Testing the Receptive Language Skills of Severely Handicapped Preschool Children

1985 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula M. Pecyna ◽  
Ronald K. Sommers
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Behavioral Ratings ◽  
Severely Handicapped ◽  
Criterion Referenced ◽  
Age Range

Many school speech-language pathologists now assess communication skills of children as young as 3 years. Some of these young children are severely and multiply handicapped and difficult to test. When possible, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced measures are used to evaluate language skills of young children. Two norm-referenced tests—Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language (TACL,—age range 3 to 7 years) and Preschool Language Scale (PLS—age range 1 to 7 years)—and one criterion-referenced task, the Basic Two-Choice Object Discrimination Task (no age range specified)—were administered to nine severely handicapped preschool children. The purpose was not to compare the tests, which do not tap equivalent receptive language skills, but to study patterns of testing behavior and performance for each subject compared under test and retest conditions. Ratings were also assigned to each test and retest judging the degree to which results correlated with subjective estimates of each subject's receptive skills. Overall, performance and behavioral ratings for subjects tended to be best for the Two-Choice Task and worst for the TACL. Results of the Two-Choice Task were consistently judged to reflect each subject's receptive skills most accurately. Factors which may have influenced subject performance and behavior are discussed.

Bidirectional Relationship Between Language Skills and Behavior Problems in Preschool Children From Low-Income Families

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-128
Author(s):  
Krystal Bichay-Awadalla ◽  
Cathy Huaqing Qi ◽  
Rebecca J. Bulotsky-Shearer ◽  
Judith J. Carta
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Behavior Problems ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Internalizing Behavior ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Internalizing Behavior Problems ◽  
Bidirectional Relationship ◽  
And Behavior

The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal, bidirectional relationship between language skills and behavior problems in a sample of 194 preschool children enrolled in Head Start programs. Children were individually assessed using the Preschool Language Scale-5, and teachers completed the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report 1½–5. Cross-lagged path models using a structural equation modeling approach tested the reciprocal associations between language skills and behavior problems over the preschool year. Findings supported a bidirectional relationship between internalizing behavior problems and expressive language skills. However, findings supported a unidirectional association between early receptive language skills and later internalizing behavior problems. Gender moderated the relationship between receptive and expressive language skills and internalizing behavior problems in such a way that the association was only significant for girls. Implications for early intervention and prevention efforts targeting language development and behavior problems were discussed.

Hierarchy and Reliability of the Preschool Language Scales–Fifth Edition: Mokken Scale Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (10) ◽  
pp. 3983-3994
Author(s):  
Yu-Yu Hsiao ◽  
Cathy Huaqing Qi ◽  
Robert Hoy ◽  
Philip S. Dale ◽  
Glenda S. Stump ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Scale Analysis ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Mokken Scale Analysis ◽  
Preschool Language ◽  
Scale Scores

Purpose This study examined the psychometric properties of the Preschool Language Scales–Fifth Edition (PLS-5 English) among preschool children from low–socioeconomic status (SES) families. Method The PLS-5 was administered individually to 169 3- to 4-year-old children enrolled in Head Start programs. We carried out a Mokken scale analysis (MSA), which is a nonparametric item response theory analysis, to examine the hierarchy among items and the reliability of test scores of the PLS-5 Auditory Comprehension (AC) and Expressive Communication (EC) scales. Results The PLS-5 EC items retained a moderate Mokken scale with the inclusion of all the items. On the other hand, the PLS-5 AC items formed a moderate Mokken scale only with the exclusion of five unscalable items. The latent class reliability coefficients for the AC and the EC scale scores were both above .90. Several items that violated the invariant item ordering assumption were found for both scales. Conclusions MSA can be used to examine the relationship between the latent language ability and the probability of passing an item with ordinal responses. Results indicate that for preschool children from low-SES families, it is appropriate to use the PLS-5 EC scale scores for comparing individuals' expressive language abilities; however, researchers and speech-language pathologists should be cautious when using the PLS-5 AC scale scores to evaluate individuals' receptive language abilities. Other implications of the MSA results are further discussed.

scholarly journals Do Infants With Down Syndrome Show an Early Receptive Language Advantage?

