Fostering Literal and Inferential Language Skills in Head Start Preschoolers With Language Impairment Using Scripted Book-Sharing Discussions

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne van Kleeck ◽  
Judith Vander Woude ◽  
Lisa Hammett
Keyword(s):  
Head Start ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Book Sharing ◽  
Inferential Language

Dynamic Assessment Language Tasks and the Prediction of Performance on Year-End Language Skills in Preschool Dual Language Learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 1226-1240
Author(s):  
Janet L. Patterson ◽  
Barbara L. Rodríguez ◽  
Philip S. Dale
Keyword(s):  
Head Start ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Dual Language Learners ◽  
Achievement Testing ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Language Screening ◽  
Relationship Of

Purpose Early identification is a key element for accessing appropriate services for preschool children with language impairment. However, there is a high risk of misidentifying typically developing dual language learners as having language impairment if inappropriate tools designed for monolingual children are used. In this study of children with bilingual exposure, we explored performance on brief dynamic assessment (DA) language tasks using graduated prompting because this approach has potential applications for screening. We asked if children's performance on DA language tasks earlier in the year was related to their performance on a year-end language achievement measure. Method Twenty 4-year-old children from Spanish-speaking homes attending Head Start preschools in the southwestern United States completed three DA graduated prompting language tasks 3–6 months prior to the Head Start preschools' year-end achievement testing. The DA tasks, Novel Adjective Learning, Similarities in Function, and Prediction, were administered in Spanish, but correct responses in English or Spanish were accepted. The year-end achievement measure, the Learning Accomplishment Profile–Third Edition (LAP3), was administered by the children's Head Start teachers, who also credited correct responses in either language. Results Children's performance on two of the three DA language tasks was significantly and positively related to year-end LAP3 language scores, and there was a moderate and significant relationship for one of the DA tasks, even when controlling for age and initial LAP3 scores. Conclusions Although the relationship of performance on DA with year-end performance varies across tasks, the findings indicate potential for using a graduated prompting approach to language screening with young dual language learners. Further research is needed to select the best tasks for administration in a graduated prompting framework and determine accuracy of identification of language impairment.

The Individualization of the Little Talks Intervention: Implications for Modular Treatment Designs

2021 ◽  
pp. 105381512110249
Author(s):  
Diamond S. Carr ◽  
Patricia H. Manz
Keyword(s):  
Parent Involvement ◽  
Head Start ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
Frequent Change ◽  
Home Visitors ◽  
Intervention Content ◽  
Modular Treatment ◽  
Book Sharing ◽  
Treatment Designs

Modular treatment designs enable interventionists to adapt intervention content to individual clients, a process referred to as individualization. Little is known about individualization processes and its effects on outcomes in early childhood services. This exploratory study investigated individualization processes undertaken by Early Head Start home visitors as they provided Little Talks, a modularized book-sharing intervention for families. It also examined the effect of individualization on parent involvement in early learning activities. Two indicators of individualization were calculated in this study: (a) the proportion of change in the Little Talks’ lessons sequence and (b) the pace of delivery. Findings showed that most home visitors individualized Little Talks, with the most frequent change being the repetition of lessons. Exploratory regression analysis showed an inverse relationship between home visitors’ individualization behavior and parent involvement, highlighting the need to examine the quality of individualization. Implications for advancing the implementation and study of individualization processes in home visiting are discussed.

Caregiver Implementation of a Home-Based Reading Program With Their Children With Disabilities: Patterns of Adherence

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A. R. Logan ◽  
Jaclyn M. Dynia ◽  
Laura M. Justice ◽  
Brook Sawyer
Keyword(s):  
Reading Intervention ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Reading Program ◽  
Family Characteristics ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Caregiver Education ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Early Dropout

The overall purpose of this study was to examine caregivers’ adherence to a storybook-reading intervention using latent class analysis (LCA). This study also examined whether adherence was related to child and family characteristics including children’s language ability, caregiver education, and whether the child has a disability. Caregivers of children with language impairment ( N = 695) were provided with a book per week and were encouraged to read the book twice a week. Results of the LCA indicated that there were four profiles of caregivers’ adherence: sporadic, late dropout, completers, and early dropout. Completers were so-named because they adhered to study activities for the duration, completed the study as designed. These caregivers represented one third of participants, whereas dropouts (both early and late) represented the majority of caregivers (51%). This study found no reliable differences in the adherence patterns for caregivers of children with a disability and their typically developing peers. However, children who had better language skills also had significantly higher probability of continued caregiver adherence. Implications for educational research are discussed.

The Efficacy of Phonological Awareness Intervention for Children With Spoken Language Impairment

2000 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail T. Gillon
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Reading Development ◽  
Control Program ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Language Intervention ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Speech And Language

Purpose:This study investigated the efficacy of an integrated phonological awareness intervention approach for children with spoken language impairment (SLI) who demonstrated early reading delay. Ninety-one, 5- to 7-year-old New Zealand children participated in this study: 61 children with SLI and 30 children with typically developing speech and language skills. All of the children with language impairment exhibited expressive phonological difficulties and some also had delayed semantic and syntactic development.Method:The children with SLI participated in either: (a) an integrated phonological awareness program, (b) a more traditional speech-language intervention control program that focused on improving articulation and language skills, or (c) a minimal intervention control program over a 4 1/2-month time period.Results:Effects of the interventions on phonological awareness ability, reading performance, and speech production were examined. The children who received phonological awareness intervention made significantly more gains in their phonological awareness ability and reading development than the children receiving the other types of speech and language intervention. Despite significant delays in phonological awareness prior to training, children who received the phonological awareness intervention reached levels of performance similar to children with typically developing speech and language skills at post-test assessment. The phonological awareness intervention also improved the children's speech articulation.Clinical Implications:The findings suggest that integrated phonological awareness intervention may be an efficient method to improve phonological awareness, speech production, and reading development of children with SLI. Findings are discussed with reference to a speech-literacy link model.

