scholarly journals Assessment of grammar comprehension: Adaptation of TROG for Serbian language

Psihologija ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-132
Author(s):  
Darinka Andjelkovic ◽  
Nadezda Krstic ◽  
Maja Savic ◽  
Oliver Toskovic ◽  
Nevena Budjevac
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Grammatical Development ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
Internal Inconsistency ◽  
Grammatical Structures

In this study we present our adaptation and preliminary standardization of Test for Reception of Grammar TROG (Bishop, 1989) for Serbian language. TROG is a receptive test of grammatical structures, constructed primarily for an assessment of grammatical development and detection of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Due to the lack of standardized tests for language development in our clinical community, TROG is selected for adaptation as a test which includes two components relevant for discrimination of children with language difficulties: a) measure of receptive abilities and b) distinguishing knowledge of grammar from semantic aspect of comprehension. Preliminary standardization was done on a sample of 335 participants between 4 and 7 years of age, divided into 8 age subsamples. Since dynamic of language change at early ages is faster, age samples covered range of 3 months at the ages 4;0-4;2, 4;3-4;5, 4;6-4;8, 4;9-4;11, and range of 6 months at the ages 5;0-5;5, 5;6-5;11, 6;00-6;05, 6;06-6;11. Analyses have revealed that the first version of Serbian TROG is discriminative for the differences between age samples, but discrimination is smaller then it was expected. The test discriminates three age-samples (4;0-4;8, 4;9-5;5, and 5;6-6;11). It is easier for the children older then 5 years, which causes statistical significance of discrimination to tilt within a narrow margin around 0,05. Reliability of the whole instrument is estimated very high - between 0,86 and 0,91, depending on the method of estimation. However, reliability estimated for particular blocks (grammatical structure) revealed that internal consistency of blocks is not homogeneous. This finding prevents reliable estimation of competence for particular structures, and makes difficult to define which contrast is understood by a child and which is not. Furthermore, internal inconsistency of blocks may also be additional source of low discrimination of test for children older then 5. Further improvement of test, balancing of items and inclusion of additional grammatical structures in order to get a wider range of age discrimination is required. This will be done in future research.

Children's speech and language difficulties

2012 ◽  
pp. 1710-1718
Author(s):  
Judy Clegg
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Selective Mutism ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Child Psychiatric ◽  
Child Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
The Life Course

Speech and language difficulties have a significant impact on the lives of children and their families. This chapter will give an overview of the types of speech and language difficulties children present with and how these are generally classified and diagnosed. Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and speech and language difficulties associated with child psychiatric disorder, specifically disorders of attention and selective mutism will be a focus. The life course of children with speech and language impairments will be described through childhood, adolescence, and adult life. Current management approaches will be presented and evaluated and strategies for effective communication considered.

Past-Tense Marking by Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janna B. Oetting ◽  
Janice E. Horohov
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Impaired Group ◽  
Irregular Verbs ◽  
Morphological System

This study examined the productivity and representation of past-tense marking in children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Participants were 11 6-year-olds with SLI, 11 age-matched controls, and 11 MLU-matched controls. Regular and irregular verbs were used to examine the productivity of regular marking. Past-tense representation was examined by asking children to inflect homophonous pairs of denominal and irregular root verbs. All three groups demonstrated productive marking of past tense, although as expected the accuracy of the impaired group was less than that of either control group. Patterns of past-tense marking as a function of a word's phonological composition and inflectional frequency were the same for the SLI- and MLU-matched groups, and all children presented a past-tense system that was sensitive to grammatical structure. The findings replicate previous research of the SLI morphological system and provide additional specification of these children's morphological strengths and weaknesses. Strengths include the children's sensitivity to grammatical and phonological characteristics of the lexicon; weaknesses include limited productivity of regular past-tense marking and a greater sensitivity to frequency manipulations as compared to normally developing children. Results are discussed in terms of the nature of the SLI profile. They also are used to evaluate the theoretical model on which the study was based.

