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Background and aims: Many children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have difficulties in executive functioning (EF) and theory of mind (ToM). These difficulties might be explained by the theory that children's conceptual understanding changes over five stages of word meaning structure, from concrete and context-dependent to abstract and precise. We present a multiple case study examining how word meaning structure relates to EF and ToM in children with DLD. Methods: Participants were five children with DLD aged 9–12 and five typically developing children matched for age, gender, and nonverbal intelligence. Word meaning structure was assessed using new dynamic test. EF was assessed using the Zoo Map Task and Behavioral Rating Inventory for EF. ToM was assessed using the ToM test, Frith-Happé Animations, and Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. Behavioral problems were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist. Anamnestic interviews with the parents were conducted to describe the case histories. Results: For the children with DLD, lower scores in the word meaning structure task were observed compared to those observed for their matched peers, with no statistical test applied. Word meaning structure related positively to EF and ToM, but not to behavioral problems. Instances in which word meaning structure dissociates from EF and ToM are discussed in individual case descriptions. Conclusions: By linking language to conceptual development, variations in word meaning structure may explain some EF and ToM difficulties in children with DLD. Implications: The present study offers a basis for future research on the relationships among word meaning structure, EF, and ToM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is broadly acknowledged that children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) show verb-related limitations. While most previous studies have focused on tense, the mastery of lexical aspect—particularly telicity—has not been the primary focus of much research. Lexical aspect refers to whether an action has a defined endpoint (telic verbs) or not (atelic verbs). Objective: This study investigates the effect of telicity on verb recognition in Chilean children with DLD compared to their typically developing (TD) peers using the Event-Related Potential (ERP) technique. Method: The research design is a mixed factorial design with between-group factors of 2 (DLD/TD) and within-group factors of 2 (telic/atelic verbs) and 2 (coherent/incoherent sentences). The participants were 36 school-aged children (18 DLD, 18 TD) aged 7 to 7 years and 11 months. The task required subjects to listen to sentences that either matched or did not match an action in a video, with sentences including telic or atelic verbs. Results: The study found notable differences between groups in how they processed verbs (N400 and post-N400 components) and direct objects (N400 and P600 components). Conclusions: Children with DLD struggled to differentiate telic and atelic verbs, potentially because they employed overgeneralization strategies consistent with the Event Structural Bootstrapping model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), prevention, identification, assessment, and intervention of children who are learning to read and write are within the scope of practice for school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Furthermore, for SLPs who work in the school setting, it is not uncommon to have struggling readers and poor spellers on their caseloads. Importantly, for students who have difficulty in spelling, their spelling errors are among the early indicators of dyslexia and can provide a means for identifying readers who may benefit from early intervention. SLPs can both assess spelling skills and implement evidence-based spelling and literacy diagnosis and instruction. Spelling instruction in kindergarten through the high school grades that is heavily grounded in metalinguistic activities can provide access to mental representations of word spellings, pronunciations, and meanings; links between whole-word and phonics approaches to reading instruction; and a foundation for reading fluency and comprehension. Conclusions: Learning to spell is essential for learning to read. Accordingly, this tutorial aims to elucidate how to (a) assess and identify phases of spelling development and (b) teach spelling to facilitate reading through a listening-first approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this validation study, we examined the factor structure of the mediated learning observation (MLO) used during the teaching phase of dynamic assessment. As an indicator of validity, we evaluated whether the MLO factor structure was consistent across children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). Method: Two hundred twenty-four children (188 typically developing and 36 DLD) from kindergarten to second grade completed a 30-min individual mediated learning session on narrative production. Performance during the session was rated using the 12-item MLO by clinicians on affect, behavior, arousal, and elaboration. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to establish the factor structure and reliability of the MLO. Results: Factor analysis of the MLO suggested a stable three-factor model with adequate fit indices across kindergarten and school-age samples, across both typically developing and DLD subgroups with good to excellent reliability. The final 11-item MLO (one item was removed due to low factor loading) comprises three subscales including (a) cognitive factor, (b) learning anticipation, and (c) learning engagement. Conclusions: The MLO is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing language learning skills in children with and without DLD during dynamic assessment. Practical implications and suggestions for future research addressing the utilization of MLO in dynamic assessment are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Prior work has identified weaknesses in commonly used indices of lexical diversity in spoken language samples, such as type--token ratio (TTR) due to sample size and elicitation variation, we explored whether TTR and other diversity measures, such as number of different words/100 (NDW), vocabulary diversity (VocD), and the moving average TTR would be more sensitive to child age and clinical status (typically developing [TD] or developmental language disorder [DLD]) if samples were obtained from standardized prompts. Method: We utilized archival data from the norming samples of the Test of Narrative Language and the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. We examined lexical diversity and other linguistic properties of the samples, from a total of 1,048 children, ages 4-11 years; 798 of these were considered TD, whereas 250 were categorized as having a language learning disorder. Results: TTR was the least sensitive to child age or diagnostic group, with good potential to misidentify children with DLD as TD and TD children as having DLD. Growth slopes of NDW were shallow and not very sensitive to diagnostic grouping. The strongest performing measure was VocD. Mean length of utterance, TNW, and verbs/utterance did show both good growth trajectories and ability to distinguish between clinical and typical samples. Conclusions: This study, the largest and best controlled to date, re-affirms that TTR should not be used in clinical decision making with children. A second popular measure, NDW, is not measurably stronger in terms of its psychometric properties. Because the most sensitive measure of lexical diversity, VocD, is unlikely to gain popularity because of reliance on computer-assisted analysis, we suggest alternatives for the appraisal of children's expressive vocabulary skill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Sociometric studies and adult