Mary Claessen

Phonological representations in children with SLI

It has been hypothesized that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulty processing sound-based information, including storing and accessing phonological representations in the lexicon. Tasks are emerging in the literature that provide a measure of the quality of stored phonological representations, without requiring a verbal response. This article describes the performance of children with specific language impairment (SLI) (n = 21), typically developing children matched for age (n = 21), and typically developing children matched for language (n = 21) on two measures of phonological representations – the Quality of Phonological Representations (QPR) and the Silent Deletion of Phonemes (SDOP) – and a measure of phonological awareness, the Sutherland Phonological Awareness Test: Revised (SPAT-R). As predicted the age-matched (AM) group demonstrated significantly better performance on all tasks than the SLI group. The AM group performed significantly better than the language-matched (LM) group on the SDOP and SPAT tasks, but not significantly differently on the QPR task. The SLI group performed significantly better than the LM group on both the SDOP and SPAT, but their performance on the QPR was significantly weaker than the LM group. The findings of this study provide support for the notion of lower quality phonological representations in children with SLI thus placing them at increased risk of ongoing language and literacy difficulties.

Phonological processing skills in specific language impairment.

Abstract In order to provide effective intervention for children with specific language impairment (SLI), it is crucial that there is an understanding of the underlying deficit in SLI. This study utilized a battery of phonological processing tasks to compare the phonological processing skills of children with SLI to typically-developing peers matched for age or language. The children with SLI had significantly poorer performance than age-matched peers on measures of phonological representations, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, phonological short-term memory, and one measure of working memory. Of particular significance, the SLI group also demonstrated significantly weaker performance than language-matched peers on one measure of phonological representations, and one measure of working memory. The findings provide some support for a phonological processing account of SLI and highlight the utility of using tasks that draw on a comprehensive model of speech processing to profile and consider childrens phonological processing skills in detail.

Beyond narrative: Is there an implicit structure to the way in which adults organise their discourse?

Abstract Understanding the structure of discourse in healthy adults is fundamental to the assessment and diagnosis of discourse level impairments in clinical populations and the development of effective treatment regimes. Exploring discourse genre in healthy speakers that extend beyond the traditional narrative is equally paramount in facilitating maximum impact of clinical interventions in everyday speaking contexts. This study aimed to characterise the discourse of 30 healthy adult speakers across three age groups (20–39, 40–59 and 60+ years) and four discourse genres (recount, procedural, exposition and narrative), drawing on discourse frameworks used in classroom teaching. A clinically useful discourse protocol and analytic procedure using SALT was developed that profiled the macrostructure and key aspects of linguistic microstructure of the different genres, exploring coherence and cohesion within and across genre in a systematic manner. Analyses considered whether there were differences in coherence and cohesion among the different age groups, different genres and specific topics. Results showed that, while individual variability was present, healthy adults structured their discourse consistently, adhering to the frameworks described in the developmental literature, across all four genres. Significant age differences were only seen in the amount of information contained in the body of the discourse (i.e. events, steps or statements offered) with older participants offering less information. This dataset will enable comparisons to be drawn with clinical populations to determine the utility and the feasibility of the use of this framework for diagnosis and intervention.

Clinician survey of language sampling practices in Australia

Abstract A national online survey was used to investigate spontaneous language sampling and analysis practices by speech-language pathologists working with children and adolescents. A total of 257 responses were received from clinicians around Australia. Results indicated that spontaneous language samples are collected on a routine basis in elicitation contexts deemed appropriate to the clients’ age or developmental stage. However, language samples were generally short, often not recorded, and analysed informally. Consistent with previous research into language sampling practices, the main barrier to more detailed language sample analysis appears to be the time needed for transcription. Despite rapid technological advances in the last two decades, only 12.5% of the respondents reported using computer-assisted transcription and analysis procedures. Suggestions are made on how to promote change in clinical practice to ensure spontaneous language samples are transcribed and analysed in more detail. By transcribing the samples, detailed analysis of childrens language performance can be undertaken, allowing for effective goal-setting and assisting in objective progress measuring during and following intervention.

Investigating children's ability to reflect on stored phonological representations: the Silent Deletion of Phonemes Task