Evidence of Sensitivity to Structural Contrasts in the Literature on Children's Language Comprehension

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1304-1314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Developmental Sequence ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Grammatical Knowledge ◽  
Grammatical Structures

This paper reviews the developmental literature on grammatical knowledge in language comprehension in the preschool years from the perspective of sensitivity to structural contrasts. This concept differs from mastery of individual grammatical structures. Structural sensitivity focuses on increments of partial grammatical knowledge that can be observed in distinctive response patterns to contrasting grammatical structures. Direct evidence of sensitivity to structural contrasts is found in comprehension studies that measured differential responding. Indirect evidence of sensitivity can also be discovered by detailed examination of the data presented in several additional studies. The evidence suggests that there may be a developmental sequence of increasing sensitivity with age to finer distinctions and to more detailed aspects of grammatical structure. The notion of sensitivity to structural contrasts has implications for future research.

scholarly journals Complex sentence profiles in children with Specific Language Impairment: Are they really atypical?

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICK G. RICHES
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Unknown Origin ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Unequal Variance ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
Analyze Data

AbstractChildren with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have language difficulties of unknown origin. Syntactic profiles are atypical, with poor performance on non-canonical structures, e.g. object relatives, suggesting a localized deficit. However, existing analyses using ANOVAs are problematic because they do not systematically address unequal variance, or fully model random effects. Consequently, a Generalised Linear Model (GLM) was used to analyze data from a Sentence Repetition (SR) task involving relative clauses. seventeen children with SLI (mean age 6;7), twenty-one Language Matched (LM) children (mean age 4;8), and seventeen Age Matched (AM) children (mean age 6;5) repeated 100 canonical and non-canonical sentences. ANOVAs found a significant Group by Canonicity interaction for the SLI versus AM contrast only. However, the GLM found no significant interaction. Consequently, arguments for a localized deficit may depend on statistical methods which are prone to exaggerate profile differences. Nonetheless, a subgroup of SLI exhibited particularly severe structural language difficulties.

Acquisition of verb meaning through syntactic cues: A comparison of children with autism, children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with typical language development (TLD)

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
CORY SHULMAN ◽  
AINAT GUBERMAN
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Syntactic Cues

The ability to extract meaning through the use of syntactic cues, adapted from Naigles' (1990) paradigm, was investigated in Hebrew-speaking children with autism, those with specific language impairment (SLI) and those with typical language development (TLD), in an attempt to shed light on similarities and differences between the two diagnostic categories, both defined by primary language deficits. Thirteen children with autism and 13 with SLI were matched on chronological age, level of language functioning and gender, and 13 children with TLD were matched to the children in the two clinical groups according to language level, as measured by the CELF-P. Children with autism and children with TLD learned novel words using the syntactical cues in the sentences in which they were presented, whereas children with SLI experienced more difficulty, learning only that which would be expected from chance according to the binomial test. Only 4 of the 13 children with SLI (31%) learned the new words, whereas 11 children with autism and 10 children with TLD learned the novel verb using syntactical cues from the sentence frame. The results are analyzed in terms of possible underlying mechanisms in language acquisition. Children with autism seem to rely on relatively intact syntactic abilities, while children with SLI seem to have marked impairment in using this mechanism in acquiring word meaning. Implications for future research and intervention with preschool children with primary language disorders are discussed.

