scholarly journals Narrative Performance and Sociopragmatic Abilities in Preschool Children are Linked to Multimodal Imitation Skills

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Eva CASTILLO ◽  
Mariia PRONINA ◽  
Iris HÜBSCHER ◽  
Pilar PRIETO
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Correlational Study ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
Multimodal Cues ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
Narrative Performance ◽  
Narrative Abilities

Abstract Over recent decades much research has analyzed the relevance of 9- to 20- month-old infants’ early imitation skills (object- and language-based imitation) for language development. Yet there have been few systematic comparisons of the joint relevance of these imitative behaviors later on in development. This correlational study investigated whether multimodal imitation (gestural, prosodic, and lexical components) and object-based imitation are related to narratives and sociopragmatics in preschoolers. Thirty-one typically developing 3- to 4-year-old children performed four tasks to assess multimodal imitation, object-based imitation, narrative abilities, and sociopragmatic abilities. Results revealed that both narrative and sociopragmatic skills were significantly related to multimodal imitation, but not to object-based imitation, indicating that preschoolers’ ability to imitate socially relevant multimodal cues is strongly related to language and sociocommunicative skills. Therefore, this evidence supports a broader conceptualization of imitation behaviors in the field of language development that systematically integrates prosodic, gestural, and verbal linguistic patterns.

scholarly journals The Value of Non-Referential Gestures: A Systematic Review of Their Cognitive and Linguistic Effects in Children’s Language Development

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Ingrid Vilà-Giménez ◽  
Pilar Prieto
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Narrative Development ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Information Recall ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Contradictory Evidence ◽  
Predictive Role ◽  
Narrative Performance

Speakers produce both referential gestures, which depict properties of a referent, and non-referential gestures, which lack semantic content. While a large number of studies have demonstrated the cognitive and linguistic benefits of referential gestures as well as their precursor and predictive role in both typically developing (TD) and non-TD children, less is known about non-referential gestures in cognitive and complex linguistic domains, such as narrative development. This paper is a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the research concerned with assessing the effects of non-referential gestures in such domains. A search of the literature turned up 11 studies, collectively involving 898 2- to 8-year-old TD children. Although they yielded contradictory evidence, pointing to the need for further investigations, the results of the six studies–in which experimental tasks and materials were pragmatically based–revealed that non-referential gestures not only enhance information recall and narrative comprehension but also act as predictors and causal mechanisms for narrative performance. This suggests that their bootstrapping role in language development is due to the fact that they have important discourse–pragmatic functions that help frame discourse. These findings should be of particular interest to teachers and future studies could extend their impact to non-TD children.

Development of a Pitch Discrimination Screening Test for Preschool Children

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (04) ◽  
pp. 281-292
Author(s):  
Maria Kulick Abramson ◽  
Peter J. Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Normative Data ◽  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Auditory Discrimination ◽  
Auditory Memory ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Choice Response ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Cross Sectional

Background: There is a critical need for tests of auditory discrimination for young children as this skill plays a fundamental role in the development of speaking, prereading, reading, language, and more complex auditory processes. Frequency discrimination is important with regard to basic sensory processing affecting phonological processing, dyslexia, measurements of intelligence, auditory memory, Asperger syndrome, and specific language impairment. Purpose: This study was performed to determine the clinical feasibility of the Pitch Discrimination Test (PDT) to screen the preschool child’s ability to discriminate some of the acoustic demands of speech perception, primarily pitch discrimination, without linguistic content. The PDT used brief speech frequency tones to gather normative data from preschool children aged 3 to 5 yrs. Research Design: A cross-sectional study was used to gather data regarding the pitch discrimination abilities of a sample of typically developing preschool children, between 3 and 5 yrs of age. The PDT consists of ten trials using two pure tones of 100-msec duration each, and was administered in an AA or AB forced-choice response format. Study Sample: Data from 90 typically developing preschool children between the ages of 3 and 5 yrs were used to provide normative data. Data Analysis: Nonparametric Mann–Whitney U-testing was used to examine the effects of age as a continuous variable on pitch discrimination. The Kruskal–Wallis test was used to determine the significance of age on performance on the PDT. Spearman rank was used to determine the correlation of age and performance on the PDT. Results: Pitch discrimination of brief tones improved significantly from age 3 yrs to age 4 yrs, as well as from age 3 yrs to the age 4- and 5-yrs group. Results indicated that between ages 3 and 4 yrs, children’s auditory discrimination of pitch improved on the PDT. The data showed that children can be screened for auditory discrimination of pitch beginning with age 4 yrs. Conclusions: The PDT proved to be a time efficient, feasible tool for a simple form of frequency discrimination screening in the preschool population before the age where other diagnostic tests of auditory processing disorders can be used.

