bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A preliminary account of phonological and morphophonological perception in young children with and without otitis media
Authors: C. Petinou Kakia , Schwartz Richard G. , Gravel Judith S. , Raphael Lawrence J. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThis investigation examined the effects of otitis media with effusion (OME) and its associated fluctuating conductive hearing loss on the perception of phonological and morphophonological /s/ and /z/ in young children. We predicted that children free of OME (OME) would perform better than children with histories of OME (OME+). We also predicted that for the OME+ group morphological perception would be harder than phonological perception, because the former category carries an additional linguistic load (i.e., plurality). Sixteen children, ages 26 to 28 months (M =26.5, SD=0.6) were divided into two groups, the OME (n =8) and OME + (n =8) based on OME history during the first year of life. Subjects in the OME group were free of the disease for 4/5 visits and pure tone average (PTA) was 12.6 dB HL (SD=4.8). Subjects in the OME+ group had the disease on 3/5 visits and PTA was 23dB HL (SD=2.7). Experimental stimuli were six monosyllabic novel word‐pairs. Members of each word‐pair differed only in the presence of final voiced or voiceless fricative, marking the targets phonologically (e.g., [g6]/[g6 s] as in ‘law’, ‘loss’) or morphophonologically (e.g., [dæp]/[dæps] as in ‘map’ ‘maps’). Subjects were taught the unfamiliar word pairs using a fast mapping procedure. Perception was tested with the bimodal preferential looking paradigm. Children in the OME group performed significantly better than their OME+ counterparts. Individual word‐pair analyses showed that OME+ group performed more poorly than the OME group on one phonological and on two morphological targets, all ending with [s]. For the OME+ group, targets with final [s] posed greater difficulty than those with final [z], especially on morphophonological plural‐{s) targets. The results suggested that the fluctuating hearing loss associated with OME might have a negative impact on speech perception.
Direct and indirect therapy for word sound deafness
Authors: Maneta Athanasia , Marshall Jane , Lindsay Jayne 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThis paper evaluates two therapy programmes conducted with PK, an aphasic individual with word sound deafness. The first aimed directly to improve discrimination skills, using minimal pair tasks supported with lip reading. Disappointingly, there were no changes on discrimination tests after this therapy, even when PK could benefit from lip reading information. The second, indirect, programme of therapy aimed to change the communication behaviours of PK's wife. Strategies such as writing and simplifying information were modelled and practised. A detailed information booklet, outlining the target strategies and explaining PK's main strengths and weaknesses supported the programme. Evaluation of this therapy involved pre‐ and post‐therapy analysis of interactions between PK and his wife, with biographical questions forming the basis of the interactions. There were several changes after therapy on this measure. The number and length of communication breakdowns were reduced, and more questions were answered accurately. This study suggests that, in some cases of severe word sound deafness, indirect therapies may be most effective.
Relationship between parenting behaviours and specific language impairment in children
Authors: Scheffner Hammer Carol , Bruce Tomblin J. , Zhang Xuyang , Weiss Amy L. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThis study investigated the relationship between parenting behaviours and specific language impairment (SLI) in children. Using a case‐control design, data on 177 kindergarten children with SLI and 925 kindergarten children who were typically developing were collected using a parental questionnaire. Parents were interviewed about parenting practices classified into the following categories: conversing with children, teaching behaviours, the child's daily routine and discipline. The results revealed that parents of children who were normally developing had engaged their children in particular conversational activities more frequently than had parents with children with SLI. Parents of children diagnosed with SLI tended to teach their children school readiness skills (the alphabet and colours) and discipline their children more frequently. These relationships continued to hold after controlling for maternal education and family economic need with the exception of teaching children colour names. The results suggested that additional investigations that examine the association between these parental behaviours and children's language status through direct observation are warranted.