reports have established that children with Language Disorder (LD) are at risk of peer relationship difficulties. However, we have limited knowledge of how children with LD understand friendship, whom they deem as a good or bad friend, and what role their friendship concepts play in their relationships with peers. This exploratory study aimed to conduct a qualitative investigation into the friendship concepts that children with LD hold and to explore their strategies for making friends. Methods: We conducted multiple, art‐informed interviews on the topic of friendship with 14 children with LD at the age of 6–8 years. Participating children were based in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. They attended enhanced provision, specific speech and language classes and mainstream classrooms. We used framework analysis to map children's responses to Selman's (1979) developmental model of interpersonal understanding, which espouses a theory of children's social development within the context of peer relationships. Results: The understanding of friendship formation in children with LD varied from physical presence to mutual support and sharing. Children's ideas about a good/bad friend represented the lowest developmental stage. Participants from the mainstream classroom demonstrated the highest stages of interpersonal understanding. Children with LD did not mention their language abilities as a barrier to making friends. Conclusion: There are limited studies exploring friendship directly from children with LD, and this study provides insights into this gap, by utilising art‐informed interviews. Children's immature understanding of a good/bad friend points towards a potential susceptibility to false friends, which we suggest needs further empirical validation. We also found that children with LD did not pay attention to their language difficulties when making friends, which raises questions about the ways diagnoses are shared with children. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject: Children with Language Disorder (LD) are at risk of peer relationship difficulties. Studies to date are based on sociometrics and adult reports. Only a few studies employ participatory approaches to research with children, directly engaging children with LD when exploring their friendships What this paper adds: This paper directly asks children with LD about their understanding of friendship and strategies for making friends.Physical proximity and play are important to children.s understanding of friendship especially in recognising good and bad friends. This indicates potential reasons for children with LD being susceptible to false friendsAdditionally, children with LD do not perceive language and communication as a barrier to making friends. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: Concepts around friendship and good/bad friends should be routinely assessed and targeted (if appropriate) in interventions. The study highlights the need to continue discussing practices around sharing diagnoses with children with LD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Syntactic awareness is the ability to monitor and manipulate word order within sentences. It is unclear whether children with dyslexia have syntactic awareness problems, as there are mixed results in the literature. Dyslexia is typically classified with very poor word and nonword reading and phonological processing problems are often observed in this population. It is conceivable that a phonological deficit could strain memory when performing oral syntactic awareness tasks. Here we examine if syntactic awareness problems are observed in children with dyslexia once phonological processing and memory skills are controlled. Methods: Real and nonword reading efficiency tests determined reading level. Children with dyslexia (n = 25) were compared to typically developing children (n = 24) matched for age (M = 8;8) and nonverbal abilities. Syntactic awareness was measured with an oral word order correction task (e.g., Is baking Lisa and her son in his room sleeps). Tests of phonological awareness, phonological memory, and verbal working memory were also administered and served as controls. Results: The dyslexic group performed worse than typically developing readers on syntactic awareness and this group difference persisted once phonological memory and verbal working memory were controlled. However, after controlling for phonological awareness skills, there were no group differences on the syntactic awareness test. Discussion: The results suggest that phonological awareness problems in particular might be responsible for syntactic awareness difficulties in dyslexia and future studies should control for this. The results are discussed within theoretical frameworks on the nature of oral language deficits in dyslexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Naturalistic, Developmental, and Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs) are an empirically supported intervention approach for young autistic children and their families. Spanish-speaking (SS) Latinx families have been underrepresented in autism intervention research, limiting our understanding of whether NDBIs are aligned with Latinx family values and belief systems. This study piloted a parent-mediated NDBI, Project ImPACT, within outpatient services for SS Latinx families. We aimed to examine the preliminary impact of Project ImPACT on family and child outcomes while using the Ecological Validity Model to evaluate program adaptations made by bilingual clinicians. Results from 15 families indicated good treatment completion and high satisfaction, alongside significant increases in child social communication skills and parent self-efficacy in supporting their child's development. Mixed-methods data examining program adaptations indicated the need to provide additional information related to autism, bilingual language development, and service navigation, as well as adaptations to language and metaphors used in the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Pitch variations (tone productions) have been reported as a measure to differentiate Cantonese-speaking children with and without childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). This study aims to examine fundamental frequency (F0) changes within syllables and the effects of syllable structure, lexical status, and syllable positions on F0 in Cantonese-speaking preschool children with and without CAS. Method: Six children with CAS, six children with non-CAS speech sound disorder plus language disorder (S&LD), 22 children with speech sound disorder only (SSD), and 63 children with typical speech-language development (TD) performed the tone sequencing task (TST). Growth curve analysis was employed to analyze and compare the F0 values within syllables with three Cantonese tones (high level, high rising, and low falling). The analysis considered the effects of syllable structure (vowel and consonant–vowel), lexical status (word and nonword), and syllable position (initial, medial, and final) on F0, as well as comparisons within and between groups. Results: Within each group, the effects of syllable structure and position on F0 values were found with different patterns. Between-group comparisons showed that the CAS group had reduced F0 contrasts. The CAS group could be differentiated from the control groups based on interactions of F0 with syllable structure and position, but not lexical status. The dissimilarity of F0 values detected between the CAS and SSD/TD groups was more prominent than that observed between the CAS and S&LD groups. