John Heilmann

Sensitivity of narrative organization measures using narrative retells produced by young school-age children

Analysis of children’s productions of oral narratives provides a rich description of children’s oral language skills. However, measures of narrative organization can be directly affected by both developmental and task-based performance constraints which can make a measure insensitive and inappropriate for a particular population and/or sampling method. This study critically reviewed four methods of evaluating children’s narrative organization skills and revealed that the Narrative Scoring Scheme (NSS) was the most developmentally sensitive measure for a group of 129 5—7-year-old children who completed a narrative retell. Upon comparing the methods of assessing narrative organization skills, the NSS was unique in its incorporation of higher-level narrative features and its scoring rules, which required examiners to make subjective judgments across seven aspects of the narrative process. The discussion surrounded issues of measuring children’s narrative organization skills and, more broadly, issues surrounding sensitivity of criterion referenced assessment measures.

Narrative Transcription Accuracy and Reliability in Two Languages.

Recent research documents the power of oral narrative language samples to predict reading achievement in both Spanish and English in English language learners (ELLs; J. Miller et al., 2006). To document their clinical utility, this article addresses issues of accuracy and reliability for transcription and analysis of oral narratives elicited from Spanish–English bilingual children. We first reviewed the unique considerations that must be made when transcribing narratives elicited from ELLs. To demonstrate that narrative transcription is clinically feasible, we documented that a single clinician can accurately transcribe childrens oral narratives and that the measures acquired from these samples are reliable. Forty oral narratives were first transcribed by a single transcriber, and then checked and retranscribed by additional transcribers. High levels of accuracy and agreement between transcribers were observed across both the English and the Spanish transcripts. Test–retest reliability was documented for 241 transcripts produced by the ELL children. Significant correlations were observed between Time 1 and Time 2 for 4 narrative measures. These data demonstrate that oral narrative data from ELL children can be accurately transcribed and the narrative measures are stable over time, providing the research foundation for clinical use of narrative language samples.

The Effects of Geographic Location and Picture Support on Children's Story Retelling Performance

Purpose: Analysis of childrens oral narratives is a frequently used naturalistic assessment technique. Comparing childrens oral narrative performance to databases of samples elicited from typically developing speakers aids in the identification of language impairment and thus enhances the clinical utility of the assessment process. To investigate the potential usefulness of existing databases across different geographic locations, this study compared the story retelling performance of English-speaking children from New Zealand (NZ) to samples from the United States (US) contained in a widely used reference database available with Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts software (SALT). Method: Sixty-six NZ children (age 6;0 to 7;11) who showed typical development participated. Their performance was compared to 73 age-matched samples from the United States. All children retold the story Frog, Where Are You? using a standard protocol. Approximately half of the NZ children (n = 31) retold the story without picture support, whereas all other children were allowed to refer to the pictures during retelling. Language samples were analysed on measures of verbal productivity, semantic diversity, syntactic complexity, verbal fluency, and story quality. Results: The results indicated that variables measuring verbal productivity, semantic diversity, and story quality were sensitive to changes in elicitation procedures (presence or absence of pictures during retelling), but not to differences in geographic location (US vs. NZ). In contrast, verbal fluency was sensitive to both elicitation condition and geographic location. Implications: The results from this study suggest that, when comparing a story retelling sample to a reference database, adhering to the language sampling elicitation protocol may be more important than the geographic origin of the database.

Simplified and expanded input in a focused stimulation program for a child with expressive language delay (ELD)

There is considerable debate regarding the simplification of adults’ language when talking to young children with expressive language delays (ELD). While simplified input, also called telegraphic speech, is used by many parents and clinicians working with young children, its use has been discouraged in much of the clinical literature. In addition to the grammatical complexity of the input, the vocabulary presented to children with ELD must be carefully considered. A growing literature has documented the power of focused stimulation, where children hear a limited number of target words presented repeatedly. After a critical review of the language input and focused stimulation literatures, the performance of a child with ELD who completed two types of focused stimulation was reported; the child completed focused stimulation in a simplified condition where the clinician produced target words in 1—2-word phrases and in an expanded condition where the clinician produced target words in naturalistic speech.While the child mastered new vocabulary in both conditions, he acquired slightly more words in the simplified input condition. The child produced more total expressive language in the expanded input condition, revealing that modifications to examiner input also impacted the child’s pragmatic language use. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.

The role of dialect density in nonword repetition performance: an examination with at-risk African American preschool children.

Abstract The Nonword Repetition Task (NRT) is considered to be a less-biased language measure for children from cultural minority groups. In the current study, we examined NRT performance of 50 at-risk, preschool-age children who spoke African American English (AAE). In addition to the NRT, measures included AAE dialect density and several standardised language tests. The primary aim was to determine significant contributors to NRT performance. We hypothesised that the language measures would significantly contribute to NRT performance while dialect density would be an insignificant contributor. Contrary to our predictions, dialect density was a unique and significant predictor of NRT performance (in addition to phonological awareness), while the language measures were not significant predictors. The current findings cast doubt on categorising the NRT as a less-biased language assessment for AAE-speaking preschoolers; however, the NRT may have potential as a screener for identifying preschoolers at risk for delays in literacy acquisition.

Assessment of Early Developing Phonological Awareness Skills: A Comparison of the Preschool Individual Growth and Development Indicators and the Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening–PreK

Research Findings: Assessing the development of early literacy skills is necessary in order to identify children with delays, provide appropriate intervention, and monitor progress. The purpose of the current study was to compare the data obtained from 2 curriculum-based assessments of phonological awareness skills in a sample of low-income, urban preschoolers. Participants included 227 children from Head Start and other community-based preschool classrooms located in a midwestern city. The Preschool Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) and the Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening–PreK (PALS-PreK) were administered in the fall and spring of the year. Results suggested that the PALS-PreK was more advantageous than the IGDIs in terms of providing meaningful data for this group of children. The IGDIs appeared to be more appropriate for developmentally advanced preschoolers in this population. Practice or Policy: There remains a critical need for assessments of emergent literacy that are appropriate for diverse groups of preschool children and can feasibly be used for monitoring development.

Using Alphabet Knowledge to Track the Emergent Literacy Skills of Children in Head Start

Having strong alphabet knowledge early in life is a powerful predictor of long-term reading and academic outcomes. Upon tracking the alphabet knowledge of 172 children enrolled in their first year of Head Start, we identified that most of the children could name fewer than 10 letters at the beginning of the academic year. Approximately, one third of the children with low alphabet knowledge in fall made significant progress and demonstrated mastery of 10 or more letters in spring. For the children who started the year knowing fewer than 10 letters, receptive vocabulary was the best predictor of who would make gains in alphabet knowledge throughout the year. In addition, most children who entered Head Start knowing fewer than 10 letters knew letters from their first names and the letters A, B, or O. Implications for the management of emergent literacy skills for children at-risk for academic difficulties are discussed.