Use of cognitive state predicates by language‐impaired children
Authors: Johnston Judith R. , Miller Jon , Tallal Paula 
Published: September 2003

AbstractTwo studies of the use of cognitive state predicates by children with specific language impairment (SLI) were conducted. Study I analysed longitudinal language samples collected from 26 children with SLI and 25 children with normal language (NL) development, aged 4;4 and 2;11, respectively, at Time I. Study II analysed samples from SLI children with more severe delays at an earlier language stage. There were 10 SLI children and 10 NL children, aged 4;11 and 2;8, respectively, matched by MLU. All cognitive state predicates were identified using both broad and narrow definitions. In Study I, the SLI children used cognitive state predicates less frequently than their mental age peers, and with no greater frequency or variety than their younger, language peers. In Study II, children with SLI used more predicates referring to communication events, but there were no further group differences. These findings are discussed as they relate to two current psycholinguistic issues: the possible dissociation of grammar and the lexicon, and the role of language in the development of children's theory of mind.
High‐frequency verbs and verb diversity in the spontaneous speech of school‐age children with specific language impairment
Authors: T. Thordardottir Elin , Weismer Susan Ellis 
Published: September 2003

AbstractLow verb diversity and heavy reliance on a small set of high‐frequency ‘general all purpose (GAP)’ verbs have been reported to characterize specific language impairment (SLI) in preschool children. However, discrepancies exist about the severity of this deficit, particularly in whether these children's verb diversity is commensurate with their MLU level and whether verb diversity is more severely affected than general lexical diversity. Conflicting findings have been reported regarding the use of GAP verbs. This relatively large (n =100) study extended the investigation of lexical diversity and high‐frequency verb use to school‐age children with SLI and NL peers and examined a particular hypothesis concerning the role of high‐frequency verbs in language development. No differences were found between groups in general lexical diversity or verb diversity in samples of a set number of tokens. The results did not suggest that verb diversity constitutes an area of specific deficit in spontaneous production for children with SLI. SLI and NL groups were indistinguishable in high‐frequency verb use. Extensive use of high‐frequency verbs by both groups indicates that their use is part of normal development. Results are reported that support the hypothesis that high‐frequency verbs act as prototypes for major meaning categories, permitting semantic and syntactic simplification with minimal losses in information value.
Learning an invented inflectional morpheme in Spanish by children with typical language skills and with specific language impairment (SLI)
Authors: Anderson Raquel T. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractCross‐linguistic research on SLI has suggested that how the disorder is manifested depends on the ambient language. For example, research on Italian indicates that SLI children do not present difficulties with verb inflection, when compared with MLUmatched peers. This pattern contrasts with what has been reported for Englishspeaking children. The present investigation sought to examine SLI children's use of inflectional morphology through a language teaching task similar to that used by Connell (1987) and Connell and Stone (1992). To address cross‐linguistic differences, children were speakers of a language similar to Italian in its verb agreement paradigm. Sixteen Puerto Rican Spanish‐speaking with SLI and 16 age‐matched controls were taught a subject‐verb agreement suffix that established the subject's gender. Half the children in each group were taught the new form via imitation. The rest of the participants were trained via a modeling procedure. Both comprehension and production of the target form were assessed. Results indicated significant differences across the SLI and typical groups for both comprehension and production of the inflectional morpheme, regardless of instructional strategy. These findings contradict what has been observed in previous studies on teaching an invented rule to children with SLI. They also suggest that inflectional morphology may be problematic even for children who are learning a morphologically rich language. The explanatory power of the process account and the linguistic account of SLI are explored as these pertain to the present findings, and suggestions for further research are discussed.
Nature of phonological delay in children with specific language impairment
Authors: Orsolini Margherita , Sechi Enzo , Maronato Cristina , Bonvino Elisabetta , Corcelli Alessandra 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThis study investigated the nature of phonological delay in a group of children with specific language impairment. It was asked whether phonological errors in this group of children were generated by a slow but normal language learning process or whether they reflected a selective impairment in some representations that enhance normal acquisition and use of a language phonology. A group of 10 children with SLI (mean age=5,1) was compared with three groups of normal children who were matched in age (age control group, mean age=5,1), in sentence comprehension and recalling (grammar control group, mean age= 3,7), or who exhibited a phonological performance lower than the age average (group with low phonological performance, mean age=4,4). The four groups of children were assessed in terms of: (1) responses to a mispronunciation detection task; and (2) error profiles with complex and simple syllabic structures. Performance on the mispronunciation detection task showed that the group with SLI could distinguish a target lexical item from acoustic non‐word stimuli that were highly similar to it in terms of phonetic characteristics. An analysis of overall error rate at this task showed, however, that four children with SLI had a much lower performance than normal children of the same age, even when the auditory stimuli were tokens of the target word, or non‐words that were phonetically different from the target. A difficulty in coordinating vocal actions in an articulatory plan accounted for error profiles with simple syllabic structures both for some children with SLI and normal children with phonological performance lower than the age average. A severe difficulty with representing complex syllabic structures was a homogeneous characteristic of the group with SLI and worked as the main indicator of impaired, rather than simply slow, phonological development.
