This study examines how educators describe what strategies they use when working with students with language impairment. We investigated how educators describe their teaching of students with language impairment, what methods they use and which adaptations they make. We were also interested in opportunities and difficulties the educators describe they experience when working with pupils with language impairment. Five special education teachers and four class teachers were interviewed. The results of the interviews show that the educators believe that they need more knowledge about language impairment and that there is a demand for further education in the area of language disorders. However, the interviews also show that the educators use a variety of tools and methods in their teaching of students with language impairment, which are in line with what the research describes as effective teaching methods for this student group.

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<p>  </p> <p>The ability to interpret speech as it unfolds in sentences is a complex skill that is essential to successful spoken communication. However, variability in sentence processing skills, such as predictive processing, can impair not only concurrent communication success but also future language development. Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have known deficits in morphosyntax (Leonard, 2014), lexical representation (Sheng & McGregor, 2010b), and speed of processing (Leonard et al., 2007), but less is known about the impact of these impairments on processing sentences in real time during early stages of language development.  The present study examines individual and group differences in online predictive processing skills in 36-month-old children using eye-tracked simple transitive sentences of the structure Article-Agent-Action-Article-Target (e.g., <em>The pirate chases the ship)</em>. Participants listened to the sentences while viewing pictures that corresponded with the sentential input in four different ways (i.e., Target, Agent-related, Action-related, Unrelated). Core Language Index (CLI) scores from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool 2  (CELF-P2) were used to from two sets of groups: 1) “high language” (n=33) and “low language” (n=22) groups using a median split of CLI scores (median = 102) and 2) “not at risk for DLD” (n=50) and “at risk for DLD” (n=6) group based on a CLI cutoff score of 85 used in clinical practice, which falls one standard deviation below the mean and suggests risk for DLD.</p> <p> Using eye movements as an index of online sentence processing, no individual or group differences were found in terms of prediction of the Target or locally-coherent activations of the Action-related item. These results indicate that three-year-old children at risk for language impairment are predicting highly expected items as well as entertaining alternative sentence representations simultaneously, indicating graded activations. These results contradict previous findings that adolescents with DLD do not make graded predictions (Borovsky et al., 2013). However, we found that children of higher language ability (as quantified by scores on the CELF-P2) completed significantly more fixations to the Agent-related picture. This finding suggests one way (i.e., Agent-related prediction) in which 36-month-olds’ online processing of sentences differs based on overall language skill that is inconsistent with accounts of an over-reliance on global interpretations in DLD later in development.</p>

Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have difficulties in acquiring language in the absence of other neurodevelopmental issues (e.g. autism, hearing impairment) and despite growing up in an adequate language-learning environment. Previous characterisations of DLD have focused on grammatical processing, phonological memory or rapid auditory processing. This thesis approaches the language-learning difficulties of children with DLD from a novel perspective by considering the potential contribution made by differing levels of sensitivity to the rhythmic properties of language. Children with DLD have been shown to have reduced sensitivity to some of the acoustic cues present in speech which are thought to be important for rhythmic perception. Since rhythm forms the basis of language processing in early development, poorer sensitivity to language rhythm may result in later language problems. To investigate whether children with DLD demonstrate difficulties in processing language rhythm, this thesis explores five areas of language processing which could be affected by poor rhythmic sensitivity: locating word-boundaries, processing novel words, storing lexical stress patterns, representing sentence level structures and the integration of rhythm and syntax. As part of the investigation, measures were also taken of acoustic threshold sensitivity to see whether task performance related to acoustic sensitivity. A parallel strand of the study investigated whether provision of an entraining rhythm prior to task stimuli could support task performance. Three groups of children participated in the study: children with DLD, age-matched TD children (AMC) and younger, language-matched TD children (YLC). The results indicate that rhythmic manipulation of language stimuli affects task responses across the five language areas under investigation. The findings are then discussed in terms of the contribution made to our understanding of the role of rhythm in language and language disorder.

