Assessment Information for Predicting Upcoming Change in Language Production

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 414-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley B. Olswang ◽  
Barbara A. Bain
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Relative Effectiveness ◽  
Static Assessment ◽  
Assessment Measure ◽  
Language Assessments ◽  
Language Growth ◽  
Highly Correlated

Initial language assessments are used not only to determine the presence of a language problem and establish eligibility for intervention, but also to provide information about a child’s readiness for immediate change in language growth. This study explored static assessment profiling (specific variables and discrepancies in performance) and dynamic assessment results to determine their relative effectiveness for predicting immediate change. Correlation data were used to examine how well each assessment measure predicted upcoming language production changes for children with specific expressive language impairment. Results indicated that dynamic assessment outcomes were most highly correlated with immediate language growth, followed by discrepancy in receptive and expressive language age. Findings are discussed in terms of their clinical and theoretical importance.

Examining Readiness for Learning Two-Word Utterances by Children With Specific Expressive Language Impairment

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Bain ◽  
Lesley B. Olswang
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Validity ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Concurrent Validity ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Assessment Procedure ◽  
Readiness To Learn ◽  
Unexpected Findings ◽  
Language Sample

Dynamic assessment examines how children respond to cues presented hierarchically from least to most supportive. The hypothesis is that children's responsiveness reflects readiness to learn a new behavior; that is, responsiveness to the least supportive cuing indicates a readiness for immediate learning (Vygotsky, 1978). A dynamic assessment procedure was employed with 15 preschool children with specific expressive language impairment to determine their readiness for producing two-word utterances. Three types of validation were examined for the dynamic assessment procedure: construct, predictive, and concurrent. The results supported construct validity in that the subjects were able to produce more two-word utterances correctly with the more supportive cuing than they produced with the least supportive cuing. The results also supported predictive validity in that subjects who demonstrated responsiveness to the cuing hierarchy generally demonstrated greater language change during the 9-week study period than those subjects not responsive to the cuing hierarchy. The concurrent validity results revealed rather unexpected findings. In general, the subjects produced a greater variety of two-word categories and more lexical combinations during the language sample than during the dynamic assessment procedure. Clinical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

scholarly journals Brief Report: Calculation and Convergent and Divergent Validity of a New ADOS-2 Expressive Language Score

2019 ◽  
Vol 124 (5) ◽  
pp. 438-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micah O. Mazurek ◽  
Mary Baker-Ericzén ◽  
Stephen M. Kanne
Keyword(s):  
Expressive Language ◽  
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
Divergent Validity ◽  
Convergent And Divergent Validity ◽  
Language Assessments ◽  
Highly Correlated

Abstract Despite the importance of expressive language for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), expressive language assessments are not consistently included in ASD research and many studies do not adequately describe participants' verbal abilities. A valid and efficient measure of expressive language would facilitate consistent reporting across ASD research studies and provide data for additional analyses. The current study developed a new Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) expressive language score and examined convergent and divergent validity in a large, well-defined sample of children with ASD. This score was highly correlated with other measures of expressive language (including parent-report, direct assessment, and clinician ratings) and less strongly correlated with measures of receptive language and nonverbal cognitive ability, providing good evidence of convergent and divergent validity.

Incidental receptive language growth associated with expressive grammar intervention in SLI

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Camarata ◽  
Keith E. Nelson ◽  
Heather Gillum ◽  
Mary Camarata
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Language Intervention ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Language Deficits ◽  
Language Growth

Children with SLI (Specific Language Impairment) display language deficits in the absence of frank neurological lesions, global cognitive deficits or significant clinical hearing loss. Although these children can display disruptions in both receptive and expressive grammar, the intervention literature has been largely focused on expressive deficits. Thus, there are numerous reports in the literature suggesting that expressive language skills can be improved using focused presentation of grammatical targets (cf. conversational recast; Camarata, Nelson & Camarata, 1994), but there have been few investigations addressing the remediation of receptive language skills in SLI for those children with receptive language deficits. The purpose of this study was to examine whether focused grammatical intervention on expressive grammar is associated with growth in receptive language in 21 children with SLI who have receptive language deficits. These children displayed significant growth in receptive language scores as an incidental or secondary association with expressive language intervention and significantly higher gains than seen in a comparison-control group with SLI and receptive language deficits ( n = 6). The theoretical and clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Perception of Stop Consonants in Children With Expressive and Receptive-Expressive Language Impairments

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 676-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Stark ◽  
John M. Heinz
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Perceptual Processing ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Phoneme Perception ◽  
And Task

The performance of 32 children with language impairment—11 with expressive language impairment only (LI-E subgroup) and 21 with both receptive and expressive language impairment (LI-ER subgroup)—and of 22 children without language impairment (LN subgroup) was examined in a study of perception and imitation of synthesized /ba/ and /da/ syllables. Formant transition duration and task difficulty were varied in the perceptual tasks. The LI-E children were able to identify the syllables as well as the LN; the LI-ER were not. Of the children who succeeded on an identification task and proceeded to a serial ordering task incorporating the same stimuli, the LI-E children were the least successful on the second task. The ability to label the stimuli perceptually was highly correlated with absence of speech articulation errors in the LI children and with performance on the imitation task in all subjects. The findings are examined in relation to the hypotheses that rapid-rate perceptual processing is the sole basis of language impairment in children and that, in these children, production skill may predict phoneme perception rather than the reverse.

