Esta dissertação apresenta três instrumentos para avaliação precoce do desenvolvimento do vocabulário receptivo e expressivo em crianças ouvintes, já desde 18 meses a 6 anos de idade. O objetivo é ajudar a reduzir a carência de instrumentos brasileiros devidamente normatizados e validados para avaliação precoce de vocabulário receptivo auditivo e expressivo. Até o presente, para avaliar vocabulário expressivo no Brasil pode-se usar a Lave (Lista de Avaliação de Vocabulário Expressivo) uma checklist originalmente publicada por Rescorla (1989) e adaptada, validada e normatizada por Capovilla e Capovilla (1997) para crianças de 2 a 6 anos de idade. Para avaliar vocabulário receptivo no Brasil pode-se usar o TVIP (Teste de Vocabulário por Imagens Peabody), originalmente publicado por Dunn, Padilla, Lugo e Dunn (1986a, 1986b) e adaptado, validado e normatizado por Capovilla e Capovilla (1997) para crianças de 2 a 6 anos de idade, bem como por Capovilla, Nunes, Araújo, Nogueira, e Bernat (1997) e Capovilla, Capovilla, Nunes, Nunes, Araújo, Nogueira, Bernat, e Capovilla (1997) e Capovilla, Nunes, Nogueira, Nunes, Araújo, Bernat, e Capovilla (1997) para crianças de 6 a 14 anos de idade. Pode-se usar também o TVfusp (Teste de Vocabulário por Figuras Usp), originalmente publicado por Capovilla e Prudencio (2006) e adaptado, validado e normatizado por Capovilla e Thomazette (2009e) para crianças do 2º ao 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental. Pode-se finalmente usar a versão original das Formas A e B do Teste de Vocabulário Auditivo Usp com 107 itens (TVAud-A107o e TVAud-B107o), validadas e normatizadas por Capovilla, Negrão e Damazio (em preparação) para crianças de 3 a 6 anos de idade. Embora a Lave, o TVIP, e as duas formas originais do Teste de Vocabulário Auditivo Usp (TVAud-A107o e TVAud-B107o) sejam normatizados e validados, eles só avaliam crianças a partir dos 2 anos de idade (a Lave), dos 2 anos e 6 meses de idade (o TVIP), ou dos 3 anos de idade (TVAud-A107o e TVAud-B107o). O presente estudo apresenta, valida e normatiza três testes: um teste de vocabulário expressivo (a versão original do Teste de Vocabulário Expressivo USP: TVExp-100o) e duas formas abreviadas, com apenas 33 itens, do Teste de Vocabulário Auditivo USP: a Forma A: (TVAud-A33o) e a Forma B (TVAud-B33o) para avaliação precoce do vocabulário já a partir de 1 ano e 6 meses de idade. Esta dissertação descreve um estudo que normatiza e valida três testes de vocabulário desenvolvidos por Capovilla e equipe, sendo dois de vocabulário auditivo (TVAud-A33o e TVAud-B33o) e um de vocabulário expressivo oral (TVExp-100o), gerados a partir de bancos de figuras do Laboratório de Neuropsicolinguística Cognitiva Experimental (Capovilla, Negrão, Damazio, Roberto, Sousa-Sousa, & Sousa, no prelo; Capovilla, Negrão, Damazio, & Sousa-Sousa, 2008). O estudo descreve os três testes, bem como o estudo de normatização e validação conduzido com 906 crianças ouvintes de 18 meses a 6 anos de idade, de 12 escolas paulistas. Das 906 crianças, 437 estudavam em três escolas públicas municipais de Ribeirão Pires; e 469 estudavam em nove escolas privadas dos municípios de Ribeirão Pires, Santo André, e São Bernardo do Campo. Das 906 crianças (442 meninas e 464 meninos), 61 eram do 1º ano (idade média de 1 ano e 9 meses), 119 do 2º ano (2 anos e 6 meses), 143 do 3º ano (3 anos e 6 meses), 131 do 4º ano (4 anos e 6 meses), 237 do 5º ano (5 anos e 6 meses), e 