Search

Prior literature has debated whether syntax is separable from semantics in the brain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and multi-voxel pattern analysis, our previous studies investigated brain activity during morpho-syntactic versus semantic processing. These studies only detected semantic specialization in activation patterns and no syntactic specialization in 5- to 6-year-old and 7- to 8-year-old children. To examine if older children who have mastered morpho-syntactic skills would show specialization for syntax, the current study examined 64 9- to 10-year-old children using the same design and analyses. We observed that only the left IFG pars opercularis was sensitive to syntactic but not semantic information, supporting the hypothesis that this region serves as a core region for syntax. In addition, the left STG which has been implicated in the integration of semantics and syntax, as well as the left MTG and IFG pars triangularis which have been implicated in semantics, were sensitive to both semantic and syntactic information with no evidence of specialization. These findings suggest a lexicalized view of syntax, which argues that semantically sensitive regions are also critical regions for syntactic processing during language comprehension.

Autism research tends to exclude racially and ethnically minoritized autistic individuals, limiting the quality of the evidence base for characterizing and diagnosing language impairment in racially and ethnically minoritized autistic individuals. This systematic review examines reporting practices for participant socio-demographics in studies pertaining to language impairment in autistic school-age individuals using age-referenced assessments. This review was preregistered (PROSPERO: CRD42021260394) and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Database searches took place in August of 2021 in Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, PsycINFO, PubMed, and the Directory of Open Access Journals, for publications during 1980-2021. Search terms included three essential concepts: autism, language, and age. Two coders independently screened and evaluated articles. Of qualifying studies (n = 59), 17 (29%) reported any information on participant race and ethnicity; in these studies, participants were at least 77% white. Thirty-two studies (54%) reported gender or sex; just 10 studies (17%) reported socio-economic status using multiple indicators. These findings indicate insufficient adherence to reporting guidelines and systematic exclusion of racially and ethnically minoritized. Future work must address replicable reporting and inclusion in autism research.

Purpose: Children exposed to adversity (e.g., chronic poverty, traumatic events, and maltreatment) are at increased risk for performing below age expectations on norm-referenced language assessments, but it is unknown whether the risk is higher for specific language impairment (SLI). This exploratory study investigated whether adversity exposure is associated with reduced grammar knowledge and SLI. Method: The syntax subtest of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation-Norm-Referenced (DELV-NR) assessment was administered to 30 school-age children with known histories of adversity exposure. Their primary caregiver also completed a comprehensive adversity exposure measure, which captured adverse event type, frequency, chronicity, and severity. Analyses included t tests, correlations, Mann-Whitney U tests, and chi-square. Results: Overall, the sample performed below age expectations on the DELVNR Syntax subtest, and a higher percentage of participants (20%) met diagnostic criteria for SLI than expected. The SLI and typical language (TL) groups did not significantly differ in adversity dosage, frequency, chronicity, or severity; however, participants in the SLI group were 1.46 times more likely to have experienced physical trauma than the participants in the TL group. Conclusions: Children with known histories of adversity exposure presented with grammatical deficits and SLI more often than expected based on the DELV-NR normative sample; however, features of the adverse event did not associate with SLI status except for exposure to physical trauma (e.g., physical abuse and victimization). Future research is needed to investigate the prevalence and potential causal pathways of SLI in this population.

Purpose: Little is known about the specific nature of language abilities of autistic adolescents and young adults with language impairment (LI), limiting our knowledge of developmental trajectories and ability to develop efficacious speech/language supports. An important first step is establishing proof of concept of identification of LI in this population, with considerations for feasibility of assessment. This research note describes such a study in a sample of autistic adolescents and young adults with LI. Method: Thirteen autistic adolescents and young adults completed an assessment protocol of age-referenced language and nonverbal cognitive assessments. Assessment took place once per year for 3 years; the first two assessments were conducted in person, and the final was conducted online due to the pandemic. All assessments included measures of overall language and morphosyntax; the third added measures of expressive and receptive vocabulary, verbal working memory, and nonverbal intelligence (NVIQ). Analysis included descriptives and comparison of individual performance with epidemiological criteria for LI. Results: All participants qualified for LI, with overall receptive and expressive language scores persistently in the LI range. Other outcomes were variable. Some participants had nonword repetition and vocabulary abilities within age expectations, and some consistently showed adultlike morphosyntactic performance. NVIQ was variable, with no consistent associations with language outcomes. Discussion: Our findings support the use of the current protocol, as implemented in person or online, to identify LI in autistic adolescents and young adults. This exploratory work is limited by a small sample and missing data. The findings contribute to our understanding of linguistic strengths and variability in the language skills of autistic young adults with LI.

