Dynamic assessment of children with language impairments: A pilot study

This article describes the construction of a procedure for dynamic assessment of the expressive grammar of children already identified with language impairments. Few instruments exist for the dynamic assessment of language, and those that have been developed have been largely used to successfully differentiate language impaired from culturally different or typically developing populations. The emphasis in this study was on eliciting clinically useful information that may be used to inform intervention for children with specific language impairment (SLI). The method was piloted on three children with specific language impairments.The test—train—retest format made use of standardized administration of the CELF-3 (UK) before and after a designated training protocol. The training procedure required the children to formulate sentences from randomly presented words, assisted by mediation from the assessor. Results showed that the task used was valuable and appropriate for use as a dynamic measure, and elicited differentiated amounts of change in the children in response to the mediated training phase. Pre-test—post-test results were inconclusive, however, and the frameworks for summarizing information could benefit from revision

Frequency of educational computer use as a longitudinal predictor of educational outcomes in young people with specific language impairment

Computer use draws on linguistic abilities. Using this medium thus presents challenges for young people with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and raises questions of whether computer-based tasks are appropriate for them. We consider theoretical arguments predicting impaired performance and negative outcomes relative to peers without SLI versus the possibility of positive gains. We examine the relationship between frequency of computer use (for leisure and educational purposes) and educational achievement; in particular examination performance at the end of compulsory education and level of educational progress two years later. Participants were 49 young people with SLI and 56 typically developing (TD) young people. At around age 17, the two groups did not differ in frequency of educational computer use or leisure computer use. There were no associations between computer use and educational outcomes in the TD group. In the SLI group, after PIQ was controlled for, educational computer use at around 17 years of age contributed substantially to the prediction of educational progress at 19 years. The findings suggest that educational uses of computers are conducive to educational progress in young people with SLI

Effectiveness of vocabulary intervention for older children with (developmental) language disorder

BACKGROUND: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) frequently have difficulties with word learning and understanding vocabulary. For these children, this can significantly impact on social interactions, daily activities and academic progress. Although there is literature providing a rationale for targeting word learning in such children, there is little evidence for the effectiveness of specific interventions in this area for children with identified DLD. AIMS: To establish whether direct one-to-one intervention for children with DLD over 9 years of age leads to improved abilities to identify, comprehend, define, and use nouns and verbs targeted in intervention as compared with non-targeted control items and whether or not the participants’ rating of their own knowledge of the words changes with intervention. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Twenty-five children and young people with language disorder (aged 9;4–16;1) participated in the study: 18 with DLD and seven with a language disorder associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Two assessments of different levels were created: a higher ability (less frequent words) and a lower ability (more frequent words). Participants’ speech and language therapists (SLTs) decided which level would be the most appropriate for each participant. Four tasks were carried out as part of the assessment and the scores were used to identify which words each participant worked on. Participants received one 30-min session per week one-to-one with their own SLT for 7 weeks, plus a 5-min revision session in between each main session. During each of the first five sessions, participants learned two new words; the two final sessions were spent revising the 10 words which had been targeted. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Post-intervention assessment showed an increase in scores for both treated and control words. However, progress on treated words was significantly greater than on control words (d = 1.07), indicating effectiveness of intervention. The difference between progress on targeted and control words was found both for nouns (d = 1.29) and verbs (d = 0.64), but the effect size was larger for nouns. Whether or not the participants had an associated ASD did not affect the results. The children's self-rating of their knowledge of the targeted words was also significantly higher than for control words post-intervention. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The intervention delivered one-to-one by the participants’ usual SLT was effective in teaching new vocabulary to older children with language disorders. This shows that older children with language disorders can make progress with direct one-to-one intervention focused on vocabulary

Aspectos da fluência da fala em crianças com e sem desvio fonológico evolutivo

OBJETIVO: descrever e comparar os padrões de fluência da fala de crianças com e sem desvio fonológico evolutivo. MÉTODOS: a amostra foi constituída de 20 sujeitos com idades entre 4:6 e 7:6 anos, sendo 10 crianças com diagnóstico de desvio fonológico evolutivo e 10 com desenvolvimento fonológico típico. Os sujeitos de ambos os grupos foram submetidos a uma avaliação da fluência da fala que faz parte do Teste de Linguagem Infantil-ABFW. Com base neste protocolo, analisaram-se as tipologias das rupturas do fluxo de fala, as quais são classificadas como disfluências comuns e disfluências gagas. Foi realizado o cálculo da freqüência de rupturas da fala e da porcentagem de disfluências gagas. Por meio deste teste também se analisou a velocidade de fala, medindo-se o fluxo de palavras e de sílabas por minuto. RESULTADOS: não houve diferença estatisticamente significante entre os grupos quanto às variáveis analisadas. Contudo, pode-se perceber que o grupo com desvio fonológico evolutivo apresentou maiores médias do que o grupo com desenvolvimento fonológico típico na maioria das variáveis, com exceção do fluxo de sílabas e palavras por minuto. Quanto à velocidade de fala, no que se refere ao fluxo de sílabas por minuto houve uma tendência de um menor fluxo no grupo com desvio fonológico evolutivo. CONCLUSÃO: no grupo estudado, crianças com desvios fonológicos evolutivos e crianças com desenvolvimento fonológico típico não diferem quanto aos aspectos de fluência de suas falas