Educational attainments of school leavers with a preschool history of speech‐language impairments
Authors: J. Snowling Margaret , Adams John W. , Bishop D. V. M. , Stothard Susan E. 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThis paper reports a follow‐up study of a cohort of 16‐ and 17‐year‐olds with a preschool history of speech‐language impairment and whom Bishop and Edmundson (1987) originally studied. Information collected by questionnaire showed that the GCSE grades of those whose language impairments had resolved by 5;06 were below those of age‐matched controls. However, the number of GCSE examinations entered and passed was significantly more than those of the ‘persistent S‐LI’ and ‘general delay’ groups. Overall, IQ was the strongest predictor of educational attainment. However, even when IQ was controlled, literacy skills accounted for independent variance in achievement, especially among those with a history of language difficulty. The survey also noted that the majority of students across all groups remained in full‐time education; however, the adolescents with a background of S‐LI were more likely to follow vocational and employment training courses rather than A‐levels.
Follow‐up of children attending infant language units: outcomes at 11 years of age
Authors: Conti‐Ramsden Gina , Botting Nicola , simkin Zoë , Knox Emma 
Published: September 2003

AbstractA large cohort of 242 children who had been attending infants language units at 7 years of age was followed up when the children were in their final year of primary school. Two hundred (83%) of the children were reassessed at 11 years of age on a wide battery of language and literacy measures, on a test of nonverbal ability, an autism checklist and a communication checklist. In total, 89% of children still scored <1 SD from the mean on at least one test of language and the majority (63%) scored poorly on three or more assessments demonstrating widespread difficulties. Compared with non‐verbal abilities at 7 years of age, a large proportion of the cohort also performed poorly on performance IQ subtests (28%). A further 10 children scored highly on a checklist for autistic spectrum disorder. Thus, only 115 (58%) children could be said to meet criteria for specific language impairment. A small group of 16 children appeared to have entirely resolved their difficulties. These outcomes and their implications for education and long‐term impact of the disorder are discussed.
Conversation analysis as a technique for exploring the dynamics of a mediated interview
Authors: Friedland Deborah , Penn Claire 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThe study analysed the dynamics of a mediated medico‐legal interview using conversation analysis (CA) as a key methodology. The aim of using CA was to identify both facilitators and inhibitors of a successfully mediated interview, using a detailed microscopic analysis of the dynamics involved. A 45‐minute interview with the client's parents, the speech pathologist and the interpreter was taperecorded and analysed according to CA principles. Results revealed several facilitators, including equal and active roles, use of code switching, familiarity between the interviewer and interpreter, and use of repetition. Inhibitors included different agendas, complicated repair trajectories and interruptions. In addition, aspects such as cultural brokerage were identified that could be considered neither as facilitators nor as inhibitors. Each area is discussed in detail using extracts from the transcription.