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that Cantonese-speaking children with CAS had difficulty in varying F0 within syllables as compared to those without CAS, suggesting pitch variation difficulty and language-specific impairment profiles in CAS. Future investigations of objective measures for identifying Cantonese speakers with CAS and cross-linguistic investigations using growth curve analysis and the TST are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Previously, Lancaster and Camarata (2019) showed that the continuum/ spectrum model of the developmental language disorder (DLD) best explained the high heterogeneity of symptoms in children with DLD. We hypothesize that the continuum/spectrum approach can include not only children with DLD but also typically developing (TD) children with different timelines and patterns of language acquisition. This model can explain individual language profiles and deficits in children. Method: We assessed language abilities in a group of Russian-speaking children with DLD aged 4–7 years (n = 53) and their age- and gender-matched peers without speech and language diagnoses (n = 53, TD). We evaluated the children’s performance at four language levels in production and comprehension domains, using 11 subtests of the standardized language assessment for Russian: Russian Child Language Assessment Battery (RuCLAB). Using the kmeans cluster method and RuCLAB scores, we obtained two clusters of children and analyzed their language performance in individual subtests. Results: The analysis revealed that the two clusters of children both included DLD and TD participants: Group 1, with higher test scores (TD = 45, DLD = 24 children), and Group 2, with lower scores (TD = 8, DLD = 29). Children from Group 1 mostly had lower scores at one of the language levels, whereas those from Group 2 struggled at several language levels. Furthermore, children with DLD from both groups tended to be more sensitive to linguistic features such as word length, noun case, and sentence reversibility compared to TD children. Conclusions: The presence of two mixed groups shows that children with diagnosed DLD could perform on par with TD children, whereas some younger TD children could perform similarly to children with DLD. Our findings support the continuum/spectrum model: Linguistic skills in preschool children are a continuum, varying from high to poor skills at all language levels in comprehension and production. To describe a child’s language profile, the tasks assessing all language levels should be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined disfluencies in the narratives of Russian-Hebrew bilingual children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and Typical Language Development (TLD) in both Russian (home language) and Hebrew (societal language), with a focus on the independent and combined effects of language disorder and cross-linguistic differences on the rates and loci of disfluencies. Narratives were collected from 44 bilingual children (14 with DLD), ages 5;7–6;6, using a story retelling procedure. The narrative coding system targeted ratios of the following disfluencies (per C-unit): silent pauses, repetitions, self-corrections, and filled pauses. Silent pauses longer than 0.25 sec were identified using PRAAT software© and were classified according to the following durations: more than 0.5 sec, 1 sec, 1.5 sec, and 2 sec. In addition, the loci of pauses (utterance-initial or utterance-internal) and repetitions (content or function words) were coded. Overall, children with DLD and TLD had comparable rates of disfluencies but differed for pauses longer than 0.5 sec and repetition of content words in both languages. For the overall ratio of pauses (more than 0.25 sec), children with and without DLD had more pauses in Russian. Long pauses and repetition of content words reflect difficulties for bilingual children with DLD in dealing with the demands of storytelling, in particular planning processes. A higher ratio of pauses in Russian suggests that they reflect lower proficiency in that language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) announced that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for speech and language delay and disorders in children 5 years or younger who don't show any signs or symptoms of delays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to investigate the written language production in Greek of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) children and compare it to that of typically developing (TD) children matched for gender and chronological age. The participants of the study were 31 children with DLD (7.6 years old) and 31 TD children (7.7 years old). All the participants were asked to write a text on a specific prompt they were given by the researchers. Both groups were assessed for the total number of words produced in text, the proportion of incorrectly spelt words in text, the total number of morphological errors and the total number of phonological errors produced. In addition, the specific type of morphological and phonological errors students produced in their written texts of the DLD group were also taken into consideration. The findings of the study showed that the DLD group performed worse in almost all measurements as compared to their TD peers and that their errors concerned mainly replacement, omission or addition of graphemes or syllables. Further research is needed on the written production of individuals with DLD in order to replicate those findings and contribute to the almost non-existing knowledge concerning written production in Greek. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the comprehension and production of long passives (i.e. bei-constructions with an overt agent) in Mandarin-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Seventeen preschool children with DLD (1 female; mean age: 61 months old) and 23 typically developing (TD) children (6 females; mean age: 62 months old) participated in a sentence-picture matching task (for comprehension) and an elicited production task. Their nonverbal working memory (NVWM) was measured with the fourth edition of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Results showed that children with DLD were less accurate and more likely to choose the picture with reversed thematic roles than their TD peers on passives in the sentence-picture matching task; in the elicited production task, they produced fewer target responses than TD children in passives. For NVWM, although that of the DLD group was lower than that of TD children, most children in the DLD group were within the average range. Furthermore, their performance on passives in the comprehension and production tasks was significantly correlated with their NVWM, which adds to the body of work suggesting links between complex syntax and working memory. However, the fact that NVWM could be preserved in the face of difficulties with passives suggests that this link may be due to NVWM enhancing performance during tasks with a high visual component, while it may not be underlyingly responsible for syntactic impairments in children with DLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: For half a century, psycholinguists have been exploring the idea that developmental language disorders may have their roots in suprathreshold auditory dysfunctions, but results are inconclusive. Typical studies focus on relationships between temporal processing abilities and measures of various language skills at the time of testing, a proximal account. This study expanded that focus by testing three novel hypotheses: (a) Spectral processing impairments may be more responsible for language-learning deficits than temporal processing impairments. (b) Phonological sensitivity is likely the specific language skill most strongly affected by auditory (dys)functions. (c) Poor auditory functioning observed at young ages may wholly or partly recover, reducing the magnitude of relationship between those recovered functions and persistent language skills at older ages. Method: Sixty-six children (31 boys, 35 girls) 7-10 years of age participated: 36 with typical language and 30 with reading or speech disorder; from this sample two subsamples were