Purpose: Specific language impairment (SLI) is characterized by a delay in language acquisition despite a lack of other developmental delays or hearing loss. Genetics of SLI is poorly understood. The purpose of this study is to identify SLI genetic loci through family-based linkage mapping. Method: We performed genome-wide parametric linkage analysis in six families segregating with SLI. An age-appropriate standardized omnibus language measure was used to categorically define the SLI phenotype. Results: A suggestive linkage region replicated a previous region of interest with the highest logarithm of odds (LOD) score of 2.40 at 14q11.2-q13.3 in Family 489. A paternal parent-of-origin effect associated with SLI and language phenotypes on a nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in NOP9 (14q12) was reported previously. Linkage analysis identified a new SLI locus at 15q24.3-25.3 with the highest parametric LOD score of 3.06 in Family 315 under a recessive mode of inheritance. Suggestive evidence of linkage was also revealed at 4q31.23-q35.2 in Family 300, with the highest LOD score of 2.41. Genetic linkage was not identified in the other three families included in parametric linkage analysis. Conclusions: These results are the first to report genome-wide suggestive linkage with a total language standard score on an age-appropriate omnibus language measure across a wide age range. Our findings confirm previous reports of a language-associated locus on chromosome 14q, report new SLI loci, and validate the pedigree-based parametric linkage analysis approach to mapping genes for SLI.

Purpose: This review article summarizes a program of longitudinal investigation of twins' language acquisition with a focus on causal pathways for specific language impairment (SLI) and nonspecific language impairment in children at 4 and 6 years with known history at 2 years. Method: The context of the overview is established by legacy scientific papers in genetics, language, and SLI. Five recent studies of twins are summarized, from 2 to 16 years of age, with a longitudinal perspective of heritability over multiple speech, language, and cognitive phenotypes. Results: Replicated moderate-to-high heritability is reported across ages, phenotypes, full population estimates, and estimates for clinical groups. Key outcomes are documentation of a twinning effect of risk for late language acquisition in twins that persists through 6 years of age, greater for monozygotic than dizygotic twins (although zygosity effects disappear at 6 years); heritability is greater for grammar and morphosyntax than other linguistic dimensions, from age 2 years through age 16 years, replicated within twin samples at subsequent age levels and across twin samples at age 16 years. Conclusion: There is consistent support for legacy models of genetic influences on language acquisition, updated with a more precise growth signaling disruption model supported by twin data, as well as singleton data of children with SLI and nonspecific language impairment.

Purpose: Early language and speech acquisition can be delayed in twin children, a twinning effect that diminishes between 4 and 6 years of age in a population-based sample. The purposes of this study were to examine how twinning effects influence the identification of children with language impairments at 4 and 6 years of age, comparing children with specific language impairment (SLI) and nonspecific language impairment (NLI); the likelihood that affectedness will be shared within monozygotic versus dizygotic twin pairs; and estimated levels of heritability for SLI and NLI. Twinning effects are predicted to result in elevated rates of language impairments in twins. Method: The population-based twin sample included 1,354 children from 677 twin pairs, 214 monozygotic and 463 dizygotic, enrolled in a longitudinal study. Nine phenotypes from the same comprehensive direct behavioral assessment protocol were investigated at 4 and 6 years of age. Twinning effects were estimated for each phenotype at each age using structural equation models estimated via diagonally weighted least squares. Heritabilities were calculated for SLI and NLI. Results: As predicted, the twinning effect increased the percentage of affected children in both groups across multiple language phenotypes, an effect that diminished with age yet was still not aligned to singleton age peers. Substantial heritability estimates replicated across language phenotypes and increased with age, even with the most lenient definition of affectedness, at -1 SD. Patterns of outcomes differed between SLI and NLI groups. Conclusions: Nonverbal IQ is not on the same causal pathway as language impairments. Twinning effects on language acquisition affect classification of 4- and 6-year-old children as SLI and NLI, and heritability is most consistent in the SLI group. Clinical practice requires monitoring language acquisition of twins to avoid misdiagnosis when young or a missed diagnosis of language impairments at school entry.

