L.J.M. van Balkom

Visual-spatial cognition in children using aided communication

Abstract Children with severe motor impairments are restricted in their manipulation and exploration of objects, but little is known about how such limitations influence cognitive development. This study investigated visual-constructional abilities in 75 children and adolescents, aged 5;0–15;11 (years;months), with severe speech impairments and no intellectual disabilities (aided group) and in 56 children and adolescents with typical development (reference group). Verbal comprehension, non-verbal reasoning, and visual-spatial perception were assessed with standardized tests. The task of the participants was to verbally instruct communication partners to make physical constructions identical to models that the partner could not see. In the aided group, 55.7% of the constructions were identical to the models participants described, compared to 91.3% in the reference group. In the aided group, test results explained 51.4% of the variance in construction errors. The results indicate that the participants’ language skills were decisive for construction success. Visual-perceptual challenges were common among the aided communicators, and their instructions included little information about size and spatial relations. This may reflect less experience with object manipulation and construction than children with typical development, and using aided communication to instruct others to make three-dimensional constructions. The results imply a need for interventions that compensate for the lack of relevant experience.

Constructing narratives to describe video events using aided communication

Abstract Narratives are a pervasive form of discourse and a rich source for exploring a range of language and cognitive skills. The limited research base to date suggests that narratives generated using aided communication may be structurally simple, and that features of cohesion and reference may be lacking. This study reports on the analysis of narratives generated in interactions involving aided communication in response to short, silent, video vignettes depicting events with unintended or unexpected consequences. Two measures were applied to the data: the Narrative Scoring Scheme and the Narrative Analysis Profile. A total of 15 participants who used aided communication interacted with three different communication partners (peers, parents, professionals) relaying narratives about three video events. Their narratives were evaluated with reference to narratives of 15 peers with typical development in response to the same short videos and to the narratives that were interpreted by their communication partners. Overall, the narratives generated using aided communication were shorter and less complete than those of the speaking peers, but they incorporated many similar elements. Topic maintenance and inclusion of scene-setting elements were consistent strengths. Communication partners offered rich interpretations of aided narratives. Relative to the aided narratives, these interpreted narratives were typically structurally more complete and cohesive and many incorporated more elaborated semantic content. The data reinforce the robust value of narratives in interaction and their potential for showcasing language and communication achievements in aided communication.

Componential Skills in Second Language Development of Bilingual Children with Specific Language Impairment.

In this study, we investigated which componential skills can be distinguished in the second language (L2) development of 140 bilingual children with specific language impairment in the Netherlands, aged 6–11 years, divided into 3 age groups. L2 development was assessed by means of spoken language tasks representing different language skills organized into 4 categories based on prior research. Factor analyses were consistent with this system, identifying 4 types of componential skills included in our original assessment battery: (i) speech production/phonological memory; (ii) auditory perception/phonological conceptualization; (iii) lexical-semantic skills; and (iv) morphosyntactic skills. Structural equation modeling showed the 4 types of componential skills to be reasonably stable over time. Moreover, empirical evidence for a lexical bootstrapping effect was found in that childrens syntactic development at the age of 8 years could be predicted from their level of lexical-semantic development at the age of 7 years.

Core vocabulary of young children with Down syndrome

Abstract The aim of this study was to develop a core vocabulary list for young children with intellectual disabilities between 2 and 7 years of age because data from this population are lacking in core vocabulary literature. Children with Down syndrome are considered one of the most valid reference groups for researching developmental patterns in children with intellectual disabilities; therefore, spontaneous language samples of 30 Dutch children with Down syndrome were collected during three different activities with multiple communication partners (free play with parents, lunch- or snack-time at home or at school, and speech therapy sessions). Of these children, 19 used multimodal communication, primarily manual signs and speech. Functional word use in both modalities was transcribed. The 50 most frequently used core words accounted for 67.2% of total word use; 16 words comprised core vocabulary, based on commonality. These data are consistent with similar studies related to the core vocabularies of preschoolers and toddlers with typical development, although the number of nouns present on the core vocabulary list was higher for the children in the present study. This finding can be explained by manual sign use of the children with Down syndrome and is reflective of their expressive vocabulary ages.