Italian adaptation of the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives

This paper presents the Italian version of the Multilingual Assessment tool for Narratives (MAIN), describes how it was developed and reports on some recent uses of MAIN within the Italian context. The Italian MAIN has been used in different research projects and for clinical purposes; results have been presented at conferences and in peer reviewed papers. The results indicate that MAIN is an appropriate assessment tool for evaluating children’s narrative competence, in production and comprehension from preschool age (5 years) to school age (8 years) in typical language development, bilingual development and language delay/disorders.

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The Association Between Breastfeeding Duration and Language Development Survey (LDS) Score in Children Aged 18 - 35 months

10.21203/rs.3.rs-580559/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Andi Faradilah ◽

Andi Musafir Rusyaidi ◽

Syatirah Jalaluddin ◽

Ary I Savitri

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Study Data ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Language Delay ◽

World Health ◽

Breastfeeding Duration ◽

Cross Sectional

Abstract Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) campaign on breastfeeding as the best source of nourishment for new-born and young children has contributed to increase public’s concern about the practice. Furthermore, several medical studies showed the benefit of breastfeeding on children’s cognitive function, including language development. However, most of the language assessment tools used in such studies had limited ability in identifying children’s language delay. Language Development Survey (LDS), as a recently developed assessment tool, is expected to provide more detailed information in the area especially related to treatment strategy purposes. This study was aimed to examine the association between breastfeeding duration and children’s LDS score. Methods: This cross-sectional study collected data from 286 breastfeeding mothers with children aged 18-35 months old. Children with delayed growth were excluded from the study. Data on breastfeeding duration (BF) and subjects’ characteristics were obtained using a questionnaire. Mother’s Body mass index (BMI) and children’s weight-for-age were measured as proxies for nutritional status. The LDS-word checklist was administered to assess children’s vocabulary and phrase development. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association. Results: The findings revealed that 158 children (55.2%) were breastfed for more than 18 months (BF > 18 mos), 78 children (27%) for 7-18 months (BF 7-18 mos) and 50 children (17.5%) for 6 months or less (BF B 6 mos). Language delays were detected in 91 (31.8%) children (scores on LDS-vocabulary) and in 51 (35.7%) children (scores on LDS-phrase). Breastfeeding duration did not associate with the occurrence of language delay based either on LDS-vocabulary or on LDS-phrase score criteria. In comparison with BF a 6 mos, BF 7-18 mos had adjusted OR (aOR) for language delay of 0.86 (0.30 to 2.47, p 0.79) based on vocabulary score and aOR 0.8 (0.18 to 3.55, p 0.78) based on phrase score, while > 18 months had aOR of 0.57 (0.23 to 1.42, p 0.23) and aOR 0.46 (0.14 to 1.67, p 0.25), respectively. Conclusion: Breastfeeding duration was not associated with the occurrence of language delay. This observation merits further investigations on duration in each breastfeeding time and prospective studies to investigate its association with children language development.

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Narrative Development in Late Talkers

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.3906.1295 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 39 (6) ◽

pp. 1295-1303 ◽

Cited By ~ 68

Author(s):

Rhea Paul ◽

Rita Hernandez ◽

Lisa Taylor ◽

Karen Johnson

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Expressive Language ◽

Language Delay ◽

Second Grade ◽

School Age ◽

Normal Range ◽

Lexical Diversity ◽

Language History ◽

Normal Language ◽

Expressive Language Delay

Children with slow expressive language development (SELD) as toddlers and a control group of children with normal language development (NL) were followed to early school age. Children with SELD were, at that point, subdivided into two groups: those who had moved within the normal range of expressive language (the History of Expressive Language Delay [HELD] subgroup); and those who continued to score below the normal range in expressive language at school age (the Expressive Language Delay [ELD] subgroup). During their kindergarten, first, and second grade years, they were administered a narrative generation task. Narratives were analyzed for MLU, lexical diversity, amount of information included, proportion of complete cohesive ties, and overall stage of narrative maturity. In kindergarten, children with normal language history scored significantly higher than those with HELD and ELD on lexical diversity and narrative stage; and higher than those with ELD in proportion of complete cohesive ties. In first grade, children with normal language history again scored significantly higher than those with HELD and ELD on narrative maturity, with no other significant differences. In second grade, there were no significant differences among the groups.

