General Language Performance Measures in Spoken and Written Narrative and Expository Discourse of School-Age Children With Language Learning Disabilities

2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl M. Scott ◽  
Jennifer Windsor
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities

Language performance in naturalistic contexts can be characterized by general measures of productivity, fluency, lexical diversity, and grammatical complexity and accuracy. The use of such measures as indices of language impairment in older children is open to questions of method and interpretation. This study evaluated the extent to which 10 general language performance measures (GLPM) differentiated school-age children with language learning disabilities (LLD) from chronological-age (CA) and language-age (LA) peers. Children produced both spoken and written summaries of two educational videotapes that provided models of either narrative or expository (informational) discourse. Productivity measures, including total T-units, total words, and words per minute, were significantly lower for children with LLD than for CA children. Fluency (percent T-units with mazes) and lexical diversity (number of different words) measures were similar for all children. Grammatical complexity as measured by words per T-unit was significantly lower for LLD children. However, there was no difference among groups for clauses per T-unit. The only measure that distinguished children with LLD from both CA and LA peers was the extent of grammatical error. Effects of discourse genre and modality were consistent across groups. Compared to narratives, expository summaries were shorter, less fluent (spoken versions), more complex (words per T-unit), and more error prone. Written summaries were shorter and had more errors than spoken versions. For many LLD and LA children, expository writing was exceedingly difficult. Implications for accounts of language impairment in older children are discussed.

Comparison of Two Reading Feedback Strategies in Improving the Oral and Written Language Performance of Children With Language-Learning Disabilities

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda K. Crowe
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Oral Reading ◽  
Written Language ◽  
School Age ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Feedback Strategies

Twelve school-age children with language-learning disabilities (LLD) participated in a study comparing the effects of two reading feedback strategies for improving their oral and written language performance. Children were matched for age, disability, gender, and general reading performance. Participants were assigned to one of three study groups, Treatment 1 (T1), Treatment 2 (T2), or Control (C). Children were pre- and posttested on standardized tests of reading and oral vocabulary. T1 and T2 participated in 6 weeks of reading intervention. T1 used traditional decoding-based feedback strategies, and T2 used meaning-based feedback strategies, termed Communicative Reading Strategies (CRS). Significant differences across groups were found for reading comprehension, oral reading, and expressive vocabulary measures. Pairwise comparisons indicated that T2 performed significantly better than T1 and C on reading comprehension at posttest. Though not reaching levels of significance, T2 made greater gains than T1 and C on oral reading and expressive vocabulary measures. Results are discussed with implications for using CRS (T2) with school-age poor readers.

Linguistic Trade-Offs in School-Age Children With and Without Language Disorders

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 1064-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie J. Masterson ◽  
Alan G. Kamhi
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Reading Disabilities ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Trade Offs

Factors influencing the occurrence of trade-off effects among linguistic components were examined. Several linguistic measures were used to represent syntactic and phonological production in order to determine whether interrelationship patterns would vary across measures. Linguistic interactions present in imitated speech were compared to those from spontaneous speech. Group effects were explored by comparing data from children with language-learning disabilities, children with reading disabilities, and normally developing children. Results indicated trade-offs between some linguistic measures and positive relationships among others. More trade-offs were present in imitated speech than in spontaneous utterances. In general, interrelationship patterns were similar across groups. Interpretation of these results in reference to current models of sentence production is offered.

Verbal Analogical Reasoning in Children With Language-Learning Disabilities

1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie J. Masterson ◽  
Lea Helen Evans ◽  
Mark Aloia
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Analogical Reasoning ◽  
Functional Relationship ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Verbal Analogies ◽  
Better Than

This study was designed to explore the influences of both cognitive and linguistic abilities on verbal analogy completion. School-age children classified as language-learning disabled were administered five types of verbal analogies: synonyms, antonyms, linear order, category membership, and functional relationship. The performance of the children with language-learning disabilities was compared with one group of normally developing children matched for mental age and another group matched for language age. Results indicated that the group matched for mental age performed better than the other two groups on all types of analogies. Although they had significantly higher mental ages, the children with language-learning disabilities did no better than the language-matched group on any analogy type except antonyms.

Verb and Noun Morphology in the Spoken and Written Language of Children With Language Learning Disabilities

2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1322-1336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Windsor ◽  
Cheryl M. Scott ◽  
Cheryl K. Street
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
High Accuracy ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
School Age ◽  
Relative Difficulty ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Typically Achieving

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of verb and noun morphology in school-age children's spoken and written language. Sixty children, with and without language learning disabilities (LLD), each produced 2 spoken and 2 written language samples. The children's accuracy in using morphemes that mark verb finiteness (regular past tense, 3rd person singular present tense, copula, and auxiliary BE) was compared with their accuracy in using noun morphology (regular plural, possessive, articles). As would be expected, the typically achieving children, who were aged 7 to 12 years, had mastered the verb and noun morphology in spoken and written samples. The children with LLD, aged 10 to 12 years, also showed high accuracy in the spoken samples. On the other hand, they showed substantial difficulty in the written samples with the regular past tense, with errors in 26% of obligatory contexts. However, the children with LLD also had difficulty with the regular plural, with errors in 12% of obligatory contexts. For both the regular past tense and plural, all errors were errors of omission. These results indicate that finiteness marking remains an area of relative difficulty, but perhaps not the only grammatical difficulty, for children with language impairments in the school years.