designated: younger (7-8 years) and older (9-10 years) children. Four auditory measures were obtained of spectral modulation detection (0.5 and 2.0 cycles per octave) and temporal modulation detection (16 and 64 Hz). Four language measures were obtained, two lexicosyntactic and two phonological. Results: Younger children showed deficits in all auditory skills, but most strongly for spectral modulation detection at 0.5 cycles per octave; that measure was the only one for which older children showed deficits. Spectral modulation detection was the auditory function most strongly correlated with a language skill, and that language skill was phonological sensitivity. Conclusions: Early impairments in suprathreshold auditory functions, especially spectral processing, interfere with language acquisition at early stages, especially phonological sensitivity. Although auditory functions can recover to some extent, impairments in language skills persist, indicating that a distal account may more appropriately explain the relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental difference is a common characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with unclear sex differences. The current study included 610 children with ASD, aged between 2 and 7 years, with completed language profiles. We used a nonparametric item response theory model called Mokken scale analysis to examine the order of acquisition of developmental language milestones in children with ASD. Our results demonstrated the developmental language differences in the expressive and receptive language dimensions in children with ASD compared with typical developmental sequences. Furthermore, The acquisition of gestures and pragmatics was more impaired in the female subgroup than in the male subgroup. The identified developmental language sequence could help provide a more comprehensive ASD developmental profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In English and related languages, many preschool-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have difficulties using tense and agreement consistently. In this review article, we discuss two potential input-related sources of this difficulty and offer several possible strategies aimed at circumventing input obstacles. Method: We review a series of studies from English, supplemented by evidence from computational modeling and studies of other languages. Collectively, the studies show that instances of failures to express tense and agreement in DLD resemble portions of larger sentences in everyday input in which tense and agreement marking is appropriately absent. Furthermore, experimental studies show that children's use of tense and agreement can be swayed by manipulating details in fully grammatical input sentences. Results: The available evidence points to two particular sources of input that may contribute to tense and agreement inconsistency. One source is the appearance of subject + nonfinite verb sequences that appear in auxiliary-fronted questions (e.g., Is [the girl running]? Does [the boy like popcorn]?) and as dependent clauses in more complex sentences (e.g., Help [her wash the dishes]; We saw [the frog hopping]). The other source is the frequent appearance of bare stems in the input, whether nonfinite (e.g., go in Make him go fast) or finite (e.g., go in I go, you go). Conclusions: Although the likely sources of input are a natural part of the language that all children hear, procedures that alter the distribution of this input might be used in the early stages of intervention. Subsequent steps can incorporate more explicit comprehension and production techniques. A variety of suggestions are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This proof of concept study assessed the feasibility of a novel approach to teaching parents naturalistic language facilitation strategies in a single session. We investigated whether parents could learn to use the See and Say Sequence, which integrated responsive and language modeling strategies and measured the impacts that this intervention had on features of their input. Method: Fourteen parent--child dyads participated in the study. Children ranged from 15 to 23 months of age and produced between three and 135 words. Five parents had concerns about their children's rate of language development. Parents were taught the See and Say Sequence during a brief single session (M = 18.98 min, SD = 2.65 min) using the Teach--Model--Coach--Review instructional process. We analyzed parents' use of the three See and Say Sequence components, total number of utterances, and mean turn length, as well as responsive and linguistic features of parent input before and after the brief intervention. Results: Following intervention, parents significantly increased their use of the three See and Say Sequence components and decreased their total number of utterances and mean turn length. In addition, the use of the See and Say Sequence components substantially altered the overall composition of parent input. Conclusions: The results of this preliminary study demonstrate the feasibility of the See and Say Sequence in teaching responsive and language modeling strategies in a single session. We discuss the potential use and future evaluation of the See and Say Sequence as an option for early intervention service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this article, we present key concepts pointing to the importance of targeting complex sentences for school-age children and adolescents with developmental language disorders (DLD). Drawing on current treatment research, we argue that the sentence is a crucial but often neglected piece of the puzzle when it comes to understanding relationships between DLD and academic outcomes. We provide detailed suggestions for how clinicians can focus on complex sentence structures in natural academic contexts to bridge this gap. Method: Background information on sentence complexity is presented, along with a rationale for targeting complex sentences with school-age children and adolescents with DLD. Intervention methods from a variety of studies targeting multiclausal sentences are discussed in relation to current accounts of language learning and language processing models. We provide a robust catalog of suggested strategies for targeting sentence complexity in a manner that is aligned with research findings to date and integrated into real academic contexts. Conclusions: Complex sentence structures are a key challenge for students with DLD as they tackle discipline-specific language and academic tasks. Sentence complexity treatment programs employ one or more treatment methods including priming, modeling, recasting, contextualization, metalinguistic instruction, and sentence combining. While studies have consistently shown a measurable improvement in complex sentence production on proximal outcomes regardless of treatment approach, evidence of durable, functional changes for students with DLD remains sparse. We encourage new treatments that target comprehension and production of complex sentences in real-life academic contexts in clinical practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychology students receive little content related to supporting mental health among children with language difficulties (language difficulties), which contributes to low confidence to support this population. Postgraduate psychology students (n = 96) received an education intervention (one lecture and one tutorial) on links between language and mental health difficulties and implications for practice. Knowledge, experience, and confidence were explored via pre- and post-surveys and follow-up interviews. Over 40% of students reported low levels of knowledge, education, and confidence to support people with language difficulties. Confidence significantly increased following the education intervention (p <.001). Interview data provide preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of