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Background: Some data call into question the persistence of developmental language disorders (DLDs) identified during the preschool period. For this reason, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) often reassess children. However, it is unclear if the instability of the profiles documented in community sample studies is present in children referred to specialized clinics. Given the scarcity of SLP resources, is re-evaluating the language skills of these children a good use of clinical time? Aim: To examine the stability of the findings from two SLP assessments in a sample of Canadian preschool children referred to a tertiary clinic between the ages of 2 and 6 years. It was hypothesized that children under the age of 4 years at first assessment and children with less severe initial deficits would show less stability of DLD diagnosis. Methods & Procedures: The clinical files of children referred to an early childhood psychiatric clinic in Canada were reviewed. For 149 children with two SLPs assessment reports, persistence of language deficits was documented and tested with McNemar's statistics. Differences between preschoolers under the age of 4 versus 4 years and over, as well as between mildly and severely impaired children, were examined. Outcomes & Results: High level of agreement (94%) and McNemar's test (p = 0.180) supported the stability of initial diagnosis. The stability for children assessed before the age of 4 (n = 64) was 100%, and was significantly different from older children's (n = 85) stability of 89% (Fisher's exact test, p = 0.01; bilateral). The stability for children with mild impairments (n = 18) was 78%, which was significantly lower than the stability (97%) in children with severe impairments (n = 114) (Fisher's exact test, p = 0.007; bilateral). Conclusions & Implications: No instability of language status was observed in children assessed before 4 years of age, which could be related to the significant severity of the difficulties that children in this age group presented and be specific to this type of clinical sample. The great stability of language status observed in preschoolers referred to a specialized clinic suggests that clinicians should limit reassessments to devote available resources to intervention efforts.

Background: Research in word-finding difficulties is sparse, especially in languages other than English. As a result, the factors associated with the frequency of word-finding behaviours are poorly understood, particularly in discourse. Aims: This exploratory study is the first to collect data relative to the expected frequency of word-finding behaviours in narration for French speakers aged 7-12 years old with typical development; and (2) to identify the factors associated with the frequency of word-finding behaviours in narration. We hypothesized that sociodemographic characteristics, language abilities and characteristics of the spoken productions could be linked to word-finding behaviours. Methods & Procedures: The participants consisted of 61 French-speaking children aged 7-12 years old (M = 9;09 years, SD = 1;06 years) with typical development. Children were asked to complete a receptive vocabulary task, a non-word-repetition task and two narrative tasks. The children's narrative samples were coded using a discourse analysis of word-finding behaviours, as described by Diane J. German. Outcomes & Results: Participants produced 39% of T-units with least one word-finding behaviour, which included relatively frequent use of repetitions and word reformulations. Regression analyses revealed that the participants' gender was the only significant variable associated with the frequency of word-finding behaviours in narration. Boys produced a higher percentage of T-units with at least one word-finding behaviour. Post-hoc analyses suggested that gender differences reflected differences in repetitions and word reformulations. Boys and girls did not differ on any other language measures collected. Conclusions & Implications: Speech-language pathologists may want to take into account a child's gender when assessing word-finding difficulties in narration. Additional studies are needed to understand whether this finding extends to other word-finding tasks and to children with word-finding difficulties.

This study explored performance on expressive and receptive graphic symbol tasks and spoken comprehension by individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) as well as the relationship of performance with participants' skills and characteristics. Participants were 19 children and youth (aged 5- to 18-years-old) who used aided communication. Four experimental tasks were administered, with either speech or symbols as input (stimuli) and symbols or choice from an array of pictures as output (response). Symbols were not accompanied by written or spoken labels in the tasks. Measures of receptive vocabulary, receptive syntax, memory, and visual cognitive skills as well as information regarding participant characteristics were collected. There were strong relationships among all experimental tasks. Cluster analysis revealed different response patterns that may suggest a progression in expressive and receptive performance with graphic symbol sentences. Individual differences in receptive language, particularly receptive syntax, were related to task performance. The findings suggest that different ways of experiencing symbols, in addition to spoken comprehension of the sentences and receptive spoken language more generally, may contribute to expressive graphic symbol sentences. Performance on receptive symbol tasks may uncover a level of facility with the graphic-symbol modality not observed through expressive symbol use in communicative situations.

