Intonation Abilities of Children With Speech and Language Impairments

2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill Wells ◽  
Sue Peppé
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Auditory Memory ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Segmental Phonology

Intonation has been little studied in children with speech and language impairments, although deficits in related aspects of prosody have been hypothesized to underlie specific language impairment. In this study a new intonation battery, the Profiling Elements of Prosodic Systems-Child version (PEPS-C), was administered to 18 children with speech and/or language impairments (LI). PEPS-C comprises 16 tasks (8 x 8, Input x Output) tapping phonetic and functional aspects of intonation in four areas: grammar, affect, interaction, and pragmatics. Scores were compared to a chronological age (CA) matched group of 28 children and a group of 18 children matched for language comprehension (LC). Measures of language comprehension, expressive language, nonverbal intelligence, and segmental phonology were also taken. The LI group did not score significantly below the LC group on any PEPS-C task. On 5 of 16 tasks, the LI group scored significantly lower than the CA group. In the LI group, there were just 2 significant correlations between a PEPS-C task and 1 of the nonprosodic measures. The results support the view that intonation is relatively discrete from other levels of speech and language while suggesting some specific areas of possible vulnerability: auditory memory for longer prosodic strings and the use of prosody for pragmatic/interactional purposes.

Early Verb-Related Vulnerability Among Children With Specific Language Impairment

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1384-1397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela A. Hadley
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Grammatical Development ◽  
Very Young Children ◽  
Developmental Progression

The purpose of this study was to characterize the nature of early grammatical development among very young children with specific language impairment (SLI). Grammatical development was examined for two subtypes: (a) children with expressive language impairments only (SLI-E) and (b) children with both receptive and expressive language impairments (SLI-RE). In particular, characteristics of noun-phrase (NP) and verb-phrase (VP) elaboration were examined longitudinally to determine whether structures associated with NP and VP emerged together following a typical developmental progression. Group analyses did not reveal any differences between the subtypes on the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn; Scarborough, 1990). However, specific weakness in VP elaboration was revealed on the IPSyn as well as in more extensive productivity analyses. The contribution of these findings to a developmentally sensitive grammatical description of SLI for very young children is discussed.

A Comparison of Language Abilities in Adolescents With Down Syndrome and Children With Specific Language Impairment

2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 1324-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glynis Laws ◽  
Dorothy V. M. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Measures ◽  
Language Profiles

This article compared the language profiles of adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) and children with specific language impairment matched for nonverbal cognitive ability, and investigated whether similar relationships could be established between language measures and other capacities in both groups. Language profiles were very similar: Expressive language was more affected than language comprehension, and grammar was more affected than vocabulary in both domains. Both groups were impaired on tests of grammatical morphology and phonological memory. There were some differences between the groups, but these could be attributed to other features of development of people with DS.

scholarly journals Heritability of Specific Language Impairment and Nonspecific Language Impairment at Ages 4 and 6 Years Across Phenotypes of Speech, Language, and Nonverbal Cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 793-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mabel L. Rice ◽  
Catherine L. Taylor ◽  
Stephen R. Zubrick ◽  
Lesa Hoffman ◽  
Kathleen K. Earnest
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Structural Equation Models ◽  
Weighted Least Squares ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Assessment Protocol ◽  
Causal Pathway

Purpose Early language and speech acquisition can be delayed in twin children, a twinning effect that diminishes between 4 and 6 years of age in a population-based sample. The purposes of this study were to examine how twinning effects influence the identification of children with language impairments at 4 and 6 years of age, comparing children with specific language impairment (SLI) and nonspecific language impairment (NLI); the likelihood that affectedness will be shared within monozygotic versus dizygotic twin pairs; and estimated levels of heritability for SLI and NLI. Twinning effects are predicted to result in elevated rates of language impairments in twins. Method The population-based twin sample included 1,354 children from 677 twin pairs, 214 monozygotic and 463 dizygotic, enrolled in a longitudinal study. Nine phenotypes from the same comprehensive direct behavioral assessment protocol were investigated at 4 and 6 years of age. Twinning effects were estimated for each phenotype at each age using structural equation models estimated via diagonally weighted least squares. Heritabilities were calculated for SLI and NLI. Results As predicted, the twinning effect increased the percentage of affected children in both groups across multiple language phenotypes, an effect that diminished with age yet was still not aligned to singleton age peers. Substantial heritability estimates replicated across language phenotypes and increased with age, even with the most lenient definition of affectedness, at −1 SD . Patterns of outcomes differed between SLI and NLI groups. Conclusions Nonverbal IQ is not on the same causal pathway as language impairments. Twinning effects on language acquisition affect classification of 4- and 6-year-old children as SLI and NLI, and heritability is most consistent in the SLI group. Clinical practice requires monitoring language acquisition of twins to avoid misdiagnosis when young or a missed diagnosis of language impairments at school entry.

scholarly journals Comprehension and production of relative clauses: a comparison between Swedish impaired and unimpaired children

