Assessing the impact of conversational overlap in content on child language growth

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELIZABETH S. CHE ◽  
PATRICIA J. BROOKS ◽  
MARIA F. ALARCON ◽  
FRANCIS D. YANNACO ◽  
SEAMUS DONNELLY

AbstractWhen engaged in conversation, both parents and children tend to re-use words that their partner has just said. This study explored whether proportions of maternal and/or child utterances that overlapped in content with what their partner had just said contributed to growth in mean length of utterance (MLU), developmental sentence score, and vocabulary diversity over time. We analyzed the New England longitudinal corpus from the CHILDES database, comprising transcripts of mother–child conversations at 14, 20, and 32 months, using the CHIP command to compute proportions of utterances with overlapping content. Rates of maternal overlap, but not child overlap, at earlier time-points predicted child language outcomes at later time-points, after controlling for earlier child MLU. We suggest that maternal overlap plays a formative role in child language development by providing content that is immediately relevant to what the child has in mind.

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 3727-3742
Author(s):  
Nancy C. Brady ◽  
Kandace Fleming ◽  
Shelley L. Bredin-Oja ◽  
Heather Fielding-Gebhardt ◽  
Steven F. Warren

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate language growth in individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS) from early childhood to adolescence and the influence of maternal responsivity on language growth. Method We conducted a longitudinal analysis of language development in 55 youths (44 males, 11 females) with FXS. Data collection spanned the ages of 11–216 months. We measured expressive and receptive vocabulary with standardized tests. The number of different words and mean length of utterance were obtained from language sample analyses of mother–child interactions. We also measured maternal comments (responsivity indicator) produced during the language samples and child nonverbal IQ. Results Growth models indicated that rates of number of different words and receptive vocabulary were related to maternal commenting. Mean length of utterance did not change significantly over time. Expressive vocabulary measured with a standardized test grew, but the growth was not related to maternal commenting. Nonverbal IQ was related to all language outcomes at age of 10 years and to changes over time in vocabulary. Visual analysis indicated that the highest scores on standardized tests were produced by girls; however, measures derived from language sample analyses appeared similar for boys and girls. Language models for boys only were similar to the total sample models with lower scores at age of 10 years for some outcomes. Conclusion Results of persistent language impairments for most youths with FXS suggest the need for continued, focused interventions aimed at improved language productions in addition to a responsive environment. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13022825


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S86-S86
Author(s):  
Ann F Chou ◽  
Yue Zhang ◽  
Makoto M Jones ◽  
Christopher J Graber ◽  
Matthew B Goetz ◽  
...  

Abstract Background About 30–50% of inpatient antimicrobial therapy is sub-optimal. Health care facilities have utilized various antimicrobial stewardship (AS) strategies to optimize appropriate antimicrobial use, improve health outcomes, and promote patient safety. However, little evidence exists to assess relationships between AS strategies and antimicrobial use. This study examined the impact of changes in AS strategies on antimicrobial use over time. Methods This study used data from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare Analysis & Informatics Group (HAIG) AS survey, administered at 130 VA facilities in 2012 and 2015, and antimicrobial utilization from VA Corporate Data Warehouse. Four AS strategies were examined: having an AS team, feedback mechanism on antimicrobial use, infectious diseases (ID) attending physicians, and clinical pharmacist on wards. Change in AS strategies were computed by taking the difference in the presence of a given strategy in a facility between 2012–2015. The outcome was the difference between antimicrobial use per 1000 patient days in 2012–2013 and 2015–2016. Employing multiple regression analysis, changes in antimicrobial use was estimated as a function of changes in AS strategies, controlling for ID human resources in and organizational complexity. Results Of the 4 strategies, only change in availability of AS teams had an impact on antimicrobial use. Compared to facilities with no AS teams at both time points, antibiotic use decreased by 63.9 uses per 1000 patient days in facilities that did not have a AS team in 2012 but implemented one in 2015 (p=0.0183). Facilities that had an AS team at both time points decreased use by 62.2 per 1000 patient days (p=0.0324). Conclusion The findings showed that AS teams reduced inpatient antibiotic use over time. While changes in having feedback on antimicrobial use and clinical pharmacist on wards showed reduced antimicrobial use between 2012–2015, the differences were not statistically significant. These strategies may already be a part of a comprehensive AS program and employed by AS teams. In further development of stewardship programs within healthcare organizations, the association between AS teams and antibiotic use should inform program design and implementation. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S2-S3
Author(s):  
Callie Abouzeid ◽  
Audrey E Wolfe ◽  
Gretchen J Carrougher ◽  
Nicole S Gibran ◽  
Radha K Holavanahalli ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Burn survivors often face many long-term physical and psychological symptoms associated with their injury. To date, however, few studies have examined the impact of burn injuries on quality of life beyond 2 years post-injury. The purpose of this study is to examine the physical and mental well-being of burn survivors up to 20 years after injury. Methods Data from the Burn Model System National Database (1997–2020) were analyzed. Patient-reported outcome measures were collected at discharge with a recall of preinjury status, and then at 5, 10, 15, and 20 years after injury. Outcomes examined were the Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) of the Short Form-12. Trajectories were developed using linear mixed methods model with repeated measures of PCS and MCS scores over time and controlling for demographic and clinical variables. The model fitted score trajectory was generated with 95% confidence intervals to demonstrate score changes over time and associations with covariates. Results The study population included 420 adult burn survivors with a mean age of 42.4 years. The population was mainly male (66%) and white (76.4%) with a mean burn size of 21.5% and length of hospital stay of 31.3 days. Higher PCS scores were associated with follow-up time points closer to injury, shorter hospital stay, and younger age. Similarly, higher MCS scores were associated with earlier follow-up time points, shorter hospital stay, female gender, and non-perineal burns. MCS trajectories are demonstrated in the Figure. Conclusions Burn survivors’ physical and mental health worsened over time. Such a trend is different from previous reported results for mental health in the general population. Demographic and clinical predictors of recovery over time are identified.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762097055
Author(s):  
Catriona Silvey ◽  
Özlem Ece Demir-Lira ◽  
Susan Goldin-Meadow ◽  
Stephen W. Raudenbush