215 do 6º ano (6 anos e 5 meses). O estudo forneceu a validação desenvolvimental e os parâmetros de desenvolvimento normativo do TVExp-100o para crianças de 1 a 5 anos de idade. Forneceu, também, a validação de critério, por comparação com medidas de vocabulário receptivo (TVAud-A33o e TVAud-B33o) em crianças dessa mesma faixa de 1 a 5 anos de idade. O estudo forneceu a validação desenvolvimental e os parâmetros de desenvolvimento normativo do TVAud-A33o e TVAud-B33o para crianças de 1 a 6 anos de idade, e a validação cruzada com o TVExp-100o em crianças de 1 a 5 anos / With the purpose of reducing the scarcity of vocabulary assessment tests in Brazil, this dissertation presents three tests for early assessment of receptive and expressive vocabulary in hearing children from 18 months to 6 years of age. In Brazil, up to now, the assessment of expressive vocabulary is regularly made via adaptation of Rescorlas (1989) Language Development Survey checklist, the Brazilian Portuguese adaptation of which (LAVE) has been validated and standardized by Capovilla and Capovilla (1997) for children from 2 to 6 years of age. In Brazil, up to now, the assessment of receptive auditory vocabulary is regularly made via: 1) the Brazilian-Portuguese adaptation of Dunn, Padilla, Lugo and Dunns (1986a, 1986b, 1981) Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-P), which has been validated and standardized by Capovilla and Capovilla (1997) for children from 2 to 6 years of age and by Capovilla, Nunes, Araújo, Nogueira, and Bernat (1997), Capovilla, Capovilla, Nunes, Nunes, Araújo, Nogueira, Bernat, ande Capovilla (1997), and Capovilla, Nunes, Nogueira, Nunes, Araújo, Bernat, e Capovilla (1997) for students from 6 to 14 years of age; 2) USP Picture Vocabulary Test (UPVT92: Capovilla & Prudencio, 2006, Capovilla & Thomazete, 2009e), which has been standardized for 7-10 year old children; 3) USP Picture Vocabulary Test (UPVT107: Capovilla, Negrão, Damazio, 2011), which has been standardized for 3-6 year old children. Even though LAVE, PPVT-B, UPVT92 and UPVT107 may be used for relatively early assessment (LAVE from 2-6 years, PPVT from 2y6m to 14 years, UPVT107 from 3-6 years, and UPVT93 from 7-10 years), research and development are necessary to provide for assessment at an even earlier age. The present study presents three standardized tests that can be used for early assessment of expressive vocabulary (UEVT100: from 1y6m to 5 years of age) and receptive vocabulary (UPVT33A and UPVT33B: from 1y6m to 6 years of age). The study provides data on developmental vadidity, reliability coeficients, and standardized norms for all three tests obtained with 906 1-6 year old children from 9 public and private schools

There is an increase in Hispanic English Language Learners (ELL). Poverty levels and lack of teacher training can also be stacked against the ELL population. Gesturing is a teaching technique that is used in successful methods such as The Natural Approach (NA) and Total Physical Response (TPR) in helping ELL students in English comprehension and output. This study examined the effects that increased teacher gestures have on the number of words spoken by the child in multiple settings. Data were collected in the context of a multiple baseline design across three settings. The results indicate that there was an effect on the amount of words spoken in two out of three settings. Suggestions are presented to expand on this effect.