the education intervention in enhancing awareness of links between language difficulties and mental health and the value of collaboration between psychology and speech-language pathology (SLP). These findings support the involvement of SLPs in psychology training; however, both disciplines must continue to advocate for ongoing collaborative learning opportunities to promote positive outcomes for children with language difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the present study was to investigate the performance of four Filipino–English bilingual kindergarteners with language difficulties on a dynamic assessment of English narratives. Using a multiple case-study design, we examined the children's modifiability by detailing their responsiveness, level of skill transfer, and the amount and type of effort the examiner expended during two mediation sessions. We also assessed the children's narrative skills using the Test of Narrative Language—second edition (TNL-2). During mediation, similarities among the four children included difficulty answering wh-questions, little transfer of the newly learned skills, frequent focus on the story problem, and the need for continual prompting and repetition. However, the children showed individual learning styles, behavior when learning, and learning potential, prompting the examiner to apply different strategies to support their individual abilities. Gains on the TNL-2 were also negligible, consistent with the modifiability findings, apart from one child who showed improvement in comprehension scores. The case studies provide novel information regarding the narrative skills of Filipino bilingual children with language difficulties, an under-researched population. They can help guide expectations of such children during a dynamic assessment and suggest mediation strategies that clinicians could incorporate into their practice with other groups of bilingual children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation has been designed with the purpose of analyzing the narrative development in pupils with typical development (DT) and with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and formulating an educational proposal to achieve their stimulation. The final sample consisted of 128 5-year-old pupils, divided into four groups each with 32 subjects: a treatment group of pupils with TDL, a group without treatment of pupils with TDL, a treatment group of pupils with language DT and a group without treatment of pupils with DT of language. The intervention program was organized following a Multi-Tiered System of Supports. There is a clear improvement performance in the narrative scheme in both pupils with TDL and DT. In addition, the TDL group with treatment showed greater gains compared to the three groups, while the DT group with treatment showed greater gains compared to the two groups without treatment. It is suggested that the competencies in narrative discourse skills be incorporated into the curriculum of Early Childhood Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the effectiveness of play therapy (based on the cognitive–behavioural approach) and puppet play therapy in expressive\ receptive language disorders of the studied population. Here, we imported 45 female bilingual preschool children to our research. Their expressive\ receptive language disorders have been approved previously based on our criteria and randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. In the pre-test stages, all participants completed The language development test (TOLD3) to evaluate expressive\ receptive language disorders. During the intervention, the experimental groups received the educational play therapy programme and puppet play therapy, while the control group did not receive any intervention. After the intervention, all groups were examined again in the post-test stages. Our findings demonstrated that cognitive–behavioural play therapy is more significantly effective than puppet play therapy in improving expressive \ receptive language disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested the role of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)'s conversational expansion in mediating between mothers' descriptive language and children with ASD's conversational repair, and whether this mediation was moderated by the relative complexity of mother-child language. Videos of forty children with ASD engaging in various activities with their mothers were transcribed into language samples and then coded. Mediation analyses indicated that conversational expansion mediated the association between descriptive language and conversational repair. Moderated mediation analysis further indicated that the relative complexity of mother-child language moderated the relationship between descriptive language and conversational expansion, creating a conditional indirect effect. Although preliminary, the results of this study provide parents and practitioners with a new idea of language intervention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated heterogeneity in language skills of children with autism and their relationship with different autistic social subtypes. Data from 90 autistic and 30 typically developing children were analyzed. Results showed that autistic social subtypes varied in language skill problems (aloof > passive > active-but-odd). There was a negative association between aloof dimension scores and language performance but positive for the active-but-odd dimension and no association in the passive one. Moreover, aloof dimension score was the main contributor to language performance. A receiver operating characteristic analysis suggested language vocabulary as an additional component in differentiating autistic social subtypes. These findings demonstrate that variations in language skills in autistic children provide additional information for discriminating their social subtype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study explores limitations in communication in daily life of children with developmental language disorder (DLD) from their parents’ perspective as well as communicative abilities and social functioning in the classroom from their teacher’s perspective. Furthermore, differences between children with mixed receptive–expressive disorder and children with expressive-only disorder in communication in daily life and social functioning are studied. Method: Data were collected through questionnaires completed by parents and teachers of children (5–6 years old) who attended schools for special education for DLD. Language test scores were retrieved from school records. Parents of 60 children answered open-ended questions about situations and circumstances in which their child was most troubled by language difficulties. Teachers of 83 children rated communicative abilities, social competence, and student–teacher relationship. Results: Parents reported communication with strangers as most troublesome and mentioned the influence of the mental state of their child. Parents considered limitations in expressing oneself and being understood and not being intelligible as core difficulties. Teachers rated the children’s communicative abilities in the school context as inadequate, but their scores concerning social competence and the quality of teacher–child relationships fell within the normal range. Children with receptive–expressive disorder experienced limitations in communication in almost all situations, whereas those with expressive disorder faced limitations in specific situations. Children with receptive–expressive disorder were also significantly more limited in their communicative abilities and social competence at school than children with expressive disorder. No differences were found between the two groups in the quality of the teacher–child relationship. Conclusions: The results confirm that children with DLD face significant challenges