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Background: There is now substantial evidence that language interventions delivered to small groups can be effective for improving language skills and hence strengthening the foundation for formal schooling. However, there are remaining challenges when delivering such interventions in naturalistic environments at scale. Method: We reflect on three randomised trials designed to evaluate the impact of an early years language programme, prior to the implementation of a large effectiveness trial, delivered in partnership with speech and language professionals. We consider findings within a framework from implementation science. Results: We found that, in contrast to policy-led interventions for reading and mathematics, language interventions are not prioritised in mainstream settings. Aside from this, other obstacles to delivery were the time taken to prepare and to timetable sessions, lack of communication about the requirements of delivery and the need for language screening. Crucial to success was the support from the class teacher of teaching assistants delivering the intervention. However, feedback was largely positive from most stakeholders, and the intervention was found to have a positive impact on children's language with preliminary evidence for effects on behaviour and on reading comprehension. Conclusions: While many educators recognise the importance of language for communication, the benefits of oral language interventions are only recently becoming prioritised by policy-makers. We propose that challenges to successful delivery and adoption of evidence-based language interventions in mainstream settings can be remedied through better communication with stakeholders and collaboration between researchers and professional colleagues including senior leaders, teachers, teaching assistants, speech and language therapists and psychologists. It is imperative to take account of issues of implementation when designing an intervention and to do this successfully is a multidisciplinary enterprise.

Background: Children who show disproportionate difficulty with the pragmatic as compared with the structural aspects of language are described as having pragmatic language impairment (PLI) or social communication disorder (SCD). Some children who have PLI also show mild social impairments associated with high-functioning autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is little robust evidence of effectiveness of speech-language interventions which target the language, pragmatic or social communication needs of these children. Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of an intensive manualized social communication intervention (SCIP) for children who have PLI with or without features of ASD. Methods & Procedures: In a single-blind RCT design, 88 children with pragmatic and social communication needs aged 5;11-10;8, recruited from UK speech and language therapy services, were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to SCIP or to treatment-as-usual. Children in the SCIP condition received up to 20 sessions of direct intervention from a specialist research speech and language therapist working with supervised assistants. All therapy content and methodology was derived from an intervention manual. A primary outcome measure of structural language and secondary outcome measures of narrative, parent-reported pragmatic functioning and social communication, blind-rated perceptions of conversational competence and teacher-reported ratings of classroom learning skills were taken pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and at 6-month follow-up. Analysis was by intention to treat. Outcomes & Results: No significant treatment effect was found for the primary outcome measure of structural language ability or for a measure of narrative ability. Significant treatment effects were found for blind-rated perceptions of conversational competence, for parent-reported measures of pragmatic functioning and social communication, and for teacher-reported ratings of classroom learning skills. Conclusions & Implications: There is some evidence of an intervention effect on blind and parent/teacher-reported communication outcomes, but not standardized language assessment outcomes, for 6-11-year-old children who have pragmatic and social communication needs. These findings are discussed in the context of the increasingly central role of service user outcomes in providing evidence for an intervention. The substantial overlap between the presence of PLI and ASD (75%) across the whole cohort suggests that the intervention may also be applicable to some verbally able children with ASD who have pragmatic communication needs. (Contains 6 tables, 2 figures and 3 notes.)

Language difficulties persist in a proportion of young people first identified in their early school years (Bishop and Adams, 1990; Stothard et al., 1998), and speech and language therapy (SLT) within secondary education is a developing area of expertise. This article briefly describes the rationale for collaboration between teachers and SLT within mainstream classes to support students aged 11 years and over with language learning difficulties. One aspect of the collaborative practice--namely, vocabulary teaching using robust vocabulary instruction (Beck et al., 2002, 2008)--is described, together with a preliminary attempt, using concept maps (Novak, 1998), to gauge the impact of this collaboration on teacher understanding and thinking about vocabulary teaching. Using concept maps pre- and post-collaboration with three teachers it was possible to identify positive changes in teacher knowledge and understanding, which may have occurred as a result of the collaborative practice. (Contains 8 figures.)