Speech-language pathologists are challenged with providing children with treatment that results in the greatest amount of improvement in the least amount of time. To aid in this challenge, we examined how quickly and efficaciously seven children with a specific language impairment (SLI) learned verbs compared to seven children with typical language (TL) development. Each child was taught the meaning and use of six nonsense verbs. Nonsense verbs were used to ensure that the target verbs had never been heard by any of the participants before the experiment and allowed us to control verb exposure. Each participant received up to four training sessions of 30-minutes each. During these sessions, the examiner utilized naturalistic conversational techniques and play activities with carefully selected sets of toys that corresponded to the meaning of the target words. The training sessions were ended when children demonstrated 100% accuracy in their understanding of the verbs and 50% accuracy in their production during a probe task. All sessions were audio-recorded and the experimenters and childs utterances were reliably coded. Analysis revealed that the two groups received the same input from the experimenter in terms of the number and type of exposures to the verbs. We examined the childrens nonsense verb productions for their rate and quality. Rate of verb acquisition was measured by counting: 1) the number of sessions required before the criteria for learning was met; 2) the number of exposures before childs first spontaneous production of each target verb; and 3) the number of exposures before childs first elicited production of each target verb. Quality of verb acquisition was measured by counting: 1) the number of alternative real verbs substituted for a nonsense verb and 2) the accuracy of transitive target verb usage. Although the results were not statistically significant for any of the measures tested, there was a trend for children with SLI to learn the target nonsense verbs more slowly but just as

The Auditory Perception Test for the Hearing Impaired, 3rd edition (APT/HI-3) was adapted into an auditory perception assessment tool for Spanish-speaking children called the Auditory Perception Test for the Hearing Impaired—Spanish (APT/HI-S). Test items from the APT/HI-S were then validated by three groups of Spanish-English bilinguals to determine if selected words were developmentally and linguistically appropriate for 3-year old children. Survey results revealed that 37 out of 62 words were considered developmentally and grammatically appropriate. The APT/HI-S was then administered to two 3-year old and two 5-year old children, two with typical hearing and two with hearing loss. Results revealed that language proficiency played an integral role in the measurement of auditory perception skills. The children demonstrated better performance when tested in their dominant language, reinforcing the need to have a language-specific assessment tool to obtain a more accurate picture of auditory and speech perception skills in children.

Il existe actuellement peu de données sur l’apport du numérique dans le développement du langage chez des enfants porteurs de trouble du spectre autistique (TSA). Une recherche-action visant à évaluer l’évolution du langage et des particularités sensorielles et motrices est menée auprès de 20 enfants âgés entre 6 et 16 ans pendant 24 mois. La tablette numérique proposée en accompagnement individuel hebdomadaire a eu un effet positif sur le développement du langage et a participé à améliorer les comportements adaptatifs au quotidien des enfants. La proposition d’ateliers numériques sur la base de 4 curriculum numériques construits sur un modèle de type « bottom up” c'est-à-dire ciblant les apprentissages de la phonologie vers le lexique, la sémantique, la syntaxe et la pragmatique favorise la progression langagière et développementale des enfants. Les résultats vont dans le sens d’une corrélation positive entre une progression du langage et l’évolution des comportements adaptatifs au quotidien, et d’un apport bénéfique et significatif du numérique dans les accompagnements cognitifs des enfants avec TSA. / There is currently little data on the contribution of digital technology to language development in children with ASD. A research study was conducted over the course of 24 months among 20 children aged between 6 and 16 years to evaluate the language evolution and the sensory and motor characteristics. The digital tablet offered as a weekly individual intervention had a positive effect on language development and helped improve adaptive behaviors on a daily basis. The proposal for digital workshops based on 4 digital educational curriculum following on a bottom-up model, i.e. targeting the learning of phonology to vocabulary, semantics, syntax and pragmatics, promotes the linguistic and developmental progression of children. These results support a positive correlation between a progression of language and the evolution of adaptive behaviors in everyday life and in favor of a beneficial and significant contribution of digital in the cognitive interventions for children with ASD.