in a variety of communicative situations. We found indications that children with receptive–expressive disorder experience more severe limitations than children with expressive disorder. The involvement of parents and teachers in evaluating a child’s communicative ability provides valuable and clinically relevant information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Understanding students’ home literacy environments can help speech-language pathologists, teachers, and other educators partner with families to promote language and literacy learning. This study focused on gaining insight into the views of parents of elementary-age students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who had complex communication needs related to supporting children’s language and literacy learning in the home. Method: This qualitative study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many schools were utilizing remote or hybrid learning arrangements. Participants were 37 parents of students with complex communication needs in kindergarten to fourth grade. Most children had either autism or Down syndrome, and they ranged from primarily communicating prelinguistically (e.g., gestures and nonword vocalizations) to using some two to three word phrases in different modes (e.g., speech, sign, and aided augmentative and alternative communication [AAC]). Each parent was interviewed three times over the 2020–2021 school year, and data were analyzed using an inductive qualitative approach. Results: Findings showed patterns of commonalities and differences in parents’ experiences, including related to their (a) goals and values about communication, language, and literacy; (b) perceptions and experiences with roles supporting language and literacy; and (c) satisfaction with supports and progress in these areas. Conclusion: This study provides important insight into the views of parents related to home literacy that can be used to improve the design and delivery of interventions for school-age students with complex communication needs and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Compounding in German is a frequent and highly productive word formation strategy. Monolingual children begin to form compound words in regular language acquisition at around the age of two. There is individual evidence in the literature of early phases of non-target language production in the form of inversions, i.e., exchange of compound components. For bilingual language acquisition, pilot study results show that such inversions still occur at the age of seven to eight or after three to four years of exposure to German (Scherger & Kliemke, 2021). Method In the present study, inversions in the comprehension and production of neologistic compound nouns were investigated in 19 bilingual school-age children (n = 11 with German as L2 and n = 8 with 2L1 acquisition) in a quasi-experimental design using picture naming and word-picture matching tasks. These children were compared with two control groups of monolingual children: an age-matched group (n = 9, mean age = 7;2) and a group that was compared with the groups of bilingual children in terms of contact time with German (n = 7, mean age = 3;11). Results: There are differences between children with German as L2 and the age-matched control group of monolingual children and between children with L2 and monolingual children matched according to their length of exposure in the comprehension task. In addition, children with 2L1 show better comprehension performance than children with L2. Conclusion! Since composition is one of the most important word formation strategies in German, especially in the context of academic language, its comprehension and production should be monitored particularly in children with German as an L2 and - if necessary - promoted. Doing so, the resources for cross-linguistic comparisons and multilingual learning based on knowledge of the structures in the respective heritage language may be integrated positively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shin and Mill (2021) propose four steps children go through when learning variable form use. Although I applaud Shin and Miller's focus on morphosyntactic variation, their accrual of evidence is post hoc and selective. Fortunately, Shin and Miller recognize this and encourage tests of their ideas. In support of their work, I share data from children with and without DLD within AAE and SWE to promote these child profiles and dialectal varieties in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) show atypical attention, particularly for social events. The new Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP) assesses fine-grained individual differences in attention disengagement, maintenance, and audiovisual matching for social and nonsocial events. We investigated the role of competing stimulation on attention, and relations with language and symptomatology in children with ASD and typical controls. Findings revealed: (1) the MAAP differentiated children with ASD from controls, (2) greater attention to social events predicted better language for both groups and lower symptom severity in children with ASD, (3) different pathways from attention to language were evident in children with ASD versus controls. The MAAP provides an ideal attention assessment for revealing diagnostic group differences and relations with outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purposes of this alphabet knowledge (AK) tutorial are to provide (a) a description of its developmental sequence, (b) evidence-based assessment considerations, (c) evidence-based intervention guidance, and (d) a discussion of three service delivery models that speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can use when providing intervention that supports AK skills. Method: The tutorial begins with a description of AK's developmental progression, followed by evidence-based assessment considerations, guidance for evidence-based intervention, and a discussion of three service delivery models. Finally, an example is provided of a preschool student with developmental language disorder (DLD) to demonstrate how an SLP could collaborate with a general education teacher to provide intervention addressing AK skills. The application of three different service delivery models is discussed: pull-out, collaborative-consultation, and classroom-based. Conclusions: SLPs should consider a variety of service delivery models, which may include both direct and indirect services, when planning intervention targeting emergent literacy skills for children with DLD. Although these models can be challenging to implement due to barriers such as time and resistance from other professionals, they have the potential to positively impact children's outcomes and educators' knowledge and skills. SLP training programs should incorporate interprofessional education experiences to provide student SLPs with the interprofessional knowledge and skills required to collaborate effectively with other educators in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are characterised by impaired language abilities both in comprehension and production. Complex syntax is a specific domain which is often considered challenging for children with DLD. Research regarding complex syntax is mostly concerned with the production patterns of speakers and usually employs English-speaking populations. This scoping review aims to systematically map the abilities of non-English-speaking children with DLD to comprehend complex syntactic structures, comparing these results with the broader literature on English-speaking children with DLD. It also aims to consider the account (i.e. grammatical vs processing) by which these abilities can be explained. Four online databases were used to extract original research articles published between 2011 and 2021. Of the 264 studies initially identified, 20 studies were included in the