This study examined the effects of a vocabulary intervention for 3 children with cleft lip and/or palate who showed limited consonant inventories and delayed expressive language. In a multiple baseline design across behaviors, a vocabulary intervention was implemented using a milieu model. The treatment produced an increase in vocabulary production that generalized to a conversational language sample in the clinic and home as reported by parents. Phonological variables, including consonant repertoire and syllable structure, were monitored before and after language treatment for all children. Phonological performance improved and did not need to be addressed as a separate goal in intervention.

Speech-language impairment is one of the most common clinical features in velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS). This report describes the speech and language development of four children with VCFS studied longitudinally from 6 to 30 months of age and compares their performance with three groups of children: (1) normally developing children, (2) children with cleft lip and palate, and (3) children with isolated cleft palate. The data show that young children with VCFS show a receptive-expressive language impairment from the onset of language. Further, speech and expressive language development were severely delayed beyond a level predicted by their other developmental or receptive language performance. The children with VCFS showed severe limitations in speech sound inventories and early vocabulary development that far exceeded those shown by the children with cleft lip and palate and children with isolated cleft palate. This study indicates that young children with VCFS emerge from a critical speech and language learning period with severe limitations in their communicative abilities. Further studies are required to describe the later course of these early speech and language impairments and to explore the relationship to learning disabilities described for older children with VCFS.

Background: Currently, the majority of learners within the South African education system speak English as an additional language. Many of these children are therefore learning the language of instruction through the language of instruction. Of particular concern for speech-language therapists (SLTs) are those children who have language impairment. In addition, it is important for SLTs to be able to distinguish between the learners who have language impairment, and those who are merely in the process of acquiring English. Additionally, the identification of language impairment among learners who speak English as an additional language is difficult as there are no overt manifestations of language learning difficulties, and, unfortunately, these learners are easily over-looked during the pre-school and school-age years. Furthermore, specifically within the South African context, there are limited tools available that can be used to screen for, and/or diagnose language impairment among EAL learners. Purpose: The main aim of this study was to explore the use of sentence repetition as a screening tool for the identification of language impairment in learners who speak English as an additional language. Method: The research design of this study was non-experimental, quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional in nature, with comparative and correlational components. One hundred and seven grade 2 EAL learners from a mainstream school in Gauteng participated in the study. The learners were evaluated on two sentence repetition tests; the Redmond (2005) Sentence Repetition Test and the Recalling Sentences subtest from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4 (CELF-4) (Semel, Wiig & Secord, 2003). The learners were also evaluated on the Gray Oral Reading Test-4 (GORT-4) (Wiederholt & Bryant, 2001). The results obtained from these measures were correlated in order to determine the internal validity of the two sentence repetition measures, as well as to investigate the extent to which sentence repetition can be used to predict academic literacy. Learners who were identified as being at-risk for language impairment, namely those who fell 1 standard deviation (SD) below the peer group mean on the Redmond (2005) Sentence Repetition test were further evaluated using the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation-Criterion Referenced edition (DELV-CR) (Seymour, Roeper & de Villiers, 2003), to diagnose language impairment, avoid misdiagnosis, and describe the manifestations of language impairment in the second language. Results and Implications: The results of the Redmond (2005) Sentence Repetition test proved to be a valid measure to identify learners who were at-risk for language impairment, provided that the peer group mean was used as a standard of comparison. Twelve of the 107 (11.2%) learners from the study were identified as being at-risk for language impairment. However, after analysis of the results and using a peer group mean from Jordaan’s (2011) study, only 9/12 (7.5%) of the participants were diagnosed with language impairment. This finding highlights the fact that EAL learners are often over-identified as having language impairment and further assessment is necessary to minimise the risk of misdiagnosis of language impairment. The findings from the DELV-CR (Seymour, Roeper & de Villiers, v 2003), in terms of the manifestations of language impairment in the second language, were consistent with the EAL language impaired learners from Jordaan’s (2011) study, as well as the literature. This finding indicates that sentence repetition is a valid screening tool for the identification of language impairment in EAL learners. Furthermore, 11 of the 12 of the at-risk learners scored below the peer group mean on the reading comprehension measure. Thus, it is evident that, in addition to not being able to use language effectively for academic purposes, most children with language impairment are further disadvantaged by poor reading comprehension skills. An implication for future research would be to explore whether the development of a sentence repetition measure in an African language (e.g. Zulu) would yield similar results as the current study. In this way, EAL learners could be identified in their home language. A secondary finding of the current study was that the grade 2 educators were not able to identify learners who required additional language support within the classroom. This finding has implications for the role of SLTs in mainstream education and the need to support educators in their ability to identify learners with SLI and whose academic language development is not on par with that of their peers.

No description available.