Early linguistic input is a powerful predictor of children’s language outcomes. We investigated two novel questions about this relationship: Does the impact of language input vary over time, and does the impact of time-varying language input on child outcomes differ for vocabulary and for syntax? Using methods from epidemiology to account for baseline and time-varying confounding, we predicted 64 children’s outcomes on standardized tests of vocabulary and syntax in kindergarten from their parents’ vocabulary and syntax input when the children were 14 and 30 months old. For vocabulary, children whose parents provided diverse input earlier as well as later in development were predicted to have the highest outcomes. For syntax, children whose parents’ input substantially increased in syntactic complexity over time were predicted to have the highest outcomes. The optimal sequence of parents’ linguistic input for supporting children’s language acquisition thus varies for vocabulary and for syntax.


2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-292
Author(s):  
Naymé Salas ◽  
Markéta Caravolas

Writing development is understood to be a multidimensional task, heavily constrained by spelling in its early stages. However, most available evidence comes from studies with learners of the inconsistent English orthography, so our understanding of the nature of early writing could be highly biased. We explored writing dimensions in each language by assessing a series of text-based features in children’s texts between mid-Grade 1 to mid-Grade 2. Results revealed that two constructs, writing conventions and productivity, emerged in both languages, but the influence of orthographic consistency started to be evident in the later time points. Other constructs of text generation seemed to emerge later and were less stable over time. The article thus highlights the language-general underpinnings of early text-writing development and the impact of orthographic consistency; furthermore, it strengthens the view that some writing components develop before others. We discuss implications for the assessment of early written products.


Author(s):  
Sharon Unsworth

Variation in language experience is a key characteristic of heritage language development. To understand the impact of these varying experiences on children’s heritage language outcomes, researchers typically collate and quantify specific aspects of children’s language input, transforming or reducing them into other more general variables, such as language richness as a measure of input quality and amount of language exposure as a measure of input quantity. This chapter presents an overview of the most frequently used method of operationalizing language experience in bilingual language acquisition research, namely the parental questionnaire. It outlines some conceptual and practical issues surrounding parental questionnaires as a means of quantifying bilingual language experience as well as reviewing a number of questionnaires used in recent studies in more detail.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Torkildson Perillo ◽  
Anthony Perillo ◽  
Nikoleta M Despodova ◽  
Margaret Bull Kovera

Objective: The present research examined whether concurrent expert testimony, or hot tubbing, is able to reduce adversarial allegiance compared to traditional adversarial expert testimony. Hypotheses: We expected concurrent experts would display less adversarial allegiance over the course of a mock criminal responsibility evaluation, with case opinions converging between prosecution and defense witnesses. We expected adversarial experts would display escalating adversarial allegiance with increasingly divergent case opinions and that court-appointed experts’ opinions would remain stable over the evaluation. We also expected concurrent expert witnesses would produce more balanced expert reports and testimony than would adversarial experts. Method: Clinicians and advanced clinical doctoral students (N = 103) completed criminal responsibility evaluation training before conducting a mock criminal responsibility evaluation for the prosecution, defense, or the court. Half of the partisan experts followed traditional adversarial procedures and half followed a concurrent testimony process. Participants provided case perceptions at three time points: after initial evidence review, after completing expert report(s), and after testifying. Case perceptions included a dichotomous responsibility judgment, strength of responsibility ratings, and a cognitive dissonance measure. Results: Concurrent testimony did not eliminate adversarial allegiance. For perceptions of responsibility, there was no significant difference between adversarial and concurrent experts (ηp2 = .001), nor any change in participants’ ratings over time (ηp2 = .03); however, prosecution experts – across testimony types – rated the defendant as significantly more responsible compared to defense experts (ηp2 = .80). Concurrent and adversarial experts did not differ in the information provided in their expert reports and minimally differed in testimony content.Conclusions: Partisan experts showed adversarial allegiance regardless of expert testimony method, and we observed no attenuation of this bias over the course of the evaluation.


