Browsing by Subject "Language impairment"
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Item A comparison of frequencies and patterns of codeswitching in Spanish-English bilingual children at high and low risk for specific language impairment(2011-05) Silva, Bertha Alicia; Bedore, Lisa M.; Elizabeth, Peña D.Theories of bilingual language production suggest that codeswitching is either a characteristic of limited language or a productive characteristic suggesting enhanced executive control and language proficiency. Since codeswitching patterns of typically developing and language impaired bilingual children are not thoroughly understood, utterances with codeswitches may be disregarded during language evaluations. Codeswitching frequency and types of codeswitches were analyzed in language samples of 12 bilingual children at high and 12 at low risk for specific language impairment (SLI). Results indicated that the frequency of codeswitching was similar for both risk groups in Spanish, but not in English. In English, the high risk group codeswitched significantly more than the typically developing group (18.76% vs 7.20%, p<.05). The types of codeswitches most often produced also differed by language and risk group. In Spanish, single-word lexical codeswitches were preferred significantly more than syntactical or lexical-syntactical, but no differences were found between risk groups. In English, syntactical codeswitches were preferred significantly more than lexical or lexical- syntactical. That the children at high risk for SLI codeswitched more in their second language and that their patterns were similar to the typically developing group might suggest that codeswitching in bilingual children with SLI might be used as a productive strategy to fill in linguistic ‘gaps’ and that codeswitching should be recognized and given credit for in language evaluations.Item Convergence of two language assessment measures with ability in school-age Spanish-English bilingual children(2011-05) Johnston, Lia Marie; Bedore, Lisa M.; Bedore, Lisa M.; Pena, Elizabeth D.There is a documented need for appropriate language assessment measures for Spanish-English bilingual school-age children in the United States. The Bilingual English Spanish Assessment- Middle Extension (BESA-ME), the Test of Narrative Language (TNL), and the Test of Narrative Language- Spanish experimental version (Spanish TNL) were administered to 129 children ranging in age from 7;0 to 8;11. Convergence between the measures was examined. The results indicated a strong correlation between measures, as well as significant correlation between each measure and children’s ability level (i.e. classification as typically developing or with language impairment). These results present the BESA-ME and the TNL in Spanish and English as promising tools to assess language impairment in a population that traditionally has been a challenge to evaluate.Item Developmental patterns of English grammar at various levels of language experience in bilingual children(2013-05) Lopez, Amanda Adelina; Penã, Elizabeth D.The largest group of English language learners in the United States is comprised individuals who speak Spanish as a first language. There is a growing need for speech-language pathologists to better understand the language development of children learning two languages in order to distinguish between typical and disordered communication with this population. For monolingual English speakers, rate of grammatical morpheme acquisition is typically predicted based on MLU. In bilingual children, current language use has been determined to be a potentially more useful predictor of language performance. The purpose of this study was to determine English grammatical morpheme performance for English-Spanish bilingual preschool-age children based on their language exposure. Data was drawn from two existing data sets that included a total of 314 children. Their performance on the BESA was analyzed for grammatical morphemes in English. Interviews were conducted to determine language use and exposure. We present patterns of English grammatical morpheme acquisition in bilingual children as related to current language use.Item Developmental patterns of English grammar in bilingual children(2013-05) Hunt, Elizabeth Teresa; Penã, Elizabeth D.Typically developing Spanish-English bilingual children's production of twelve grammatical morphemes was analyzed for accuracy and described as a function of their English mastery, as indexed by mean length of utterance (MLU). Results revealed positive trends in morpheme accuracy as MLU increased. Despite a large degree of between subject variability, the data demonstrated general patterns that were consistent with previous literature, namely that the rate and trajectory of morpheme acquisition differs from monolingual norms, and that particular morphemes are predictably more and less challenging for bilingual children to produce accurately. MLU "cut-points" were suggested based on functional breaks in accuracy for several morphemes.Item Effectiveness of phonological awareness and reading interventions on children with language impairment : a research review(2011-05) Armstrong, April Melissa; Peña, Elizabeth D.; Sheng, LiThe effectiveness of treatment