A Story Completion Approach as a Measure of Language Development in Children

1977 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn S. Bliss ◽  
Doris V. Allen ◽  
Kenneth W. Wrasse
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Clinical Significance ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Language Behavior ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
Story Completion ◽  
Grammatical Structures

A task employing a story completion approach was administered to 120 children who exhibited normal language development. Fifteen boys and 15 girls at four-, five-, six-, and seven-year age levels were tested. The test elicits 14 grammatical structures using 28 stories. Significant differences in structures did not occur between the sexes at any age level but males required more prompting. Significant differences in the total number of correct responses were established between the four and five year olds and between the five and six year olds but not between the six and seven year olds. Performance by age varied according to the grammatical structure. Simple structures were produced most accurately by the younger subjects while the more advanced ones were used by the older subjects. Discussion of results emphasized normal cognitive and language development as well as the clinical significance for the assessment of language behavior.

Play-Language Relationships in Young Children With Developmental Delays

1991 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne D. Kennedy ◽  
Margaret K. Sheridan ◽  
Sara H. Radlinski ◽  
Marjorie Beeghly
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Clinical Assessment ◽  
Developmental Delays ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Symbolic Play ◽  
Language Behavior ◽  
Normal Language

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to determine whether the reported parallels between symbolic play and normal language development were evidenced in 6 children with developmental delays of varying etiologies. Subjects’ play and language behavior over a 6-month period was videotaped and analyzed during free play and modeling tasks. Although results supported the correspondences previously reported between normal language development and symbolic play, the variability across observations in the present subjects was more marked than expected. Implications for clinical assessment are discussed.

A Method for Assessing Use of Grammatical Structures in Language Disordered Children

1980 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda M. Laila Khan ◽  
Sharon L. James
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Speech Language Pathologist ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Development Literature ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance ◽  
Ongoing Assessment ◽  
Grammatical Structures

This article describes a method for assessing children's production of certain grammatical structures, including noun and verb markers, pronouns, negative forms, and interrogative inversion. The method can be used for ongoing assessment in therapy and is designed for children whose mean-length-of-utterance falls between 2.0 and 5.0 morphemes. It incorporates information from both the normal language development literature and an individual child's performance to help the speech-language pathologist make remediation decisions for that child.

Language Evaluation

1981 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris V. Allen ◽  
Lynn S. Bliss ◽  
Jack Timmons
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Clinical Significance ◽  
Clinical Judgment ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Day Care Centers ◽  
Communication Development ◽  
Language Behavior

This study was designed to determine the degree of agreement between standardized tests of language development and clinical judgment. The Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language (TALC), the Carrow Elicited Language Inventory (CELI), and the Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development (SICD) were used. Three-year-old white preschool children were tested individually by experienced speech-language pathologists in day-care centers. Each examiner also made a clinical judgment of normal or impaired language behavior, based on observations during the testing. The results indicated that the CELI agreed the most with the clinical judgment of the examiners, followed by the SICD and TACL. The clinical significance of these results is discussed.

The Token and Reporter's Tests

1985 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 244-255
Author(s):  
Penelope K. Hall ◽  
Linda S. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Token Test ◽  
Normal Language

The performance of 123 language-disordered children on the DeRenzi and Faglioni form of the Token Test and the DeRenzi and Ferrari Reporter's Test were analyzed using two scoring conventions, and then compared with the performances of children with presumed normal language development. Correlations with other commonly used language assessment instruments are cited. Use of the Token and Reporter's Tests with children exhibiting language disorders is suggested.

Sentence Structures of Trainable and Educable Mentally Retarded Subjects

1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 722-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn S. Bliss ◽  
Doris V. Allen ◽  
Georgia Walker
Keyword(s):  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
Linguistic Processing ◽  
Completion Task ◽  
Mentally Retarded Children ◽  
Educable Mentally Retarded ◽  
Story Completion ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
Trainable Mentally Retarded

Educable and trainable mentally retarded children were administered a story completion task that elicits 14 grammatical structures. There were more correct responses from educable than from trainable mentally retarded children. Both groups found imperatives easiest, and future, embedded, and double-adjectival structures most difficult. The children classed as educable produced more correct responses than those termed trainable for declarative, question, and single-adjectival structures. The cognitive and linguistic processing of both groups is discussed as are the implications for language remediation.

A discussion of apraxia, aphasia, and gestural language

1984 ◽  
Vol 246 (6) ◽  
pp. R884-R887
Author(s):  
N. Helm-Estabrooks
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Cerebral Hemisphere ◽  
Communication Disorder ◽  
Left Cerebral Hemisphere ◽  
Language Behavior ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Symbolic Gestures ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Brain

It is understood that damage to the left cerebral hemisphere in adulthood may result in syndromes of language disturbances called the aphasias. The study of these syndromes sheds light on normal language processes, the relationship between language behavior and the brain, and how best to treat aphasic individuals. Aphasia, for some, is a central communication disorder affecting all symbolic behavior in all modalities (i.e., speech, writing, and gesture). Difficulty producing symbolic gestures on command is called apraxia. Others view aphasia as a manifestation of a motor-sequencing disorder affecting all gestural systems including those required for speech movements. These divergent theories of the underlying nature of aphasia can be tested through examination of deaf individuals who use sign language before onset of aphasia. Poizner et al. [Am. J. Physiol. 246 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 15): R868-R883, 1984] studied three such patients with different aphasia syndromes: one patient had a nonsymbolic, motor-sequencing disorder; one had a gestural apraxia; and one had neither. These findings force the conclusion that neither the symbolic nor motor-sequencing theory of aphasia can account for the many varieties of that disorder.

Internal Consistency of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test

1975 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Ratusnik ◽  
Roy A. Koenigsknecht
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Screening Test ◽  
Item Analysis ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Normal Intelligence ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Normal Language ◽  
Mentally Retarded Children ◽  
Reliability Coefficients

This study was designed to evaluate the usefulness of the 40 receptive and 40 expressive items of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test. Twenty preschoolers with normal language development, 20 preschoolers functioning within the range of normal intelligence diagnosed as language impaired, and 20 mentally retarded children comprised the three subject groups. The subjects were equated for mental age. Stable Hoyt’s reliability coefficients indicated that the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test assessed consistently the syntax and morphology used by children with atypical language development. Detailed item analysis revealed the strengths and weaknesses of both receptive and expressive items.

Cognition and Communication

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 964-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith R. Johnston ◽  
Linda B. Smith ◽  
Peggy Box
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Object Type ◽  
Attentional Capacity ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Normal Language

Ten children with specific language impairment and 10 children with normal language development were asked to describe objects so that a listener could select them. Each trial targeted two out of a group of three toys. The targeted objects were identical or were similar in size or color. Children in the two groups did not differ in referential success, although children in both groups found the size items more difficult. Content analysis of the messages did reveal differences in the referential strategies used most frequently. Children with specific language impairment were more likely to mention the attributes of each object separately, rather than to describe the characteristics common to a pair of objects. Children in both groups talked about separate objects more often when talking about size than about color or object type. Use of this strategy could indicate the effects of attentional capacity on children's solutions to communication tasks.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document