Denna studie fokuserar på språkliga svårigheter i förskolan samt vikten av tidig upptäckt och adekvata stödinsatser i barns tidiga år. Studiens syfte var att beskriva och analysera förskollärares och specialpedagogers uppfattningar om förutsättningar för upptäckt av språkliga svårigheter i förskolan, samt utformningen av förskolans arbetssätt för stimulans av barns språkutveckling, med särskilt fokus på språksvårigheter. Studien utgick från följande två forskningsfrågor: "Vilka är förskollärares och specialpedagogers uppfattningar om sina möjligheter att upptäcka språksvårigheter hos barn i förskolan?" och " Vilka är förskollärares och specialpedagogers uppfattningar om utformningen av arbetet för att stötta barn med språksvårigheter i förskolan?" För att besvara dessa frågor gjordes denna kvalitativa intervjustudie. Datainsamlingen bestod av totalt åtta intervjuer med urval från ovan nämnda professioner i förskolan. Informanternas erfarenheter och uppfattningar kring ämnet tematiserades och analyserades med begrepp från sociokulturell teori, samt early childhood literacy. Resultatet påvisade goda möjligheter att upptäcka språkliga svårigheter i förskolan, likväl som att tillämpa stödjande insatser. Det framkom dessutom att detta har positiva effekter på barns fortsatta språkutveckling och inlärning i ett större perspektiv, samt gynnar barnets sociala relationer. Interaktion och kommunikation med barnen, pedagogernas kompetens och förhållningssätt, tillgång till specialpedagogisk kompetens, samt samverkan med vårdnadshavare framstår som avgörande faktorer vid likväl upptäckt av språksvårigheter som tillämpning av stödinsatser. / This study is about language difficulties in preschool and the importance of detection and adequate language intervention at an early age. The purpose of the study was to describe and analyze preschool teachers' and special educators' opinions regarding the prerequisites for detecting language difficulties in preschool, as well as the methods used to support language development, focusing children with language difficulties in particular. The study was based on the following two research questions: "What are the perceptions of pre-school teachers and special educators of their opportunities to detect language difficulties in preschool?" and "What are the views of preschool teachers and special educators on methods used to support children with language difficulties in preschool?" In order to answer these questions, this qualitative interview study was done. The data collection consisted of eight interviews with a selection from the above mentioned professions. The empirical data were sorted by themes and analyzed with concepts from socio-cultural theory, as well as early childhood literacy. The result of the study showed that the prerequisites to discover linguistic difficulties in preschool, as well as the ability of language interventions, were good. Positive effects on children's language development and learning in a larger perspective, as well as social relations, also emerged in the study. Interaction and communication, the educators' competence and approach, access to special educational competence, and collaboration with the parents appear to be crucial for discovering language difficulties, as well as implementing interventions.

Studiens övergripande syfte var att beskriva och analysera pedagogers uppfattningar om hur framgångsrik undervisning i klassrummet av elever med språkliga svårigheter kan se ut. Kvalitativa intervjuer och observationer ligger till grund för studiens diskussion och analys. Resultatet visar att fokus inte bör ligga endast på undervisning i klassrummet utan att pedagogerna behöver utgå från skolan som helhet i form av en inkluderande syn på undervisning, då det är i mötet mellan elev och miljö som språkliga svårigheter uppstår. På samma sätt som eleverna behöver känna trivsel och delaktighet i klassrummet behöver pedagogerna känna trivsel och delaktighet i skolan för att kunna utvecklas i sin profession. För att lyckas med detta behövs tydligare och gemensamma mål samt att det finns möjlighet till diskussion på och mellan alla nivåer i skolan. I dessa diskussioner är det viktigt att specialpedagogerna finns med då de har kunskapen om att medverka i det förebyggande arbetet med att undanröja hinder och svårigheter i skolans lärmiljöer för elever med språkliga svårigheter. / The overall aim of the study was to describe and analyze pedagogical beliefs about how successful teaching in the classroom by pupils with language difficulties can look like. Qualitative interviews and observations form the basis of the study's discussion and analysis. The result shows that the focus should not be solely on teaching in the classroom, but that the educators need to start from the school as a whole in the form of an inclusive view of teaching, as it is in the encounter between pupil and environment that language difficulties arise. In the same way that students need to feel well-being and participation in the classroom, the educators need to feel well-being and participation in the school in order to be able to develop in their profession. To succeed with this, clearer and common goals are needed and that there is the possibility of discussion at and between all levels in the school. In these discussions, it is important that the special educators are present as they have the knowledge of participating in the preventive work of removing obstacles and difficulties in the school's learning environments for pupils with linguistic difficulties.

