Vocabulary, syntax, and narrative development in typically developing children and children with early unilateral brain injury: Early parental talk about the there-and-then matters NIH Public Access (original) (raw)
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Developmental Psychology, 2015
This study examines the role of a particular kind of linguistic input-talk about the past and future, pretend, and explanations, that is, talk that is decontextualized-in the development of vocabulary, syntax, and narrative skill in typically developing (TD) children and children with pre-or perinatal brain injury (BI). Decontextualized talk has been shown to be particularly effective in predicting children's language skills, but it is not clear why. We first explored the nature of parent decontextualized talk and found it to be linguistically richer than contextualized talk in parents of both TD and BI children. We then found, again for both groups, that parent decontextualized talk at child age 30 months was a significant predictor of child vocabulary, syntax, and narrative performance at kindergarten, above and beyond the child's own early language skills, parent contextualized talk and demographic factors. Decontextualized talk played a larger role in predicting kindergarten syntax and narrative outcomes for children with lower syntax and narrative skill at age 30 months, and also a larger role in predicting kindergarten narrative outcomes for children with BI than for TD children. The difference between the 2 groups stemmed primarily from the fact that children with BI had lower narrative (but not vocabulary or syntax) scores than TD children. When the 2 groups were matched in terms of narrative skill at kindergarten, the impact that decontextualized talk had on narrative skill did not differ for children with BI and for TD children. Decontextualized talk is thus a strong predictor of later language skill for all children, but may be particularly potent for children at the lower-end of the distribution for language skill. The findings also suggest that variability in the language development of children with BI is influenced not only by the biological characteristics of their lesions, but also by the language input they receive.
Children's Early Decontextualized Talk Predicts Academic Language Proficiency in Midadolescence
Child development, 2018
This study examines whether children's decontextualized talk-talk about nonpresent events, explanations, or pretend-at 30 months predicts seventh-grade academic language proficiency (age 12). Academic language (AL) refers to the language of school texts. AL proficiency has been identified as an important predictor of adolescent text comprehension. Yet research on precursors to AL proficiency is scarce. Child decontextualized talk is known to be a predictor of early discourse development, but its relation to later language outcomes remains unclear. Forty-two children and their caregivers participated in this study. The proportion of child talk that was decontextualized emerged as a significant predictor of seventh-grade AL proficiency, even after controlling for socioeconomic status, parent decontextualized talk, child total words, child vocabulary, and child syntactic comprehension.
2000
Research has identified language impairment as a pervasive disability (Bishop & Edmundson, 1987; Greenhalgh & Strong, 2001). Classroom communication behaviors have a role in the maintenance of special education eligibility and functional communication difficulties for young children with language impairment. This paper reviews the theoretical and experimental literature on narrative skills and language impairment as well as empirical support for understanding language delays as part of a group of risk factors that affect child development. The present study describes patterns in the communication skills of a small group of young children with a predetermined diagnosis of language impairment using a case and field mixed methods research design. The study contributes to our conceptual understanding of the pervasive nature of language impairment by focusing on patterns in oral narrative skills and their relationship to communication at school, at home, and in the community. Study results differentiate participants by the severity of utterance formulation difficulties as well as social communication differences and emotional health symptoms to identify patterns. This study was unique in that information from classroom teachers and parents in addition to an analysis of multiple language samples created a thick description of patterns across participants. Discussion elaborates upon patterns in the data and implications for assessment and practice implications for school based services from a speech-language pathologist. This journey would not have been possible without the support and dedication of my husband Jerry and our daughters Edna, 15, and Riley, 12. I also want to give special thanks to my advisor Dr. Emily de la Cruz who gave me the necessary research foundations and feedback to accomplish such an endeavor. I also want to thank Dr. Christine Chaille` who guided me toward a broad understanding of experience and learning in early childhood and introduced me to the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The Reggio approach to early schooling is a constant inspiration. Many young children have benefited from my travels to Reggio. I would like to acknowledge the teachers, families and students that participated in this research and whose influence is reflected in my everyday practice as a speechlanguage pathologist. I owe particular thanks to the community of speech-language pathologists in the Portland, Oregon region.
