Children's naming and word-finding difficulties: descriptions and explanations

Purpose: There are a substantial minority of children for whom lexical retrieval problems impede the normal pattern of language development and use. These problems include accurately producing the correct word even when the word?s meaning is understood; such children are often referred to as having word-finding difficulties (WFDs). This review examines the nature of naming and lexical retrieval difficulties in these and other groups of children. Method: A review of the relevant literature on lexical access difficulties in children with word finding difficulties was conducted. Studies were examined in the terms of population parameters and comparison groups included in the study. Results and Conclusions: Most discussions of the cognitive processes causing lexical retrieval difficulties have referred to semantics, phonology and processing speed. It is argued that our understanding of these topics will be further advanced by the use of appropriate methodology to test developmental models that both identify the processes in successfully performing different lexical retrieval tasks and more precisely locating the difficulties experienced by children with such tasks

The relation between naming and literacy in children with word-finding difficulties

Difficulties with picture naming tasks are associated with literacy problems. Children with dyslexia, when given naming tasks, are slower to produce words and have a higher proportion of errors (Wolf and Bowers, 1999). However, little is known about the relation between literacy and naming in other populations. This study investigates this relation in 20 children (aged 6:6 – 7:11) with word-finding difficulties (WFDs). The children in our sample performed very poorly on assessments of naming, but unlike children with dyslexia, were found to have decoding and spelling abilities within the normal range. In addition, their abilities on phonological awareness tasks were at a similar level to their decoding abilities. In contrast, performance on reading comprehension and language comprehension was significantly worse than for decoding, spelling and rhyme awareness. The implications of our findings for models concerned with understanding the relation between naming speed and literacy abilities are discussed

Beyond naming patterns in children with WFDs: definitions for nouns and verbs

Children who experience difficulties in naming are described as having word finding difficulties (WFDs). In the present study 31 children with WFDs were identified through a wider survey of educational provision for those with language and communication difficulties. The children were included if they were between 6;4-7;10 years, had normal non-verbal intelligence, no major articulation difficulties and had WFDs as diagnosed by standard scores below 75 on Test of Word Finding Difficulties (TWF, German, 1989). Three control groups were identified who were matched on: chronological age (N = 31), naming age (N = 31) and level of receptive grammar (N = 31). Children?s accuracy of naming and latency to name were assessed for pictures of objects and actions. Children were asked to define the object and action terms at a later point. Children with WFDs were significantly less accurate in naming than their age matched peers but equivalent to that of the language matched peers. The group of children with WFDs were the slowest to accurately name all sets of items. All groups of children were less accurate in the provision of definitions for action terms than object terms. Overall the children with WFDs provided fewer accurate definitions than their chronological age matched peers. The nature of the children?s definitions indicated that they also differed from their language-matched peers. Particular difficulties were noted in the provision of semantic categorisation information. A range of standardised language assessments did not account for these difficulties. The findings are discussed in relation to the idea that WFDs are caused by impoverished semantic representations

Teachers' reported practices for teaching writing in England

To date there have been no systematic studies examining the ways in which teachers in England focus and adapt their teaching of writing. The current study addresses this gap by investigating the nature and frequency of teachers' approaches to the teaching of writing in a sample of English primary schools, using the 'simple view of writing' as a framework to examine the extent to which different aspects of the writing process are addressed. One hundred and eighty-eight staff from ten different schools responded to an online questionnaire. Only the data from class teachers (n = 88) who responded to all items on the questionnaire were included in the final analyses. Respondents enjoyed teaching writing and felt prepared to teach it. However, despite feeling that they were effective in identifying approaches to support students' writing, nearly half reported that supporting struggling writers was problematic for them. Overall teachers reported more work at word level, occurring several times a week, than with transcription, sentence or text levels, which were reported to occur weekly. Planning, reviewing and revising occurred least often, only monthly. For these variables no differences were found between teachers of younger (age 4-7) and older students (age 8-11). By contrast, an examination of specific aspects of each component revealed differences between the teachers of the two age groups. Teachers of younger students focused more frequently on phonic activities related to spelling, whereas teachers of older students focussed more on word roots, punctuation, word classes and the grammatical function of words, sentence-level work, and paragraph construction

Supporting early oral language skills for English language learners in inner city preschool provision

BACKGROUND: A significant number of children now enter formal education in England with reduced levels of proficiency in oral language. Children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and who are English language learners (ELL) are at risk of limited oral language skills in English which impacts on later educational achievement. AIMS: This paper reports the development of a theoretically motivated oral language intervention, Talking Time, designed to meet the needs of preschool children with poor language skills in typical preschool provision. SAMPLE: One hundred and forty-two 4-year-old children attending three inner city preschools in a disadvantaged area of London, England. METHOD: This is a quasi-experimental intervention study comparing children exposed to Talking Time with children exposed to a contrast intervention and children receiving the statutory early years curriculum. Measures were taken of both targeted and non-targeted language and cognitive skills. RESULTS: Data were analysed for the ELL. The intervention had a significant effect on vocabulary, oral comprehension, and sentence repetition but not narrative skills. As predicted, there were no effects on the skills which were not targeted. CONCLUSIONS: Regular evidence-based oral language interactions can make significant improvements in children's oral language. There is a need to examine the efficacy of more intensive interventions to raise language skills to allow learners to access the curriculum

Children with speech language and communication needs in England: challenges for practice