approaches aimed at children with language impairments to improve reading skills is the focus of this research synthesis. Research in this area is extensive but this report aims to focus on the results of 12 studies to highlight similarities and differences. Findings from these studies were analyzed and showed that phonological awareness intervention is one of the most prevalent types of intervention for this population. Research supports the fact that phonological awareness intervention can produce positive changes in children with language impairments. This type of intervention can not only cause improvements in phonological awareness skills but can also cause increases in reading ability. Credibility ratings for the studies as well as clinical implications are also discussed.Item Evidence based practice brief : teaching emergent literacy skills to preschool children with specific language impairment(2011-05) Miller, Mari Graceann; Bedore, Lisa M.; Sheng, LiPreschool children with Specific Language Impairment are at an increased risk for later reading difficulties (Watson, Layton, & Pierce, 1994; Catts et al., 1999; Johnston et al., 1999; Boudreau & Hedberg, 1999). Current emergent literacy intervention approaches have been discussed regarding typically developing children and children from lower incomes, but they lack efficacy data for preschoolers with SLI. The purpose of this article is to describe the current literature regarding emergent literacy intervention in preschoolers with SLI and reach an evidence-base decision as to the most effective intervention techniques to utilize in order to prevent later reading difficulties.Item Examining language patterns and growth of "at risk" bilingual children(2014-05) Koebert, Taylor Morgan; Bedore, Lisa M.The goal of this report was to explore ways to differentiate the performance of early school-aged Spanish-English bilingual children in U.S. public schools, who appear “at-risk” for language impairment versus those who have true risk. We compared the patterns of performance reported for children with typical development and language impairment reported in the literature to those for children with risk described by Bedore et al., (2013) and Perez et al., (in preparation). Children with risk seem quite different than their peers with true language problems on formal measures such as the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment (BESA). However these children presented fewer errors or weaknesses in spontaneous speech than did their peers with true language impairment. Language variability and errors are expected in the language of young bilingual children, so it is of utmost importance that language professionals closely assess each of the child’s languages with formal and functional measures prior to making a diagnosis of language impairment.Item Language sample analysis for Spanish speakers(2015-05) Pool, Molly Lauren; Bedore, Lisa M.; Peña, Elizabeth DThe purpose of this project was to develop a Spanish language sample analysis (LSA) scoring procedure for English-Spanish bilinguals used to guide clinicians in developing language goals and monitoring progress on those goals. A Spanish LSA procedure was created and was tested on 20 typically developing and 16 language impaired English-Spanish bilinguals. Each utterance of each language sample was analyzed for correct and attempted use of the 20 grammatical forms selected for the LSA procedure. Based on the results, a preliminary profile of impairment was established. It showed that Relative Clauses, Infinitive Clauses, Present Subjunctive, Third Person Plural Present and Preterit Indicative, Irregular Preterit Indicative, Indirect and Direct Object Clitics, Imperfect, and Plural Nouns were the most problematic forms for English-Spanish bilinguals with LI. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.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 Listening comprehension difficulties in children with co-occurring language impairment and ADHD(2011-05) Shaw, Whitney Nicole; Bedore, Lisa M.; Pena, ElizabethThe purpose of this report is to explore whether listening comprehension difficulties are due to receptive language impairment or attention deficits in school-age children. This evidence-based practice brief analyzes research within this population and gives suggestions on clinical implications for practicing speech-language pathologists related to intervention. Results show that listening comprehension is impaired in children whether or not they have co-occurring language impairment. However, ADHD does not further impair a child with a language disorder. Intervention for this population should focus on increasing the child’s understanding of causal connections, making inferences, and effective ways to study.Item Memory performance in young adults with language and learning disabilities(2013-05) Voss, Kellie Kathleen; Sheng, Li, Ph. D.This thesis investigated the memory skills of young adults with and without language and learning disabilities (LLD) using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott word recall paradigm (Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Three types of word lists were presented: semantic lists consisted of words that are related to a non-presented