Purpose: The speech-language pathologist's (SLP's) role for the specific language impairment (SLI) population is to provide specialized intervention targeting underlying deficits. However, children with SLI are often underrepresented on caseloads despite a high prevalence of the disorder and known long-term impacts. This study explored how SLPs use research to inform clinical decision making for SLI under neutral workplace circumstances. Method: A national web-based survey was distributed to SLPs (n = 563) to investigate assessment and intervention clinical decision making for individuals with SLI. Vignettes portrayed various clinical profiles of SLI across dimensions of affectedness (child characteristics). Respondents made clinical decisions under neutral workplace conditions to remove confounds of work setting, policies, and caseload/time management constraints. The influence of child and practitioner characteristics on clinical decision making was explored. Results: Variation across the vignettes emerged for the clinical decisions of SLP service recommendation, service delivery, intervention contents, specific treatment goals, and a monitoring approach. Practitioner characteristics had little influence, while child characteristics influenced responses across the clinical decision-making process. Assessment standard scores and percentiles were most strongly associated with SLP service recommendation. Conclusion: The use of vignette methodology was demonstrated for the discipline of communication sciences and disorders. SLPs recommended services for individuals with SLI at higher rates than in actual practice; however, variation across the clinical decision-making process occurred. Implications include the reduction and removal of constraining workplace characteristics and increasing SLP competency for identifying the diagnostic profile of SLI.

Specific language impairment (SLI) is a developmental disorder with substantial genetic contributions. A genome-wide linkage analysis and homozygosity mapping were performed in five consanguineous families from Pakistan. The highest LOD scores of 2.49 at 12p11.22-q11.21 in family PKSLI-31 and 1.92 at 6p in family PKSLI-20 were observed. Homozygosity mapping showed a loss of heterozygosity on 1q25.3-q32.2 and 2q36.3-q37.3 in PKSLI-20. A loss of heterozygosity mapped, in PKSLI-31 and PKSLI-34 flanks, NFXL1 and CNTNAP2, which are genes previously identified in SLI. Our findings report novel SLI loci and corroborate previously reported SLI loci, indicating the utility of a family-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech is the most common means of communication in humans. Any defect in accurate speech production ability results in the development of speech sound disorder (SSD), a condition that can significantly impair an individual's academic performance, social interactions, and relationships with peers and adults. This study investigated the genetic basis of SSD in three Pakistani families. We performed family-based genome-wide parametric linkage analysis and homozygosity mapping in three consanguineous families with SSD from the Punjab province of Pakistan. The Test for Assessment of Articulation and Phonology in Urdu (TAAPU) was used to analyze the speech articulation data and determine the Percentage Correct Consonants (PCC) score. The PCC score defined the affected and unaffected individuals in each family. Parametric linkage analysis revealed a linkage to chromosome 5 (5q21.3-5q23.1) with a significant logarithm of the odds (LOD) score of 3.13 in a Pakistani family with specific language impairment-97 (PKSLI-97) under an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. The other two families showed a suggestive linkage at 6p22.1, 14q12, and 16q12.1 under the recessive mode of inheritance. Interestingly, homozygosity mapping showed a loss of heterozygosity in the linkage region at 5q15-5q23.1, shared among seven affected (mostly in the younger generation) and one unaffected individual of PKSLI-97. Our analysis identified the 6p22 locus previously implicated in dyslexia, childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), and language impairment, confirming the role of KIAA0319 and DCDC2 in this locus. These findings provide statistical evidence for the genomic regions associated with articulation disorder and offer future opportunities to further the role of genes in speech production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language in autism is heterogeneous, with a significant proportion of individuals having structural language difficulties and inclusion of language impairment as a specifier under Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) criteria for autism. This systematic review asked: What are the reporting patterns of variables pertaining to structural language in autism prior to and after publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.)? What norm-referenced assessments does research use to characterize the language abilities of autistic individuals with respect to language impairment? This preregistered review (PROSPERO: CRD42021260394) followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Searches took place in September 2022 and included Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, PsycINFO, PubMed, and the Directory of Open Access Journals. Search terms included three essential concepts: autism, language, and age. Two coders independently screened and evaluated articles. Searches yielded 57 qualifying studies, with mostly consistent reporting practices prior to and after the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Studies varied in how they defined language groups and in what norm-referenced measures they used. Interpreting research on structural language in autism requires attention to diagnostic and grouping criteria. Although inconsistency in reporting in original studies limited this review, better understanding the available information on structural language in autistic individuals aged 3–21 years may support identification of language needs. Under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.), language impairment can co-occur with autism. It is not yet clear how research defines, reports, and characterizes structural language abilities of autistic individuals eligible for school-based special education services (aged 3–21 years) in the United States. In the United States, students typically must be formally diagnosed to be eligible for services and supports. However, the quality of diagnosis is only as good as the research evidence on which diagnosis depends. To evaluate evidence quality, we examined how studies of school-aged autistic individuals report assessments of language ability. This systematic review included 57 studies using English language age-referenced assessments used to measure structural language. Findings showed many differences across studies in how language abilities were measured and reported. Also, none of the studies fully reported the variables relevant to characterizing language impairment. Outcomes were similar across versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Findings indicate that researchers and clinicians should pay attention to reporting diagnostic and grouping criteria. Carefully interpreting research evidence is critical for ensuring that diagnostic criteria and supports are representative of and accessible to autistic individuals and relevant parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigates the heritability of language, speech, and nonverbal cognitive development of twins at 4 and 6 years of age. Possible confounding effects of twinning and zygosity, evident at 2 years, were investigated among other possible predictors of outcomes. Method: The population-based twin sample included 627 twin pairs and 1 twin without a co-twin (197 monozygotic and 431 dizygotic), 610 boys and 645 girls, 1,255 children in total. Nine phenotypes from the same comprehensive direct behavioral assessment protocol were investigated at 4 and 6 years of age. Twinning effects were estimated for each phenotype at each age using general linear mixed models using maximum likelihood. Results: Twinning effects decreased from 4 to 6 years; zygosity effects disappeared by 6 years. Heritability increased from 4 to 6 years across all 9 phenotypes, and the heritability estimates were higher than reported previously, in the range of 0.44-0.92 at 6 years. The highest estimate, 0.92, was for the clinical grammar marker. Conclusions: Across multiple dimensions of speech, language, and nonverbal cognition, heritability estimates are robust. A finiteness marker of grammar shows the highest inherited influences in this early period of children's language acquisition.

