To identify children at risk of developing a language disability, the majority of Swedish Child Health Centers (CHCs) have since the early 90’s conducted language screening with 3-year olds using Westerlund’s method or with 2,5-year olds using Miniscalco’s method. The National Board of Health and Welfare has published a new national child healthcare program (Socialstyrelsen, 2014b) in which the language screening in Uppsala municipality needs to resituate to when the child is 2,5 years old. This is due to the fact that a team evaluation is going to be performed when the child is 3 years old. The study aimed to evaluate the process and screened 70 children in 4 CHCs with a revised version of Westerlund’s method. That method was chosen because of the fact that nurses at CHC’s in Uppsala already use it on 3-year olds. Out of the 70 children, 16 failed and were followed up at 3 years of age. By then 9/16 failed again. This gives the screening 44% false positive results, which means that 44% of the children that screened positive are not actually at risk of developing a language disability. The same number for Westerlund’s original method is 4,5% (2/44) and Miniscalco’s is 48% (12/25). The later is interesting in comparison with this study due to the fact that they involve children of the same age. When conducting a clinical evaluation for Westerlund’s revised method involving 2,5-year olds, important factors to look further at are true/false positives and outcome per screening section. If the patterns found in this study are somewhat alike the patterns shown when screening a larger study population, the referential criteria might need a re-evaluation. The nurses involved in this study believe the screening works well with younger children, but they wish for more contact with a speech language pathologist to discuss difficult cases. Keywords: language screening, child healthcare program, CHC, language disability, Westerlund’s method / Sedan början av 90-talet har det på Sveriges barnavårdscentraler (BVC) utförts undersökning av barns språk – språkscreening – med syfte att identifiera barn som riskerar att få problem med sin språkutveckling. Merparten av alla BVC har använt antingen Westerlunds metod när barnen är 3 år eller Miniscalcos metod när de är 2,5 år. Socialstyrelsen inleder nu ett nationellt barnhälsovårdsprogram och föreslår i sin Vägledning för barnhälsovården (Socialstyrelsen, 2014b) att språkscreeningen ska göras vid 2,5 - 3 års ålder samt att ett teambesök med läkare och sjuksköterska ska göras vid 3 års ålder. Detta innebär i praktiken att språkscreeningen i Uppsala län flyttas från 3 år till 2,5 år. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att göra en inledande utvärdering kring huruvida Westerlunds metod kan användas på 2,5-åringar. Utvärdering av tidigareläggande av Westerlunds metod gjordes bland annat eftersom sjuksköterskorna på BVC i Uppsala under många år använd denna metod på 3-åringar, vilket gör att förfarandet är väl inarbetat. Fyra BVC deltog i en utprövning där totalt 70 barn screenades, av vilka 16 fick positivt utfall och följdes upp igen vid 3 år. I nio av fallen blev resultatet fortsatt positivt medan övriga sju barn klarade uppföljningen utan anmärkning. Det betyder att 44 % (7/16) av barnen fick positivt resultat fast de inte riskerar att få problem i sin språkutveckling – de screenades falskt positivt. Samma siffra för Westerlunds ursprungliga metod är 4,5 % (2/44) och för Miniscalcos metod 48 % (12/25). Det senare är intressant jämfört med denna studie då de omfattar barn i samma ålder. Vid en klinisk validering av Westerlunds metod på 2,5-åringar blir det viktigt att undersöka och jämföra såväl sant/falskt positiva som utfall per delmoment metoderna emellan. Om mönster liknande de i denna studie återfinns med en större studiepopulation kan remisskriterierna behöva ses över. Sjuksköterskorna som deltog i utprövningen anser att screeningen fungerar väl med 2,5-åringar, men de önskar bland annat mer logopedkontakt för handledning samt en lathund med varningssignaler att vara uppmärksam på gällande barns språkutveckling. Nyckelord: språkscreening, barnhälsovårdsprogram, barnavårdscentral, språkstörning, Westerlunds metod

