Johanna R. Price

Expressive language during conversational speech in boys with fragile X syndrome

We compared the expressive syntax and vocabulary skills of 35 boys with fragile X syndrome and 27 younger typically developing boys who were at similar nonverbal mental levels. During a conversational speech sample, the boys with fragile X syndrome used shorter, less complex utterances and produced fewer different words than did the typically developing boys after controlling for their nonverbal MA, speech intelligibility, and mothers education. The boys with fragile X used less complex noun phrases, verb phrases, and sentence structure, but did not use fewer questions and negations. These findings suggest that the language difficulties in boys with fragile X reflect an overall expressive language delay and not a specific syntactic or vocabulary delay.

Speech–language acquisition in children adopted from China: a longitudinal investigation of two children

The English speech – language development of two toddlers adopted from China by US families was followed longitudinally for several months after their arrival in the US. MX, adopted at 13½ months, exhibited a faster rate of lexical and phonological development than GY, adopted at 20 months. Both girls were also given a thorough speech – language assessment at approximately two years post-adoption. Differences in performance were still apparent, with MX scoring higher than GY on all measures. However, all but one of GYs scores were within normal limits. Age at time of adoption (and correspondingly less time spent in an institution), quality and quantity of prelinguistic vocalizations, and general cognitive abilities are discussed as possible factors contributing to observed differences in rate of early English acquisition and later language skills in preschool.

Speech and language development in six infants adopted from China.

Children adopted from China currently represent the largest group of newly internationally adopted children in the US. An exploratory investigation of the communicative development of six young females adopted at ages 9 to 17 months from China by US families was conducted. Children were followed longitudinally from approximately three months post-adoption to age three years. English language skills were assessed at approximately three-month intervals, detailed communicative analyses were conducted at six months post-adoption, and outcomes were measured at three years of age. Results indicated wide variability in rates of English language development. Phonological, social-communicative, and lexical bases of communication were intact for each child at six months post-adoption. At age three years, four of the children demonstrated speech and language skills within one standard deviation of standardized test norms, one child demonstrated skills above the normal range, and one childs skills were below the normal range. This study provides evidence of the resiliency of childrens language learning abilities.

An Intervention Strategy for Teaching a Student with ASD to Write Sentences in Response to Prompts.

ABSTRACT Students with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) may have difficulties with writing despite average or above-average intellectual ability. We designed an intervention strategy (Draw, Sentence, Detail, Check) to improve the ability of an 8-year-old with HFASD to write elaborated sentences in response to written prompts. We investigated the effectiveness of the strategy using a single-subject A-B-A design. Results indicated that the student’s written responses were longer and contained more details after the treatment and that gains were maintained 10 weeks later. Here we consider the intervention strategy and findings from a social cognitive perspective. We discuss theoretical and instructional implications as well as suggestions for future research.