本篇研究的目的是要去比較中文跟英文小孩的誘發過度泛化現象的不同之處。誘發過度泛化現象指的是小孩子因為受到之前誘發過的字的影響進而造成對物品過度泛化現象的情況而稱之。Gershkoff-Stowe et al. (2006) 認為Dell (1986) 提出的擴散激活機制 (spreading activation mechanisms) 可用來解釋小孩的三種泛化錯誤類型: 類別錯誤 (category errors) 、語用錯誤 (pragmatic errors) 跟提取錯誤 (retrieval errors)，此三種泛化錯誤的基底機制應該都是同樣的。另外，他們也認為最近激活跟形狀的類似對小孩的命名應該都扮演了很重要的角色。年紀較大的小孩也應該會擁有比較成熟的心理詞彙所以會比起年紀較小的小孩比較不容易受到之前提取過的字的影響。因為中文跟英文心理詞彙的不同，我們想去檢視是否一樣的理論也可套用在中文小孩身上。實驗方法沿用了Gershkoff-Stowe et al. (2006)的相同實驗法，做了與他相同的兩個實驗。第一個實驗是熟悉物與不熟悉物的命名，兩歲小孩要做六次的試驗，然後我們是用三張圖片做為誘發圖片，然後請小孩去命名一個真實的物品。第二個實驗是虛構物品命名，我們在這個實驗裡比較兩歲小孩跟四歲小孩的不同表現。實驗過程跟實驗一是一樣的，只是實驗二是看虛構物品不是真實物品，且有八個試驗機會而不是六個。結果顯示有一個跟英文大致上類似的結果。然而我們仍有發現一些不同之處。第一，我們發現熟悉物在中文裡比起英文似乎有更強的力量。第二個則是兩個語言不同的構詞法可能會對於比較成熟的心理詞彙造成不一樣的誘發方式。 / This purpose of this study is to compare the difference of priming overextension phenomena between Mandarin Chinese children and English children. Priming overextension means that children overextend some words due to the effects of the previously primed words. Gershkoff-Stowe et al. (2006) found that spreading activation mechanisms (Dell, 1986) should be the underlying mechanisms of three types of children’s overextension errors, i.e., category errors, pragmatic errors, and retrieval errors. Moreover, they thought that recent activation and perceptual similarity both play an important role on children’s object naming. Besides, older children should have a more mature mental lexicon and thus less susceptible to previously retrieved words than younger children. Due to the difference of the lexicon networks between Mandarin Chinese and English, we want to examine whether the same theory also could apply to Mandarin children. Two experiments which followed Gershkoff-Stowe et al. (2006) were conducted. The first one was familiar or unfamiliar object naming. 2-year-old Children underwent six trials and were primed by three pictures and then were asked to name a real object. The second experiment was novel object naming. We compared the performances of children aged 2 and aged 4 together. The procedure was the same as the experiment 1 despite the fact that children in experiment 2 named novel objects rather than real ones and they underwent 8 trials rather than six. And results showed a generally similar finding with English. However, there are still something different between these two languages. First, we found that familiar objects should have stronger strengths in Mandarin than in English. Second, different morphology in two languages may result in different priming way for more mature mental lexicons.