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The Croatian adaptation of the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives*

ZAS Papers in Linguistics ◽

10.21248/zaspil.64.2020.555 ◽

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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Perspectives on bilingual children's narratives elicited with the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716415000387 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

DIANE PESCO ◽

ELIZABETH KAY-RAINING BIRD

Keyword(s):

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Assessment Instrument ◽

School Age Children ◽

School Age ◽

Special Issue ◽

Specific Language ◽

Narrative Assessment ◽

Children's Narratives

This Special Issue is all about the stories of children: preschool- and school-age children; bilingual and monolingual children; children developing typically or identified as having a specific language impairment (SLI); and children speaking and experiencing one or more of the following languages: English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, and Turkish in minority or majority language contexts. The stories are fictional ones, about baby birds and baby goats, a cat and a dog: a cast of characters the reader will come to know well as they read the Introduction (Gagarina, Klop, Tsimpli, & Walters, 2016) and individual articles. They were collected using a new narrative assessment tool that is common to all the articles within the issue: the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings—Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (LITMUS-MAIN; Gagarina et al., 2012, 2015), described at some length by its developers in the Introduction to the Special Issue.

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A Comparison of Lexical Development in a Child With Normal Language Development and in a Child With Language Delay

NSSLHA Journal ◽

10.1044/nsshla_20_73 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

pp. 73-77

Author(s):

Annette Capella Vafadar

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Language Delay ◽

Lexical Development ◽

Normal Language

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Association between Language Development and Executive Functioning in Preschool Age

Психологический журнал ◽

10.31857/s020595920004599-4 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 64-76

Author(s):

A. Veraksa ◽

◽

M. Gavrilova ◽

D. Bukhalenkova ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Executive Functioning ◽

Preschool Age

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The effect of age at time of cochlear implantation on the pragmatic development of the prelingual hearing impaired children

The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology ◽

10.1186/s43163-021-00092-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mona Sameeh Khodeir ◽

Dina Fouad El Sayed Moussa ◽

Rasha Mohammed Shoeib

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Cochlear Implantation ◽

Study Groups ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Language Delay ◽

Pragmatic Language ◽

Language Abilities ◽

Pragmatic Development ◽

Impaired Children ◽

Hearing Impaired Children

Abstract Background Pragmatics is the social use of language that draws on understanding human interactions in specific contexts and requires engagement with a communicative partner or partners. The hearing-impaired children are known to have a pragmatic language delay as hearing impairment deprived of exposure to natural communication interactions, in addition to the language delay they have. Since the age of implantation has emerged as an important predictor of language, hearing, and speech in children who use cochlear implants (CI), question aroused about the benefits of early cochlear implantation on pragmatic language development in those children. Thus, this study aims to compare the pragmatic language development of the prelingual hearing impaired children who cochlear implanted before the age of 3 years and those who cochlear implanted after the age of 3 years. Results The two study groups showed no significant differences regard their scores in the Egyptian Arabic Pragmatic Language Test (EAPLT). The two studied groups had pragmatic language scores below their 5th percentile. Among the studied groups, the scores of the EAPLT were positively correlated to the age of the children, the children’s language abilities, and the duration of the received language rehabilitation, with no significant correlation to the age of implantation. Conclusions The age of implantation has no impact on pragmatic language development in children with CI. The prelingual children with CI are susceptible to delays in the pragmatic language development that is primarily related to the age of those children and their language abilities, besides their experience in social interactions. These results should be considered in their rehabilitative plan and advocate the importance of early incorporation of pragmatic behaviors into their intervention programs.

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SARS-CoV-2 Epidemics in Retirement and Nursing Homes in Italy: A New Preparedness Assessment Model after the First Epidemic Wave

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18115712 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (11) ◽

pp. 5712

Author(s):

Carmelo Gugliotta ◽

Davide Gentili ◽

Silvia Marras ◽

Marco Dettori ◽

Pietro Paolo Muglia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nursing Homes ◽

Perceived Risk ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Resident Training ◽

Assessment Model ◽

Infection Prevention And Control ◽

Field Assessment ◽

Italian Context ◽

And Control ◽

The City

The aim of the study is to evaluate the preparedness of retirement and nursing homes in the city of Sassari at the end of the first wave of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic, first by investigating the risk perception of epidemic outbreaks by the facility managers and subsequently by carrying out a field assessment of these facilities. To perform the field assessment, a checklist developed by the CDC (Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Tool for Nursing Homes Preparing for COVID-19) and adapted to the Italian context was used. Fourteen facilities took part in the survey (87.5%). The application of good practices for each survey area was expressed as a percentage with the following median values: restriction policies (87.5%), staff training (53.8%), resident training (67.6%), availability of personal protective equipment (41.7%), infection control practices (73.5%) and communication (80%). Among the facilities, considerable variability was observed in these evaluation fields: only the restriction policies and communication activities were applied uniformly. A discrepancy was found between perceived risk and real danger in the facilities, requiring targeted communication actions. At present, it is necessary to promote a new approach based on the prediction of critical events, thereby providing the means to effectively address them.

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