Differences in concept formation ability between brain damaged and normal children

This study sought to clarify further the cognitive abilities of language-impaired children by examining their hypothesis-testing and nonlinguistic symbolic abilities. A discrimination learning task and a concept formation task were used to measure hypothesis-testing abilities, and a haptic (touch) recognition task was used to assess nonlinguistic symbolic abilities. Subjects were 10 language-impaired and 10 language-normal children matched for performance Mental Age. Measures of expressive and receptive language were also obtained from each child. The language-impaired children were found to perform significantly poorer than their MA controls on the haptic recognition task and on a portion of the discrimination learning task. No differences were found between the two groups' concept formation abilities. Correlational analyses revealed a particularly strong positive relationship between performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the haptic recognition task. It was speculated that this relationship was motivated by the symbolic demands of these tasks. One implication O f this speculation is that a symbolic representational deficit might better explain the receptive language deficit than the expressive one.

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Effects of Selected Rhinologic Disorders on the Perception of Nasal Resonance in Children

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.1501.44 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 44-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Michael P. Rastatter ◽

Melvin Hyman

Keyword(s):

Allergic Rhinitis ◽

Clinical Implications ◽

Normal Children ◽

Nasal Resonance

A group of sophisticated listeners judged the nasal resonance characteristics of normal children versus children evidencing selected rhinologic disorders under three speaking conditions. Results showed that perceptions of denasality are influenced by both speakers and speaking tasks. That is, children with allergic rhinitis and edemic adenoids were perceived as being denasal when they produced VCV utterances and recited sentences. However, their resonance characteristics were deemed normal for vowel productions. Interestingly, children with severely deviated septums were judged to have normal nasal resonance under all speaking conditions. Clinical implications are discussed.

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A Cognitive-Linguistic Intervention Program: Basic Concept Formation Level

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.0801.23 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 23-32

Author(s):

Gerald E. Chappell

Keyword(s):

Basic Concept ◽

Concept Formation ◽

Intervention Program ◽

Cognitive Linguistic ◽

Basic Concepts ◽

Linguistic Skills ◽

Linguistic Intervention

Test-teach questioning is a strategy that can be used to help children develop basic concepts. It fosters the use of multisensory exploration and discovery in learning which leads to the development of cognitive-linguistic skills. This article outlines some of the theoretical bases for this approach and indicates possibilities for their applications in child-clinician transactions.

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Responses of Language-Disordered Children to Wh-Questions

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.1702.95 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 95-106 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Martha M. Parnell ◽

James D. Amerman ◽

Roger D. Harting

Keyword(s):

Relative Difficulty ◽

Normal Children ◽

Cognitive Linguistic ◽

Wh Questions

Nineteen language-disordered children aged 3—7 years responded to items representing nine wh-question forms. Questions referred to three types of referential sources based on immediacy and visual availability. Three and 4-year-olds produced significantly fewer functionally appropriate and functionally accurate answers than did the 5- and 6-year-olds. Generally, questions asked with reference to nonobservable persons, actions, or objects appeared the most difficult. Why, when, and what happened questions were the most difficult of the nine wh-forms. In comparison with previous data from normal children, the language-disordered subjects' responses were significantly less appropriate and accurate. The language-disordered children also appeared particularly vulnerable to the increased cognitive/linguistic demands of questioning directed toward nonimmediate referents. A hierarchy of wh-question forms by relative difficulty was very similar to that observed for normal children. Implications for wh-question assessment and intervention are discussed.

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Phonological and Spatial Processing Abilities in Language- and Reading-Impaired Children

Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders ◽

10.1044/jshd.5303.316 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 53 (3) ◽

pp. 316-327 ◽

Cited By ~ 109

Author(s):

Alan G. Kamhi ◽

Hugh W. Catts ◽

Daria Mauer ◽

Kenn Apel ◽

Betholyn F. Gentry

Keyword(s):

Phonological Processing ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Normal Children ◽

Language Impaired ◽

Word Repetition ◽

Paper Folding ◽

Syllable Segmentation ◽

Processing Abilities ◽

Impaired Children ◽

Better Than

In the present study, we further examined (see Kamhi & Catts, 1986) the phonological processing abilities of language-impaired (LI) and reading-impaired (RI) children. We also evaluated these children's ability to process spatial information. Subjects were 10 LI, 10 RI, and 10 normal children between the ages of 6:8 and 8:10 years. Each subject was administered eight tasks: four word repetition tasks (monosyllabic, monosyllabic presented in noise, three-item, and multisyllabic), rapid naming, syllable segmentation, paper folding, and form completion. The normal children performed significantly better than both the LI and RI children on all but two tasks: syllable segmentation and repeating words presented in noise. The LI and RI children performed comparably on every task with the exception of the multisyllabic word repetition task. These findings were consistent with those from our previous study (Kamhi & Catts, 1986). The similarities and differences between LI and RI children are discussed.

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