The purpose of this study was to compare expressive communication, receptive communication, and socialization achievement in 18- to 34-month-old ELD toddlers to the same skills in normally-speaking children. The questions this study sought to answer were, how do the three skill areas in ELD toddlers compare with the same skills in normal toddlers?, will ELD subjects evidence specific profiles of deficits involving not only expressive but receptive and social skills as well? and, within the ELD subjects will two subgroups emerge, one group having poor expressive skills only, and a second group having deficits in addition to expression.

The purpose of this study was to obtain data from the PPVT-R scores of low and middle SES black kindergartners in the Portland area to determine if there is a difference between their scores and the scores reported in the PPVT-R. The primary question to be answered was do the scores of black kindergartners in Portland vary significantly dependent upon SES? The secondary questions this study sought to answer were: what are the means, standard deviations, and ranges of scores for black kindergartners in Portland and what are the means, standard deviations, and ranges for each two-month age group of black kindergartners in Portland?

Normal phonological development is characterized by phonological processes in preschool children. These processes are sound error patterns, in relation to the adult target, that are expected within the speech of normally developing children. As children grow older, they "outgrow" these developmental errors. Within the black English dialect, speakers may use a combination of these processes and not be considered phonologically impaired within their linguistic community. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare phonological process usage in the speech of lower socioeconomic black and white preschoolers. The APP-R in conjunction with the CAPP was administered to two groups of 15 children to determine if significant differences exist in the usage of phonological processes between the two groups. Group 1 was comprised of 15 black preschoolers from an inner-city preschool program. Group 2 was comprised of 15 white preschoolers from a Headstart program. All children were identified by their respective speech-language pathologist as having normally developing speech for their linguistic community. Data analysis revealed black preschoolers used phonological processes with a higher frequency than white preschoolers. The phonological process usage mean for the black preschoolers was 4.26% (SD = 1.94) and the mean for the white preschoolers was 1.71% (SD = 2.86). Three of the ten basic processes were determined to be significantly different between the two groups, including: consonant sequence omission, strident deviation, and velar deviation. The results were further examined to determine if either group of preschoolers was identified as needing phonological remediation based on their performance on the APP-R. None of the subjects in either group was identified as needing phonological remediation. In conclusion, results indicated black English speaking preschoolers did use significantly more phonological processes in their speech, however, the APP-R did not identify these children as needing phonological remediation. These results demonstrate the APP-R to be an appropriate assessment tool when evaluating the speech of this Portland black English speaking sample.

This study was part of the Portland Language Development Project. The purpose was to establish reliability for the Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test. Additionally, nonlinguistic cognitive performance scores were correlated with soores from expressive and receptive language test soores. Finally, scores of overall cognitive function and of nonlinguistic cognitive function in children with normally developing language (NL) and with expressive language delay (ELD) were compared. The original group size was 60 children, 30 with ELD at the age of 20 months, and 30 who were a matched control group. These subjects were reevaluated during Kindergarten. The Draw-A-Man Test was administered to assess the subjects' nonlinguistic cognitive functioning. The McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities CMCSA) was administered to assess the subjects' overall cognitive functioning. A free speech sample was analyzed using the Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) criteria to assess expressive language skills, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales

Children who are identified with slow expressive language development (SELD) around the age of two are producing less than fifty intelligible words or no two word phrases. Current research suggests that some children with SELD outgrow their delay while others continue to develop long term language difficulties. The literature shows varied findings of short term recovery but long term deficits, and shifts in the specific expressive language deficits ~s the child with SELD matures and encounters increased language demands. Suggestions are found for a mix of monitoring and early intervention, in step with signs of readiness and dynamic assessments, to facilitate improved performance and hasten development, particularly in the areas of metalinguistics and narratives. This study attempted to support the recommendation of early intervention, particularly for those children with an initial greater severity levels of expressive communication delay at the age of two. The 24 male and seven female SELD subjects were part of the Portland Language Development Project, a longitudinal study. Intake was at two years, and placement in the Intervention (Rx) or No Intervention (No Rx) group was a result of follow-up information gathered from parents regarding enrollment in any early intervention services before the age of four: Using mean Developmental Sentence Scores (DSS) for four outcome points, 1-tests determined that no significant differences existed in the improvement of language production between the Rx and No Rx groups. Secondly, 1-tests showed no significant differences in the two group's initial severity levels, using the Expressive Communication sub-domain of the Vine~and Adaptive Behavior Scale (V ABS), as the measure of severity at intake. A non-significant trend of consistently higher actual mean DSS scores across all outcome points, and an actual lower mean Expressive Communication score on the V ABS at intake was noted for the Rx group. A significant difference was found in the mean intake ages of the two groups, with older toddlers falling into the Rx group. Research and clinical_ implications are discussed, including attention to the length, type and content of very early intervention services, effective initial and follow up assessments, and factors that favor recommending early intervention

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.

Univ., Diss.--Göteborg, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-141).

My study arose in the context of an intervention programme aimed at the development of a child with autism’s communication and social interaction skills. The approach I take is a social constructionist one in which language is considered to be constructive and constitutive of social and psychological reality. This orientation challenges the assumptions of a western psychiatric approach that emphasizes the impairment and deficits associated with autism. The participants of the study are a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (Autistic Spectrum), and his mother, father, sister and a volunteer on the intervention programme. The discourse analytic method of conversation analysis is employed as a means of elucidating the collaborative mechanisms employed by both the child and his co-participants in making sense of one another. The specific aims of the study are to closely examine the communicative behaviour and interactive styles of the child and his coparticipants, their implications for communicative success (co-ordinated interaction) or breakdown (discordant interaction), and the implications for how the child is positioned within the discourse in relation to his co-participants. My constructions of the data suggested that a playful, activity-based interactive style constituted by non-verbal turns, affection and short, simple utterances enhance mutual participation and the accomplishment of co-ordinated interaction. Barney’s co-participants sometimes tend to dominate interaction and frequently employ a strategy of repetitive questioning, which functions to direct and constrain the interaction and results in the child’s withdrawal and discordant interaction. This tendency to withdraw, however, seems to function as a means by which the child is able to actively resist positioning by others, and thus constitutes himself in a position of greater power. Furthermore, his use of the pronoun ‘I’ and collaborative negotiation of the words yours and mine suggest the active co-construction and positioning of himself as a separate person in relation to his co-participants. This research informs intervention efforts and encourages the co-participants to reflect on how interaction is co-constructed between themselves and the child.