Purpose: There is a need for well-defined language phenotypes suitable for adolescents in twin studies and other large-scale research projects. Rice, Hoffman, and Wexler (2009) have developed a grammatical judgment measure as a clinical marker of language impairment, which has an extended developmental range to adolescence. Method: We conducted the first twin analysis, along with associated phenotypic analyses of validity, of an abridged, 20-item version of this grammatical judgment measure (GJ-20), based on telephone administration using prerecorded stimuli to 405 pairs of 16-year-olds (148 monozygotic and 257 dizygotic) drawn from the Twins Early Development Study (Haworth, Davis, & Plomin, 2012). Results: The distribution of scores is markedly skewed negatively, as expected for a potential clinical marker. Low performance on GJ-20 is associated with lower maternal education, reported learning disability (age 7 years), and low scores on language tests administered via the Twins Early Development Study (age 16 years) as well as General Certificate of Secondary Education English and Math examination performance (age 16 years). Liability threshold estimates for the genetic influence on low performance on GJ-20 are substantial, ranging from 36% with a lowest 10% criterion to 74% for a lowest 5% criterion. Conclusions: The heritability of GJ-20 scores, especially at more extreme cutoffs, along with the score distribution and association with other indicators of language impairments, provides additional evidence for the potential value of this measure as a clinical marker of specific language impairment.

Purpose: The purpose of this research forum article is to provide an overview of a collection of invited articles on the topic "specific language impairment (SLI) in children with concomitant health conditions or nonmainstream language backgrounds." Topics include SLI, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, cochlear implants, bilingualism, and dialectal language learning contexts. Method: The topic is timely due to current debates about the diagnosis of SLI. An overarching comparative conceptual framework is provided for comparisons of SLI with other clinical conditions. Comparisons of SLI in children with low-normal or normal nonverbal IQ illustrate the unexpected outcomes of 2 × 2 comparison designs. Results: Comparative studies reveal unexpected relationships among speech, language, cognitive, and social dimensions of children's development as well as precise ways to identify children with SLI who are bilingual or dialect speakers. Conclusions: The diagnosis of SLI is essential for elucidating possible causal pathways of language impairments, risks for language impairments, assessments for identification of language impairments, linguistic dimensions of language impairments, and long-term outcomes. Although children's language acquisition is robust under high levels of risk, unexplained individual variations in language acquisition lead to persistent language impairments.

