Some seven percent of children in the general population are affected by Specific Language Impairment and/or Pragmatic Language Impairment with numerous cases undiagnosed. It is known that difficulty in communication affects psychosocial functioning and is likely to be a source of mental distress but the data on people’s access to and benefit from psychological intervention are limited. There is also limited understanding of psychologists’ capacity to meet these clients’ needs although their problems continue into adulthood. This research questions the population of counselling and clinical psychologists about their knowledge and experience of these disorders using an electronic questionnaire. Qualitative methods were then adopted with three participants with SLI/PLI and four psychologist practitioners familiar with such clients; this involved semi-structured interviews analysed using IPA and TA respectively. The purpose was to interpret and develop the clients' lived experiences into themes which were then used to look for possible connecting themes in the psychologists’ transcripts. This process was termed "interconnection" and was intended to reveal the coincidence and convergence of the two sides of the client/psychologist dyad. Results showed that whereas findings demonstrated the young men possessed a spectrum of coping and defence strategies as constituent parts of resilience, including self-esteem, self-identity and self-efficacy, the psychologists did not see the client as a congruent whole, addressing either their impairment or their mental health problem. Client resiliencies were not used in therapy and psychosocial difficulties were not recognised as a focus of distress although they did endeavour to modify their therapeutic approaches. Finally, consideration is given to whether the research aim is met, the implications for counselling psychology and possible future research. It is proposed that this methodology of interconnection has the potential to provide a novel approach to inform any future research and service development for this and other client groups in the way it takes patients/clients into account and connects them with professional working.

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the amount of language models (i.e., dose frequency) that Spanish-English bilingual children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) require in order to consistently produce challenging target grammatical forms for 6 morphemes, 3 in English and 3 in Spanish, via a structural priming task. Participants included two 2nd grade children with SLI, five typically developing kindergarten children, and three typically developing 2nd grade peers. Participants were administered 10 control and 10 experimental cloze phrase computer tasks for each morpheme. In the control condition participants finished cloze phrase sentences which targeted the target morpheme while in the experimental task participants heard a model of the target morpheme and were subsequently required to finish the cloze phrase. Results replicated results of structural priming for all groups in each language. Results also indicated that Spanish was more robust in producing morphological priming effects in comparison to English morphological forms possibly due to linguistic differences. Clinical and research implications are discussed. / text

Specific language impairment (SLI) in bilingual Malaysian children is grossly underidentified for two reasons. First, there is an absence of locally-developed norm-referenced language assessment tools. The challenge in developing a local assessment tool comes from the inadequate knowledge of children’s English as it develops in the bilingual environment. Second, the characteristics of Malaysian English, a non-Standard form of English, are often confused with the features of SLI in monolingual children learning Standard English. To date, the literature has no information on SLI in bilingual children learning a non-Standard English because research mainly focuses on bilingual Standard English and monolingual non-Standard English. Spontaneous language sample is the recommended language assessment tool for bilingual Malaysian children because it provides quantitative and qualitative information for language development and assessment in communities with complex language environment. Phase 1 of the current study investigated the developmental sensitivity of four language sample measures (LSMs), including mean length of utterances (MLU), lexical diversity (D), the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn), and frequency of code-switching (FCS), by examining the relationship between these LSMs and age in 52 bilingual Chinese-English Malaysian children with normal language development (NLD), aged between 3;06 and 6;09. Analyses showed a highly significant linear relationship with age in D (r=.536) and IPSyn (r=.451), moderately significant linear relationship with MLU (r=.364), but not in FCS. The findings suggested that MLU, D, and IPSyn were developmentally sensitive to non-Standard English in the bilingual Malaysian children studied. Phase 2 compared the same measures obtained from nine children with SLI and their age-matched controls from the NLD group in Phase 1. The SLI group had significantly lower MLU and the IPSyn scores than the NLD group. Discriminant function analysis indicated that the IPSyn alone classified children into SLI and NLD groups at 77.8% classification accuracy. The four misclassified children, two in the SLI and two in the NLD group, were aged below 4;06 years. MLU and the IPSyn showed potential as SLI markers for bilingual Malaysian children. Two types of error patterns were observed from the SLI group. The first pattern included verb and the copula -be omissions which were also observed in younger children from the NLD group. The second pattern was omission of prepositions which was not observed in younger NLD group, reflected linguistic transfer from the first language. Future research in this area is suggested to a) extend the age range of the study to include older children to further verify the diagnostic potential of LSMs, b) consider longitudinal research design so that language development over time can be described and c) include non-linguistic measures given reports of these measures as potential markers of SLI. As an initial study on bilingual children learning non-Standard English, the current study provided empirical data for charting language development and also suggested potential markers for SLI. The study can serve as the basic framework not only for further research on other bilingual non-Standard English-speaking groups but also for children with language impairment secondary to developmental disorders in the same language group. / published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy

The primarily goal of this study was to examine the patterns of cognitive and language processing of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and how they related to their text comprehension, interpreted within constructivism. The study aimed to characterize the difference in language, character decoding, metacognitive processing and text comprehension between children with SLI and those under typical development; to identify the inter-relationships among their language processing, character decoding, metacognitive processing and text comprehension; and to investigate how the implementation of cognitive reading strategies instruction change their language processing, character decoding, metacognitive processing, belief towards reading and text comprehension. Two studies were carried out. In Study One, 73 participants were recruited from two Hong Kong primary schools; they were at second and third grade, 42 were diagnosed of SLI and the other were under typical development. Standardized instruments were used to tap children’s language processing and character decoding respectively. Researcher developed Metacognitive Processing Scale were adopted to rate their metacognitive and deep processing of text. A set of comprehension test, comprised of forced-choice inferential questions and two recall tasks, were used to assess their depth in understanding different types of text. Analyses indicated that SLI students did not only score poorer in language processing, but also in character decoding, metacognitive processing and text comprehension. Further analyses of both the entire sample and the SLI sample, indicated that there were significant correlations between character decoding, language processing, metacognitive processing with children’s text comprehension scores. In Study Two, there were 40 participants recruited from the SLI sample of the Study One. Cognitive reading strategy instruction program were developed. 21 participants was randomly selected to receive the experimental instruction and the another 19 were under conventional instruction as control. Besides the measures used in the Study One, interviews and teacher-reporting questionnaires were used to tap children’s belief towards reading and their classroom engagement. Analysis of pre-instruction and post-instruction tests indicated the experimental children showed significantly better progress on their oral language, text comprehension and belief about reading. Both the experimental and the control group showed similar progress on character decoding. The study offers both theoretical and educational contribution on the literacy development among the population of SLI. It identifies the role of metacognitive processing on literacy achievement. It provides the evidence of implementing cognitively-based reading strategies for literacy instruction for children with SLI within Chinese context. Upon the introduction of inclusive education, teachers now face students with much wider diversity, including a significant number of children with SLI. Possible collaboration between frontline teachers and speech therapists in designing potential classroom activities is discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

The current study investigated the effectiveness of a Literacy Based Intervention (LBI) on English Language Learners (ELLs) with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Specifically this report focuses on the effects of LBI on vocabulary skills (e.g. naming and defining). Nineteen ELLs (ages 74 to 104 months) participated in the intervention study, which lasted eight weeks and consisted of 50-minute sessions, three times a week. The LBI focused on rich vocabulary instruction of words that were from storybook readings. Vocabulary naming and definition probes were used to assess vocabulary progress. Results revealed that vocabulary increases did not occur until the second half of the intervention (e.g. week six or seven). LBI shows promise to be successful for increasing vocabulary skills in ELLs with SLI. / text

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

Variability inherently present between multiple talkers can prove beneficial in the context of learning. However, the performance during learning paradigms by children with specific language impairment (SLI) remains below typically developing peers, even when multiple talkers are used. Preschool children with typically developing language (n = 17) and SLI (n = 17) participated in a talker discrimination task. Five different pairings of talkers (same male, different males, same female, different females, male + female) were used to present 50 spoken words. Children with SLI were significantly poorer in discriminating same and different male speakers compared to their typical peers. The present findings demonstrate that preschool children with SLI can experience difficulty distinguishing between talkers. Poor sensitivity to variation in talkers may contribute to poor learning in SLI for contexts where multiple talker input should benefit the learner.

The procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH) posits that a range of language, cognitive and motor impairments associated with specific language impairment (SLI) and developmental dyslexia (DD) may be explained by an underlying domain-general dysfunction of the procedural memory system. In contrast, declarative memory is hypothesized to remain intact and to play a compensatory role in the two disorders. The studies in the present thesis were designed to test this hypothesis. Study I examined non-language procedural memory, specifically implicit sequence learning, in children with SLI. It was shown that children with poor performance on tests of grammar were impaired at consolidation of procedural memory compared to children with normal grammar. These findings support the PDH and are line with previous studies suggesting a link between grammar processing and procedural memory. In Study II, the same implicit sequence learning paradigm was used to test procedural memory in children with DD. The DD group showed a learning profile that was similar to that of children with SLI in Study I, with a significant impairment emerging late in learning, after extended practice and including an overnight interval. Further analyses suggested that the DD impairment may not be related to overnight consolidation but to the effects of further practice beyond the initial practice session. In contrast to the predictions of the PDH, the sequence learning deficit was unrelated to phonological processing skills as assessed with a nonword repetition task. Study III examined declarative memory in DD. The performance of the DD group was found to be not only intact, but even enhanced, compared to that of the control children. The results encourage further studies on the potential of declarative memory to compensate for the reading problems in DD. In sum, the results lend partial support for the PDH and suggest further refinements to the theory. Collectively, the studies emphasize the importance of going beyond a narrow focus on language learning and memory functions in the characterization of the two disorders. Such a broader cognitive, motor and language approach may inform the development of future clinical and pedagogical assessment and intervention practices for SLI and DD.