Over the past several years, research has shown that children with language impairment often have increased social difficulties. The purpose of this study was to take a closer look at the relationship between language ability and emotion understanding by examining the recognition of facial expressions in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typically developing peers. As such, this study is a follow-up investigation of the work done by Spackman, Fujiki, Brinton, Nelson, & Allen (2006). Children with SLI and their age- and gender-matched peers were asked to identify the following six facial expressions of emotion in a language-minimal manner: happiness, anger, fear, surprise, sadness, and disgust. Group performance was then compared for each of the emotions examined. This study found significant differences between the groups (SLI vs. typical), with the children without language impairment performing better than those with SLI. There was also a significant difference found for emotion, indicating that some emotions were identified more correctly than others. No significant effects were found for gender, nor were any interaction effects between variables found.

Recent literature has suggested a link between verbal working memory and language impairment (LI) in children. There is limited research, however, about the link between verbal working memory and social behaviors in children with LI. This study was designed to explore the relationship between social behaviors (measured by the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale; Hart & Robinson, 1996) and verbal working memory abilities (measured by a 3-, 4-, and 5-syllable nonword repetition task) in children with LI. Thirty-six children (18 with LI and 18 typically developing) aged 7 to 11 years participated in the study. Children with LI were rated by teachers as having significantly higher levels of reticence and lower levels of likeability and prosocial behaviors compared to typically developing peers. Children with LI also scored significantly lower on the nonword repetition task at the 3- and 4-syllable levels. Regression analyses revealed that nonword repetition scores were significant predictors of reticence and prosocial behaviors when examining all children as a group, accounting for 22% and 42% of the variance, respectively. As nonword repetition performance increased, reticence ratings decreased and prosocial behavior ratings increased. Nonword repetition did not significantly predict ratings on reticence or prosocial behaviors when examining language groups separately. Nonword repetition was not a significant predictor of likeability for children in this study. These findings indicate a relationship between nonword repetition performance and social behaviors in children with and without LI.

Several recent studies indicate that children with Language Impairment (LI) have difficulty recognizing and inferring meaning from emotional prosody. The present study is a replication investigating the ability of children with LI to recognize emotion conveyed by prosody in an orally presented narrative passage. Twenty-two children with LI and twenty-two age matched peers ranging from age 7;0 to 10;11 (M= 9.11, SD= 2.54) were selected to participate. Participants listened to recordings of a seven sentence passage read by actors to express happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. The children's task was to identify which emotion the speaker portrayed. Scores obtained from the children with LI as a group were significantly lower than the scores of typically developing children. Differences in the degree of recognition of individual emotions were also apparent; happiness being correctly identified most frequently, followed by anger, sadness, and then fear. Evidence supports the supposition that children with LI struggle to understand emotion conveyed through prosodic cues, which may contribute to the social challenges children with LI experience.

This study investigated the ability of children with LI to recognize the need to dissemble emotions. Participants included 22 children with LI and 22 typically developing peers, ages 7;1 to 11;0 years. Children were presented with 10 hypothetical social scenarios in which the main character experienced an emotion which should be dissembled for social purposes. The participant's responses were categorized as dissemblance or display. Children with LI reported that they would hide the experienced emotion significantly less often than their typical peers. Children in both groups reported higher levels of dissemblance when asked what their parents would want them to do. There was no significant difference between language groups for this question.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between emotion understanding and language ability to the sociable behavior in children with language impairment (LI) and their typically developing peers. Twenty-nine children with LI and 29 age- and gender-matched peers with typical language were used in this study. Sociability was rated by his/her classroom teacher using the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (Hart & Robinson, 1996). Language ability was assessed using the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999). To assess emotion understanding, each participant was asked to perform several structural dissemblance tasks. Children with LI received scores significantly lower in language, dissemblance, prosocial behavior, and likeability compared to their typical developing peers. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that language was a significant predictor of sociability. However, further analyses indicated that dissemblance mediated the relationship between language and likeability in girls, but not boys. Results from further analyses for prosocial behavior indicated that dissemblance did not mediate the relationship between language and prosocial behavior. Evidence from this study supports past research indicating children with LI experience emotional and language difficulties, which affect their social competence, particularly in girls.

Past research has indicated that children with language impairment (LI) struggle more than children with typical language in their social interactions (Fujiki, Brinton, & Todd, 1999). The purpose of this study was to determine if the social strategies and goals of children with LI varied from those of children with typically developing language. A social goals questionnaire was used to determine the strategies the children verbally indicated that they would use. The children were then asked why they would use the selected strategy. The responses were then separated into goal categories. A chi-square analysis indicated that children with LI varied significantly from children with typical language in their selection of the strategies of adult-seeking, passive, and hostile-controlling strategies. A descriptive analysis of the social goals showed the goals to be less relationship-oriented and less congruent with the selected strategy than typically developing peers.