Purpose: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have known deficits in the verb lexicon and finiteness marking. This study investigated a potential relationship between these 2 variables in children with SLI and 2 control groups considering predictions from 2 different theoretical perspectives, morphosyntactic versus morphophonological. Method: Children with SLI, age-equivalent, and language-equivalent (LE) control children (n = 59) completed an experimental sentence imitation task that generated estimates of children's finiteness accuracy under 2 levels of verb familiarity--familiar real verbs versus unfamiliar real verbs--in clausal sites marked for finiteness. Imitations were coded and analyzed for overall accuracy as well as finiteness marking and verb root imitation accuracy. Results: Statistical comparisons revealed that children with SLI did not differ from LE children and were less accurate than age-equivalent children on all dependent variables: overall imitation, finiteness marking imitation, and verb root imitation accuracy. A significant Group × Condition interaction for finiteness marking revealed lower levels of accuracy on unfamiliar verbs for the SLI and LE groups only. Conclusions: Findings indicate a relationship between verb familiarity and finiteness marking in children with SLI and younger controls and help clarify the roles of morphosyntax, verb lexicon, and morphophonology.

Purpose: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often have vocabulary impairments. This study evaluates longitudinal growth in a latent trait of receptive vocabulary in affected and unaffected children ages 2;6 (years;months) to 21 years and evaluates as possible predictors maternal education, child gender, and nonverbal IQ. Method: A sample of 519 participants (240 with SLI; 279 unaffected) received an average of 7 annual assessments for a total of 3,012 latent trait Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) observations. Unconditional and conditional multilevel growth models were estimated to evaluate growth trajectories and predictor relationships over time. Results: Children with SLI had lower levels of receptive vocabulary throughout the age range assessed. They did not close the gap with age peers. Children with higher nonverbal IQs had better PPVT performance, as did children of mothers with higher education. Child gender showed an advantage for young girls that leveled out with age and then became an advantage for boys from ages 10 to 21 years. All children's rate of vocabulary acquisition slowed around 12 years of age. Conclusions: The outcomes of the study have implications for hypothesized causal pathways for individual differences; predictions differ for children under 5 years, 6-10 years, and later ages.

Purpose: This study investigated the etiology of late language emergence (LLE) in 24-month-old twins, considering possible twinning, zygosity, gender, and heritability effects for vocabulary and grammar phenotypes. Method: A population-based sample of 473 twin pairs participated. Multilevel modeling estimated means and variances of vocabulary and grammar phenotypes, controlling for familiality. Heritability was estimated with DeFries-Fulker regression and variance components models to determine effects of heritability, shared environment, and nonshared environment. Results: Twins had lower average language scores than norms for single-born children, with lower average performance for monozygotic than dizygotic twins and for boys than girls, although gender and zygosity did not interact. Gender did not predict LLE. Significant heritability was detected for vocabulary (0.26) and grammar phenotypes (0.52 and 0.43 for boys and girls, respectively) in the full sample and in the sample selected for LLE (0.42 and 0.44). LLE and the appearance of Word Combinations were also significantly heritable (0.22-0.23). Conclusions: The findings revealed an increased likelihood of LLE in twin toddlers compared with single-born children that is modulated by zygosity and gender differences. Heritability estimates are consistent with previous research for vocabulary and add further suggestion of heritable differences in early grammar acquisition.

Purpose: The primary goal of this study was to explore the effect of language context on the socially withdrawn behaviors of school-age-children who are English language learners (ELLs) from middle- to high-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. This is one of the 1st studies to address the frequently confused concepts of shyness and unsociability as independent constructs within the ELL population. The authors of this study also investigated the feasibility of an experimental parent and child questionnaire that examines shyness and unsociability across native-language and English-speaking contexts. Method: Children and mothers (34 of whom were ELLs and 37 of whom were native English speakers) were administered an experimental questionnaire examining the children's shy and unsociable behavior in native-language and English-speaking contexts. Results: Children and mothers in the ELL group reported significantly higher ratings of shy behavior in English-speaking versus native-language contexts, whereas unsociable ratings did not differ across language contexts. Conclusions: Shyness and unsociability are distinguishable behaviors in ELL children, and researchers should consider these constructs when examining withdrawal. In addition, examining ELL children's behavior across language contexts provides a valuable method for investigating language-influenced behavioral problems. This study demonstrates the need for service providers to evaluate behavior across subtype and language context before pathologizing withdrawal in ELL children.