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
GISELA HÅKANSSON ◽  
KRISTINA HANSSON
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Target Structure ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between language comprehension and language production in Swedish children. This was done longitudinally with 10 children with specific language impairment (SLI), aged 4;0 to 6;3 at Time I, and 10 children with unimpaired language development, aged 3;1 to 3;7 at Time I. The target structure was subordination, more precisely relative clauses. The children's comprehension was tested with picture pointing, act-out and oral response tests. Their production was tested with elicited imitation and sentence completion tests. Data were collected twice, with an interval of six months. The results from the unimpaired children at Time I showed a difference between comprehension and production. At Time II these children scored higher on production than on comprehension. The children with SLI scored significantly higher on comprehension than on production at Time I. In half of the SLI group there was a clear development between the two data collection sessions, diminishing the dissociation. On neither testing did the children with SLI differ significantly from the unimpaired children in comprehension. At both testings, however, the children with SLI had significantly more responses where they did not insert the complementizer in relative clauses. The results indicate that the relationship between comprehension and production is different at different stages in development. They also show that structures involving dependency relations are particularly difficult to produce for children with SLI.

The impact of specific language impairment on performance in science and suggested implications for pedagogy

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gill Matson ◽  
Tony Cline
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

The impact of specific language impairment (SLI) on the acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills has been well researched. In contrast little has been written on its impact on the third core subject in the National Curriculum (NC) of science and this article describes a preliminary investigation into the scientific reasoning skills of children with SLI in comparison with those of typically developing (TD) children. In individual assessment sessions 11 pairs of target children with SLI and control TD children in the Key Stage (KS) 2 age span (ages 7–11 years) undertook a series of scientific reasoning tasks appropriate to their age involving receptive and expressive language skills. The children with SLI had for the most part significantly more difficulty with expressive language tasks (ELTs) than the TD children, in spite of the provision of scaffolding, and there was some evidence that they also had greater difficulty with the production of causal connectives, e.g. because, so. However, there was no difference between the two groups on receptive language tasks (RLTs) when scaffolding was used. Some possible implications for pedagogy are considered in light of these findings, and problems in matching children with SLI and TD controls are discussed.

Symbolic Play of Children With Language Impairment

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Casby
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Symbolic Play ◽  
Developmental Language Disorders ◽  
Specific Language

There have been a number of studies that have reported on the symbolic play abilities of children assessed as demonstrating developmental language disorders or specific language impairment. In general, this research has reported significant differences in the symbolic play abilities of children with language impairment and those developing language normally. In most, though interestingly, not all cases, the differences reflected less developed symbolic play of the children with language impairments. It will be argued here that these reported differences should not be interpreted as demonstrative of marked deficits in the general representational or specific symbolic play competence of children with language impairments. It will be argued further that part of the research conducted to date on the symbolic play abilities of children with language impairment has been confounded by the encroachment of language into the research procedures, that the level of play often investigated has not been unquestionably symbolic in nature, and that the actual differences in symbolic play have not been substantial.

Morphology in incipient bilingual Spanish-speaking preschool children with specific language impairment

2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
PEGGY F. JACOBSON ◽  
RICHARD G. SCHWARTZ
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Experimental Task ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Verb Inflections

This study examined the use of clitic pronouns by incipient bilingual Spanish-speaking 4- and 5-year-old children with and without language impairments. Incipient bilingualism refers to the initial stages of contact between two languages, when an individual still has only passive knowledge of a second language. The participants included 10 children with typical language development and 10 children with specific language impairment (SLI). The experimental task elicited clitic pronouns serving as direct objects with finite verbs (lo, la, los, and las). The children who had SLI used clitic pronouns less frequently than their age-matched peers and were less accurate in their use of gender agreement for clitics. No group differences were found for third person singular and plural verb inflections in the preterite tense. These results were compared to previous studies of Spanish- and Italian-speaking children with SLI.

scholarly journals Specific Language Impairment, Nonverbal IQ, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cochlear Implants, Bilingualism, and Dialectal Variants: Defining the Boundaries, Clarifying Clinical Conditions, and Sorting Out Causes

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mabel L. Rice
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Clinical Conditions

Purpose The purpose of this research forum article is to provide an overview of a collection of invited articles on the topic “specific language impairment (SLI) in children with concomitant health conditions or nonmainstream language backgrounds.” Topics include SLI, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, cochlear implants, bilingualism, and dialectal language learning contexts. Method The topic is timely due to current debates about the diagnosis of SLI. An overarching comparative conceptual framework is provided for comparisons of SLI with other clinical conditions. Comparisons of SLI in children with low-normal or normal nonverbal IQ illustrate the unexpected outcomes of 2 × 2 comparison designs. Results Comparative studies reveal unexpected relationships among speech, language, cognitive, and social dimensions of children's development as well as precise ways to identify children with SLI who are bilingual or dialect speakers. Conclusions The diagnosis of SLI is essential for elucidating possible causal pathways of language impairments, risks for language impairments, assessments for identification of language impairments, linguistic dimensions of language impairments, and long-term outcomes. Although children's language acquisition is robust under high levels of risk, unexplained individual variations in language acquisition lead to persistent language impairments.

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