The aim of the present study was to examine receptive and expressive lexicon, as well as gesture production among children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD), using the Swedish translation of the Picture Naming Game (PiNG). The parental evaluation Swedish Communicative Development Inventory III (SCDI III) was used to determine whether the results from PiNG and SCDI III were consistent. In this study, 10 children with DLD (study group) and 11 age-matched children with typical language development (control group) between 52 and 70 months of age participated. The participants were tested with PiNG, which is a test that examines reception and production of single nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions. The guardians then completed SCDI III, which contains questions about the language abilities of the child. Gesture production in the form of deictic, iconic and conventional gestures was examined in conjunction with the use of PiNG. The results showed lower results for the study group on PiNG and SCDI III in comparison with the control group. The study group displayed a higher number of gestures than the control group, and in the former group, the use of gestures was positively correlated with the results from PiNG. In the study group, iconic gestures were used to compensate for language difficulties. The results from PiNG and SCDI III were not consistent. The age of the participants problably did not affect any results. The results from the present study indicate that PiNG may be useful when examining lexicon and gesture production among children with DLD. Both groups achieved high results on PiNG which may have affected the use of gestures and also possible correlations. For future studies, it is therefore recommended to apply PiNG on a group of younger children with DLD.

The diploma thesis is from the area of special pedagogy and speech therapy. It deals with the issue of parenthood of children with developmental dysphasia. The thesis is devided into two parts, the theoretical part and the empirical part. The thesis starts with characterisation of the family with disabilities and continues with further developmental dysphasia, its terminology, classification, etiology, symptomatology, diagnostics and therapy are characterized. The thesis defines the possibilities of speech therapy intervention in children with special impaired speech developmental dyspshasia. This main goal is achieved by research. This diploma thesis can be an inspiration for speech therapists and other professionals who work with families and their children with developmental dysphasia. It can also inspire students and other parents even whose child has been diagnosed with this disease. The thesis may be the starting point for further studies of a scientific character that focus on same subject.

<p>This work presents two studies of language processing and development in children. The first study focuses on passive sentence comprehension in 4-5-year-old children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and same-age peers with typical development (TD). We explore the effect of animacy, morphosyntactic, vocabulary, and event probability cues on children’s offline comprehension and online processing of passive sentences using an eye-tracked looking-while-listening design. The children were first exposed to short videos of agents doing characteristic actions (e.g., hard physical activities or passively observant activities). The children then engaged in an eye-tracked online processing task in which they heard reversible and nonreversible passive sentences describing events that matched or did not match the characteristics set up in the exposure videos. During these sentences, images on-screen were displayed that corresponded to the potential interpretations of the sentence. Online processing data was collected using eye tracking. After each sentence, the children were asked to point to the image corresponding to their interpretation to measure their offline comprehension. The offline comprehension data indicated that compared to the children with TD, the children with DLD were less likely to correctly interpret the passive sentences and made comprehension errors that suggested poorer attention to and integration of potentially informative sentence cues. The eye-tracked online processing data was examined in two ways. First, we analyzed the online processing data to determine to what extent the children’s processing was consistent with the use of the sentence cues. We found that the children in the two groups were just as likely to demonstrate looking patterns consistent with the use animacy cues but children with DLD were less likely to use morphosyntactic, vocabulary, and event probability cues. We then analyzed the online processing data in correctly interpreted sentences only to examine how the sentence cues were integrated over the course of the sentence. We found that in correctly interpreted sentences, children with DLD demonstrated a slower, less robust response to most of the informative cues in the sentences but quicker and less linguistically mediated use of event probability cues. Finally, we examined the relationship between the children’s use of event probability cues and their stimuli-specific vocabulary knowledge but found no strong associations. </p><p><br></p><p> The second study focuses on the semantic network structure of the vocabularies of young 18-30-month-old children and its influence on noun and verb learning. Prior work had examined how noun semantic network structure affects noun learning. Here, we extended that work to ask how noun and verb semantic network structures differ in their influence on noun and verb learning. We examined vocabulary network structure at the word, semantic neighborhood, and lexicon levels in a large sample of child vocabulary checklist data using semantic features. We analyzed the data in three ways. First, we charted the relationship between verb and noun semantic network structure and vocabulary size across children. We found that early-learned nouns tended to have strong network relationships with other nouns and other verbs across network levels. We also found that early-learned verbs tended to have strong network relationships with other nouns but, in contrast, were unlikely to have strong relationships with other verbs. Next, we examined patterns of normative vocabulary development, asking whether the cross-sectional patterns seen in the first analysis influenced the time at which nouns and verbs tended to be learned. We found similar patterns. Nouns with strong semantic connections to other nouns and other verbs tended to be learned early. Verbs with strong semantic connections to other nouns tended to be learned early but verbs with strong semantic connections to other verbs tended to be learned later. Finally, in an effort to determine how the very earliest vocabulary knowledge sets the stage for later word learning, we examined how word knowledge gaps formed and were filled by nouns and verbs in normative vocabulary development. These gaps corresponded to structured “cavities” in the semantic networks. We found that nouns tended to form semantic cavities that were later filled by nouns and verbs, reinforcing the findings from the first analyses that early noun knowledge is a prerequisite for later verb learning. </p>