Purpose: This study was designed to examine the early usage patterns of multiple grammatical functions of "DO" in children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Children's use of this plurifunctional form is informative for evaluation of theoretical accounts of the deficit in SLI. Method: Spontaneous uses of multiple functions of "DO" were analyzed in language samples from 89 children: 37 children with SLI, ages 5;0-5;6 (years;months); 37 age-equivalent children; and 15 language-equivalent children, ages 2;8-4;10. Proportion correct and types of errors produced were analyzed for each function of "DO." Results: Children with SLI had significantly lower levels of proportion correct auxiliary "DO" use compared to both control groups, with omissions of the "DO" form as the primary error type. Children with SLI had near-ceiling performance on lexical "DO" and elliptical "DO," similar to both control groups. Conclusions: Plurifunctionality is not problematic: Children acquire each function of "DO" separately. Grammatical properties of the function, rather than surface properties of the form, dictate whether children with SLI will have difficulty using the word. Overall, these results support the extended optional infinitive account of SLI and the use of auxiliary "DO" omissions as part of a clinical marker for SLI.

Purpose: The current study investigated finiteness marking (e.g., he walk "s", he walk "ed") in boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS); the boys were grouped based on receptive vocabulary (i.e., borderline, impaired). Method: Twenty-one boys with the full mutation of fragile X, between the ages of 8 and 16 years participated. The boys completed probes from the Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (TEGI; Rice & Wexler, 2001), a language sample, a nonverbal IQ test (Leiter-R; Roid & Miller, 1997), a receptive vocabulary test (the Pearson Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition [PPVT-IV]; Dunn & Dunn, 2007), and a measure of autistic symptoms (the Childhood Autism Rating Scale [CARS]; Schopler, Reichler, & Renner, 2002). Results: There were group differences for finiteness responses on the 3rd person singular probe; the group with impaired vocabulary omitted markers with greater frequency compared to the borderline vocabulary group. There were not significant differences on the past tense probe, with both groups performing lower than expectations based on receptive vocabulary ability. Nonverbal IQ was not correlated with the measures of finiteness marking. Conclusion: Boys with FXS demonstrate delays in finiteness marking, in particular, on past tense verbs. Boys with FXS show a unique profile, unlike children with SLI, in which their use of tense markers may exceed expectations benchmarked to clause length.

The effect of neighborhood density on optional infinitives was evaluated for typically developing (TD) children and children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Forty children, twenty in each group, completed two production tasks that assessed third person singular production. Half of the sentences in each task presented a dense verb, and half presented a sparse verb. Children's third person singular accuracy was compared across dense and sparse verbs. Results showed that the TD group was significantly less likely to use optional infinitives with dense, rather than sparse verbs. In contrast, the distribution of optional infinitives for the SLI group was independent of verb neighborhood density. Follow-up analyses showed that the lack of neighborhood density effect for the SLI group could not be attributed to heterogeneous neighborhood density effects or floor effects. Results were interpreted within the Optional Infinitive/Extended Optional Infinitive accounts for typical language development and SLI for English-speaking children.

Purpose: The present work describes how vocabulary ability as assessed by 3 different forms of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT; Dunn & Dunn, 1997) can be placed on a common latent metric through item response theory (IRT) modeling, by which valid comparisons of ability between samples or over time can then be made. Method: Responses from 2,625 cases in a longitudinal study of 697 persons for 459 unique PPVT items (175 items from Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised [PPVT-R] Form M [Dunn & Dunn, 1981], 201 items from Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-3 [PPVT-3] Form A [Dunn & Dunn, 1997], and 83 items from PPVT-3 Form B [Dunn & Dunn, 1997]) were analyzed using a 2-parameter logistic IRT model. Results: The test forms each covered approximately plus or minus 3 SDs of vocabulary ability with high reliability. Some differences between item sets in item difficulty and discrimination were found between the PPVT-3 Forms A and B. Conclusions: Comparable estimates of vocabulary ability obtained from different test forms can be created through IRT modeling. The authors have also written a freely available SAS program that uses the obtained item parameters to provide IRT ability estimates given item responses to any of the 3 forms. This scoring resource will allow others with existing PPVT data to benefit from this work as well.