review. The results demonstrated that children with DLD present with difficulties in comprehending object relative clauses, wh-questions, sentences with non-canonical word order, passives, and other types of complex syntax. All of these challenges are also evident in English-speaking children with DLD and can be mainly attributed either to the inability of children to assign thematic roles, their restricted working memory capacities, or a combination thereof. It is concluded that the comprehension of complex syntax might be a universal marker of DLD, which can be explained on the basis of either a grammatical or a processing account, or both. Common challenges in certain structures across languages can be used to design a comprehension assessment tool that can be applied in several languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explored the characteristics of phonological errors of preschool children with DLD (Developmental Language Disorder), distinguishing between typical versus atypical phonological processes in segmental, syllabic and word levels. The analysis included 87 responses of words with phonological errors from a naming test, produced by 13 preschool children with DLD, aged 4;4–6;3 years. These responses included 166 phonological processes, which were classified into typical and atypical processes at the levels of: segments, syllables, and prosodic words. The findings revealed that 70% of the phonological processes were atypical. Furthermore, ten children produced more atypical processes, and there were more atypical than typical processes in segmental and word levels. It is suggested that some children with DLD represent phonological processes that are similar to those that children with speech and sound disorders produce. Therefore, clinically, the results emphasise the importance of analysing the typical and atypical characteristics of phonological errors as part of language assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experts laud the potential of educational technology (edtech) to promote reading among students with disabilities, but supporting evidence is lacking. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Lexia® Core5® Reading edtech program (Core5) on the Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP) Growth Reading™ and easyCBM oral reading fluency performance of students with reading or language-based disabilities in Grades K to 5. Core5 systematically addresses multiple reading domains and previously was effective in general education. We hypothesized treatment students using Core5 would outperform controls on the reading assessments. This was a cluster randomized effectiveness evaluation, with condition assignment by school (three treatment and two business-as-usual control schools). Participating students in Grades K to 5 (N = 115; nTreatment = 65) were flagged by their Chicago-area district as needing reading intervention and had Individualized Education Program (IEP) designations of specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, or developmental delay. Treatment students used Core5 to supplement Tier 1 instruction for an average of 58.76 minutes weekly for 24.58 weeks. Regressions revealed treatment students outperformed controls on MAP (B = 3.85, CI = 0.57–7.13, p =.022, d =.24), but there were no differences for oral reading fluency. MAP findings confirm edtech can effectively supplement reading instruction for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Autism spectrum disorder (autism) is a heterogeneous condition that poses challenges in describing the needs of individuals with autism and making prognoses about future outcomes. We applied a newly proposed definition of profound autism to surveillance data to estimate the percentage of children with autism who have profound autism and describe their sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Methods: We analyzed population-based surveillance data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network for 20 135 children aged 8 years with autism during 2000-2016. Children were classified as having profound autism if they were nonverbal, were minimally verbal, or had an intelligence quotient <50. Results: The percentage of 8-year-old children with profound autism among those with autism was 26.7%. Compared with children with non–profound autism, children with profound autism were more likely to be female, from racial and ethnic minority groups, of low socioeconomic status, born preterm or with low birth weight; have self-injurious behaviors; have seizure disorders; and have lower adaptive scores. In 2016, the prevalence of profound autism was 4.6 per 1000 8-year-olds. The prevalence ratio (PR) of profound autism was higher among non-Hispanic Asian/Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (PR = 1.55; 95 CI, 1.38-1.73), non-Hispanic Black (PR = 1.76; 95% CI, 1.67-1.86), and Hispanic (PR = 1.50; 95% CI, 0.88-1.26) children than among non-Hispanic White children. Conclusions: As the population of children with autism continues to change, describing and quantifying the population with profound autism is important for planning. Policies and programs could consider the needs of people with profound autism across the life span to ensure their needs are met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) show evidence of domain-general deficits in sequentially patterned motor skills. This study focuses on the production of rhythmically grouped sequences drawn from a music task, with the hypothesis that children with DLD will show a sequential pattern learning deficit that crosses language and action domains. Method: Fifty-seven 4- to 5-year-old children (36 with DLD) drummed and clapped a developmentally appropriate musical rhythmic sequence 24 times (clapped 12 times, drummed 12 times). The accuracy of rhythmic events (markings of claps, drums, and pauses in a target sequence) was assessed through a modification of classic speech and language transcription procedures. The variability and prosodic structure of the rhythmic groupings were also measured. Results: Children with DLD produced less accurate and more variable rhythmic groupings compared to their typically developing (TD) peers. While the finalposition grouping of the sequence was especially vulnerable for all children, those with DLD included more co-occurring errors in initial and final groupings of the same rhythmic sequence. Both TD children and children with DLD were less accurate in the clapping than the drumming task. Neither rhythmic drumming nor clapping accuracy correlated with motor skill in either group of children. Conclusions: This study provides novel evidence of a manual rhythmic grouping deficit in DLD, one that is motivated by language—not motor or speech— factors. Cognitive abilities necessary to organize rhythmic events into higher order groupings are impaired across music and language in children with DLD. Rhythmic organization and sequencing may serve an important role in diagnosis and intervention in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with difficulties in language learning experience considerable problems in writing and spelling. This systematic review explores the research literature that has been conducted with children who have language learning difficulties (developmental language disorder) through the lens of Chenoweth and Hayes' (2003) model of writing. The model proposes that, when writing, ideas are translated into language, are processed through an evaluator/reviser, and then undergo transcription. The results of the systematic review indicate a pattern of delay in the development of translation and transcription processes relative to chronologically age-matched peers. Findings are considered with reference to future directions in research and clinical and educational implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The current investigation evaluated the extent to which early