Symbolic Play in Normal and Language-Impaired Children

1984 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Y. Terrell ◽  
Richard G. Schwartz ◽  
Patricia A. Prelock ◽  
Cheryl K. Messick
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Symbolic Play ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Age Norms ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Impaired Children

The symbolic play of 15 normally developing (CA, 16–22 months) and 15 language-impaired children (CA, 32–49 months), whose productive language skills were at the single-word utterance level, was compared. Symbolic play was assessed formally through the Symbolic Play Test and informally through the observation of spontaneous play. The language-impaired children were found to be developmentally advanced when compared to the language-matched normal children in the level and direction of their symbolic play. Relative to age norms, however, the language-impaired children evidenced deficits in symbolic play. Thus, their linguistic and symbolic play abilities were not equally impaired. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the relationship between symbolic play and language and for the nature of specific language impairment.

Early action word acquisition in normal and language-impaired children

1988 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Nonsense Word ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Word Acquisition ◽  
Early Action ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Impaired Children

AbstractThe acquisition of words referring to three types of actions was examined in normally developing and language-impaired children using a nonsense word paradigm. Fourteen language-normal and 10 language-impaired children whose speech was limited to single-word utterances served as subjects. The children were presented with 12 experimental words in 5 sessions over a period of approximately 3 weeks. The experimental words referred to actions that were classified as intransitive, transitive and specific to a particular object, or transitive but performed on 4 different objects. The children in both groups produced few of the action words. However, the groups differed in their comprehension of the three action word types. Specifically, the language-impaired children did not exhibit differences in comprehension across the different types of actions. The language-normal children, however, comprehended fewer words for intransitive actions than for the other types. The implications of these findings for characterizations of early lexical acquisition and for the nature of specific language impairment are addressed.

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.

Proportional and Functional Analogical Reasoning in Normal and Language-Impaired Children

1988 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 440-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn A. Nippold ◽  
Barbara J. Erskine ◽  
Donald B. Freed
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Analogical Reasoning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Nonverbal Intelligence ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
The One ◽  
Impaired Children

Teachers often use analogies in classroom settings to clarify new concepts for their students. However, analogies may inadvertently confuse the youngster who has difficulty identifying the one-to-one comparisons underlying them. Although analogical reasoning has been studied extensively in normal children, no information was available concerning this construct in children having a specific language impairment. Thus, it was unknown to what extent they might be deficient in analogical reasoning. Therefore, in the present study, 20 children ages 6--8 years (mean age = 7:6) having normal nonverbal intelligence but deficits in language comprehension were administered tasks of verbal and perceptual proportional analogical reasoning and a problem-solving task of functional analogical reasoning. Compared to a normal-language control group matched on the basis of chronological age and sex, the language-impaired group was deficient in all three tasks of analogical reasoning. However, when the factor of nonverbal intelligence was controlled statistically, the differences between the groups on each of the tasks were removed. Additional findings were that verbal proportional analogical reasoning was significantly correlated to perceptual proportional analogical reasoning and to functional analogical reasoning. Implications for assessment and intervention with young school-age language-impaired children are discussed.

Effects of Imitative and Conversational Recasting Treatment on the Acquisition of Grammar in Children With Specific Language Impairment and Younger Language-Normal Children

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 850-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith E. Nelson ◽  
Stephen M. Camarata ◽  
Janet Welsh ◽  
Laura Butkovsky ◽  
Mary Camarata
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Relative Effectiveness ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Grammatical Structures

The purpose of the study was to compare the relative effectiveness of imitative treatment and conversational recast treatment in children with language impairment and in a group of children with normal language skills. Language treatment outcomes were compared between a group of older (4.7 to 6.7) specifically-language-impaired (SLI) children and a group of younger (2.2 to 4.2) language-normal (LN) children matched on language levels and on intervention targets. The results indicated: (a) Target acquisition was more rapid under conversational recast treatment for both groups. (b) This outcome held for targets absent initially (in pretreatment sampling and probing) as well as for initially partially mastered targets. (c) SLI children sometimes can learn grammatical structures as efficiently as language-normal children if similar language input is tailored to their specific developmental language levels. Implications of these findings for language treatment strategies with SLI children are discussed. Theoretical models compatible with the data also are considered.