Productivity of Emerging Word Combinations in Toddlers With Specific Expressive Language Impairment

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven H. Long ◽  
Lesley B. Olswang ◽  
Julianne Brian ◽  
Philip S. Dale
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Treatment Approach ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Semantic Consistency ◽  
Session Analysis

This study investigated whether young children with specific expressive language impairment (SELI) learn to combine words according to general positional rules or specific, grammatic relation rules. The language of 20 children with SELI (4 females, 16 males, mean age of 33 months, mean MLU of 1.34) was sampled weekly for 9 weeks. Sixteen of these children also received treatment for two-word combinations (agent+action or possessor+possession). Two different metrics were used to determine the productivity of combinatorial utterances. One metric assessed productivity based on positional consistency alone; another assessed productivity based on positional and semantic consistency. Data were analyzed session-by-session as well as cumulatively. The results suggest that these children learned to combine words according to grammatic relation rules. Results of the session-by-session analysis were less informative than those of the cumulative analysis. For children with SELI ready to make the transition to multiword utterances, these findings support a cumulative method of data collection and a treatment approach that targets specific grammatic relation rules rather than general word combinations.

Dynamic Assessment Language Tasks and the Prediction of Performance on Year-End Language Skills in Preschool Dual Language Learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 1226-1240
Author(s):  
Janet L. Patterson ◽  
Barbara L. Rodríguez ◽  
Philip S. Dale
Keyword(s):  
Head Start ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Dual Language Learners ◽  
Achievement Testing ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Language Screening ◽  
Relationship Of

Purpose Early identification is a key element for accessing appropriate services for preschool children with language impairment. However, there is a high risk of misidentifying typically developing dual language learners as having language impairment if inappropriate tools designed for monolingual children are used. In this study of children with bilingual exposure, we explored performance on brief dynamic assessment (DA) language tasks using graduated prompting because this approach has potential applications for screening. We asked if children's performance on DA language tasks earlier in the year was related to their performance on a year-end language achievement measure. Method Twenty 4-year-old children from Spanish-speaking homes attending Head Start preschools in the southwestern United States completed three DA graduated prompting language tasks 3–6 months prior to the Head Start preschools' year-end achievement testing. The DA tasks, Novel Adjective Learning, Similarities in Function, and Prediction, were administered in Spanish, but correct responses in English or Spanish were accepted. The year-end achievement measure, the Learning Accomplishment Profile–Third Edition (LAP3), was administered by the children's Head Start teachers, who also credited correct responses in either language. Results Children's performance on two of the three DA language tasks was significantly and positively related to year-end LAP3 language scores, and there was a moderate and significant relationship for one of the DA tasks, even when controlling for age and initial LAP3 scores. Conclusions Although the relationship of performance on DA with year-end performance varies across tasks, the findings indicate potential for using a graduated prompting approach to language screening with young dual language learners. Further research is needed to select the best tasks for administration in a graduated prompting framework and determine accuracy of identification of language impairment.

Issues in Language Sample Collection and Analysis With Children Using AAC

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail Van Tatenhove
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Augmentative And Alternative Communication ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Sample Analysis ◽  
Alternative Communication ◽  
Sample Collection ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Language Sample Analysis ◽  
Language Sample

Language sample analysis is considered one of the best methods of evaluating expressive language production in speaking children. However, the practice of language sample collection and analysis is complicated for speech-language pathologists working with children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. This article identifies six issues regarding use of language sample collection and analysis in clinical practice with children who use AAC devices. The purpose of this article is to encourage speech-language pathologists practicing in the area of AAC to utilize language sample collection and analysis as part of ongoing AAC assessment.

Nominal Number and Language Pathologies

2021 ◽  
pp. 290-304
Author(s):  
Britta Biedermann ◽  
Nora Fieder ◽  
Karen Smith-Lock
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Developmental Delays ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Number Processing ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Neuropsychology ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Grammatical Number ◽  
Insight Into

This chapter provides an overview of the evidence on grammatical number processing taken from cognitive neuropsychology, including developmental delays and impairments of language (e.g. developmental language disorder, and Williams syndrome) and aphasia, an acquired language impairment after brain injury. These types of language impairment can give insight into the functional architecture of nominal number processing by looking at error patterns that arise in each of the aforementioned populations. By classifying observed responses in language production tasks into non-number and number errors, we are able to reveal underlying mechanisms of syntactic rules and their representations when they develop, but also learn about processes and representation of number when this information breaks down.

The interdependence of frequency, predictability, and informativity in the segmental domain

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (s2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Uriel Cohen Priva ◽  
T. Florian Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Computational Approach ◽  
Information Theoretic ◽  
Redundancy Reduction ◽  
Highly Correlated

AbstractIt has long been noted that language production seems to reflect a correlation between message redundancy and signal reduction. More frequent words and contextually predictable instances of words, for example, tend to be produced with shorter and less clear signals. The same tendency is observed in the language code (e.g. the phonological lexicon), where more frequent words and words that are typically contextually predictable tend to have fewer segments or syllables. Average predictability in context (informativity) also seems to be an important factor in understanding phonological alternations. What has received little attention so far is the relation between various information-theoretic indices – such as frequency, contextual predictability, and informativity. Although each of these indices has been associated with different theories about the source of the redundancy-reduction link, different indices tend to be highly correlated in natural language, making it difficult to tease apart their effects. We present a computational approach to this problem. We assess the correlations between frequency, predictability, and informativity, and assess when these correlations are likely to create spurious (null or non-null) effects depending on, for example, the amount of data available to the researcher.

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