Pierce "et al." (2017) have proposed that variations in the timing, quality and quantity of language input during the earliest stages of development are related to variations in the development of phonological working memory and, in turn, to later language learning outcomes. To examine this hypothesis, three groups of children who are at-risk for language learning were examined: children with cochlear implants (CI), children with developmental language disorder (DLD), and internationally-adopted (IA) children, Comparison groups of typically-developing monolingual (MON) children and second language (L2) learners were also included. All groups were acquiring French as a first or second language and were matched on age, gender, and socioeconomic status, as well as other group-specific factors; they were between 5;0-7;3 years of age at time of testing. The CI and DLD groups scored significantly more poorly on the memory measures than the other groups; while the IA and L2 groups did not differ from one another. While the IA group performed more poorly than the MON group, there was no difference between the L2 and MON groups. We also found differential developmental relationships between phonological memory and language among the groups of interest in comparison to the typically-developing MON and L2 groups supporting the hypothesis that language experiences early in life are consequential for language development because of their effects on the development of phonological memory.

Inferencing abilities are crucial to development of reading comprehension. However, few studies addressed those abilities in interventions promoting early literacy skills, especially in kindergartners. The aim of this study was to measure the efficacy of an interactive book-reading intervention targeting inferencing abilities, delivered by a school-based speech-language pathologist (SLP) in whole group kindergarten classes. Two hundred and forty-nine 5-year-old kindergartners from low socio-economic settings were quasi-randomly assigned to either one of the experimental groups (EG1 and EG2) or an active control group (CG). EG1 received a 7-week interactive book-reading intervention followed by a 7-week period where it was up to the teachers to implement aspects of the intervention in their teaching or not. EG2 received the 7-week interactive book-reading intervention only and the active control group received an initial workshop only. Three subtests targeting (1) causal inferences during book-reading, (2) causal inferences in a formal task, and (3) referential inferences in a formal task were performed at pre- and post-intervention assessments. There was a significant Time × Group interaction effect for the first subtest indicating an advantage for EG1 compared to CG over time. EG2 appeared as an intermediary group as its results were not different from EG1 and showing only a trend toward significance (p = 0.064) when compared to CG. There was no significant Time × Group interaction effect for the second subtest. A significant Time × Group interaction effect was present for the third subtest, EG1 and EG2 showing larger improvement than CG.

In children with a hearing loss who receive cochlear implants (CIs) under the age of 2, regular assessments are conducted to monitor auditory and linguistic progress. However, the collection of authentic, representative, and reliable expressive language data on young children with CIs remains a challenge. The purpose of the study was to determine whether data from parental report, language diary, and spontaneous language sample are equally representative of the development of expressive vocabulary over the first 12 months of CI use. Nine French-speaking children and their families participated in the study. We collected data at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months post-implantation, and we measured parental satisfaction regarding the use of a language diary. All three methods showed a progression in the total number of different words expressed over time and captured grammatical diversity. The findings suggest that when vocabulary size is still small, the diary might provide a more comprehensive picture of development than a vocabulary checklist.

While previous research has shown that language use in the home is an important factor in bilingual language development, little research has focused on how specific language strategies used by parents relate to bilingual children's language exposure and vocabulary development. Yet, for parents, this information has the potential to inform their day-to-day decisions about language use in their home. The present study aims to contribute to this understanding by applying a Bioecological Systems Model to understand how language use within the community and within the family influenced young children's amount of language exposure and vocabulary abilities. A total of 51 French-English bilingual four-year-old Canadian children participated in the present study. Children's exposure to each language was measured through parent reports, and their vocabulary was assessed in each language. Differences in community context were not a significant predictor of the amount of exposure or vocabulary abilities. Family language strategies predicted vocabulary scores in English but not French, whereas the amount of exposure predicted vocabulary scores in French but not English. These findings suggest that, in the preschool years, family language use strategies and amount of exposure impact vocabulary development and that their role differs based on context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to describe the development of inferential abilities of children age 3 to 6 years in a narrative using a dialogic reading task on an iPad. Method: Participants were 121 typically developing children, divided into 3 groups according to age range (3-4 years old, 4-5 years old, 5-6 years old). Total score of inferential comprehension, subscores by causal inference type targeting elements of the story grammar, and quality of response were examined across groups. Results: Inferential comprehension emerged early, from 3 to 4 years old, with considerable interindividual variability. Inferential comprehension scores increased significantly in relation to age, leading to developmental steps with regards to the type of causal inferences. The ability to infer the problem of the story, the internal response of a character, and predictions were easier starting at age 4 years. Then, the 5- to 6- year-olds were better able to infer the goal, the attempt to solve the problem, and the resolution. Last, between the ages of 3 and 6 years, children improved in terms of the quality of response they provided. Conclusion: This study addresses important gaps in our knowledge of inferential comprehension in young children and has implications for planning of early education in this realm.