[pt] Essa dissertação investiga uma possível relação entre comprometimentos no domínio sintático e dificuldades de leitura. Mais especificamente, busca-se verificar se dificuldades na compreensão oral de estruturas altamente custosas – interrogativas QU mais N de objeto (OWH mais N) e relativas de objeto (ORCs) – preveem problemas na compreensão leitora, quando tais estruturas estão envolvidas. 78 alunos (idade média: 12) do sexto ano de três escolas públicas do Rio de Janeiro participaram desse estudo. Suas habilidades sintáticas foram inicialmente testadas. Dois grupos foram criados para participarem dos testes de leitura: com possível comprometimento sintático (SI) (n igual 25) e controle (CT) (n igual 53). Um teste de reconhecimento de palavras e outro de leitura de palavras/pseudopalavras isoladas foram elaborados e realizados, uma vez que a fluência em leitura requer que dificuldades nessas habilidades sejam superadas. Novos grupos (SI e CT), sem problemas nesse nível, foram definidos (com 12 participantes cada). Dois experimentos foram conduzidos, buscando testar suas habilidades de fluência (velocidade, precisão e prosódia) em leitura com OWH mais N e ORCs em sentenças isoladas (tarefa de identificação de imagens) e no discurso (tarefa de leitura automonitorada). No último caso, o sujeito interveniente foi manipulado quanto à complexidade estrutural (DP completo ou pronome). Um aspecto da prosódia (uso adequado de pitch) distinguiu os grupos, com menor desempenho no grupo SI em ambas as tarefas. Um aspecto da precisão (número de disfluências) também os distinguiu quando as sentenças investigadas foram apresentadas no discurso (mais disfluências no grupo SI). A compreensão foi particularmente afetada quando as sentenças foram lidas isoladamente. Fatores relacionados à escolha lexical, bem como fatores discursivos podem criar demandas diferenciadas para as sentenças no discurso e isso pode ter minimizado efeitos de grupo. O efeito de intervenção foi obtido na direção prevista nas interrogativas QU mais N (OWH mais N), em que uma demanda maior foi observada nas condições de DP completos. Já no caso das relativas de objeto (ORC), um efeito significativo não foi obtido, possivelmente devido a dificuldades na atribuição de força ilocucionária interrogativa às perguntas SIM /NÃO. Uma amostra de sentenças com diferentes estruturas e com pontuação variada foi examinada, a fim de se obter uma análise geral de fluência em leitura. Novamente o pitch é indicativo de comprometimento sintático. Comprometimentos na interface sintaxe-prosódia podem explicar esses resultados. / [en] This dissertation intends to verify whether syntactic impairment, as detected in in the oral comprehension of costly structures - object WH plus N questions (OWH plus N) and object relative clauses (ORCs) -, predicts difficulties in reading fluency and comprehension. The syntactic abilities of 6th graders from three public schools in Rio de Janeiro were evaluated, giving rise to syntactically impaired (SI) and control (CT) groups. Those who satisfied criteria at the word level in word-recognition/reading tasks proceeded. Two experiments assessed reading fluency (rate, accuracy, prosody) and the comprehension of each of the target structures in isolation (picture-identification task) and in discourse (self-paced reading task). In the latter, the intervening subject was manipulated for structural complexity (full nominal phrase and pronoun). One aspect of prosody (pitch contour) distinguished the groups, with lower scores in the SI group in both tasks. An aspect of accuracy (number of disfluencies) distinguished them in the discourse task (more disfluencies in the SI group). The comprehension of the target-sentences is isolation was harder for the SI group. Lexical/discourse factors can create differential demands for sentences in discourse, minimizing group effects. The effect of intervention was in the predicted direction for OWH plus N sentences (more demands for full nominal phase subjects). As for RC, this effect was not significant, possibly due to difficulties in the ascription of illocutionary force to YES/NO questions. In an overall analysis of reading fluency in discourse (different structures/punctuation marks), the pitch contour indicates syntactic impairment. Impairment at the syntax-prosody interface can account for these results.

