Browsing by Subject "Language development"
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Item I have a father who reads to me : implications for early language and literacy development(2014-12) Joyner, Stacey Lynette; Brown, Christopher P., Ph. D.; Roser, NancyReading aloud to very young children has been described as one of the “most important activities for developing the knowledge required for eventual success in reading” (Bus, van IJzendoorn, & Pelligrini, 1995, p. 19), and it is equally as strong as phonemic awareness as a predictor of reading achievement (Bus et al.). In the dialogue around reading aloud to children, mothers are routinely envisioned as the actors. Indeed, much of the research on families and reading aloud centers on the mother’s role in this process (e.g., Ninio & Bruner, 1978; Phillips & McNaughton, 1990; Reese, Cox, Harte, & McAnally, 2003). Despite a gap in research around fathers’ roles in influencing their children’s general development (Cabrera, Shannon, & Tamis-LeMonda, 2007), some theorists indicate that fathers can play an important role in their linguistic, cognitive, and emotional development (Gadsden, Brooks, & Jackson, 1997; Nord, Brimhall, & West, 1997). An understanding of what fathers contribute to read alouds with texts written in English in general and an examination of how those contributions vary from father to father may enable teachers to recognize and address differences that exist in children’s pre-school experiences and how those differences may be manifested in classrooms. This, then, may prove beneficial to educators who work with families encompassing a variety of demographic and structural characteristics in their efforts to support literacy acquisition. The input provided by fathers in this study varies over a wide spectrum in terms of frequency and style; similarly, the invitations to think abstractly vary across multiple levels. In addition, the familiarity of the book being shared, both in terms of language and content, appears to exert a strong influence on the number of interactions and the invitations to think abstractly during read alouds. The implications of these findings suggest that we should challenge our assumptions regarding the economic and situational factors that result in the labeling of children as academically “at risk.” I outline actions for consideration by parents, educators, and stakeholders who are working with young children and their families to promote language and literacy development.Item Lexical errors produced during category generation tasks by bilingual adults and bilingual typically developing and language-impaired seven to nine-year-old children(2009-12) McKinney, Kellin Lee; Peña, Elizabeth D.; Sheng, LiThe development of category knowledge is in part a function of one's experiences with the world. The types of errors produced during category generation tasks may reveal the boundaries of these experiences and the ways in which they are organized into lexical networks. Examining the errors made by bilingual children with and without language impairment (LI) and bilingual adults may help to distinguish the effects of ability versus experience on the development and organization of lexical-semantic categories. The purpose of this study was to examine the types of errors made by bilingual (Spanish-English) children with (n=37) and without (n=35) LI and bilingual adults (n=26) on category generation tasks in both their languages and at two category levels: taxonomic and slot-filler. Results revealed a main effect for level (taxonomic vs. slot-filler) and error type (semantic vs. other) and suggest that bilingual seven to nine-year-old children's and adults' proportions and types of errors produced on category generation tasks differ significantly based on ability (i.e., TD or LI) but not on experience (i.e., TD or Adults).Item Prelinguistic communication development in infants and toddlers with cerebral palsy : guidelines for assessment and intervention(2013-05) Papageorge, Dana Robyn; Davis, Barbara L. (Barbara Lockett)Children with cerebral palsy that have severe motor impairments, and often co-occurring visual impairments, may often have an impaired ability in prelinguistic forms of communication. In order for children to establish intentional communication, research suggests that prelinguistic communicative competence must be in place. Access to alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) is not sufficient to enhance interaction if motivation to communicate intentionally does not exist. The purpose of this literature review is to discuss the important aspects of early assessment and intervention for children with cerebral palsy who have severe motor impairment. There is a wealth of information about the development, assessment, and intervention of prelinguistic communication in typically developing children and children with developmental delays; however, limited empirical research focuses on children with severe physical impairments. The aim of this project will be to draw conclusions from the available research in order to formulate a protocol for speech-language pathologists to use in assessment and intervention of prelinguistic communication in young children with cerebral palsy.Item Prognosis and progress : a retrospective case study of a child with Down syndrome(2013-05) Peterson, Taylor Rebecca; Davis, Barbara L. (Barbara Lockett)The purpose of this retrospective case study is twofold: 1) to analyze the current literature regarding speech and language development and intervention in Down syndrome (DS) and 2) to investigate the experiences of a young child with DS in early intervention from birth to age three. More specifically, we are