critical item (CI) (e.g., bad) in meaning (good, rotten, harmful, worse); phonological lists included words related to the CI in sound (e.g., had, lad, bat, bag); and hybrid lists included words related to the CI in both meaning and sound (e.g., good, lad, rotten, bat). Individuals with diagnoses of LLD were classified as "true LLD" or "compensated LLD" based on language test scores and a discriminating composite score, while those without LLD were considered the "typical language" (TL) group. Hypotheses were made regarding veridical recall and memory intrusions, including intrusions of the non-presented critical item (CI). For veridical recall, the compensated LLD and TL groups were expected to have higher recall accuracy than the true LLD group. As for CI intrusions, two possible outcomes were considered: the true LLD group may recall more CIs due to inability to discriminate between presented and non-presented words (Kirchner & Klatzky, 1985); or they may recall fewer CIs due to difficulties forming traces of the gist of the word list (Weekes et al., 2005). Data from 30 participants (ages 18 to 25) -- 12 true LLD, 8 compensated LLD, and 10 TL -- were included in this thesis. Results indicated that the true LLD group showed a non-significant tendency to have lower recall accuracy scores than the other two groups, and a higher number of CI intrusions. List-type also affected accuracy and CI intrusions, as semantically-related lists increased recall accuracy and hybrid semantic-phonological lists increased CI intrusions. Possible conclusions from these data are presented along with recommendations for future research.Item The role of vocabulary knowledge for tongue twister repetition in bilingual children with and without language impairment(2015-05) Mitidieri, Maria Nicole; Bedore, Lisa M.; Peña, Elizabeth DThis study evaluates the relationship between semantic and phonological representations via the comparison of vocabulary knowledge and tongue twister performance in 34 bilingual Spanish-English children with and without language impairment (LI). In Spanish and English, scores and error analyses for eight four-word tongue twisters were compared to their vocabulary scores on the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT). Results indicated the typically developing (TD) group outperformed the group with LI in all areas. Positive significant correlations occurred between vocabulary knowledge and tongue twister performance in both languages and negative significant correlations between vocabulary knowledge and specific tongue twister error types demonstrated cross-language and cross-group discrepancies. These results imply that semantic knowledge and language experience and exposure influence bilingual children's performance on tongue twisters repetition tasks.Item Sentence repetition as a tool to measure grammatical progress in English-dominant bilingual children with language and/or reading impairment(2011-05) Longo, Beata Korytkowski; Bedore, Lisa M.; Pena, Elizabeth D.In this thesis four children, between the ages of 6 and 7, identified as at risk for language or reading impairment, participated in a bilingual intervention. The bilingual literacy intervention included a grammatical component that incorporated past tense verb, noun phrase, and prepositional phrase instruction. The children completed a sentence repetition test (SRT), which allowed examiners to measure grammatical progress over the coarse of the intervention. Overall SRT results showed that moderate grammatical gains were made during the intervention. The study also provided data on the sensitivity of SRT in targeted grammatical areas. The results showed that the past tense verb and noun phrase portions of the SRT had low sensitivity to progress. These findings suggest that clinicians can use SRT to measure overall progress; however, supplemental tasks should be used to evaluate past tense verb and noun phrase abilities in English-dominant bilingual children with language or reading impairment.Item Vocabulary use in seven- to nine-year-old bilingual children with and without language impairment(2012-05) Ubels, Anna Jo, 1988-; Bedore, Lisa M.; Pena, ElizabethThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of vocabulary use of seven- to nine-year-old bilingual children with and without language impairment. 74 participants (37 typically developing and 37 language impaired) ranging from age 7;0 to 9;11 years were matched based on age, language dominance and when they first began speaking English. The Test of Narrative Language (TNL) was administered to the participants in English and Spanish. The three oral narratives of the English and Spanish TNL were transcribed and scored. A prototypical word list was derived from 10 high scoring students from the normative data set. Word lists from both the TD and LI participants in English and Spanish were compared to the prototypical word list. Results indicated that the participants produced more prototypical words when telling stories in English than in Spanish. TD participants also produced more prototypical words than LI participants overall. The results have implications for both assessment and intervention and add to our knowledge of word selection in bilingual children with and without LI.