We review findings from a four-year longitudinal study of language learning conducted on two samples: a sample of typically developing children whose parents vary substantially in socioeconomic status, and a sample of children with pre-or perinatal brain injury. This design enables us to study language development across a wide range of language learning environments and a wide range of language learners. We videotaped samples of children's and parents' speech and gestures during spontaneous interactions at home every four months, and then we transcribed and coded the tapes. We focused on two behaviors known to vary across individuals and environments-child gesture and parent speech-behaviors that have the potential to index, and perhaps even play a role in creating, differences across children in linguistic and other cognitive skills. Our observations have led to four hypotheses that have promise for the development of diagnostic tools and interventions to enhance language and cognitive development and brain plasticity after neonatal injury. One kind of hypothesis involves tools that could identify children who may be at risk for later language deficits. The other involves interventions that have the potential to promote language development. We present our four hypotheses as a summary of the findings from our study because there is scientific evidence behind them and because this evidence has the potential to be put to practical use in improving education.
International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 2002
Recent modeling of language development and intervention for children with disabilities has increasingly focused on the interactions between adults and children. These models have resulted in a number of recent advances in the behavioral treatment of language abilities in children with disabilities. Because these interventions are associated with substantial growth in a number of skills including speech, grammar and vocabulary, these paradigms may provide a useful model for studying neurological development of these aspects of language. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential neurodevelopmental ramifications of this type of theoretical model for facilitating language growth in children with and without disabilities. Indeed, because intervention can sometimes trigger rapid advances in language skills and presumably, associated neurological organization, this may prove to be a very useful paradigm for understanding the neurological correlates of language growth.
Early Human Development, 2007
Background: Obstetrical and neonatal complications and/or an adverse parenting environment are risk factors for language impairment, but little is known about their effects on early word production (late talking). Aims: To determine obstetrical and neonatal risk factors in children with delayed word production; to assess the influence of the parenting environment on word production; to determine whether the toddler's vocabulary competence is related to his/her social competence; to document the neurodevelopmental outcome at the late preschool age. Study design: Prospective follow-up study. Based on word production at 18 months, children were retrospectively classified into consistent or transient late talkers and controls. Subjects: Full-term infants, N = 30 (mean GA 40.3 F 1.1 weeks, mean birth weight 3577 F 267 g) were assessed at 18 and 24 months; and 5 years and 7 months. Methods: Austrian Communicative Development Inventories; Bayley Scales of Infant Development; Griffiths Developmental Scales. Outcome measures: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children; Touwen's neurological examination. Results and Conclusions: Lower Apgar scores and the need for neonatal intensive care were associated with delayed word production. The parents' educational and vocational levels were lower in late talkers. Early vocabulary competence correlated with social competence. With regard to the prediction of lexical and cognitive outcomes, late talkers did not differ from controls. Minor neurological dysfunctions (MND) were seen in nearly half of the late talkers and indicate the necessity to follow these children into school age, when MND might become more obvious and literacy can be assessed. D Early Human Development (2007) 83, 107 -114 a v a i l a b l e a t w w w . s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / e a r l h u m d e v
Journal of Communication Disorders, 1994
This study presents a set of narrative and non-narrative tasks and analytic procedures for examining the discourse development of children with perinatal brain injury and typically developing children. Three oral discourse genres wcrc collected at apes S, 6, and 7: script, picture description. and replica play narration. Genre performances were assessed for the presence of hypothesized genre features. Results suggest these tasks and procedures are able to characterize development in discourse abilities for both a normative group and for children with perinatal brain injury. The group 01 children with brain injury produced shorter discourse performances with more offtask talk. This group also showed difficulty in fully differentiating the various genre types and in creating integrated discourse performances. However. most of these children demonstrated considerable growth in control of genre features over this time period. The possible utility of these tasks and procedures for clinical assessment is discussed.
Developmental …, 2010
Children with pre- or perinatal brain injury (PL) exhibit marked plasticity for language learning. Previous work has focused mostly on the emergence of earlier-developing skills, such as vocabulary and syntax. Here we ask whether this plasticity for earlier-developing aspects of language extends to more complex, later-developing language functions by examining the narrative production of children with PL. Using an elicitation technique that involves asking children to create stories de novo in response to a story stem, we collected narratives from 11 children with PL and 20 typically developing (TD) children. Narratives were analysed for length, diversity of the vocabulary used, use of complex syntax, complexity of the macro-level narrative structure and use of narrative evaluation. Children’s language performance on vocabulary and syntax tasks outside the narrative context was also measured. Findings show that children with PL produced shorter stories, used less diverse vocabulary, produced structurally less complex stories at the macro-level, and made fewer inferences regarding the cognitive states of the story characters. These differences in the narrative task emerged even though children with PL did not differ from TD children on vocabulary and syntax tasks outside the narrative context. Thus, findings suggest that there may be limitations to the plasticity for language functions displayed by children with PL, and that these limitations may be most apparent in complex, decontextualized language tasks such as narrative production.