Teachers and speech and language therapists (SLTs) share concern about children’s speech, language, and communication needs (SLCNs) but they have different foci because of their professional roles. Contemporary research has identified the challenges to schools when meeting the needs of children with SLCN, highlighted terminological controversies, and has increased opportunities for professional development. The views of 170 Educationalists and SLT professionals in England about SLCN, and the children’s associated needs were compared for similarities and differences in an online survey that employed both categorical responses and Likert scales. Comparisons were made between teacher and SLT groups and between SLTs working in schools and clinics. There were few significant differences between the views of SLTs in clinics and education. In contrast, there were often large and significant differences between teachers and SLTs. Education professionals were less familiar with terminology related to speech difficulties, did not discriminate between behaviors that might differentiate speech from language difficulties and varied in the ratings given about other associated difficulties. Additionally, education professionals showed awareness of academic and behavior difficulties associated with language difficulties and highlighted associated problems with reading and writing. SLTs felt confident in their understanding of the relevant terminology but there was less clarity in the features that discriminated speech from language difficulties. Both the Educationalists and SLTs valued additional training needs with over 50% of the Education staff reporting that they had no training in SLCN. The lack of clarity about the language markers of SLCN by teachers and the requests for tools to help in the identification of speech and language problems in school-age children are important areas to address. Both SLTs and Education staff emphasized the co-occurrence of difficulties with reading comprehension and written text production, highlighting the importance of profiling children’s language learning needs rather than a reliance on diagnostic categories

Children with speech and language communication needs in England: Challenges for practice

Teachers and speech and language therapists (SLTs) share concern about children’s speech, language, and communication needs (SLCNs) but they have different foci because of their professional roles. Contemporary research has identified the challenges to schools when meeting the needs of children with SLCN, highlighted terminological controversies, and has increased opportunities for professional development. The views of 170 Educationalists and SLT professionals in England about SLCN, and the children’s associated needs were compared for similarities and differences in an online survey that employed both categorical responses and Likert scales. Comparisons were made between teacher and SLT groups and between SLTs working in schools and clinics. There were few significant differences between the views of SLTs in clinics and education. In contrast, there were often large and significant differences between teachers and SLTs. Education professionals were less familiar with terminology related to speech difficulties, did not discriminate between behaviors that might differentiate speech from language difficulties and varied in the ratings given about other associated difficulties. Additionally, education professionals showed awareness of academic and behavior difficulties associated with language difficulties and highlighted associated problems with reading and writing. SLTs felt confident in their understanding of the relevant terminology but there was less clarity in the features that discriminated speech from language difficulties. Both the Educationalists and SLTs valued additional training needs with over 50% of the Education staff reporting that they had no training in SLCN. The lack of clarity about the language markers of SLCN by teachers and the requests for tools to help in the identification of speech and language problems in school-age children are important areas to address. Both SLTs and Education staff emphasized the co-occurrence of difficulties with reading comprehension and written text production, highlighting the importance of profiling children’s language learning needs rather than a reliance on diagnostic categories

Statistical Analysis Plan: Grammar and Writing Research Project

Englicious is an approach to grammar teaching underpinned by linguistics research that is supported by an extensive set of website resources (www.englicious.org). Englicious combines formal grammar teaching, that is specified in England’s national curriculum, with emphasis on how this grammar links with some of the processes of writing. The approach aims to make learning about grammar fun and appealing, and stimulates pupils to learn about grammar in a hands-on way. For teachers the website provides a wide variety of innovative teaching materials, including lesson plans, interactive exercises, projects, videos, a glossary, etc., as well as background materials to improve their understanding of grammar. It helps teachers deliver England’s national curriculum requirements for English grammar, and to prepare their pupils for the Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling tests which are optional at KS1 and statutory at KS2. What makes Englicious unique is that it is informed by modern linguistics (Aarts 2011, Aarts, Mehl and Wallis, 2016; Aarts and Smith-Dennis, 2018), and makes full use of digital technologies such as tablets, apps and interactive whiteboards. Currently over 6,500 teachers have signed up to use Englicious. The resources on Englicious are tailored for particular year groups and address specific grammatical topics. For example, in order to teach pupils that adverbs (part of the KS1 National Curriculum specification for Year 2) can be moved around in sentences Englicious offers a lesson plan with an associated interactive activity that teaches the idea of adverb mobility in a playful way

Does autonomous macrophage-driven inflammation promote alveolar damage in COVID-19?

SARS-CoV-2 has caused devastating effects with over 550 million infections by July 2022 and approximately 6.4 million deaths [1]. Societal and economic impacts will reverberate for years, with continuous evolution of SARS-CoV-2 as it persistently spreads through the human population as exemplified by reduced activity of vaccines and monoclonals against Omicron BA.4 or BA.5 subvariants [2]. A greater understanding of pathogenesis and more tailored therapeutic approaches are therefore essential

The effects of classroom noise on the reading comprehension of adolescents

An investigation has been carried out to examine the impact of different levels of classroom noise on adolescents’ performance on reading and vocabulary-learning tasks. A total of 976 English high school pupils (564 aged 11 to 13 years and 412 aged 14 to 16 years) completed reading tasks on laptop computers while exposed to different levels of classroom noise played through headphones. The tasks consisted of reading science texts, which were followed by multiple-choice questions probing comprehension and word learning. Number of questions attempted, times taken to read the texts and to answer questions were recorded, as well as correct answers to different types of question. The study consisted of two similar experiments, the first comparing performance in classroom noise at levels of 50 and 70 dB LAeq; and the second at levels of 50 and 64 dB LAeq. The results showed that the performance of all pupils was significantly negatively affected in the 70 dB LAeq condition, for the number of questions attempted and the accuracy of answers to factual and word learning questions. It was harder to discern effects at 64 dB LAeq, this level of noise having a detrimental effect upon the older pupils only