Rationale. Definition of complex behavioral disorders is generally phenomenological in nature and guided by pragmatic, rather than genetic, concerns. Consequently, important aspect of genetic analysis is the search for novel phenotypic definitions from the familial/genetic perspective. SLI study 1. SLI denotes an inability to acquire normal language in the absence of peripheral hearing impairment, neurological disorder, and mental retardation. Sibling resemblance for several theoretically derived specific components of the SLI phenotype was examined in families of SLI children. In 38 sib-pairs from 10 French-speaking pedigrees, Verb Tense Morphology sub-tests (Real and Non-real Words) showed nonparametric correlations of 0.39 and 0.35, respectively (p < 0.05, 2-tailed). In a densely affected Anglophone pedigree, 41 sib-pair showed familial resemblance with respect to Derivational Morphology (r = 0.52, p < 0.01). SLI study 2. Family history study in 27 families examined the relationship between attention deficit/hyperactivity in SLI children and familial risk of speech/language disorders. Higher odds of speech/language disorders were observed in first-degree relatives of 13 SLI children who also had a medical record of attention deficit/hyperactivity (15/27 vs. 4/46, p = 0.001). Alcoholism study 1. Latent class analysis (LCA) including gender and 15 antisocial behaviors (>15yr) was performed in 236 broadly ascertained alcohol-dependent subjects (121 males, 115 females). Evidence for 3 qualitative behavioral classes was obtained: Socially Adjusted Adults, SAA; Antisocial Non-Aggressive Adults, ANAA; and Antisocial Aggressive Adults, AAA. In both, genders, the AAA class had the earliest age of onset for alcohol dependence (p = 0.001), more alcoholic first-degree relatives and more of other psychopathology. In females, the ANAA class was intermediate. In the ANAA males, socially adjusted childhood behavior differentiated the late onset from the intermediate ons

On évoque souvent des difficultés à interagir socialement chez les enfants ayant une dysphasie. Ces difficultés sont généralement attribuées aux troubles du langage, mais elles pourraient aussi provenir d’un problème à décoder les émotions des autres. Le but de la présente recherche est d’explorer cette voie chez les enfants dysphasiques de 9 à 12 ans. Différents stimuli émotionnels leur ont été présentés sous forme de vidéos ainsi qu’à des enfants d’un groupe contrôle selon cinq conditions : parole non filtrée, parole filtrée, visage dynamique, visage dynamique accompagné de la parole non filtrée, et visage dynamique avec parole filtrée. Les enfants dysphasiques et les enfants du groupe contrôle ne se comportent pas différemment de manière significative en fonction des émotions présentées et des conditions testées. Par contre, un sous-groupe d’enfants ayant une dysphasie mixte commet significativement plus d’erreurs pour l’ensemble de la tâche que le sous-groupe d’enfants sans dysphasie de même âge chronologique. En fait une part seulement des enfants dysphasiques mixtes ont des scores plus faibles. Ces mêmes enfants présentent un QI non verbal faible tandis que leur compréhension du langage est équivalente à celle de leur sous-groupe (enfants dysphasiques mixtes). Malgré ces différences significatives, les scores des enfants dysphasiques mixtes restent relativement élevés et les difficultés observées sont subtiles. Sur le plan clinique, les praticiens (orthophonistes, psychologues, éducateur) devront systématiser l’évaluation des habiletés de décodage des émotions chez l’enfant dysphasique dont les difficultés ne sont pas forcément évidentes dans la vie quotidienne. La recherche devra développer un outil de dépistage sensible aux troubles de décodage émotionnel et des stratégies thérapeutiques adaptées. / Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) can have social problems that are often explained by their language disorders. However, the ability to identify other people’s emotions could be caused by their emotion processing difficulties. We explore this question in children with SLI aged 9 to 12 years old. Children with and without SLI were tested on five emotional stimuli presented in dynamic video and audio format: unfiltered speech, filtered speech, facial expressions, facial expressions with unfiltered speech, and facial expressions with filtered speech. The children with impaired language do not differ significantly from the unimpaired children across all modalities and emotions. However, a subgroup of SLI children with mixed (expressive-receptive) delay commits more errors on the task than their age-matched peers. In fact only a subgroup of these children shows lower scores. These same children also show low IQ scores but language comprehension as good as their subgroup. Despite these significant differences the mixed SLI group’s scores are quite high, showing that deficits are subtle. Clinical implications of this study militate for a systematization of the evaluation by health practitioners of these abilities in children with SLI who might not show obvious signs of deficits in this domain in their everyday activities. Research should pursue the development of a sensitive evaluation tool to identify emotional decoding difficulties and should evaluate therapeutic strategies adapted to this population.