Dans cette étude, nous avons cherché à caractériser le profil linguistique et le développement d’une population portugaise d’enfants ayant une perturbation spécifique du développement du langage (TSDL) et à analyser, dans le contexte de la théorie de l’attachement, la façon dont ces enfants porteurs de TSDL utilisent la mère comme base sûre, en les comparant à des enfants sans perturbation du langage. D’un autre côté, nous avons étudié la valeur prédictive de l’attachement et des variables développementales dans les compétences linguistiques des enfants. Nous avons retenu comme sujets de notre recherche, 83 dyades mère/enfant, les enfants étant âgés de 4 /5 ans, partagés en deux groupes. À travers les diverses mesures du langage et du AQS (Waters, 1995), il a été possible de vérifier que ces enfants :1) présentaient à l’âge mental propre de la maternelle (préscolaire), des changements sévères du langage, bien que leurs profils soient très hétérogènes ;2) étaient surtout des garçons, d’un ratio de 3:1 ; 3) révèlent une qualité de sécurité de l’attachement à la mère, inférieure comparativement à leurs pairs sans changement au niveau du langage, ainsi que moins de comportements d’attachement, telles que l’interaction douce, la proximité et le contact physique avec la mère.Nous avons également vérifié que l’attachement et les variables de consommation maternelle de tabac pendant la grossesse, la relation avec les amis et les antécédents familiaux de perturbation du langage sont des prédicteurs des difficultés linguistiques de ces enfants, ainsi que des durées d’acquisition du langage, ce qui explique une variance entre 7% et 21%. / This study aims to characterize the linguistic and developmental profile of a population of Portuguese-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) and analyze, within the context of attachment theory, how the SLI child uses his mother as a secure base, compared to children without language disorders. In the other eAs a final point, we tried to study the predictive value of attachment and developmental variables in the language skills of children. The participants of our study were 83 mother-child dyads (children aged 4-5 years), divided into two groups. Through various measures of language and AQS (Waters, 1995), we found that these children: 1) present, in pre-school age, severe alterations of language, though their profiles are very heterogeneous; 2) are mostly boys, with a ratio of 3:1; 3) show a lower quality of attachment security, when compared with their peers without language alterations, as well as less attachment behaviors, such as smooth interaction, proximity and physical contact with the mother. It was also found that attachment and tobacco use, relationship with friends and family background are predictors of the linguistic difficulties of these children, as well as of language acquisition timing, explaining 7% to 21% of the variance.

Det här är en uppsats som undersöker hur man kan underlätta och anpassa för elever med språkstörning i ämnet slöjd. Skolor har börjat uppmärksamma språkstörning mer, men okunskapen är fortfarande stor. I mina undersökningar har jag tittat på vad slöjdlärare känner att de saknar för att kunna ge eleverna det stöd de behöver, vad föräldrar önskar att deras barn får för hjälp i slöjden, samt vad specialpedagoger och speciallärare rekommenderar att lärare kan göra i undervisningen med elever med språkstörning. Det har resulterat i att lärare har behov av mer kunskap, mer stöd och mer tid i sin interaktion med elever med språkstörning. Eftersom man kan säga att språkstörning ligger på ett brett spektrum eftersom det finns så många olika inriktningar behöver man kunna individanpassa till varje elev för det finns inte ett färdigt koncept som fungerar för alla även om man med visuellt stöd kan gagna de flesta elever. / This is an essay that investigates how to make the sloyd subject more managable for students with a developmental language disorder (communication disorder). Schools have started to observe developmental language disorders more, but the lack of knowledge is still substantial. In my research I have looked at what teachers feel that they lack in order to provide these students with the support they need, what type of assistance parents would like see, and recommendations from special needs teachers. This research concludes that teachers need more knowledge, support and additional time in their interaction with students with developmental language disorders. Because there is a broad spectrum of developmental language disorders, you need to make individual adjustments because there is not a ready made concept that will work for everyone even though visual support will assist all students, not just those with developmental language disorder.