Le présent projet vise à mieux comprendre les difficultés reliées à l’acquisition de la coréférence chez les enfants francophones présentant un trouble développemental du langage (TDL) et à déterminer les différents facteurs influençant son acquisition et sa maitrise. La définition actuelle du TDL indique qu’il s’agit d’une difficulté du langage oral qui affecte à la fois la compréhension et l’expression. Il s’agit d’un trouble neurodéveloppemental caractérisé par des retards développementaux très variables dans une ou plusieurs sphères langagières. Deux théories sont vues en détail : la théorie de la complexité des structures syntaxiques (van der Lely et Stollwerck, 1997) et la théorie du déficit de la mémoire de travail (Montgomery et Evans, 2009). La première propose que les difficultés d’utilisation de la coréférence soient dues à la représentation innée de la syntaxe qui serait immature pour les enfants TDL et, en particulier, le principe B qui ne serait pas acquis. En revanche, Montgomery et Evans soutiennent que cette difficulté de compréhension et d’utilisation provient d’une limitation quant à la mémoire de travail plus précisément avec l’allocation et la capacité des ressources attentionnelles. Nous concluons que les différents facteurs influençant l’acquisition de la coréférence chez les enfants ayant un TDL sont les suivants : premièrement, l’enfant doit posséder les connaissances lexicales et sémantiques reliées aux pronoms et aux anaphores ; deuxièmement, l’enfant doit acquérir des connaissances syntaxiques afin de connaitre les antécédents possibles pour les pronoms et les anaphores ainsi que les règles les reliant. Finalement, la mémoire de travail et l’allocation et la capacité des ressources mentales jouent un rôle important dans la résolution des anaphores. Il est donc clair, selon nous, que les théories ne sont pas totalement suffisantes pour expliquer les troubles de la coréférence, mais qu’elles permettent d’expliquer en partie d’autres types de problèmes qui sont nécessaires pour la résolution de l’anaphore. La résolution des anaphores est un phénomène important surtout chez les enfants francophones puisqu’il s’agirait d’un marqueur clinique du trouble en français. / This project aims to understand the difficulties related to the acquisition of coreference of French speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and to determine the various factors influencing its acquisition and mastery. The current definition of DLD indicates that it is a spoken language difficulty that affects both comprehension and expression. It is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by highly variable developmental delays in one or more language spheres. Two theories are seen in detail: the computational grammatical complexity (CGC) hypothesis (van der Lely and Stollwerck, 1997) and the working memory–based account (Montgomery and Evans, 2009). The CGC theory proposes that the difficulties of using coreference are due to the innate representation of the syntax which would be immature for DLD children and particularly the principle B which would not be acquired. In contrast, Montgomery and Evans argue that this difficulty in understanding and using anaphoras stems from a limitation in working memory and specifically with the allocation and capacity of attentional resources. Different factors influencing the acquisition of coreference in children with are discussed. First, the child must have lexical and semantic knowledge related to pronouns and anaphoras. Second, the child must acquire syntactic knowledge in order to know the possible antecedents for pronouns and anaphoras as well as the rules connecting them. Finally, working memory and the allocation and capacity of mental resources play an important role in the resolution of anaphoras. It is thus clear, according to us, that the theories are not totally sufficient to explain the deficit in coreference, but they partly explain other types of problems which are necessary for the resolution of the anaphora. The resolution of anaphoras is an important phenomenon for a good understanding of developmental language disorder, especially in French speaking children, since it is a clinical marker of the disorder in French.

