scholarly journals Semantic Category Convergence in Spanish–English Bilingual Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 2361-2371
Author(s):  
Prarthana Shivabasappa ◽  
Elizabeth D. Peña ◽  
Lisa M. Bedore
Keyword(s):  
Language Disorder ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Lexical Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Age Range

Purpose The study examines the extent of convergence of semantic category members in Spanish–English bilingual children with reference to adults using a semantic fluency task. Method Thirty-seven children with developmental language disorder (DLD), matched pairwise with 37 typically developing (TD) children in the age range of 7;0–9;11 (years;months), produced items in 7 semantic categories (3 taxonomic and 4 slot-filler) in both Spanish and English. The 10 most frequently produced items for each category by 20 Spanish–English bilingual adults were identified as the most prototypical responses. The top 10 items generated by TD children and children with DLD, in their order of production, were analyzed for the amount of convergence with adults' responses. Results The top 5 items produced by children with DLD showed similar convergence scores as those produced by their TD peers. However, their responses in the 6th to 10th positions showed lower convergence scores than their TD peers. Children's convergence scores were higher for the slot-filler condition compared to taxonomic in both English and Spanish. The convergence scores also significantly differed across the semantic categories. Conclusion The children with DLD show greater convergence on the typical items generated earlier in their word lists than the items generated later. This pattern of convergence and divergence highlights their strengths and weaknesses in the representation of lexical–semantic knowledge for typical versus less typical items. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.8323613

Exploring the Use of Parent and Teacher Questionnaires to Screen for Language Disorders in Bilingual Children

2020 ◽  
pp. 027112142094230
Author(s):  
Amy S. Pratt ◽  
Ashley M. Adams ◽  
Elizabeth D. Peña ◽  
Lisa M. Bedore
Keyword(s):  
Language Disorder ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Typical Development ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Teacher Reports ◽  
Report Measure

We explore the classification accuracy of a parent and teacher report measure, the Inventory to Assess Language Knowledge (ITALK), to screen for developmental language disorder (DLD) in bilingual children. Participants included 120 Spanish English bilingual children with typical development (TD) and 19 bilingual children with DLD, ranging in age from 5 to 8 years old. Parents’ and teachers’ reports correlated moderately with each other and significantly predicted children’s performance on language-specific measures of morphosyntax and semantics. Results yielded sensitivity of .90 and specificity of .63 when using a composite of parent and teacher reports in Spanish and English. Examination of structure loadings in follow-up analyses by grade showed that teachers’ report of English and parents’ report of Spanish were the strongest predictors of impairment in kindergarten. In second grade, the strongest predictors were parent and teacher reports in English. Implications for referral and identification are discussed.

scholarly journals The Fast-Mapping Abilities of Adults With Developmental Language Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 3117-3129
Author(s):  
Karla K. McGregor ◽  
Nichole Eden ◽  
Timothy Arbisi-Kelm ◽  
Jacob Oleson
Keyword(s):  
Language Disorder ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Forced Choice ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Fast Mapping ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Mapping Condition

Purpose The aim of the study was to determine the integrity of fast mapping among adults with developmental language disorder (DLD). Method Forty-eight adults with DLD or typical language development (TD) were presented with 24 novel words and photos of their unfamiliar referents from the semantic categories of mammal, bird, fruit, or insect in two conditions. In the fast-mapping condition, 12 of the 24 unfamiliar referents were presented, one at a time alongside a familiar referent (e.g., a dog) and a question (e.g., Is the tail of the torato up? ). In the explicit-encoding condition, the other 12 unfamiliar referents were presented alone, one at a time, with a label (e.g., This is a spimer ). Immediately after exposure (T1) and again after a 1-day interval (T2), memory for the word-to-exemplar link was measured with a three-alternative forced-choice test, requiring the participant to match a spoken word to one of three pictured referents from the training set. At T2, memory for semantic category information was measured with a four-alternative forced-choice test, requiring the participant to match a spoken word to one of four prototypical silhouettes representing each of the semantic categories. Results Performance on word-to-exemplar link recognition was stronger for words learned in the explicit-encoding than the fast-mapping condition and stronger for the TD group than the DLD group. Time was not a significant factor as both groups maintained posttraining levels of performance after a 1-day retention interval. Performance on semantic category recognition was stronger for words learned in the explicit-encoding than the fast-mapping condition and stronger for the TD group than the DLD group. The lower category recognition performance of the DLD group was related to their lower nonverbal IQ scores. Conclusion Contexts that allow for explicit encoding yield better learning of word-to-referent links than contexts that allow for fast mapping in both stronger and weaker learners. Adults with DLD have difficulty learning the link between words and referents, whether trained via fast mapping or explicit encoding and whether tested with exemplar or category referents. Retention is a relative strength for adults with DLD. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12765551

