Lizbeth H. Finestack

Language development in individuals with fragile X syndrome

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading inherited cause of intellectual disability. The syndrome is caused by a single gene mutation on the X chromosome. Although individual differences are large, most individuals with FXS display weaknesses across all language and literacy domains compared with peers of the same chronological age with typical cognitive and language development. Expressive, receptive, and pragmatic language abilities as well as literacy skills are similar to those of younger, typically developing peers at similar cognitive and language developmental levels, although there are areas in which impairments exceed developmental-level expectations. One area of special impairment is the higher occurrence of repetition in the language of individuals with FXS compared with developmentally matched peers. In this article, we review the behavioral, language, and literacy profiles of individuals with FXS and discuss potential clinical implications.

Discriminating Down Syndrome and Fragile X Syndrome based on language ability

ABSTRACT This study compared the receptive and expressive language profiles of verbally expressive children and adolescents with Down Syndrome (DS) and those with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and examined the extent to which these profiles reliably differentiate the diagnostic groups. A total of twenty-four verbal participants with DS (mean age: 12 years), twenty-two verbal participants with FXS (mean age: 12 years), and twenty-seven participants with typical development (TD; mean age = 4 years) completed standardized measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary and grammar, as well as a conversational language sample. Study results indicate that there are distinct DS and FXS language profiles, which are characterized by differences in grammatical ability. The diagnostic groups were not differentiated based on vocabulary performance. This study supports the existence of unique language profiles associated with DS and FXS.

N400 responses of children with primary language disorder: intervention effects.

Event-related brain potentials were examined in 6 to 8-year-old children with primary language disorder before and after a 5-week narrative-based language intervention. Participants listened to sentences ending with semantically congruous or incongruous words. By comparison with typical controls, the children with primary language disorder exhibited no pretreatment differences in their N400 responses to congruous and incongruous sentence-final words. After intervention, the typical incongruous–congruous difference was observable owing to a dramatic reduction in the amplitude of the N400 response to congruous words. These characteristic changes in brain responses may reflect a positive effect of the language intervention on the lexical–semantic processing skills in children with language impairment.

Language Learning of Children with Typical Development Using a Deductive Metalinguistic Procedure.

PURPOSE In the current study, the author aimed to determine whether 4- to 6-year-old typically developing children possess requisite problem-solving and language abilities to produce, generalize, and retain a novel verb inflection when taught using an explicit, deductive teaching procedure. METHOD Study participants included a cross-sectional sample of 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children with typical cognitive and language development. The 66 participants were randomly assigned to either a deductive or inductive teaching condition in which they were taught a novel gender morphological inflection across 4 sessions. Learning was assessed on the basis of performance on learning, generalization, and maintenance probes. RESULTS Across all age groups, children were more likely to successfully use the novel gender form when taught using the deductive procedure than if taught using the inductive procedure (Φ range: .33-.73). Analyses within each age group revealed a robust effect for the 5-year-old children, with less consistent effects across the other age groups. CONCLUSIONS Study results suggest that 4- to 6-year-old children with typical language and cognitive abilities are able to make use of a deductive language teaching procedure when learning a novel gender inflection. Evidence also suggests that this effect is driven by expressive and receptive language ability.

Translational and implementation research in child language disorders

Part 1. Typology of Child Language Disorders. R.G. Schwartz, Specific Language Impairment. A. McDuffie, L. Abbeduto, Language Disorders in Children with Mental Retardation of Genetic Origin: Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, and Williams Syndrome. J. Gerenser, Language Disorders in Children with Autism. M. Cleary, Language Disorders in Children with Hearing Impairment. S.E. Shaywitz, J.R. Gruen, M. Mody, B.A. Shaywitz, Dyslexia. Part 2. Bases of Child Language Disorders. I. Botwinik-Rotem, N. Friedmann, Linguistic Bases of Child Language Disorders. B. Tropper, R.G. Schwartz, Neurobiology of Child Language Disorders. R.B. Gillam, J.W. Montgomery, S.L. Gillam, Attention and Memory in Child Language Disorders. J. Edwards, B. Munson, Speech Perception and Production in Child Language Disorders. J.B. Tomblin, Genetics of Child Language Disorders. M.F. Joanisse, Model-Based Approaches to Child Language Disorders. Part 3. Language Contexts of Child Language Disorders. E.D. Pena, L.M. Bedore, Bilingualism in Child Language Disorders. L.B. Leonard, Cross-Linguistic Studies of Child Language Disorders. J.A. Washington, Language Variation in Child Language Disorders. Part 4. Deficits, Assessment, and Intervention in Child Language Disorders. J.B. Oetting, P.A. Hadley, Morphosyntax in Child Language Disorders. K.K. McGregor, Semantics in Child Language Disorders. P. Fletcher, Syntax in Child Language Disorders. M. Fujiki, B. Brinton, Pragmatics and Social Communication in Child Language Disorders. P.E. Hook, C.W. Haynes, Reading and Writing in Child Language Disorders. J. Windsor, K. Kohnert, Processing Speed, Attention, and Perception in Child Language Disorders. Part 5: Research Methods in Child Language Disorders. L. Seiger-Gardner, Language Production Approaches to Child Language Disorders. P. Deevy, Language Comprehension Approaches to Child Language Disorders. M.E. Fey, L.H. Finestack, Research and Development in Child Language Intervention: A Five-Phase Model. V.L. Shafer, N.D. Maxfield, Neuroscience Approaches to Child Language Disorders.

The Evaluation of a Personal Narrative Language Intervention for School-Age Children With Down Syndrome

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of an intervention focused on improving personal narrative skills of school-age children with Down syndrome (DS) using an approach involving visual supports. Four females with DS, ages 10 through 15 years, participated in this multiple baseline across participants single-subject experimental design study. Participants completed 18 intervention sessions that targeted personal narrative goals. Parents completed a survey regarding their perspectives of the intervention. Two participants made small treatment gains in mean length of utterance. One participant had small to medium gains on all macrostructural measures. Parent perspectives were positive. Results support the feasibility of personal narrative interventions for individuals with DS when visual support is provided.

Current Practice of Child Grammar Intervention: A Survey of Speech-Language Pathologists

Purpose The aim of this study was to better understand current grammatical intervention approaches. Despite grammatical language being a common weakness among children with language impairment, relatively little is known about current grammatical intervention practices of speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Such information is needed to guide the development and evaluation of grammatical interventions and to identify areas in which the current practice is not empirically supported. Method Participants included 338 SLPs working primarily with children. Participants completed an online survey regarding their implementation of nine different grammatical intervention components, including goals, procedures, dosage, agents, contexts, goal attack strategies, service delivery models, activities, and outcome measurements. Participants also indicated how they would alter the intervention setting and dosage if resources were unlimited. Results We grouped participants based on the ages of children that represent the largest percentage of their caseload resulting in an early education group (n = 114) and an elementary group (n = 224). We aggregated responses from each question to gain an estimate of current implementation practices associated with each intervention component queried. Conclusions This study provides general guidelines of current clinical practices to help guide research on grammatical interventions for children and to promote successful translation and implementations of evidence-based treatment approaches. Results may also help clinicians and researchers better understand misalignments between empirically supported intervention approaches and current approaches for treating grammatical weaknesses.

Language and literacy intervention program facilitates phonological awareness and literacy development in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Study duration: As part of a separate epidemiologic study, participants were initially identified and diagnosed two years prior to the reported study period. At that time, the participants were in the first grade. At the beginning of third grade, study participants completed baseline testing. The study intervention period encompassed the entire 9-month school year. Post-testing was completed at the end of the school year.