Selection of Children with Specific Language Deficits

1981 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Stark ◽  
Paula Tallal
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Behavioral Disorder ◽  
Exclusion Criteria ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Language Deficit ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Selection Of

A standard approach to the selection of children with specific language deficit was devised. The approach was based on a current definition of specific language deficit that depends heavily on exclusion criteria. Children with known language deficit who had hearing impairment, cognitive deficit, neurologic deficit, or emotional or behavioral disorder were excluded. Both the exclusion criteria and the criteria dealing with required extent of language impairment were specified in considerable detail. A total of 132 language-impaired children aged 4–8 1/2 years were assessed. Criteria for selection of a matched group of normal-language children were also specified. The language-impaired children were referred to the project by speech and language clinicians in accordance with a set of broadly defined criteria. Contrary to expectations, less than one third of the children from this group met the more precisely defined criteria employed in the project. In addition, those who were selected did not form a homogeneous group but showed considerable variation in expressive versus receptive language and in articulation skill. The selection approach and its effectiveness for the purposes of clinical research and intervention studies are discussed.

Lexical Imitation and Acquisition in Language-Impaired Children

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Schwartz ◽  
Laurence B. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Novel Words

This investigation examined the influence of unsolicited lexical imitation on the comprehension and on the production of novel words by language-impaired children. Subjects were 13 children (2:8–3:1) exhibiting specific language impairment who were presented with 16 unfamiliar words referring to unfamiliar objects or actions over 10 experimental sessions. Unsolicited imitations appeared to facilitate subsequent production of these words on a posttest. This effect was greatest when these words were also produced spontaneously prior to the posttest. Words that were produced imitatively and spontaneously also appeared more frequently in spontaneous usage than words that were only produced spontaneously. No relationship between such imitations and comprehension was observed. These findings suggest that unsolicited imitations benefit children's lexical acquisition primarily by providing them with additional opportunities to produce words that are in the process of being established in their expressive lexicons.

A Drawing Task to Assess Emotion Inference in Language-Impaired Children

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 1563-1569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Vendeville ◽  
Nathalie Blanc ◽  
Claire Brechet
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Free Response ◽  
Verbal Responses ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Response Range ◽  
Drawing Task ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose Studies investigating the ability of children with language impairment (LI) to infer emotions rely on verbal responses (which can be challenging for these children) and/or the selection of a card representing an emotion (which limits the response range). In contrast, a drawing task might allow a broad spectrum of responses without involving language. This study used a drawing task to compare the ability to make emotional inferences in children with and without LI. Method Twenty-two children with LI and 22 typically developing children ages 6 to 10 years were assessed in school during 3 sessions. They were asked to listen to audio stories. At specific moments, the experimenter stopped the recording and asked children to complete the drawing of a face to depict the emotion felt by the story's character. Three adult study-blind judges were subsequently asked to evaluate the expressiveness of the drawings. Results Children with LI had more difficulty than typically developing children making emotional inferences. Children with LI also made more errors of different valence than their typically developing peers. Conclusion Our findings confirm that children with LI show difficulty in producing emotional inferences, even when performing a drawing task—a relatively language-free response mode.

The Identification of Language Impairment in the Selection of Specifically Language-Impaired Subjects

1990 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca J. McCauley ◽  
M. J. Demetras
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Test Use ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Specific Number ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Selection Of

This review focused on the methods used to identify language impairment in specifically language-impaired subjects participating in 72 research studies that were described in four journals from 1983 to 1988. The single most frequent source of information used in the identification process was found to be test data. There was, however, considerable variability and, often, a lack of clarity regarding the specific number and identity of tests used. More specific findings on test use indicated that researchers routinely assessed both expressive and receptive language and that they used incomplete tests. When test scores used in identification and selection were examined, there was a wide range of score types, and age-equivalent scores were by far the most common and often the only type of score utilized. Conclusions are drawn regarding the impact of these findings on the interpretation and generalizability of this research literature.

