Purpose: Between 13% and 20% of two year olds are late to talk; of those, up to 25% are at risk of persistent language impairment. This highly exploratory study examined whether a dynamic assessment (DA) of single word learning could be used to predict medium term development trajectory and thus provide better information regarding which late talkers were most at risk of continued language delay.
Method: Six novel non-words were taught within a scripted play activity, which controlled for number of exposures. Retention and recall of each novel word was tested following both 3 and10 exposures using a predetermined hierarchy of prompts. Participants were 20 typically developing children and 20 late talkers aged 24-29 months. The late talking group (mean age 26 months) was tracked for 8 to 9 months with re-administration of the DA task 3 months after the initial testing. The task employed a graduated prompting framework because it is highly scripted and can be completed within a single brief session; advantageous for screening purposes.
Results: Findings indicated that the DA scores for single word learning were associated with change over an 8 to 9 month period. The association between the task and standardised assessment (PLS) change scores was observed to increase over a 3 month period, when the average age of the late talking participants was 29 months. At this time, participants achieving DA scores more closely approximating those of typically developing children were operating within the normal range on standardised testing (PLS) 5 to 6 months later.
Conclusions: More accurate differentiation of children who were late blooming versus those likely to be language impaired was achieved closer to 2 ½ years of age. Implications for service provision in terms of directing input to where it is most needed and also in identifying most optimal timing for input are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:canterbury.ac.nz/oai:ir.canterbury.ac.nz:10092/9924 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Singer, Victoria Lena Ruth |
| Publisher | University of Canterbury. Department of Communication Disorders |
| Source Sets | University of Canterbury |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic thesis or dissertation, Text |
| Rights | Copyright Victoria Lena Ruth Singer, http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/thesis/etheses_copyright.shtml |
| Relation | NZCU |
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