Purpose: The mean length of children's utterances is a valuable estimate of their early language acquisition. The available normative data lack documentation of language and nonverbal intelligence levels of the samples. This study reports age-referenced mean length of utterance (MLU) data from children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children without language impairments. Method: Of the 306 child participants drawn from a data archive, ages 2;6-9;0 (years;months), 170 were in the SLI group and 136 were in the control group. There were 1,564 spontaneous language samples collected, and these were transcribed and analyzed for sample size and MLU in words and morphemes. Means, standard deviations, and effect sizes for group differences are reported for MLUs, along with concurrent language and nonverbal intelligence assessments, per 6-month intervals. Results: The results document an age progression in MLU words and morphemes and a persistent lower level of performance for children with SLI. Conclusion: The results support the reliability and validity of MLU as an index of normative language acquisition and a marker of language impairment. The findings can be used for clinical benchmarking of deficits and language intervention outcomes as well as for comparisons across research samples.

Purpose: Clinical grammar markers are needed for children with SLI older than 8 years. This study followed children who were previously studied on sentences with omitted finiteness to determine if affected children continue to perform at low levels and to examine possible predictors of low performance. This is the first longitudinal report of grammaticality judgments of questions. Method: Three groups of children participated: 20 SLI, 20 age controls, and 18 language-matched controls, followed from ages 6-15 years. An experimental grammaticality judgment task was administered with BE copula/auxiliary and DO auxiliary in wh- and yes/no questions for 9 times of measurement. Predictors were indices of vocabulary, nonverbal intelligence, and maternal education. Results: Growth curve analyses show that the affected group performed below the younger controls at each time of measurement, for each variable. Growth analyses show linear and quadratic effects for both groups across variables, with the exception of BE acquisition, which was flat for both groups. The control children reached ceiling levels; the affected children reached a lower asymptote. Conclusion: The results suggest an ongoing maturational lag in finiteness marking for affected children with promise as a clinical marker for language impairment in school-aged and adolescent children and probably adults as well.

This study reports on a comparison of the use and knowledge of tense-marking morphemes in English by first language (L1), second language (L2), and specific language impairment (SLI) children. The objective of our research was to ascertain whether the L2 children's tense acquisition patterns were similar or dissimilar to those of the L1 and SLI groups, and whether they would fit an (extended) optional infinitive profile, or an L2-based profile, for example, the missing surface inflection hypothesis. Results showed that the L2 children had a unique profile compared with their monolingual peers, which was better characterized by the missing surface inflection hypothesis. At the same time, results reinforce the assumption underlying the (extended) optional infinitive profile that internal constraints on the acquisition of tense could be a component of L1 development, with and without SLI.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the language outcomes of 7-year-old children with and without a history of late language emergence at 24 months. Method: One hundred twenty-eight children with a history of late language emergence (LLE) at 24 months and 109 children with a history of normal language emergence (NLE) at 24 months participated in direct behavioral assessment of multiple dimensions of language at 7 years. The children were recruited from a prospective cohort study of 1,766 epidemiologically ascertained 24-month-old singleton children. Results: The group mean for the LLE children was within the typical range on an omnibus measure of general language ability and measures of specific dimensions of language. However, a greater percentage of LLE children, relative to NLE children, performed below normative expectations on a measure of general language ability (20% versus 11%), speech (7% versus 2%), syntax (18% versus 8%), and morphosyntax (9%-23% versus 2%-14%), but not vocabulary or semantics. Conclusion: The results provide support for growth models of language impairment that predict that late onset of language foretells a protracted growth difference for some LLE children relative to NLE children, particularly for syntax and morphosyntax.

Purpose: The primary objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of late language emergence (LLE) and to investigate the predictive status of maternal, family, and child variables. Method: This is a prospective cohort study of 1,766 epidemiologically ascertained 24-month-old singleton children. The framework was an ecological model of child development encompassing a wide range of maternal, family, and child variables. Data were obtained using a postal questionnaire. Item analyses of the 6-item Communication scale of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ; D. Bricker & J. Squires, 1999; J. Squires & D. Bricker, 1993; J. Squires, D. Bricker, & L. Potter, 1997; J. Squires, L. Potter, & D. Bricker, 1999) yielded a composite score encompassing comprehension as well as production items. One "SD" below the mean yielded good separation of affected from unaffected children. Analyses of bivariate relationships with maternal, family, and child variables were carried out, followed by multivariate logistic regression to predict LLE group membership. Results: 13.4% of the sample showed LLE via the ASQ criterion, with 19.1% using the single item of "combining words." Risk for LLE at 24 months was not associated with particular strata of parental educational levels, socioeconomic resources, parental mental health, parenting practices, or family functioning. Significant predictors included familial history of LLE, male gender, and early neurobiological growth. Covariates included psychosocial indicators. Conclusion: Results are congruent with models of language emergence and impairment that posit a strong role for neurobiological and genetic mechanisms of onset that operate across a wide variation in maternal and family characteristics.