scholarly journals Perception of Small Frequency Differences in Children with Auditory Processing Disorder or Specific Language Impairment

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (06) ◽  
pp. 489-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Rota-Donahue ◽  
Richard G. Schwartz ◽  
Valerie Shafer ◽  
Elyse S. Sussman
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Auditory Processing Disorder ◽  
Sensitivity Index ◽  
Small Frequency ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Frequency Changes

Background: Frequency discrimination is often impaired in children developing language atypically. However, findings in the detection of small frequency changes in these children are conflicting. Previous studies on children’s auditory perceptual abilities usually involved establishing differential sensitivity thresholds in sample populations who were not tested for auditory deficits. To date, there are no data comparing suprathreshold frequency discrimination ability in children tested for both auditory processing and language skills. Purpose: : This study examined the perception of small frequency differences (Δf) in children with auditory processing disorder (APD) and/or specific language impairment (SLI). The aim was to determine whether children with APD and children with SLI showed differences in their behavioral responses to frequency changes. Results were expected to identify different degrees of impairment and shed some light on the auditory perceptual overlap between pediatric APD and SLI. Research Design: An experimental group design using a two-alternative forced-choice procedure was used to determine frequency discrimination ability for three magnitudes of Δf from the 1000-Hz base frequency. Study Sample: Thirty children between 10 years of age and 12 years, 11 months of age: 17 children with APD and/or SLI, and 13 typically developing (TD) peers participated. The clinical groups included four children with APD only, four children with SLI only, and nine children with both APD and SLI. Data Collection and Analysis: Behavioral data collected using headphone delivery were analyzed using the sensitivity index d′, calculated for three Δf was 2%, 5%, and 15% of the base frequency or 20, 50, and 150 Hz. Correlations between the dependent variable d′ and the independent variables measuring auditory processing and language skills were also obtained. A stepwise regression analysis was then performed. Results: TD children and children with APD and/or SLI differed in the detection of small-tone Δf. In addition, APD or SLI status affected behavioral results differently. Comparisons between auditory processing test scores or language test scores and the sensitivity index d′ showed different strengths of correlation based on the magnitudes of the Δf. Auditory processing scores showed stronger correlation to the sensitivity index d′ for the small Δf, while language scores showed stronger correlation to the sensitivity index d′ for the large Δf. Conclusion: Although children with APD and/or SLI have difficulty with behavioral frequency discrimination, this difficulty may stem from two different levels: a basic auditory level for children with APD and a higher language processing level for children with SLI; the frequency discrimination performance seemed to be affected by the labeling demands of the same versus different frequency discrimination task for the children with SLI.

scholarly journals The Development of Language-Specific and Language-Independent Talker Processing

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 913-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susannah V. Levi ◽  
Richard G. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Development Of Language ◽  
Perceptual Abilities

Purpose In this study, the authors aimed to investigate how differences in language ability relate to differences in processing talker information in the native language and an unfamiliar language by comparing performance for different ages and for groups with impaired language. Method Three groups of native English listeners with typical language development (TLD; ages 7–9, ages 10–12, adults) and 2 groups with specific language impairment (SLI; ages 7–9, ages 10–12) participated in the study. Listeners heard pairs of words in both English and German (unfamiliar language) and were asked to determine whether the words were produced by the same or different talkers. Results In English, talker discrimination improved with age. In German, performance improved with age for the school-age children but was worse for adult listeners. No differences were found between TLD and SLI children. Conclusion These results show that as listeners' language skills develop, there is a trade-off between more general perceptual abilities useful for processing talker information in any language and those that are relevant to their everyday language experiences and, thus, tied to the phonology. The lack of differences between the children with and without language impairments suggests that general auditory processing may be intact in at least some children with SLI.

Pragmatics and SLI

1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 777-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly K. Craig ◽  
Julia L. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Status ◽  
Pragmatic Research ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

Selected discourse behaviors of children with specific language impairment (SU) presenting expressive (E:SLI) or combined expressive-receptive deficits (E-R:SLI) were compared to each other and to chronological age-mates and younger mean length of utterance (MLU)-matched children with normal-language skills. The two SLI subgroups varied from each other on specific measures of tum-taking and cohesion. These findings imply the need for future normative work with SLI subgroups differing in receptive skill, and indicate that, in the interim, pragmatic research with this population will need to consider potential effects of receptive language status when interpreting variations in outcomes for discourse-based variables.

Teaching across the Curriculum: Language-Enriched Physical Education for Preschool Children

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona J. Connor-Kuntz ◽  
Gail M. Dummer
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Preschool Children ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Head Start ◽  
Motor Skill ◽  
Physical Activity Intervention ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Instructional Time ◽  
Skill Performance

Children age 4 to 6 years from special education (n = 26), Head Start (n = 35), and typical preschool classes (n = 11) were assigned to a physical activity intervention or a language-enriched physical activity intervention. Language and motor skill performances were measured before, immediately following, and 3 months following the 24-session, 8-week intervention. Results illustrated that language instruction can be added to physical education lessons without requiring additional instructional time and, more importantly, without compromising improvement in motor skill performance. Further, preschool children exposed to language-enriched physical education improved their language skills regardless of whether their educational progress was characterized by a cognitive and/or language delay. Thus, physical activity appears to be an effective environment in which to enhance the cognitive development of preschool children of all abilities.

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