The acquisition of object names in children with specific language impairment: Action context and word extension

1987 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Schwartz ◽  
Laurence B. Leonard ◽  
Cheryl Messick ◽  
Kathy Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Action Context ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Unfamiliar Object

ABSTRACTSpecifically-language-impaired children and younger normal children matched for expressive language were presented with unfamiliar object names and referents across five experimental sessions. The objects differed in the degree to which they were associated with actions, and only certain of the object exemplars were named during presentation. Comprehension testing revealed that the specifically-language-impaired children acquired a greater number of object concepts presented in a no-action condition than the normal children. However, their extension of the names to new exemplars was more restricted and less differentiated. Several possible accounts of these findings are evaluated.

Early Lexical Acquisition in Children with Specific Language Impairment

1982 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 554-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence B. Leonard ◽  
Richard G. Schwartz ◽  
Kathy Chapman ◽  
Lynne E. Rowan ◽  
Patricia A. Prelock ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Similar Tendency

This study examined the characteristics of early lexical acquisition in children with specific language impairment. Sixteen unfamiliar words and referents were exposed across 10 sessions to language-impaired and normal children matched for level of linguistic development. Posttesting revealed similar comprehension-production gaps in the two groups of children. In addition, both groups showed greater comprehension and production of words referring to objects than words referring to actions. However, the language-impaired children's object word bias was not as marked as that of the normal children. For both groups, words containing initial consonants within the children's production repertoires were more likely to be acquired in production than words containing consonants absent from the children's phonologies. A similar tendency was not seen for comprehension.

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.

scholarly journals Aspects of cohesion, tense and pronoun usage in the discourse of the older language-impaired child

1978 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Berger ◽  
Aletta Sinoff
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Impaired Child ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Situational Context ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Diagnosis And Therapy ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Impaired Children

Aspects of the discourse of 5 language-impaired children and 5 children with no language impairment, aged approximately 9 years, were compared. A film and a story sequence were utilised to elicit narratives on which, measures of cohesion, tense and pronouns were appraised. Measures of cohesion refer  to the ability to indicate appropriately the relations of meaning with regard to situational context. Measures of tense include aspects of tense range and tense continuity. Measures of  pronouns refer  to the anaphoric use of  pronouns with non-ambiguous referents.  The group of language-impaired children was found  to be significantly poorer on measures of  cohesion and pronominal usage than the normal children, whereas a significant difference between the two groups was not revealed on measures of tense. Possible factors  accounting for  these findings  were discussed and implications for the diagnosis and therapy of the older language-impaired child were considered.

scholarly journals Facial emotion labeling in language impaired children

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 781-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARYSE DELAUNAY-EL ALLAM ◽  
MICHÈLE GUIDETTI ◽  
YVES CHAIX ◽  
JUDY REILLY
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Facial Emotion ◽  
Basic Emotions ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Semantic Fields ◽  
Global Identification ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Emotional Lexicon

ABSTRACTThe few studies that have investigated emotion labeling in children with specific language impairment (SLI) have generally focused on global identification performances and appear contradictory. The current study is a fine-grained examination of how children with SLI and typical peers differ in the accuracy of their emotional lexicon use. Children underwent a free labeling task of five basic emotions expressed by still face photographs. Results revealed that children with SLI were less accurate in their label use than typical children. However, pattern of confusions between the two groups differed only by a confusion between sadness and anger displayed by the SLI group. It is argued that this emotion labeling deficiency may rely on semantic fields overlap.

Speech Perception Development in Language-Impaired Children

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne E. Bernstein ◽  
Rachel E. Stark
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Perceptual Development ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Serial Memory ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Impaired Children

A group of specifically language-impaired (SLI) children was compared with a matched group of non-SLI children (i.e., children displaying normal language) on tests of speech perception and language ability. The tests were administered longitudinally at times separated by an interval of 4 years. Initially (i.e., Time 1), the groups differed significantly in discrimination, sequencing, and rate processing of and serial memory for synthesized /ba/ and /da/ stimuli. At Time 1, age effects were also observed among both groups of children. That is, performance improved as a function of increased age. At follow-up (i.e., Time 2), performance was at or near ceiling for subjects in both groups, indicating that perceptual development occurred in both groups of children. Results are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that perceptual deficits play a causal role in specific language impairment.

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