The purpose of this study was to examine special needs teachers´ knowledge about visual scaffolding and their opportunities for supporting teachers in creating an accessible learning environment. Special needs teachers were given questions formulated and connected to how they experience their own professional qualifications when they support other teachers in using visual scaffolding, in what way they think visual scaffolding can be used in order to create an accessible learning enviroment and what sort of visual scaffolding they find recommendable in different learning environments and school subjects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten special needs teachers in Swedish compulsory school. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed in relation to the research questions. The results showed that special needs teachers recommend that visual scaffolding ought to be used in order to make learning environments accessible by visualizing what pupils are asked to do, how they are supposed to perfom different tasks as well as making words and expressions clear. Using pictures was pointed out as the best support, followed by using symbols, drawings and tangible concrete materials. Further education in visual scaffolding, time for collegial learning, discussions and competent guidance also emerged as critical factors for special needs teachers in their support and guidance to class tecahers.

Studiens syfte är att ge en bild av grundskollärares uppfattningar av deras arbete med flerspråkiga elever med språkstörning. Utgångspunkten i studien är frågeställningarna: Hur uppfattar grundskollärare begreppen språkstörning och flerspråkighet? Vilka kunskaper och resurser uppfattar grundskollärare att de behöver för att kunna tillgodose flerspråkiga elever med språkstörning i undervisningen? Hur uppfattar grundskollärare att de anpassar sin undervisning så att flerspråkiga elever med språkstörning tillgodoses i undervisningen? Studien utgick från ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. I studien användes en kvalitativ, fenomenografisk metodansats. Datainsamlingen bestod av fenomenografiska intervjuer med åtta grundskollärare med erfarenhet av att undervisa flerspråkiga elever med språkstörning. I resultatet presenterades de kategorier som utgör den fenomenografiska metodansatsens utfallsram. Språkstörning uppfattades i uttalanden om impressiva och expressiva svårigheter, talsvårigheter, komorbiditet, att diagnosen är icke-språkspecifik samt att den upplevs som relativt ny och svårtolkad berördes också. Flerspråkighet uppfattades utifrån att det rör flera aktiva språk, behärskning av flera språk och att det ses som en värdefull resurs, kopplat till värderingar. Informanterna uppfattar ett behov av kunskaper inom språkstörning, flerspråkighet och andraspråksinlärning, ämnen och strategier, IKT och hjälpmedel, relationer samt test- och kartläggningsmaterial. Likväl uppfattades ett behov av personella och materiella resurser, flerspråkigt stöd, SVA-satsningar samt anpassade lokaler. Multimodalt lärande, ord- och begreppsförklaringar, kollaborativt lärande, hjälpmedel, förenklingar, rutiner samt grupperingar uppfattades som viktiga anpassningar för att tillgodose flerspråkiga elever med språkstörning. Resultatet tyder på att informanterna uppfattade språkstörning som svårdefinierat och något som ger problem inom olika språkliga domäner. Informanternas uppfattningar av undervisningen av flerspråkiga elever med språkstörning är förenliga med ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande samt att kunskaper inom en rad områden och kompetenta resurser ses som viktiga för lärares arbete. Kunskap om språkstörning i kombination med flerspråkighet utgör förutsättningar om lärare ska kunna göra anpassningar som stöttar flerspråkiga elever med språkstörning i sin språk- och kunskapsutveckling.