One hundred forty typically developing 5- to 12-year-old children were assessed with a test of advanced theory of mind employing Happe's strange stories. There was no significant difference in performance between boys and girls. The stories discriminated performance across the different ages with the lowest performance being in the younger children who nevertheless managed to achieve a third of their potential total. However, some of the individual mentalising concepts such as persuasion were too difficult for these younger children. This normative data provides a useful clinical tool to measure mentalising ability in more able children with autism spectrum disorder.

Word learning in 16 children with specific language impairment (SU) was compared with that of chronological-age controls (CAC) and vocabulary-age controls (VAC), to examine the extent and nature of word-learning deficits in the children with SLI. The children were exposed to novel words in a story and an explicit teaching context. Five tasks assessed how much the children had learned about the words' phonological form and semantic properties after 6 repetitions (Time 1) and again after 12 repetitions (Time 2) of the words in each context. The SLI group performed significantly worse than the CAC group at both Time 1 and Time 2 on all measures of the words presented in both contexts. They performed similarly to the VAC group (who were on average 2 1/2 years younger) on Time 1 and Time 2 measures from both contexts, except for the Naming task at Time 2, on which their performance was significantly lower. These findings suggest that children with vocabulary deficits have difficulties with both phonological and semantic aspects of word learning.

Background: The Children's Communication Checklist (CCC 1998) was revised in 2003 (CCC-2) to provide a general screen for communication disorder and to identify pragmatic/social interaction deficits. Two validation studies were conducted with different populations of children with language and communication impairments. Methods & Procedures: In Study 1, the questionnaire was given to families of 87 children attending full-time special education for specific language impairment, pragmatic language impairments or autistic spectrum disorders. In addition, the teachers of half the sample completed CCC-2 forms for the same children, providing evidence for interrater agreement. In Study 2, the sample was increased to include 24 children with similar diagnoses in educational contexts in Scotland and 27 children referred for clinical evaluation at a neurodevelopment centre. Outcomes & Results: The CCC-2 distinguished children with communication impairments from non-impaired peers. Furthermore, the social-interaction deviance composite (SIDC) of the CCC-2 identified children with disproportionate pragmatic and social difficulties in relation to their structural language impairments. This measure also had good interrater agreement (r=0.79). Conclusions: CCC-2 provides a useful screening measure for communication impairment and can be helpful in identifying children who should be referred for more detailed assessment of possible autistic spectrum disorder. However, the present data highlight substantial overlap amongst groups with 'distinct' diagnoses. It is suggested that it is unrealistic to use the CCC-2 to make categorical distinctions on this continuum of disorder.

Word learning in 16 children with specific language impairment (SU) was compared with that of chronological-age controls (CAC) and vocabulary-age controls (VAC), to examine the extent and nature of word-learning deficits in the children with SLI. The children were exposed to novel words in a story and an explicit teaching context. Five tasks assessed how much the children had learned about the words' phonological form and semantic properties after 6 repetitions (Time 1) and again after 12 repetitions (Time 2) of the words in each context. The SLI group performed significantly worse than the CAC group at both Time 1 and Time 2 on all measures of the words presented in both contexts. They performed similarly to the VAC group (who were on average 2 1/2 years younger) on Time 1 and Time 2 measures from both contexts, except for the Naming task at Time 2, on which their performance was significantly lower. These findings suggest that children with vocabulary deficits have difficulties with both phonological and semantic aspects of word learning. KEY WORDS: language impairment, vocabulary deficits, word learning, phonological representation, semantic representation, Problems with vocabulary development, which may either affect both receptive and expressive vocabulary skills or be confined mainly to expressive vocabulary, occur in many, although by no means all, children [...]

Erratum to: J Autism Dev Disord (2009) 39:916-928 DOI 10.1007/s10803-009-0699-2 The story labeling in Table 1 was incorrect. The correct order now shown below (Table 1), is in keeping with [...]

One hundred forty typically developing 5- to 12-year-old children were assessed with a test of advanced theory of mind employing Happé’s strange stories. There was no significant difference in performance between boys and girls. The stories discriminated performance across the different ages with the lowest performance being in the younger children who nevertheless managed to achieve a third of their potential total. However, some of the individual mentalising concepts such as persuasion were too difficult for these younger children. This normative data provides a useful clinical tool to measure mentalising ability in more able children with autism spectrum disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]