5 Abstract Although yeasts are unicellular microorganisms, they form complex multicellular formations such as biofilms and colonies under natural conditions. Within these structures, processes such as cell differentiation, specialization by particular cell populations and cell signalling, which are typical of multicellular organisms, take place. The literature introduction to this thesis summarizes current knowledge regarding the development of biofilms and colonies, in particular those of the model organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and some selected regulations that are important for the formation of multicellular structures. In the results section, I focus on two lines of research. The first is directed towards mechanisms, involved in the formation of multicellular structures. In studying the formation of SLI biofilms (biofilms at the solid/liquid interface), we have documented the antagonistic role of the regulators CYC8 and TUP1 in their formation and have also described the effect of the presence of glucose on the development and stability of SLI biofilms of strain BR-F. During this study we[D1] have developed an imaging method that allows us to prepare and observe the internal structure (vertical cross-section) of SLI biofilms, as well as the growth of unattached cells, under physiological...

Bien que les troubles du langage formel affectent une grande partie des enfants avec Trouble du Spectre Autistique (TSA), leur nature reste encore incertaine. Certaines études postulent que le trouble observable chez ces enfants est de même nature que celui dont souffrent les enfants avec trouble spécifique du langage (TSL), tandis que d’autres argumentent en faveur de deux troubles qui diffèrent dans leur étiologie. Au centre de ce débat réside la complexité à recueillir des données sur le langage chez les enfants avec TSA, notamment quand il s’agit de participer de manière active. Dans cette étude, nous explorons l’interprétation en temps réel des indices grammaticaux chez des enfants avec TSA monolingues francophones, en nous intéressant aux pronoms clitiques objets, dont la faible production en contexte obligatoire a été proposée comme marqueur du TSL pour le français. / It is well-known that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have language impairment. However, the nature of this impairment is still largely unknown. Some studies hold that language impairment in children with ASD is of the same nature as impairment found in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), whereas others argue that SLI and language impairment in ASD may be different both in their structure and their etiology. At the heart of this debate lies the difficulty of assessing language abilities of children with ASD, especially when active participation is required. Moreover, to date, few studies have investigated formal aspects of language in children with ASD in languages other than English. In this study, we explore real-time interpretation of grammatical cues in French-speaking children with ASD, with a focus on object clitics.

<p>Children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and children with specific language impairment (SLI) may be affected emotionally and psychosocially by their disorders. Thus, it is important to investigate the psychosocial risk factors that these children are exposed to. The aim of this study was to examine how parents assess the emotional and psychosocial well-being of children with CLP and children with SLI, and if the two parental groups differ in their assessments using the standardized instrument Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Participants in the study were the parents of ten children with unilateral and bilateral CLP between ages 6;7-9;0 (mean age 7;5) and the parents of 13 children between ages 6;4-8;8 (mean age 7;3) who are attending preschools and schools for children with SLI. These parents were asked to complete the questionnaires CBCL and Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ).</p><p> </p><p>The children with CLP had lower scores than the children with SLI in all domains of the CBCL, indicating that these children with CLP had better emotional and psychosocial well-being. The scores in the domains "withdrawn" and "delinquent behaviour" were significantly lower for the group of children with CLP who also had lower total mean scores of CBCL compared to the standardization group. The children with SLI had significantly higher mean scores for all domains compared to this group, indicating that these children with SLI were more emotionally and psychosocially affected than the other groups. Correlations between CBCL and CHQ were found for the children with CLP and the children with SLI.<strong> </strong></p> / <p>Barn med läpp-käk-gomspalt (LKG) och barn med språkstörning kan påverkas emotionellt och psykosocialt på grund av sina avvikelser. Det föreligger därför ett behov av att undersöka vilka aspekter som kan utgöra psykosociala riskfaktorer hos dessa grupper. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur föräldrar skattar emotionellt och psykosocialt välbefinnande hos barn med LKG och barn med språkstörning samt om dessa föräldragruppers skattningar skiljer sig åt. Vidare var syftet att undersöka hur studiens skattningar är relaterat till skattningarna i standardiseringen av instrumentet Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Föräldrar till tio barn med unilateral och bilateral spalt mellan 6;7-9;0 år (medelålder 7;5) samt föräldrar till 13 barn på språkförskola eller språkskola mellan 6;4-8;8 år (medelålder 7;3) fick fylla i frågeformulären CBCL samt Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ).</p><p> </p><p>Resultaten visade att gruppen barn med LKG hade lägre medelvärden än gruppen barn med språkstörning för samtliga domäner i CBCL, vilket indikerar att gruppen barn med LKG hade större emotionellt och psykosocialt välbefinnande. Medelvärdena för domänerna ”tillbakadragenhet” och ”asocialt beteende” var signifikant lägre för gruppen barn med LKG som också hade lägre totalt medelvärde jämfört med aktuella normeringsvärden för CBCL. Medelvärdena för gruppen barn med språkstörning var högre än normeringsvärdena för samtliga domäner, vilket indikerar att gruppen barn med språkstörning hade sämre emotionellt och psykosocialt välbefinnande än de andra grupperna. Slutligen visade korrelationsberäkningar ett signifikant samband mellan CBCL och CHQ för båda deltagargrupperna.</p>

Children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and children with specific language impairment (SLI) may be affected emotionally and psychosocially by their disorders. Thus, it is important to investigate the psychosocial risk factors that these children are exposed to. The aim of this study was to examine how parents assess the emotional and psychosocial well-being of children with CLP and children with SLI, and if the two parental groups differ in their assessments using the standardized instrument Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Participants in the study were the parents of ten children with unilateral and bilateral CLP between ages 6;7-9;0 (mean age 7;5) and the parents of 13 children between ages 6;4-8;8 (mean age 7;3) who are attending preschools and schools for children with SLI. These parents were asked to complete the questionnaires CBCL and Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ).   The children with CLP had lower scores than the children with SLI in all domains of the CBCL, indicating that these children with CLP had better emotional and psychosocial well-being. The scores in the domains "withdrawn" and "delinquent behaviour" were significantly lower for the group of children with CLP who also had lower total mean scores of CBCL compared to the standardization group. The children with SLI had significantly higher mean scores for all domains compared to this group, indicating that these children with SLI were more emotionally and psychosocially affected than the other groups. Correlations between CBCL and CHQ were found for the children with CLP and the children with SLI. / Barn med läpp-käk-gomspalt (LKG) och barn med språkstörning kan påverkas emotionellt och psykosocialt på grund av sina avvikelser. Det föreligger därför ett behov av att undersöka vilka aspekter som kan utgöra psykosociala riskfaktorer hos dessa grupper. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur föräldrar skattar emotionellt och psykosocialt välbefinnande hos barn med LKG och barn med språkstörning samt om dessa föräldragruppers skattningar skiljer sig åt. Vidare var syftet att undersöka hur studiens skattningar är relaterat till skattningarna i standardiseringen av instrumentet Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Föräldrar till tio barn med unilateral och bilateral spalt mellan 6;7-9;0 år (medelålder 7;5) samt föräldrar till 13 barn på språkförskola eller språkskola mellan 6;4-8;8 år (medelålder 7;3) fick fylla i frågeformulären CBCL samt Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ).   Resultaten visade att gruppen barn med LKG hade lägre medelvärden än gruppen barn med språkstörning för samtliga domäner i CBCL, vilket indikerar att gruppen barn med LKG hade större emotionellt och psykosocialt välbefinnande. Medelvärdena för domänerna ”tillbakadragenhet” och ”asocialt beteende” var signifikant lägre för gruppen barn med LKG som också hade lägre totalt medelvärde jämfört med aktuella normeringsvärden för CBCL. Medelvärdena för gruppen barn med språkstörning var högre än normeringsvärdena för samtliga domäner, vilket indikerar att gruppen barn med språkstörning hade sämre emotionellt och psykosocialt välbefinnande än de andra grupperna. Slutligen visade korrelationsberäkningar ett signifikant samband mellan CBCL och CHQ för båda deltagargrupperna.

