blind Child: Bringing Up a Blind Child During Its Early Years.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pielasch, Helmut, Ed.; And Others

The document contains 10 author contributed chapters (in four languages) which resulted from a 1976 international symposium on problems concerning the preschool education of blind children and the guidance of their parents. Chapters have the following titles (with authors and nationality in parentheses): "Development of the Blind Child"…

Measuring the Quality of Teacher-Child Interactions in Toddler Child Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomason, Amy C.; La Paro, Karen M.

2009-01-01

Research Findings: The toddler stage is a unique developmental period of early childhood. During this stage, children are developing autonomy, self-regulation, and language capabilities through interactions with significant adults in their lives. Increasing numbers of toddlers are being enrolled in child care. This article focuses on the need to…

How Much Do Parents Think They Talk to Their Child?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, Jeffrey A.; Gilkerson, Jill; Xu, Dongxin; Topping, Keith

2017-01-01

This study investigated whether parent perceptions of their own and their child's levels of talkativeness were related to objective measures recorded via the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) System. Parents of 258 children aged 7 to 60 months completed a questionnaire on which they rated how much they and their child talked. Six months…

Preschool Child Development: Implications for Investigation of Child Abuse Allegations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sivan, Abigail B.

1991-01-01

This article reviews research on child development relevant to the question of the veracity of mistreatment allegations made by children ages two to five years. The article covers research on thought and language, memory and learning, fears, fantasy, play, and television's effects. It is concluded that preschoolers base their play on the reality…

78 FR 37232 - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development; Notice of Meeting

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78 FR 11658 - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development; Notice of Meeting

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78 FR 22893 - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Notice of Meeting

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The Comparison of American and Taiwanese Parents' Expectations of Their Children Learning a Second/Foreign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kung, Chih-Chin

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the comparison between American and Taiwanese parents' views on their young children learning a second/foreign language, the ideal language and learning age, and parents' perceptions regarding language. There were 24 U.S. and 44 Taiwanese participants who had at least one child studying in the day-care…

Is Mommy Talking to Daddy or to Me? Exploring Parental Estimates of Child Language Exposure Using the Multilingual Infant Language Questionnaire

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Liquan; Kager, René

2017-01-01

Language input is a key factor in bi-/multilingual research. It roots in the definition of bi-/multilingualism and influences infant cognitive development since and even before birth. The methods used to assess language exposure among bi-/multilingual infants vary across studies. This paper discusses the parental report patterns of the…

The Use of English as Medium of Instruction at the Upper Basic Level (Primary Four to Junior High School) in Ghana: From Theory to Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owu-Ewie, Charles; Eshun, Emma Sarah

2015-01-01

The language of education is crucial to learners' academic success. As a result, nations whose native languages are not the languages of education have promulgated language policies to solve communication problems in their school systems. Most multilingual nations have adopted bilingual education systems that recognize the child's native language…