<p>Den här studien syftade till att belysa hur några pedagoger med olika typ av bakgrund, verksamma i ett homogent svensktalande respektive ett mer mångkulturellt område, tänker om och arbetar med flerspråkiga barn i förskolan. Frågeställningarna rörde pedagogernas syn på hur en språkstimulerande miljö bör utformas, positiva samt negativa aspekter i arbetet med flerspråkiga förskolebarn, samt om skillnader i uttalanden hos de olika yrkesrollerna kunde utrönas. Jag ville också ta reda på om barnens modersmål talades i verksamheten eller om dess ursprung lyftes fram på något annat vis. Jag använde mig av intervjuer som forskningsmetod.</p><p>Min resultatanalys visade att samtliga pedagoger betonar användandet av ett nyanserat, rikt och benämnande språk i det vardagliga talet, under alla situationer i verksamheten. För barn med annat modersmål än svenska blir det extra viktigt med stöd i form av bilder och konkret material, enligt pedagogerna. Problematiska aspekter med att tala flera olika språk i verksamheten, som lyftes fram var dels organisatoriska - att erhålla pedagoger med en viss flerspråkig kompetens - och dels att hålla en sund balans där också det svenska språket ska betonas. På två av förskolorna talar pedagogerna andra språk än svenska i den dagliga verksamheten. De gör detta med hänvisning till de positiva kognitiva effekter barnet får. Tvärtemot detta har en förskollärare på en annan förskola valt att inte tala flera olika språk i verksamheten. Hon menar att detta sänder ut negativa signaler till de barn vars modersmål inte talas av någon av pedagogerna. Generellt sett framkom en ståndpunkt hos pedagogerna om att problem och svårigheter ingår i yrket, det ingår att anstränga sig, varför exempelvis språkförbistringar egentligen inte anses vara jobbigt.</p> / <p>The aim of this study was to shed light on how some teachers with different backgrounds, in a homogenous Swedish-speaking and a more multicultural area, think about and work with multilingual children in preschool. My research questions concerned the teachers’ vision of how a language stimulating environment should be designed. If multilingual children need a particular design - plus positive and negative aspects of the work with multilingual preschool children, as well as if there’s differences between the statements of the various professional roles. I also wanted to find out whether children's mother tongue was spoken in the everyday praxis or not - or if the child’s origins were highlighted in other ways. Interviews were used as my reasearch metod.</p><p>My results showed that all teachers stress the use of a nuanced, rich and naming language in everyday praxis. For children with a mother tongue other than Swedish, it becomes more important with language aid, like pictures and concrete materials, according to teachers. Problematic aspects of speaking several languages in preschool were partly organizational - to obtain staff with multilingual skills - and partly to keep a balance in also emphasizing Swedish. In two of the preschools’ everyday activity, teachers speak languages other than Swedish. They do this referring to the positive cognitive effects on the child. Contrary to this, a preschool teacher at another preschool chose not to speak other languages in everyday activity. She feels that this sends out negative signals to the children whose first language is not spoken by any of the teachers. In general, there was a position with the teachers that problems and difficulties are in the profession, making an effort forms a part of the occupation.</p>

<p>Generally prosody is described as the rhythmic, dynamic and melodic features of language. Prosody is further often described as suprasegmental, since its properties go beyond vowels and consonants, which are segmental characteristics of language. A relationship between prosody and music has been noticed and described for several decades. At present, there are several studies proving relationship between prosodic and musical abilities.</p><p> </p><p>The aim of the present study was to construct a test for prosodic non-linguistic perception and production regarding intonation and rhythm. The test was tried out on 16 children with typical language development aged 4;6-7;6 years.</p><p> </p><p>Before testing of ITAP each participant were asked about musical experience. For formal assurance that the participants had typical language development a pretesting was performed.</p><p> </p><p>The results demonstrate an even range and therefore the complexity of ITAP seems to be on a representative level. Furthermore, ITAP is viable and the design is advantageous. The results of the present study suggest that both phonological working memory and grammatical ability are related to the aspects of intonation tested in ITAP.</p><p> </p><p>The study contributes to the knowledge about possible relations between prosodic and musical abilities, and it provides guidance on what children with typical language development are expected to achieve on ITAP.</p>