interested in understanding what a diagnosis of DS means for the developing child (clinical description), how the abilities of these children are measured prior to treatment (assessment), which strategies are commonly utilized in therapy for this population (intervention), and expected treatment outcomes for children who receive intervention (progress). By integrating data from all major areas of development, we can provide a holistic description of DS in early childhood and see how DS is manifested in a young child with this diagnosis. Furthermore, this review and case study can guide speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who are interested in evidence-based practice for clients with developmental disabilities. We interviewed the participant’s mother to gain additional perspective on the early intervention process and outcomes. After analyzing early therapeutic and educational records provided by the participant’s mother, we discovered that our participant experienced a similar pattern of speech and language development as her peers with DS; however, at age three, she appeared to be functioning at an above average level relative to expectations for children with DS. We discuss the positive indicators and environmental factors that may have contributed to her success. Our findings support the importance of providing early intervention for children with developmental disabilities.Item Relationships between IQ and language development across language domains in bilingual children(2016-05) Briseno, Jennifer Renee; Bedore, Lisa M.; Franco, Jessica HThe current study examined if Spanish-English bilingual children with extremely low IQ and average IQ demonstrated similar language development and which language variables were associated with increases or decreases in IQ development. Given the literature, we proposed the following hypotheses: children with extremely low IQ will demonstrate lower than expected language scores than their matched average IQ peer, and children that demonstrate increases in IQ across time will demonstrate increases in language scores. We examined two pairs of bilingual children matched on SES, bilingual status, and age. Despite variability in outcomes, we found a general increase in language measures, which suggests that measures utilized were not directly related to IQ development, but rather demonstrate a more general relationship between language domains and IQ.Item The significance of siblings on language development in bilingual Spanish-English children(2015-05) Faz, Andrea Patricia; Peña, Elizabeth D.; Bedore, Lisa M.The purpose of this study was to investigate if there was a relationship between birth order and language proficiency in English and Spanish bilingual children. This study used data from a preexisting dataset. Participants included 49 Spanish-English bilingual children (age 4;6-7;0), who had at least one sibling. Participants were recruited from school districts in Texas, California, and Pennsylvania during the original study. The investigator examined relationships among birth order, number of children, and language measures. Semantic and morphosyntactic language abilities were measured through the participant’s performance on the corresponding subtests of the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment (BESA) (Peña, Gutiérrez-Clellen, Iglesias, Goldstein & Bedore, 2014) and through English productivity measures collected from language samples. These measures included: total number of words (TNW), number of different words (NDW), and mean length of utterances in words (MLUw). Significant correlations were found between birth order and number of children and English measures of semantics. The findings in this current study suggest that earlier born siblings and fewer siblings in the family were related to higher English semantics scores. In addition, these variables were also linked to higher levels of English proficiency as determined by their performance in TNW and NDW.Item Teaching rejecting response using wrong-item format embedding into missing-item format for children with developmental disabilities(2009-08) Choi, Hayoung; O’Reilly, Mark F.Mands, of which requesting and rejecting responses are considered subclasses, are the first emerging communication functions that allow children to express their wants and needs. While typically developing children develop speech without specifically designed intervention, many children with autism and developmental disabilities are likely to rely on prelinguistic communication forms that are socially and developmentally inappropriate or unacceptable until symbolic forms of functional communication are taught. A review of the literature on teaching mands indicates that although there is an abundance of research addressing teaching communicative requesting behaviors, rarely have studies attempted to teach communicative rejecting. The purpose of this study was to create rejecting opportunities using the wrong-item format embedded into the missing item format, and to teach socially appropriate rejecting response using AAC for four children with autism and developmental disabilities. This study employed a multiple probe design across four participants to examine the effectiveness of the procedure. Results indicated that the wrong-item format embedded into the missing-item format was effective in teaching symbolic forms of rejecting responses using VOCAs and PECS. The results were generalized across two untrained activities and were maintained up to four weeks following the termination of generalization probes for three participants. The implications and limitations of this study, as well as potential topics for future research are also discussed.