Is speech and language therapy meeting the needs of language minorities? The case of Deaf people with neurological impairments
Authors: Marshall Jane , Atkinson Jo , Thacker Alice , Woll Bencie 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThe cultural diversity of the UK poses a challenge for speech and language therapists. Work with children from language minorities has been documented, but less so with adults. This raises the question of whether adults from minority communities are gaining access to services. Deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL) are one language minority. It is known that sign language is vulnerable to neurological damage. Of interest is whether Deaf people with such damage are referred to speech and language therapy (SLT). The aim was to find out how many deaf people were referred to SLT services in the UK over the last 5 years, and reasons for the referrals. We also explored the service offered to Deaf referrals, and whether SLT teams had access to BSL skills, either internally or via interpreters. A brief questionnaire was sent to the managers of all SLT services in the UK (n =264). There was as 60% response rate. Only 34 services received referrals of Deaf patients, with a total of 39 Deaf people seen. This is substantially below the predicted rates. Most referrals were for dysphagia, or dysphagia with communication impairments. In line with this, dysphagia management was the dominant service, although most referrals also received language assessment. Most teams did not have signing staff members and access to interpreters was variable. The results suggest that many Deaf people are not gaining access to SLT after neurological impairment. Those who are referred are unlikely to receive language therapy. The instigation of a national team specializing in BSL impairments is recommended.
Intergenerational communication: Fundamental but under‐exploited theory for speech and language therapy with older people
Authors: Armstrong Linda , McKechnie Karen 
Published: September 2003

AbstractThere is a body of research literature already applied in speech and language therapy practice that is concerned with communication between children and adults and the adaptations adults make to facilitate the development of language in children. There is much less and more recent literature concerned with intergenerational communication involving older people and older people in institutional care. This has not yet impacted on speech and language therapy practice, especially in the area of training others. The aims of this paper are (1) to describe some of the main theoretical concepts associated with intergenerational communication, (2) to present the results from a study of the opinions about and experiences of intergenerational communication in which children, community‐ based older women and professional carers of older people were included and (3) to discuss the implications for speech and language therapy practice. A hypothesis for the study was that views on and attitudes towards communication and ageing would vary among the age groups. Some of the main concepts and models associated with intergenerational communication with older people are reviewed, including the communication predicament and enhancement models and the concept of patronizing communication. A qualitative study of three different age groups of (mainly) women was undertaken using a variety of methods of data elicitation (including written questionnaire and focus group discussion). Themes arising from the data were illuminated using content analysis. Participants' responses demonstrate some current generally positive views across the life‐span on what it means to be old and the value of communication with older people. The implications for speech and language therapy practice are outlined, with the main emphasis on the potential use of intergenerational communication theory in developing a new focus for training other staff groups who care for older people and for measures of effectiveness of such in‐service training.
Evaluating UK research in speech and language therapy
Authors: Lewison Grant , Carding Paul 
Published: September 2003

AbstractBackground: There has been a steady growth in recent years in British higher‐degree training in speech and language therapy. But what is the standing of UK research in the subject and its component areas which should underpin and inform such training? How can such research be evaluated? Aims: The intention was to compare UK publications relevant to speech and language therapy with those of other countries, both quantitatively and qualitatively. We sought then to examine the UK papers in more detail to analyse their sources of funding, their geographical distribution and the ways in which they could appropriately be evaluated. Methods & Procedures: Papers were selectively retrieved from the Science Citation Index and the Social Sciences Citation Index for 1991‐2000 by means of a filter based on journal names and paper title words. They were subsequently checked to remove many false positives. The papers were classified into one of seven subject areas and by their research level (from clinical to basic). Their importance was estimated through their potential impact on other researchers, as determined by the citation score of their journals, by the numbers of citations they actually received and by the subjective esteem in which the various journals were held by UK speech and language researchers. Outcomes & Results: World output of speech and language therapy papers has averaged 1000 papers per year during the 1990s, and has grown by half over the period. UK output has been about 12% of the total, compared with 10% in biomedicine, and is published in high impact journals relative to the norm for the field, which is quite a low rate compared with biomedicine overall. Almost half the UK papers had no funding acknowledgements, with the private‐non‐profit and industrial sectors playing less of a role than in other biomedical areas. Papers in seven subject areas showed substantial differences in their performance on the four criteria selected. Conclusions: The state of British speech and language research appears to be satisfactory, with an above average output in both quantity and quality. However, it is not attracting funding from some types of sponsors and is not being published in general medical journals where it might have a wider influence on general clinical practice. It is also not clear how best such research can be evaluated, although conventional citation counts may be relevant for some subject areas.