Predictors of language proficiency in school-age Spanish–English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Kerry Danahy Ebert ◽  
Madeline Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Analytical Reasoning ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
L1 And L2

Abstract Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have impairments in their language-learning abilities that may influence interactions with environmental opportunities to learn two languages. This study explores relationships between proficiency in L1 and L2 and a set of environmental and personal variables within a group of school-age Spanish–English bilingual children with DLD and a group of typically-developing peers. Within each group, current usage in the home, length of L2 exposure, gender, maternal education, analytical reasoning, and number of L1 conversational partners were used to predict proficiency in each language. Results showed that home language environment, particularly home L2 usage, strongly predicted L1 proficiency but had less influence on the L2. Female gender predicted L1 skills in both groups, whereas analytical reasoning predicted both L1 and L2 but only for children with DLD. This study expands the limited literature on how children with DLD interact with their environment to learn two languages.

Bilingualism and Attention in Typically Developing Children and Children With Developmental Language Disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 4105-4118
Author(s):  
Jisook Park ◽  
Carol A. Miller ◽  
Teenu Sanjeevan ◽  
Janet G. van Hell ◽  
Daniel J. Weiss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Attentional Networks ◽  
Orienting Effect ◽  
Age Range

Purpose The aim of the current study was to investigate whether dual language experience modulates the efficiency of the 3 attentional networks (alerting, orienting, and executive control) in typically developing (TD) children and in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Method We examined the attentional networks in monolingual and bilingual school-aged children (ages 8–12 years) with and without DLD. TD children (35 monolinguals, 23 bilinguals) and children with DLD (17 monolinguals, 9 bilinguals) completed the Attention Network Test ( Fan et al., 2002 ; Fan, McCandliss, Fossella, Flombaum, & Posner, 2005 ). Results Children with DLD exhibited poorer executive control than TD children, but executive control was not modified by bilingual experience. The bilingual group with DLD and both TD groups exhibited an orienting effect, but the monolingual group with DLD did not. No group differences were found for alerting. Conclusions Children with DLD have weak executive control skills. These skills are minimally influenced by dual language experience, at least in this age range. A potential bilingual advantage in orienting may be present in the DLD group.

scholarly journals Academic Outcomes in Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Longitudinal Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Aguilar-Mediavilla ◽  
Lucía Buil-Legaz ◽  
Raül López-Penadés ◽  
Victor A. Sanchez-Azanza ◽  
Daniel Adrover-Roig
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Academic Outcomes ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder

scholarly journals Developmental Language Disorder and Uninhibited Primitive Reflexes in Young Children

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Maria Matuszkiewicz ◽  
Tadeusz Gałkowski
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Motor Development ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Motor Deficits ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Primitive Reflexes ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Tonic Neck Reflex

Purpose Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a developmental disorder where children fail to acquire language in the absence of a clear cause. Many studies have reported general motor deficits in children with DLD, but no studies have uncovered a cure. The purpose of our study is to better understand the underlying motor deficits in DLD, starting from uninhibited primary reflexes—which are the most basic stage of motor development. Knowledge of this motor–language relationship should lead to earlier and more targeted interventions in young children with DLD. Method Children with DLD ( n = 75, age range: 4–10 years) and 99 age-matched typically developing (TD) children completed a nonword repetition test to assess DLD and six other tests to assess primitive reflexes. Results Children with DLD demonstrated higher levels of persistent primitive reflexes compared to TD children. As the scores for neuromotor immaturity increased, nonword repetition test scores decreased ( r = −.44, p < .01). Results indicated that TD children exhibited lower neuromotor immaturity ( M = 7.63, SD = 3.75) compared to children with DLD ( M = 13.51, SD = 4.47). All primitive reflexes (the Moro reflex, the symmetrical tonic neck reflex in flexion and in extension, the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex, the tonic labyrinthine reflex, and the Galant reflex) turned out to be statistically significantly different for the TD and DLD groups ( p < .001). We also observed some differences between sexes. Conclusions Children with impaired language development underwent slower neuromotor development. However, further research is needed to determine whether motor intervention programs that inhibit primitive reflexes are helpful for children with DLD.

scholarly journals The Croatian adaptation of the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives*

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 37-44
Author(s):  
Gordana Hržica ◽  
Jelena Kuvač Kraljević
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Narrative Skills ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Age Range

This paper presents the Croatian version of the Multilingual Assessment tool for Narratives (MAIN), outlines its development and describes the research that has used it to assess narrative skills in monolingual and bilingual speakers. The Croatian version of MAIN has so far been used in three research projects and results have been presented in five peer-reviewed articles (published or in press) covering a total of 175 children in the age range from 5;0 to 9;0 (20 with developmental language disorder) and 60 adults, age range from 22 to 76. The accumulated results indicate that MAIN can differentiate narrative skills of speakers in distinct age groups and can distinguish children with language disorders form children with typical language development.

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