Analyzing the Potential Benefit of Microcomputer Use for Teaching Figurative Language

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn A. Nippold ◽  
Ilsa E. Schwarz ◽  
Molly Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Language Intervention ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Educational Materials ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Promising Application ◽  
Experience Difficulty

Microcomputers offer the potential for increasing the effectiveness of language intervention for school-age children and adolescents who have language-learning disabilities. One promising application is in the treatment of students who experience difficulty comprehending figurative expressions, an aspect of language that occurs frequently in both spoken and written contexts. Although software is available to teach figurative language to children and adolescents, it is our feeling that improvements are needed in the existing programs. Software should be reviewed carefully before it is used with students, just as standardized tests and other clinical and educational materials are routinely scrutinized before use. In this article, four microcomputer programs are described and evaluated. Suggestions are then offered for the development of new types of software to teach figurative language.

Language and Behavior Disorders in School-Age Children: Comorbidity and Communication in the Classroom

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 111-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Hollo
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Behavioral Support ◽  
School Professionals ◽  
Development Characteristic ◽  
And Behavior

Language development is the foundation for competence in social, emotional, behavioral, and academic performance. Although language impairment (LI) is known to co-occur with behavioral and mental health problems, LI is likely to be overlooked in school-age children with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD; Hollo, Wehby, & Oliver, in press). Because language deficits may contribute to the problem behavior and poor social development characteristic of children with EBD, the consequences of an undiagnosed language disorder can be devastating. Implications include the need to train school professionals to recognize communication deficits. Further, it is critically important that specialists collaborate to provide linguistic and behavioral support for students with EBD and LI.

Time-Based Prospective Memory in Schoolchildren

2011 ◽  
Vol 219 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babett Voigt ◽  
Ingo Aberle ◽  
Judith Schönfeld ◽  
Matthias Kliegel
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Strategic Monitoring ◽  
Primary School Age

The present study examined age differences in time-based prospective memory (TBPM) in primary school age children and tested the role of self-initiated memory retrieval and strategic time monitoring (TM) as possible developmental mechanisms. Fifty-four children were recruited from local primary schools (27 younger children, mean age = 7.2 ± 0.55 years, and 27 older children, mean age = 9.61 ± 0.71 years). The task was a driving game scenario in which children had to drive a vehicle (ongoing task) and to remember to refuel before the vehicle runs out of gas (TBPM task, i.e., the fuel gauge served as child-appropriate time equivalent). Fuel gauge was either displayed permanently (low level of self-initiation) or could only be viewed on demand by hitting a button (high level of self-initiation). The results revealed age-dependent TBPM differences with better performance in older children. In contrast, level of self-initiated memory retrieval did not affect TBPM performance. However, strategies of TM influenced TBPM, as more frequent time checking was related to better performance. Patterns of time checking frequency differed according to children’s age and course of the game, suggesting difficulties in maintaining initial strategic TM in younger children. Taken together, the study revealed ongoing development of TBPM across primary school age. Observed age differences seemed to be associated with the ability to maintain strategic monitoring.

Hyperkinesis: A Review of Literature

1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Churton
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Motor Learning ◽  
Motor Activity ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Psychomotor Skills ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Attentional Deficit

The review of literature focuses upon a disorder that affects between 2 and 25% of school-age children. Commonly referred to as hyperkinesis, the disorder lacks definitive consensus on nomenclature, etiology, treatment, and symptomatology. The divergence in identifying hyperkinesis as a homogeneous disorder has prevented the development of data based educational strategies. The disorder is often associated with learning disabilities, and research in hyperkinesis or attentional deficit disorder relative to psychomotor skills and learning has been limited. Subsequently, motor activity programs have not had the resources to address the motor needs of these children. This paper reviews the divergency in the literature on hyperkinesis and offers research considerations in the area of motor learning and development for these children.

Effects of Eye Color on the Accuracy of Ball Throwing of Elementary School Children

1989 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Beer ◽  
Paula Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Elementary School Children ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Eye Color ◽  
Elementary School Age

Light-eyed individuals generally perform better at self-paced activities while dark-eyed individuals perform better at reactive activities. In throwing a ball at a target there were no differences between light- and dark-eyed elementary school-age children. Boys hit the target more times than did girls, and older children in upper grades hit the target more often than did younger children in lower grades.

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