Few studies report on therapy to improve language comprehension in children with specific language impairment (SLI). We address this gap by measuring the effect of a systematic intervention to improve inferential comprehension using dialogic reading tasks in conjunction with pre-determined questions and cues. Sixteen children with a diagnosis of SLI aged 4-6 participated in 10 weekly treatment sessions carried out by their regular therapists. Baseline and maintenance periods were also tabulated. Two experimental measures and a standardized test revealed that children's total scores and the quality of their responses post-treatment were better than those obtained pre-treatment. However, perhaps due to the use of non-equivalent probes, this change could not be interpreted solely as a significant effect of intervention. These results nevertheless suggest that a systematically designed intervention focusing on the comprehension of specific types of questions requiring inferencing and using a carefully scaffolded cueing strategy can be beneficial.

The use of augmentative and alternative communication systems based on graphic symbols requires children to learn to combine symbols to convey utterances. The current study investigated how children without disabilities aged 4 to 6 years (n = 74) performed on a simple sentence (subject-verb and subject-verb-object) transposition task (i.e., spoken model into graphic symbol sequence). Scores were obtained on initial testing, after training, and 1 month later. Error patterns were examined. Four-year-olds obtained significantly lower initial scores and were the only ones showing training effects and lower performance a month later. The distribution of error types was similar across age groups. These results suggest that the age of 4 may represent an important stage in the use of graphic symbol communication.

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology is the property of Speech-Language & Audiology Canada and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The current study compares the effects of two shared storybook reading (SSR) interventions on language and emergent literacy skills of low-income preschoolers. The control intervention targeted language and print awareness, skills for which there is strong evidence of the effect of SSR. The experimental intervention added a focus on phonological awareness, a skill for which there is less evidence of the effect of SSR. Following the interventions, results indicated that the experimental group (n = 10) outperformed the control group (n = 13) on phonological awareness scores, but not on vocabulary and print awareness scores. The study also compared the outcomes of the experimental intervention for the low-income participants with the skills of higher-income preschoolers who did not receive intervention. The low-income children in the experimental condition outperformed their higher-income peers (n = 12) on all three measures. The experimental intervention offers promising techniques for SSR activities in childcare centres. (Contains 3 tables.)

Children who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems while they are in the process of acquiring language face unique challenges because they use graphic symbols for communication. In contrast to the situation of typically developing children, they use different modalities for comprehension (auditory) and expression (visual). This study explored the ability of three- and four-year-old children without disabilities to perform tasks involving sequences of graphic symbols. Thirty participants were asked to transpose spoken simple sentences into graphic symbols by selecting individual symbols corresponding to the spoken words, and to interpret graphic symbol utterances by selecting one of four photographs corresponding to a sequence of three graphic symbols. The results showed that these were not simple tasks for the participants, and few of them performed in the expected manner--only one in transposition, and only one-third of participants in interpretation. Individual response strategies in some cases lead to contrasting response patterns. Children at this age level have not yet developed the skills required to deal with graphic symbols even though they have mastered the corresponding spoken language structures. (Contains 3 figures, 4 tables, and 1 footnote.)

The purpose of this article is to examine the language of girls and boys between 8 and 30 months of age, using the Quebec French version of The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. The findings from this parental report measure confirm those of earlier research, which showed the linguistic superiority of girls over boys at a young age. More specifically, the results show that girls produce significantly more words than boys; their utterances contain a greater number of grammatical forms, and are more complex syntactically. On the qualitative level, the data illustrate distinctive characteristics associated with gender in the acquisition of the first 100 words. These findings suggest that caution is necessary when assessing young children to interpret performance in light of factors that may contribute to it, including gender. These results are discussed in light of whether separate normative data are warranted for young boys and girls learning Canadian French.