Samtalsanalys har tidigare använts som ett komplement till traditionellt använda standardiserade tester för att undersöka mer funktionella aspekter av kommunikation (Wells &amp; Local, 1992; Yont, Hewitt &amp; Miccio, 2002; Samuelsson 2009). Syftet med föreliggande studie är att utifrån sytematiska analyser av vardagliga samtal och logopedisk intervention utforska relationen mellan kommunikativa behov i vardagen och mål med intervention för barn med språkstörning. Tre barn med språkstörning filmades i vardagliga samtal hemma och på förskolan samt vid ett behandlingsbesök hos logopeden. Materialet transkriberades och analyserades enligt samtalsanalytiska principer. Intervjuer och retrospektioner genomfördes med föräldrar, förskolepersonal samt behandlande logoped för att ytterligare belysa barnens kommunikativa situation. I föreliggande studie framkommer att de kommunikativa behov barnen har relaterar till de mål som sätts upp i logopedisk behandling. På grund av deras fonologiska svårigheter påverkas barnens kommunikation då det ofta uppstår problemkällor, deras yttranden ignoreras och deras talutrymme inskränks. Reparationsstrategier används av både vuxna och barn för att reda ut de situationer där missförstånd uppstår. Dessa strategier kan, med hjälp av retrospektioner, uppmärksammas och diskuteras i logopedisk intervention i syfte att undvika framtida situationer där barnens svårförståeliga yttranden inte reds ut. / Conversation analysis has been used as a complement to traditional standardized testing to evaluate the functional aspect of communication (Wells &amp; Local, 1992; Yont, Hewitt &amp; Miccio, 2002; Samuelsson 2009). The purpose of the present study is to explore the relationship between everyday communicative needs and objectives set in speech and language intervention through systematic analysis of everyday conversations and speech and language intervention. Three children with language impairment were video recorded during everyday interaction at home, at the preschool and during one speech and language therapy session. The material was transcribed and analyzed according to principles of conversation analysis. Interviews and retrospections were conducted with parents, preschool teachers and the treating speech and language pathologists in order to further illustrate the participating children’s communicational situation. The results in the present study show that the communicational needs does relate to the objectives set up in speech and language intervention for the children in the current study. The children’s communication is primarily afflicted by their phonological difficulties in the way that it fuels for sources of communicational breakdowns, the children’s utterances become ignored and it restrains their participation in conversation. Repair strategies are used by both adults and children to solve sequences where mutual understanding is not achieved. These strategies may, through retrospections, be identified and discussed in speech and language intervention in order to avoid future situations where unintelligible utterances are not solved.

Specific language impairment (SLI), defined as a disproportionate difficulty in learning language despite having normal hearing, intelligence, and no known neurological or emotional impairment, has been shown to share similar cognitive characteristics with individuals with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). However, little research has investigated the dissimilarities in these two different developmental disorders. Children with SLI also show many similar symptoms with individuals diagnosed with dyslexia. The aim of these studies is to get a better understanding of cognitive differences between SLI and ADHD, and the cognitive similarities between SLI and dyslexia. Tests of both verbal and non-verbal measures of working memory, IQ, and academic performance were administered to all groups. It was hypothesized that children with SLI would perform worse on verbal measures due to their language deficits but perform better on non-verbal measures than children with ADHD. It was also predicted that children with SLI will perform similarly, but worse than children with dyslexia. Results from the SLI/ADHD experiment confirm this pattern: children with SLI performed poorer than children with ADHD on all verbal cognitive measures. When looking at the non-verbal measures of abilities, the SLI group outperformed the ADHD group on working memory and IQ scores but not academic performance scores. Results from the SLI/Dyslexia experiment also confirmed what was predicted. Children with dyslexia outperformed their SLI counterparts on all cognitive measures. A possible explanation for these finding is that there are fewer classroom-based programs designed specifically to support children with SLI.