The present study employs event related potentials (ERPs) to verify the utility of using electrophysiological measures to study developmental questions within the field of language comprehension. Established ERP components (N400 and P600) that reflect semantic and syntactic processing were examined. Fifteen adults and 14 children (ages 8-13) processed spoken stimuli containing either semantic or syntactic anomalies. Adult participants showed a significant N400 in response to semantic anomalies and P600 components in response to syntactic anomalies. Children also show evidence of both ERP components. The children's N400 component differed from the adults' in scalp location, latency, and component amplitude. The children's P600 was remarkably similar to the P600 shown by adults in scalp location, component amplitude, and component latency. Theoretical implication for theories of language comprehension in adults and children will be discussed.

Purpose: Although mean length of utterance (MLU) is a useful benchmark in studies of children with specific language impairment (SLI), some empirical and interpretive issues are unresolved. The authors report on 2 studies examining, respectively, the concurrent validity and temporal stability of MLU equivalency between children with SLI and typically developing children. Method: Study 1 used 124 archival conversational samples consisting of 39 children with SLI (age 5;0 [years;months]), 40 MLU-equivalent typically developing children (age 3;0), and 45 age-equivalent controls. Concurrent validity of MLU matches was examined by considering the correspondence between MLU and developmental sentence scoring (DSS), index of productive syntax (IPSyn), and MLU in words. Study 2 used 205 archival conversational samples, representing 5 years of longitudinal data collected on 20 children with SLI (from age 5;0) and 18 MLU matches (from age 3;0). Evaluation of growth dimensions within and across groups was carried out via growth-curve modeling. Results: In Study 1, high levels of correlation among the MLU, DSS, and IPSyn measures were observed. Differences between groups were not significant. In Study 2, temporal stability of MLU matches was robust over a 5 year period. Conclusions: MLU appears to be a reliable and valid index of general language development and an appropriate grouping variable from age 3 to 10. The developmental stability of MLU matches is indicative of shared underlying growth mechanisms.

The relationship between children's language acquisition and their nonverbal intelligence has a long tradition of scientific inquiry. Current attention focuses on the use of nonverbal IQ level as an exclusionary criterion in the definition of specific language impairment (SLI). Grammatical tense deficits are known as a clinical marker of SLI, but the relationship with nonverbal intelligence below the normal range has not previously been systematically studied. This study documents the levels of grammatical tense acquisition (for third-person singular -s, regular and irregular past tense morphology) in a large, epidemiologically ascertained sample of kindergarten children that comprises 4 groups: 130 children with SLI, 100 children with nonspecific language impairments (NLI), 73 children with low cognitive levels but language within normal limits (LC), and 117 unaffected control children. The study also documents the longitudinal course of acquisition for the SLI and NLI children between the ages of 6 and 10 years. The LC group did not differ from the unaffected controls at kindergarten, showing a dissociation of nonverbal intelligence and grammatical tense marking, so that low levels of nonverbal intelligence did not necessarily yield low levels of grammatical tense. The NLI group's level of performance was lower than that of the SLI group and showed a greater delay in resolution of the overgeneralization phase of irregular past tense mastery, indicating qualitative differences in growth. Implications for clinical groupings for research and clinical purposes are discussed.

A study investigated the long-term stability of the teacher and parent behavioral ratings of 37 children with specific language impairment. Results indicate diminishment in teacher-reported behavior problems in most areas of socioemotional development from kindergarten to second grade and increasing congruence between teacher and parent ratings. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Fifty-seven children (ages 5-8) with and without specific language impairment (SLI) participated in judgment and elicitation tasks designed to evaluate their understanding of irregular verb forms. Differences between SLI and control children were observed in their productions and relative levels of sensitivity to infinitive errors in finite positions. Implications for children's morphophonological and morphosyntactic development are drawn. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

This study explored the acquisition of regular and irregular past tense in 21 children with specific language impairment. The findings support a morphosyntactic rather than morphophonological learning model, such as the extended optional infinitive model, with regard to the limitations in finiteness marking and for affected children. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)