Assessment of Speech and Language Development in the Young Child

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-354
Author(s):  
Martin Bax ◽  
Hilary Hart ◽  
Sue Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Young Child ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Behavior Problems ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Clinical Method ◽  
Speech Therapist ◽  
Speech And Language Development ◽  
Normal Speech

A clinical method of assessing speech and language development in preschool children is described. Sixty-two 3-year-old children were assessed by a pediatrician, a speech therapist, and a psychologist. In 55 children there was agreement between all three examiners. Three children with articulation problems were rated as having normal comprehensive and expressive language by the psychologist. Three children were rated as having normal speech and language development by the pediatrician and speech therapist but delayed by the psychologist; all three had behavior problems. One further child rated as having a speech and language problem by the pediatrician was rated as normal by the speech therapist and psychologist. It is concluded that pediatricians can make reliable assessments of speech and language development.

scholarly journals Perspective influences eye movements during real-life conversation: Mentalising about self vs. others in autism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahsa Barzy ◽  
Heather Jane Ferguson ◽  
David Williams
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Social Attention ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Verbal Responses ◽  
Socially Relevant

Socio-communication is profoundly impaired among autistic individuals. Difficulties representing others’ mental states have been linked to modulations of gaze and speech, which have also been shown to be impaired in autism. Despite these observed impairments in ‘real-world’ communicative settings, research has mostly focused on lab-based experiments, where the language is highly structured. In a pre-registered experiment, we recorded eye movements and verbal responses while adults (N=50) engaged in a real-life conversation. Conversation topic either related to the self, a familiar other, or an unfamiliar other (e.g. "Tell me who is your/your mother’s/Marina’s favourite celebrity and why?”). Results replicated previous work, showing reduced attention to socially-relevant information among autistic participants (i.e. less time looking at the experimenter’s face, and more time looking around the background), compared to typically-developing controls. Importantly, perspective modulated social attention in both groups; talking about an unfamiliar other reduced attention to potentially distracting or resource demanding social information, and increased looks to non-social background. Social attention did not differ between self and familiar other contexts- reflecting greater shared knowledge for familiar/similar others. Autistic participants spent more time looking at the background when talking about an unfamiliar other vs. themselvesFuture research should investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying this effect.

scholarly journals Parents’ and speech and language pathologists’ attitudes toward preschool children with speech and language disorders

Logopedija ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
Adinda Dulčić ◽  
Katarina Pavičić Dokoza ◽  
Koraljka Bakota ◽  
Iva Tadić
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Speech And Language Pathologists ◽  
Speech And Language Disorders

The objective of this study was to analyze speech and language pathologists’ (SLPs) and parents’ attitudes toward the behavior of children with speech and language disorders. The research was conducted in the SUVAG Polyclinic kindergarten. Examinees were parents and speech and language pathologists who on daily basis encourage language development of twenty-two children with speech and language disorders. The study examined to what extent SLPs and parents agree in the assessment of child’s attention, impulsiveness and activity. A questionnaire developed solely for the purpose of this research was administered. It gathered information regarding child’s attention, impulsiveness and activity. Results have shown that parents and speech and language pathologists differed in their attitudes toward the behavior of children with speech and language disorders.

Building a norm-referenced dataset for vocabulary assessment based on Chinese vocD and word classes

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Yibin Zhang ◽  
Jing Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Conversational Language ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Vocabulary Assessment

Exploration of trajectories of expressive language samples is essential for understanding potential indicators for language disorder assessment. This study examined conversational language samples from 341 typically developing Mandarin-speaking children aged 3–7. Through analysis of lexical diversity and word classes, a norm-referenced dataset for vocabulary assessment was built, including indicators such as vocD and the types and tokens of nouns, verbs, measures, adverbs, conjunctions and prepositions. As norm-referenced indicators for the language development of children speaking Mandarin, these developmental data could also inform clinical therapists about the direction of intervention for children with vocabulary deficits.

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