Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 14, 1999." Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-178).

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 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.

Hur föräldrar samspelar med barn kan ha stor påverkan på barnets språkliga och kommunikativa utveckling. Föräldrasensitivitet och mind-mindedness är två mått som mäter föräldrars samspel. Föräldrasensitivitet mäter förälderns förmåga att uppfatta och tolka barnets signaler och mind-mindedness innefattar förälderns användande av ord som handlar om barnets mentala processer. Dessa mentaliseringsyttranden kan vara intonade eller icke-intonade utifrån situationen och barnets sinnesstämning. I vilken grad föräldrars mind-mindedness och föräldrasensitivitet påverkar olika delar av den kommunikativa utvecklingen är till stora delar fortfarande okänt. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka om föräldrasensitivitet och föräldrars mind-mindedness korrelerar med kommunikativa förmågor, om mind-mindedness och föräldrasensitivitet korrelerar med varandra samt om några könsskillnader förelåg. Materialet bestod av 35 inspelade förälder-barndyader som observerats när barnen var ca 16 månader. För att mäta föräldrasensitivitet användes lyhördhetsskalan ”Lyhördhet eller icke-lyhördhet för barnets signaler”. För att mäta mind-mindedness kodades förälder-barndyaderna samt föräldrabeskrivningar utifrån manualen för mind-mindedness av Meins och Fernyhough (2010). De kommunikativa förmågorna mättes dels genom the Swedish Early Communicative Development Inventories och dels genom the Early Social Communication Scales. Resultatet visade att det förelåg samband mellan föräldrasensitivitet och kommunikativa förmågor. Såväl språkförståelse, kommunikativa gester samt delad uppmärksamhet korrelerade med föräldrasensitivitet. Beträffande föräldrars mind-mindedness, konstaterades ett samband mellan en hög andel icke-intonade mentaliseringsyttranden och bristande förmåga till delad uppmärksamhet. Vidare framkom samband mellan mind-mindedness och föräldrasensitivitet: en förälder med hög föräldrasensitivitet använde fler intonade mentaliseringsyttranden än en förälder med låg föräldrasensitivitet. Ett motsvarande omvänt samband uppstod mellan icke-intonade mentaliseringsyttranden och en låg nivå av föräldrasensitivitet, där en icke-lyhörd förälder använde fler icke-intonade mentaliseringsyttranden. Slutligen upptäcktes en könsskillnad som innebar att föräldrar använder fler icke-intonade mentaliseringsyttranden till pojkar än till flickor. / The way a parent interacts with his or her child can have a great effect on communication and language development of the child. Maternal sensitivity and mind-mindedness are two measures used for parent-child interplay. Maternal sensitivity measures the parent’s ability to accurately perceive and interpret the child’s cues while mind-mindedness involves the parent’s use of words and comments regarding the child’s internal state. These comments can be classified as appropriate or non-attuned regarding the situation and the child’s state of mind. To what extent mind-mindedness and maternal sensitivity affect different parts of the child’s communicative development is still mainly unknown. The purpose of the present study was to investigate if maternal sensitivity and mind-mindedness co-vary with communicative abilities, if mind-mindedness and maternal sensitivity co-vary with each other, and finally, if any gender differences was present. The material of the study consisted of 35 videotaped parent-child interactions, which were observed when the children were 16 months of age. To measure maternal sensitivity, the sensitivity scale were used, “Sensitivity vs. Insensitivity to the Baby's Signals”. To measure mind-mindedness, parent-child interplay and parental interviews were coded. The child’s communicative abilities were assessed with the Swedish Early Communicative Development Inventories and with the Early Social Communication Scales. The result showed a correlation between maternal sensitivity and language comprehension, communicative gestures and joint attention. A relationship was found between mind-mindedness and parents’ using more non-attuned mental comments and children’s decreasing ability to respond to joint attention. The results also demonstrated that a sensitive parent uses more appropriate mental comments than a parent who was insensitive. A reversed relationship was found between non-attuned mental comments and a low level of maternal sensitivity, where the insensitive parent used more non-attuned mental comments. Finally, a difference in gender was found, where parents use more non-attuned comments to boys than to girls. / FAS dnr 2008-0875