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 585-598
Author(s):  
Emily Mason-Apps ◽  
Vesna Stojanovik ◽  
Carmel Houston-Price ◽  
Emily Seager ◽  
Sue Buckley
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Expressive Communication ◽  
Shed Light

Purpose The study explored longitudinally the course of vocabulary and general language development in a group of infants with Down syndrome (DS) compared to a group of typically developing (TD) infants matched on nonverbal mental ability (NVMA). Method We compared the vocabulary and general language trajectories of the two groups in two ways: (a) at three time points during a 12-month period and (b) at two time points when the groups had made equal progress in NVMA (a period of 6 months for the TD infants vs. 12 months for the infants with DS). Results The TD group had overtaken the DS group on all general language and vocabulary measures by the end of the 12-month period. However, expressive communication and expressive vocabulary were developing at the same rate and level in the two groups when examined over a period in which the two groups were matched in gains in NVMA. Furthermore, the infants with DS showed a receptive language advantage over the TD group; this group's auditory comprehension and receptive vocabulary scores were superior to those of the TD group at both time points when NVMA was accounted for. Conclusion The results shed light on the widely reported discrepancy between expressive and receptive language in individuals with DS. Although infants with DS appear to be developing language skills more slowly than chronological age TD peers, when NVMA is taken into account, infants with DS do not have expressive language delays, and they seem to show a receptive language advantage.

Identifying the Dimensionality of Oral Language Skills of Children With Typical Development in Preschool Through Fifth Grade

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (8) ◽  
pp. 2185-2198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Lonigan ◽  
Trelani F. Milburn
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Formal Schooling ◽  
Oral Language Skills ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Age Range ◽  
5Th Grade

Purpose Language is a multidimensional construct from prior to the beginning of formal schooling to near the end of elementary school. The primary goals of this study were to identify the dimensionality of language and to determine whether this dimensionality was consistent in children with typical language development from preschool through 5th grade. Method In a large sample of 1,895 children, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with 19–20 measures of language intended to represent 6 factors, including domains of vocabulary and syntax/grammar across modalities of expressive and receptive language, listening comprehension, and vocabulary depth. Results A 2-factor model with separate, highly correlated vocabulary and syntax factors provided the best fit to the data, and this model of language dimensionality was consistent from preschool through 5th grade. Conclusion This study found that there are fewer dimensions than are often suggested or represented by the myriad subtests in commonly used standardized tests of language. The identified 2-dimensional (vocabulary and syntax) model of language has significant implications for the conceptualization and measurement of the language skills of children in the age range from preschool to 5th grade, including the study of typical and atypical language development, the study of the developmental and educational influences of language, and classification and intervention in clinical practice. Supplemental Materials https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5154220

A Longitudinal Examination of Language Skills, Social Skills, and Behavior Problems of Preschool Children From Low-Income Families

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-186
Author(s):  
Alexandra Nicole Davis ◽  
Cathy Huaqing Qi
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
Preschool Children ◽  
Head Start ◽  
Behavior Problems ◽  
Child Behavior ◽  
Child Behavior Checklist ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Head Start Programs ◽  
And Behavior

We examined the relations between language skills and behavior problems and whether social skills mediated these relations among preschool children enrolled in Head Start programs. Participants included 242 preschool children and their parents in Head Start programs. Over a 2-year period, parents and teachers reported children’s behavior problems using the Child Behavior Checklist Ages 1½-5, and social skills using the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales. Children’s expressive and receptive language skills were assessed individually using the Preschool Language Scale-5. Results suggested that children’s early receptive language predicted later teacher-reported child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Social skills did not mediate associations between language skills and parent- or teacher-reported child behavior problems.

Do Young Children Modulate Their Cognitive Control?

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solène Ambrosi ◽  
Patrick Lemaire ◽  
Agnès Blaye
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Stroop Tasks ◽  
And Task

Abstract. Dynamic, trial-by-trial modulations of inhibitory control are well documented in adults but rarely investigated in children. Here, we examined whether 5-to-7 year-old children, an age range when inhibitory control is still partially immature, achieve such modulations. Fifty three children took flanker, Simon, and Stroop tasks. Above and beyond classic congruency effects, the present results showed two crucial findings. First, we found evidence for sequential modulations of congruency effects in these young children in the three conflict tasks. Second, our results showed both task specificities and task commonalities. These findings in young children have important implications as they suggest that, to be modulated, inhibitory control does not require full maturation and that the precise pattern of trial-by-trial modulations may depend on the nature of conflict.

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