Conversational Replies of Children with Specific Language Impairment

1986 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence B. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Considerable Variability ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Impaired Children

Conversational replies were examined in two groups of children with comparable vocabularies and speech limited to single-word utterances: children with specific language impairment, ages 2:10 to 3:6 (years:months); and children, ages 1:5 to 1:11, who were developing language normally. In interactions with adults the language-impaired children produced a greater number and variety of replies to both questions and statements than the normal-language children. The findings suggest that language-impaired children can serve as responsive conversationalists when syntactic skill is not a factor and that comprehension, world knowledge, and/or experience with conversations permit considerable variability in conversational skill even within the same level of expressive language ability.

Comments on Specific Language Impairment as a Clinical Category

1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy M. Aram
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Heterogeneous Group ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Clinical Category

This paper views specific language disorders as a heterogeneous group of language-impaired children consisting of distinct subtypes, each potentially accounted for by differing causal factors. Identifying causal factors for subgroups of children with specific language impairment is important (a) to extend our discipline beyond the descriptive stage of science, (b) to address questions motivating referrals from parents and professionals, (c) to plan intervention programs, and to prevent specific language disorders.

Observing iconic gestures enhances word learning in typically developing children and children with specific language impairment

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1458-1484 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSANNE VOGT ◽  
CHRISTINA KAUSCHKE
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Iconic Gesture ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
New Words ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Impaired Children

AbstractResearch has shown that observing iconic gestures helps typically developing children (TD) and children with specific language impairment (SLI) learn new words. So far, studies mostly compared word learning with and without gestures. The present study investigated word learning under two gesture conditions in children with and without language impairment. Twenty children with SLI (age four), twenty age-matched TD children, and twenty language-matched TD children were taught words that were presented with either iconic or non-iconic gestures. Results showed that children of all groups benefited more successfully from observing iconic gestures for word learning. The iconic gesture advantage was similar across groups. Thus, observing iconic gestures prompts richer encoding and makes word learning more efficient in TD and language impaired children.

What do referential communication tasks measure? A study of children with specific language impairment

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. V. M. Bishop ◽  
C. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Communication Performance ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Task Requirements ◽  
Impaired Children

ABSTRACTA group of 54 children with specific language impairment was compared with a control group on a referential communication task in which the child was asked to describe a picture from an array of eight similar items so that the listener could identify it. The language-impaired children performed more poorly than age-matched controls. However, there was no relationship between referential communication performance and conversational ability. Children who provided excessive and irrelevant information in conversation did not show the same characteristics in the experimental setting. Formal task requirements, such as the need to scan an array, appeared to be a major determinant of performance on structured referential communication tasks. These tasks are not sensitive to the types of pragmatic difficulty that some children have in open-ended conversation.

Speaking for Language-Impaired Children

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-373
Author(s):  
Paula Tallal
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Multidisciplinary Research ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Impaired Children

Larry Leonard's new book, Children With Specific Language Impairment, has the potential to become the definitive text and scholarly resource for students, clinicians, and scientists concerned with these children. This six-part book (comprising 14 chapters) provides a complete, detailed, and even-handed review of the multidisciplinary research in this field.

An Effect of Modeling and Imitation Teaching Procedures on Children with and without Specific Language Impairment

1987 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil J. Connell
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Treatment Program ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Normal Group ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Learning Language ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Abnormal Group

Following a treatment program in which an invented morpheme was taught through either imitation or modeling procedures, the generalization of 40 specific language-impaired children was compared to that of 40 children learning language normally. The results of the comparison indicated that the two teaching procedures have opposite relative effects on the two groups. The abnormal group generalized more extensively following imitation teaching while the normal group generalized more extensively following modeling teaching. The opposing results of the two procedures on the two groups suggest that language-impaired children will benefit more from teaching strategies that are adapted to their unique learning styles than from strategies fashioned after the styles of children who learn language normally.

The Use of an Invented Language Rule in the Differentiation of Normal and Language-Impaired Spanish-Speaking Children

1991 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 596-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste A. Roseberry ◽  
Phil J. Connell
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Limited English Proficiency ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Teaching Procedure ◽  
Impaired Group ◽  
Impaired Children

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the results of a language-teaching procedure could be used to identify specific language-impaired children in a group of bilingual children with limited English proficiency (LEP). An invented morpheme was taught to two groups of LEP children who had been previously identified as normal and specific language-impaired. The language-impaired group learned the morpheme at a slower rate than the normal children, thus allowing the two groups to be differentiated. The approach promises to circumvent many of the obstacles that impede current practices for identifying language impairment in the LEP population.

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