noun, verb, and adjective lexicon sizes predicted later grammatical outcomes in Mandarin-speaking children with and without late language emergence (LLE) using a parent report. Method: In Study 1, the parents of 24 Mandarin-speaking children with typical language filled out the toddler version of Mandarin--Chinese Communicative Development Inventory--Taiwan (MCDI-T) when these children were 24 and 36 months old. In Study 2, the parents of 23 children with LLE completed the same form when these children were 24, 36, and 48 months old. Noun, verb, and adjective lexicon sizes and grammatical complexity scores were computed from the MCDI-T form for each child. Results: Study 1 showed that verb lexicon size, but not noun or adjective lexicon size, at 24 months predicted grammatical complexity scores at 36 months for children with typical language. Study 2 revealed that noun lexicon size, but not verb or adjective lexicon size, at 24 months predicted grammatical complexity scores at 36 months for children with LLE. Noun lexicon size at 36 months was also the only significant predictor for grammatical complexity scores at 48 months in children with LLE. Conclusions: Noun and verb lexicon size differentially predicted later grammatical outcomes in young Mandarin-speaking children with and without LLE. The finding suggested that children with LLE may have approached grammatical learning differently from their typical peers due to the small verb lexicon size in the early phase of language development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Identification of children with specific language impairment (SLI) can be difficult even though their language can lag that of age peers throughout childhood. A clinical grammar marker featuring tense marking in simple clauses is valid and reliable for young children but is limited by ceiling effects around the age of 8 years. This study evaluated a new, more grammatically challenging complex sentence task in children affected or unaffected with SLI in longitudinal data, ages 5--18 years. Method: Four hundred eighty-three children (213 unaffected, 270 affected) between 5 and 18 years of age participated, following a rolling recruitment longitudinal design encompassing a total of 4,148 observations. The new experimental grammaticality judgment task followed linguistic concepts of syntactic sites for finiteness and movement within complex clauses. Growth modeling methods evaluated group differences over time for four different outcomes; three were hypothesized to evaluate optional omissions of overt finiteness forms in authorized sentence sites, and one evaluated an overt error of tense marking. Results: As in earlier studies of younger children, growth models for the SLI group were consistently lower than the unaffected group, although the growth trajectories across groups did not differ. The results replicated across four item types defined by omissions with minor differences for an item with an overt error of tense marking. Covariates of child nonverbal IQ, mother's education, and child sex did not significantly moderate these effects. Conclusion: The outcomes support the task as having potential screening value for identification of children with SLI and are consistent with linguistic interpretations of task demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is one of the first attempts to study the mechanisms of foreign language learning by children with DLD. We test the effectiveness of a cognate intervention aiming to enhance cross-linguistic awareness of Dutch-speaking primary-school pupils with DLD, as part of their English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum. The participants were learning English as a school subject in the last three years of special primary education in the Netherlands (ages 8;11–13;8). The intervention group (n = 41) received 12 short lessons on cognate relationships over the course of 14 weeks. The control group (n = 46), matched to the intervention group on the amount and intensity of foreign language instruction, received their regular English lessons that were mainly implicit and skill-based. The study used a pre-test–post-test design and compared the development of English word recognition in the two groups, at the same time controlling for the amount of prior EFL instruction and out-of-school exposure to English. The performance at pre-test was already high, particularly on cognates. Word recognition in the control group did not improve over the course of the 14 weeks. The performance of the intervention group showed significant improvement from pre-test to post-test. After the intervention, they recognized not only more of the words practised in the lessons but also more nontreated cognates, which demonstrates that the intervention participants developed a cognate strategy that allowed them to recognize more English words based on similarity to Dutch. We conclude that explicit cognate instruction implemented in a regular classroom setting facilitates the development of EFL vocabulary in special primary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the characteristics of special educational assistance provided to children with language disorders (LDs) attending ordinary early childhood education and care institutions (ECECs) in Norway, with a focus on objectives for language development and language interventions. An in-depth document analysis of 71 pedagogical documents, such as expert assessments and individual development plans (IDPs), pertaining to four children with LDs was conducted. These documents play a large part in the documentation of the special education provision and were analysed and categorised in line with a hermeneutical approach. The findings show that the objectives and the language interventions recommended by the Educational Psychological Service (EPS) in the expert assessments are general or missing, and the language interventions recommended were seldom tailored to the children's LDs. This propagates further among the IDPs. The findings further suggest a division in the responsibilities between the different institutions, with the result that the provision given to the children appears fragmented. Finally, the analysed documents reveal a variation in the quality recommended in special education assistance, which implies a need for improvement in both organisation and competence at ECECs and EPS, to be able to provide an integrated practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined how children (N = 448) with separate or co-occurring developmental language disorder (DLD) and dyslexia performed on school-based measures of academic functioning between second and fourth grades. Children were recruited from 1 school district in the U.S. state of South Carolina via classroom screenings and met common research criteria for DLD and dyslexia. Growth curve models were used to examine the overall form of growth and differences between groups. Children with DLD and/or dyslexia in second grade showed early and persistent deficits on school-administered measures of reading and math. In second grade, children with typical development (TD) scored significantly higher than children with dyslexia-only and DLD-only, who did not differ from each other. Children with DLD+dyslexia scored significantly lower than all other groups. Only small differences in growth rates were observed, and gaps in second grade did not close. Despite lower academic performance, few children (20%–27%) with dyslexia and/or DLD had received specialized support services. Children with DLD-only received services at less than half the rate of dyslexia-only or DLD+dyslexia despite similar impacts on academic performance. Evidence of significant and persistent functional impacts in the context of low rates of support services in these children—especially those with DLD-only—highlights the need to raise awareness of these disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]