Early Verb-Related Vulnerability Among Children With Specific Language Impairment

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1384-1397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela A. Hadley
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Grammatical Development ◽  
Very Young Children ◽  
Developmental Progression

The purpose of this study was to characterize the nature of early grammatical development among very young children with specific language impairment (SLI). Grammatical development was examined for two subtypes: (a) children with expressive language impairments only (SLI-E) and (b) children with both receptive and expressive language impairments (SLI-RE). In particular, characteristics of noun-phrase (NP) and verb-phrase (VP) elaboration were examined longitudinally to determine whether structures associated with NP and VP emerged together following a typical developmental progression. Group analyses did not reveal any differences between the subtypes on the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn; Scarborough, 1990). However, specific weakness in VP elaboration was revealed on the IPSyn as well as in more extensive productivity analyses. The contribution of these findings to a developmentally sensitive grammatical description of SLI for very young children is discussed.

scholarly journals Promoting Reading Achievement in Children With Developmental Language Disorders: What Can We Learn From Research on Specific Language Impairment and Dyslexia?

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 3277-3292
Author(s):  
Suzanne M. Adlof
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
School Identification ◽  
Potential Benefits

Purpose Specific language impairment (SLI; see also developmental language disorder) and dyslexia are separate, yet frequently co-occurring disorders that confer risks to reading comprehension and academic achievement. Until recently, most studies of one disorder had little consideration of the other, and each disorder was addressed by different practitioners. However, understanding how the two disorders relate to each other is important for advancing theories about each disorder and improving reading comprehension and academic achievement. The purpose of this clinical focus article is to integrate research on SLI and dyslexia as well as advocate for the consideration of comorbidities in future research and clinical practice. Method The first section reviews definitions as well as inclusionary and exclusionary criteria for SLI and dyslexia. The second section reviews research demonstrating that SLI and dyslexia are different disorders that often co-occur. Studies examining language, working memory, and academic achievement in children with separate versus co-occurring SLI and dyslexia are reviewed. The final section compares and contrasts school identification frameworks for children with SLI and dyslexia and considers the potential benefits of incorporating broad language skills into response to intervention (RTI) assessment frameworks. Conclusions Children with weak language skills are at a high risk of experiencing reading problems, but language difficulties are often hidden from view. Directly addressing language skills within school RTI frameworks can help improve the identification and treatment of children with SLI and dyslexia as well as support improved reading comprehension and academic achievement for all students. Presentation Video https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13063793

Specific Language Impairment: Preliminary Investigation of Factors Associated With Family History and With Patterns of Language Performance

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 643-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Lahey ◽  
Jan Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Specific Language

To examine patterns that might suggest etiologic subgroups of specific language impairment (SLI), information, including history of speech-language-learning (SLLD) problems in family members, was obtained on 53 children with SLI aged 4 to 9½ years. The results led to the generation of a number of hypotheses for future research. In particular, the findings suggested that family history is related to pattern of language performance. In comparison with children who had both expressive and receptive language deficits, children with deficits in only expressive language had a higher proportion of affected family members (.47 vs. .22), of affected mothers (.57 vs. .17), and of affected siblings (.53 vs. .27). These and other findings are discussed in terms of their consistency with other data, hypotheses relative to explanations of SLI, and their implications for further research.

scholarly journals Neuronal Activation for Semantically Reversible Sentences

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1283-1298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona M. Richardson ◽  
Michael S. C. Thomas ◽  
Cathy J. Price
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Semantic Integration ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Neuronal Activation ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Phonological Working Memory ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
Healthy Participants

Semantically reversible sentences are prone to misinterpretation and take longer for typically developing children and adults to comprehend; they are also particularly problematic for those with language difficulties such as aphasia or Specific Language Impairment. In our study, we used fMRI to compare the processing of semantically reversible and nonreversible sentences in 41 healthy participants to identify how semantic reversibility influences neuronal activation. By including several linguistic and nonlinguistic conditions within our paradigm, we were also able to test whether the processing of semantically reversible sentences places additional load on sentence-specific processing, such as syntactic processing and syntactic-semantic integration, or on phonological working memory. Our results identified increased activation for reversible sentences in a region on the left temporal–parietal boundary, which was also activated when the same group of participants carried out an articulation task which involved saying “one, three” repeatedly. We conclude that the processing of semantically reversible sentences places additional demands on the subarticulation component of phonological working memory.

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