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Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder are responsible for deciding which interventions to implement with their child. There is limited research examining parental decision-making with regards to intervention approaches. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was implemented in this study. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 14 participants from 12 family units. Data collection and analysis occurred concurrently, allowing a grounded theory to be constructed. Parental decision-making was influenced by many factors, arranged into seven core categories (values, experience, information, motivation, understanding, needs and logistics). Decision-making evolved over time, as parents transformed from 'parent' to 'expert'. The results of this study provide an insight into parental decision-making, which has implications for the support provided to parents by health professionals.

Background: The phonological and morphosyntactic structures of English and Mandarin contrast maximally and an increasing number of bilinguals speak these two languages. Speech and language therapists need to understand bilingual development for children speaking these languages in order reliably to assess and provide intervention for this population. Aims: To examine the marking of verb tense in the English of two groups of bilingual pre-schoolers learning these languages in a multilingual setting where the main educational language is English. The main research question addressed was: are there differences in the rate and pattern of acquisition of verb-tense marking for English-language 1 children compared with Mandarin-language 1 children? Methods & Procedures: Spoken language samples in English from 481 English-Mandarin bilingual children were elicited using a 10-item action picture test and analysed for each child's use of verb tense markers: present progressive "-ing", regular past tense "-ed", third-person singular "-s", and irregular past tense and irregular past-participle forms. For 4-6 year olds the use of inflectional markers by the different language dominance groups was compared statistically using non-parametric tests. Outcomes & Results: This study provides further evidence that bilingual language development is not the same as monolingual language development. The results show that there are very different rates and patterns of verb-tense marking in English for English-language 1 and Mandarin-language 1 children. Furthermore, they show that bilingual language development in English in Singapore is not the same as monolingual language development in English, and that there are differences in development depending on language dominance. Conclusions: Valid and reliable assessment of bilingual children's language skills needs to consider the characteristics of all languages spoken, obtaining accurate information on language use over time and accurately establishing language dominance is essential in order to make a differential diagnosis between language difference and impairment.

Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder are responsible for deciding which interventions to implement with their child. There is limited research examining parental decision-making with regards to intervention approaches. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was implemented in this study. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 14 participants from 12 family units. Data collection and analysis occurred concurrently, allowing a grounded theory to be constructed. Parental decision-making was influenced by many factors, arranged into seven core categories (values, experience, information, motivation, understanding, needs and logistics). Decision-making evolved over time, as parents transformed from 'parent' to 'expert'. The results of this study provide an insight into parental decision-making, which has implications for the support provided to parents by health professionals., Author(s): Amelia G. Edwards [sup.1] , Chris M. Brebner [sup.1] , Paul F. McCormack [sup.1] , Colin J. MacDougall [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0004 0367 2697, grid.1014.4, Speech Pathology, [...]

Background: The nature of speech disorders in individuals with Down Syndrome (DS) remains controversial despite various explanations put forth in the literature to account for the observed speech profiles. A high level of word production inconsistency in children with DS has led researchers to query whether the inconsistency continues into adolescence, and if the inconsistency stems from inconsistent phonological disorder (IPD) or childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Of the studies that have been published, most suggest that the speech profile of individuals with DS is delayed, while a few recent studies suggest a combination of delayed and disordered patterns. However, no studies have explored the nature of word production inconsistency in this population, and the relationship between word production inconsistency, receptive vocabulary and severity of speech disorder. Aims: To investigate in a pilot study the extent of word production inconsistency in adolescents with DS and to examine the correlations between word production inconsistency, measures of receptive vocabulary, severity of speech disorder and oromotor skills in adolescents with DS. Methods & Procedures: The participants were 32 native speakers of Singaporean-English adolescents, comprising 16 participants with DS and 16 typically developing (TD) participants. The participants completed a battery of standardized speech and language assessments, including The Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP) assessment. Results from each test were correlated to determine relationships. Qualitative analyses were also carried out on all the data collected. Outcomes & Results: In this study, seven out of 16 participants with DS scored above 40% on word production inconsistency, a diagnostic criterion for IPD. In addition, all participants with DS performed poorly on the oromotor assessment of DEAP. The overall speech profile observed did not exactly correspond with the cluster symptoms observed in children with IPD or CAS. Conclusions & Implications: Word production inconsistency is a noticeable feature in the speech of individuals with DS. In addition, the speech profiles of individuals with DS consist of atypical and unusual errors alongside developmental errors. Significant correlations were found between the measures investigated, suggesting that speech disorder in DS is multifactorial. The results from this study will help to improve differential diagnosis of speech disorders and individualized treatment plans in the population with DS.

Background: There are no published data on typical phonological development for Singaporean children. There is therefore the risk that children's speech in Singapore may be misdiagnosed or that clinicians may set goals erroneously. Aims: This paper reports a preliminary study on the English phonology of typically developing 4;0-4;5-year-old Chinese Singaporean children who speak English and Mandarin. Method & Procedures: Seventy children were recruited throughout Singapore, and speech samples were collected in English using the Phonology Assessment of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP). The participants were divided equally into two groups: English-dominant and Mandarin-dominant. Their speech samples were compared with British English targets (BT) and Singapore English targets (ST) in terms of phonological accuracy and types of phonological processes used. Outcomes & Results: The results showed that Singaporean children's phonological accuracy scores increased significantly when scored against ST instead of BT. When scored against ST, English-dominant children were found to perform similarly to their DEAP counterparts. However, Mandarin-dominant children had significantly less accurate consonant production in English and exhibited more interference effects from Mandarin phonology than English-dominant children. Conclusions & Implications: In this preliminary study, the results highlight the importance of speech and language therapists using local dialect pronunciations to be the target of speech assessments so as to provide appropriate assessment and intervention. It is also essential to account for the language background and language dominance of the children. More local normative data are needed for the typical acquisition of Singapore English in children, especially for children whose dominant language is not English.

This research investigated whether children with specific language impairment (SLI) and non-specific language impairment (NLI) could be differentiated by their oral narrative characteristics. Oral narrative samples were collected from 69 children and comparisons were made among four groups of participants. The two language impairment groups (SLI and NLI), aged 4;11-6;03, were matched for age and their linguistics skills. Their oral narratives were compared between these diagnostic groups and with age-matched and language-matched control groups. Measures of narrative structure, cohesion, and information did not significantly differentiate the SLI and NLI groups, suggesting that the influence of their similar linguistic skills on oral narrative measures was stronger than the influence of their differing non-verbal cognition. The SLI group produced significantly more complex and informative oral narratives than the language-matched group, while the NLI group differed from the language-matched group on fewer measures. Interactions among linguistic, cognitive, maturational, and task factors are discussed. (Contains 8 tables.)