Grammatical Morphology in School-Age Children With and Without Language Impairment: A Discriminant Function Analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test Bedore and Leonard\u27s (1998) proposal that a verb morpheme composite may hold promise as a clinical marker for specific language impairment (SLI) in English speakers and serve as an accurate basis for the classification of children with and without SLI beyond the preschool level. Method: The language transcripts of 50 school-age children with SLI (Mage = 7;9 [years;months]) and 50 age-matched typically developing peers (Mage = 7;9) were analyzed. Following the Bedore and Leonard (1998) procedure, 3 variables were measured: a finite verb morpheme composite, a noun morpheme composite, and mean length of utterance in morphemes (MLUm). Results: Overall findings indicated that neither grammatical morpheme composite alone adequately discriminated the groups at this developmental level. However, combining the verb and noun grammatical morpheme composite measures with MLUm resulted in good discriminant accuracy in classifying subgroups of the youngest children with and without SLI in the school-age sample. Conclusion: Verb morphology alone is not a useful clinical marker of SLI in school-age children. Potential explanations for these findings and ideas for future research are discussed

Grammatical Morphology in School-Age Children With and Without Language Impairment: A Discriminant Function Analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test Bedore and Leonard\u27s (1998) proposal that a verb morpheme composite may hold promise as a clinical marker for specific language impairment (SLI) in English speakers and serve as an accurate basis for the classification of children with and without SLI beyond the preschool level. Method: The language transcripts of 50 school-age children with SLI (Mage = 7;9 [years;months]) and 50 age-matched typically developing peers (Mage = 7;9) were analyzed. Following the Bedore and Leonard (1998) procedure, 3 variables were measured: a finite verb morpheme composite, a noun morpheme composite, and mean length of utterance in morphemes (MLUm). Results: Overall findings indicated that neither grammatical morpheme composite alone adequately discriminated the groups at this developmental level. However, combining the verb and noun grammatical morpheme composite measures with MLUm resulted in good discriminant accuracy in classifying subgroups of the youngest children with and without SLI in the school-age sample. Conclusion: Verb morphology alone is not a useful clinical marker of SLI in school-age children. Potential explanations for these findings and ideas for future research are discussed

Finiteness and children with specific language impairment: an exploratory study

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are well known for their difficulties in mastering the inflectional paradigms; in the case of learning German they also have problems with the appropriate verb position, in particular with the verb in second position. This paper explores the possibilities of applying a broader concept of finiteness to data from children with SLI in order to put their deficits, or rather their skills, into a wider perspective. The concept, as developed by Klein (1998, 2000), suggests that finiteness is tied to the assertion that a certain state of affairs is valid with regard to some topic time; that is, finiteness relates the propositional content to the topic component. Its realization involves the interaction of various grammatical devices and, possibly, lexical means like temporal adverbs. Furthermore, in the acquisition of finiteness it has been found that scope particles play a major role in both first- and second-language learning. The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent three German-learning children with SLI have mastered these grammatical and lexical means and to pinpoint the phase in the development of finiteness they have reached. The data to be examined are mostly narrative and taken from conversations and experiments. It will be shown that each child chooses a different developmental path to come to grips with the interaction of these devices

Language and social/emotional problems identified at a universal developmental assessment at 30 months

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

A preliminary investigation of parent-reported fiction versus non-fiction book preferences of school-age children with autism spectrum disorder

Background & aims Anecdotal evidence suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder prefer non-fiction books over fiction books. The current study was the first to investigate parent-reports of children with autism spectrum disorder’s fiction and non-fiction book preferences and whether these relate to individual differences in social communication, oral language, and/or reading abilities. Method Children (ages 8–14 years, M  = 10.89, SD  = 1.17) with autism spectrum disorder diagnoses ( n  = 19) and typically developing peers ( n  = 21) participated. Children completed standardized measures of social communication, oral language, and reading abilities. Parents reported children’s current favorite book, and from these responses, we coded children’s fiction versus non-fiction book preferences. Main contribution Contrary to anecdotal evidence, children with autism spectrum disorder preferred fiction similar to their typically developing peers. Fiction versus non-fiction book preference was significantly related to social communication abilities across both groups. Children’s oral language and reading abilities were related, as expected, but the evidence for a relationship between social communication and reading comprehension was mixed. Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence supporting the association of social communication in fiction versus non-fiction book preference, which may be related to children’s comprehension and support the theoretical role of social communication knowledge in narrative/fiction. Implications It should not be assumed that all children with autism spectrum disorder prefer expository/non-fiction or do not read narrative/fiction. Children who prefer non-fiction may need additional social communication knowledge support to improve their understanding of narrative fiction

A preliminary investigation of parent-reported fiction versus non-fiction book preferences of school-age children with autism spectrum disorder

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License.Background & aims Anecdotal evidence suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder prefer non-fiction books over fiction books. The current study was the first to investigate parent-reports of children with autism spectrum disorder’s fiction and non-fiction book preferences and whether these relate to individual differences in social communication, oral language, and/or reading abilities. Method Children (ages 8–14 years, M = 10.89, SD = 1.17) with autism spectrum disorder diagnoses (n = 19) and typically developing peers (n = 21) participated. Children completed standardized measures of social communication, oral language, and reading abilities. Parents reported children’s current favorite book, and from these responses, we coded children’s fiction versus non-fiction book preferences. Main contribution Contrary to anecdotal evidence, children with autism spectrum disorder preferred fiction similar to their typically developing peers. Fiction versus non-fiction book preference was significantly related to social communication abilities across both groups. Children’s oral language and reading abilities were related, as expected, but the evidence for a relationship between social communication and reading comprehension was mixed. Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence supporting the association of social communication in fiction versus non-fiction book preference, which may be related to children’s comprehension and support the theoretical role of social communication knowledge in narrative/fiction. Implications It should not be assumed that all children with autism spectrum disorder prefer expository/non-fiction or do not read narrative/fiction. Children who prefer non-fiction may need additional social communication knowledge support to improve their understanding of narrative fiction