1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Klee ◽  
Martha Deitz Fitzgerald

ABSTRACTA widely held practice in many studies of child language development and disorders has been to employ an easily calculated numerical metric, mean length of utterance measured in morphemes (MLU), as a ‘general index of grammatical development’. While this practice seems to have found acceptance among many students of child language, the usefulness of MLU past Stage II has been assumed but never empirically tested. This study evaluated the grammatical performance and MLU of 18 normally developing 2- and 3-year-old children and found that MLU did not correlate significantly with age (r = 0·26), nor did it discriminate children's profiles of grammatical development.


Complexity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Zihan Chen ◽  
Xiaokong Zhang ◽  
Jian Chai

With growing uncertainty about the evolution of the global landscape, it is of great practical significance to explore the nonlinear dynamic adjustment relationship among the world oil market, the global bulk shipping market, the stock market, and economic growth in China. This paper applied the TVP-SV-VAR model and selected quarterly data from 1998 to 2020 to explore the dynamics. The results indicated that the impact intensity of BDI on China’s economy had a “positive” to “negative” change in different lag periods. This was mainly due to the fact that the negative impact of higher freight prices on China’s economy outweighed the positive impact of higher trade volumes on China’s economy. The impact intensity of BDI on GDP had a distinct medium- to long-term effect. A positive BDI shock had a dampening effect on stock prices in the short and medium term, while a positive BDI shock could promote stock market prosperity in the long-term perspective. The impulse responses of SSE and GDP to BDI showed that the external shipping market shocks to China’s stock market and economic growth gradually became smaller over time. For impulse response at three different time points, the impact intensity of the BDI to GDP varied at different time points, with the largest shock during the financial crisis in 2008, followed by the shock during the oil price crash in 2014, and the smallest during the COVID-19 epidemic. This demonstrated that the external shipping market’s influence on Chinese economic growth and stock market has gradually weakened over time, illustrating the enhancement of Chinese risk-resilience capacity.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Lise C. van Veelen ◽  
Dalibor Mihajlović ◽  
Ruben Dammers ◽  
Hester Lingsma ◽  
Leon N. A. van Adrichem ◽  
...  

OBJECT Various techniques to correct sagittal synostosis have been described. The authors of this study assess the results of 2 techniques for late complete cranial remodeling and test the hypothesis that adding a widening bridge would improve outcome. METHODS In this retrospective study, the authors evaluated patients with nonsyndromic sagittal synostosis—those who underwent frontobiparietal remodeling (FBR) and those who underwent modified FBR (MFBR) involving the introduction of a bony bridge to increase the width of the skull. Outcomes for both groups are described in terms of the aesthetic results assessed on photographs and any changes in the cranial index (CI) and head circumference over time, the presence of papilledema, and complaints of headache. The effect of the surgical technique on CI and head circumference over time was assessed using linear regression analysis, with adjustment for preoperative CI and head circumference. RESULTS Sixty-nine patients with isolated sagittal synostosis were included in this study: 35 underwent MFBR and 34 underwent the original technique of FBR. The mean follow-up period was 7 years. In the 1st year after surgery, mean CI improved by 9% in the FBR group and by 12% in the MFBR group. One year after surgery, CI in the MFBR group was on average 4.7% higher than that in the FBR group (p < 0.001). During follow-up, CI decreased in both groups; however, at all time points CI was significantly higher in the MFBR group than in the FBR group. The impact of surgical technique on CI was less important than the impact of preoperative CI (R2= 0.26 vs 0.54), and this applied at all time points during follow-up. Head circumference declined during follow-up in both groups. It was influenced by preoperative head circumference, but not by surgical technique. Aesthetic outcome, prevalence of headache (42%), and papilledema (7%) were comparable in both groups. CONCLUSIONS Adding a widening bridge to late complete remodeling significantly improved CI and helped to prevent CI from decreasing in the long term. This addition did not affect the head circumference growth curve. Despite a mean head circumference remaining at +1 SD, patients continued to develop papilledema postoperatively (7%).


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