Purpose: This study investigated the impact of syntactic complexity and task demands on construction of utterances using picture communication symbols by participants from 3 age groups with no communication disorders. Method: Participants were 30 children (7;0 [years;months] to 8;11), 30 teenagers (12;0 to 13;11), and 30 adults (18 years and above). All participants constructed graphic symbol utterances to describe photographs presented with spoken French stimuli. Stimuli included simple and complex (object relative and subject relative) utterances describing the photographs, which were presented either 1 at a time (neutral condition) or in an array of 4 (contrast condition). Results: Simple utterances lead to more uniform response patterns than complex utterances. Among complex utterances, subject relative sentences appeared more difficult to convey. Increasing the need for message clarity (i.e., contrast condition) elicited changes in the production of graphic symbol sequences for complex propositions. The effects of syntactic complexity and task demands were more pronounced for children. Conclusion: Graphic symbol utterance construction appears to involve more than simply transferring spoken language skills. One possible explanation is that this type of task requires higher levels of metalinguistic ability. Clinical implications and directions for further research are discussed. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures, and 1 note.) [The following are appended: (1) List of stimuli; and (2) Instructions (translated from French).]

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have cognitive disabilities resulting from trisomy 21. Language-learning difficulties, especially expressive language problems, are an important component of the phenotype of this population. Many individuals with DS are born into bilingual environments. To date, however, there is almost no information available regarding the capacity of these individuals to acquire more than 1 language. The present study compared the language abilities of 8 children with DS being raised bilingually with those of 3 control groups matched on developmental level: monolingual children with DS (n=14), monolingual typically developing (TD) children (n=18), and bilingual TD children (n=11). All children had at least 100 words in their productive vocabularies but a mean length of utterance of less than 3.5. The bilingual children spoke English and 1 other language and were either balanced bilinguals or English-dominant. English testing was completed for all children using the following: the Preschool Language Scale, Third Edition; language sampling; and the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). Bilingual children were also tested in the second language using a vocabulary comprehension test, the CDI, and language sampling. Results provided evidence of a similar profile of language abilities in bilingual children as has been documented for monolingual children with DS. There was no evidence of a detrimental effect of bilingualism. That is, the bilingual children with DS scored at least as well on all English tests as their monolingual DS counterparts. Nonetheless, there was considerable diversity in the second-language abilities demonstrated by these individuals with DS. Clinical implications are addressed.

Purpose: Research on the diagnostic accuracy of different language measures has focused primarily on English. This study examined the sensitivity and specificity of a range of measures of language knowledge and language processing for the identification of primary language impairment (PLI) in French-speaking children. Because of the lack of well-documented language measures in French, it is difficult to accurately identify affected children, and thus research in this area is impeded. Method: The performance of 14 monolingual French-speaking children with confirmed, clinically identified PLI (M = 61.4 months of age, SD = 7.2 months) on a range of language and language processing measures was compared with the performance of 78 children with confirmed typical language development (M age = 58.9 months, SD = 5.7). These included evaluations of receptive vocabulary, receptive grammar, spontaneous language, narrative production, nonword repetition, sentence imitation, following directions, rapid automatized naming, and digit span. Sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios were determined at 3 cutoff points: (a) -1 SD, (b) -1.28 SD, and (b) -2 SD below mean values. Receiver operator characteristic curves were used to identify the most accurate cutoff for each measure. Results: Significant differences between the PLI and typical language development groups were found for the majority of the language measures, with moderate to large effect sizes. The measures differed in their sensitivity and specificity, as well as in which cutoff point provided the most accurate decision. Ideal cutoff points were in most cases between the mean and -1 SD. Sentence imitation and following directions appeared to be the most accurate measures. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that standardized measures of language and language processing provide accurate identification of PLI in French. The results are strikingly similar to previous results for English, suggesting that in spite of structural differences between the languages, PLI in both languages involves a generalized language delay across linguistic domains, which can be identified in a similar way using existing standardized measures. Key Words: primary language impairment, sensitivity, assessment, nonword repetition, sentence imitation, Specific language impairment (SLI) is broadly defined as a clinically identified language impairment, occurring in the absence of other clinically identified developmental deficits (Leonard, 1998). More recently, many authors prefer [...]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology is the property of Speech-Language & Audiology Canada and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology is the property of Speech-Language & Audiology Canada and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology is the property of Speech-Language & Audiology Canada and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)