BACKGROUND The development of childrens speech, language, and literacy skills is considered to build on a robust and intact speech-processing system, with normally functioning skills at all levels of input and output processing, as well as storage. There are a range of tasks available that assess input and output processing skills, however there are few tasks described in the literature that require a child to reflect on and analyse the internal structure of their own phonological representations. AIMS This paper will describe the development of the Silent Deletion of Phonemes (SDOP) task. This task is designed to assess a childs ability to delete and manipulate sounds silently within their own stored representations while minimizing the impact of any output difficulties. METHODS & PROCEDURES The SDOP task was presented to 69 typically developing mainstream Year 2 children (aged 7;2-8;1 years) as part of a battery of phonological processing skills and literacy measures. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Scores for the population of typically developing Year 2 children were normally distributed and above a basal level but not approaching ceiling. Performance on the SDOP was significantly correlated with other measures of phonological processing but not a measure of non-verbal ability. It was most highly correlated with the measure of phonological awareness as expected, as both tasks measure awareness of the internal structure of words. However, the SDOP provided more information about the accuracy and specificity of a childs underlying phonological representations. The SDOP explained a significant amount of concurrent variance in both reading and spelling performance beyond the variance accounted for by the predictors that have been used by researchers to date. In combination, the SDOP and rapid-naming measure accounted for 58.8% of variance in performance on the reading measure and 54.4% of variance in spelling performance. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS The SDOP task appears to be a valid and reliable tool to assess the internal structure of a childs stored phonological representations. Profiling phonological representations allows clinicians to explore childrens speech-processing skills which may be particularly useful with children with complex literacy difficulties.

The relationship between phonological short-term memory, receptive vocabulary, and fast mapping in children with specific language impairment.

BACKGROUND Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often experience word-learning difficulties, which are suggested to originate in the early stage of word learning: fast mapping. Some previous research indicates significantly poorer fast mapping capabilities in children with SLI compared with typically developing (TD) counterparts, with a range of methodological factors impacting on the consistency of this finding. Research has explored key issues that might underlie fast mapping difficulties in children with SLI, with strong theoretical support but little empirical evidence for the role of phonological short-term memory (STM). Additionally, further research is required to explore the influence of receptive vocabulary on fast mapping capabilities. Understanding the factors associated with fast mapping difficulties that are experienced by children with SLI may lead to greater theoretically driven word-learning intervention. AIMS To investigate whether children with SLI demonstrate significant difficulties with fast mapping, and to explore the related factors. It was hypothesized that children with SLI would score significantly lower on a fast mapping production task compared with TD children, and that phonological STM and receptive vocabulary would significantly predict fast mapping production scores in both groups of children. METHODS & PROCEDURES Twenty-three children with SLI (mean = 64.39 months, SD = 4.10 months) and 26 TD children (mean = 65.92 months, SD = 2.98) were recruited from specialist language and mainstream schools. All participants took part in a unique, interactive fast-mapping task whereby nine novel objects with non-word labels were presented and production accuracy was assessed. A non-word repetition test and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition (PPVT-IV) were also administered as measures of phonological STM capacity and receptive vocabulary, respectively. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Results of the fast-mapping task indicated that children with SLI had significantly poorer fast mapping production scores than TD children. Scores from the non-word repetition task were also significantly lower for the SLI group, revealing reduced phonological STM capacity. Phonological STM capacity and receptive vocabulary emerged as significant predictors of fast mapping performance when the group data were combined in a multiple regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS These results suggest that the word-learning difficulties experienced by children with SLI may originate at the fast mapping stage, and that phonological STM and receptive vocabulary significantly predict fast mapping ability. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of word-learning difficulties in children with SLI and may inform lexical learning intervention.

Why Are Reading Difficulties Associated with Mental Health Problems

A growing literature indicates that children with reading difficulties are at elevated risk for mental health problems; however, little attention has been given to why this might be the case. Associations between reading difficulties and mental health differ substantially across studies, raising the possibility that these relationships may be ameliorated or exacerbated by risk or resilience-promoting factors. Using socio-ecological theory as a conceptual framework, we outline four potential lines of research that could shed light on why children with reading difficulties are at risk of mental health problems and identify potential targets for intervention. Copyright

The relationship between stored phonological representations and speech output

Abstract Low quality, imprecise phonological representations have been hypothesized as an underlying deficit in Specific Language Impairment (SLI). This research compared performance on a silent judgement task and a multisyllabic word naming task using the same 10 words, for 21 children with SLI (mean age 7;6), 21 age-matched (AM) (mean age 7;6) and 21 language-matched (LM) (mean age 5;6) peers. The children with SLI demonstrated significantly poorer performance on the judgement task than either AM or LM peers, while performance on the naming task followed a developmental sequence. There was no correlation between the ability to correctly reject inaccurate productions and the ability to correctly name the items. These results support the suggestion of separate input and output phonological representations and that speech output errors should not necessarily be interpreted as indicative of underlying weakness in phonological representations. The research also highlights the value of individually-designed tasks to measure the input phonological representations for specific words.

Exploring the impact of living with dyslexia: The perspectives of children and their parents

Abstract Purpose: A small but growing body of literature indicates that children with dyslexia are at elevated risk of internalising and externalising mental health problems. However, little research addresses why this might be the case, particularly from the point of view of the children or their parents. This study therefore aimed to explore the lived experiences of children with dyslexia, and their parents. Method: Drawing on a phenomenological approach, 13 children with dyslexia and 21 parents were interviewed. The semi-structured interviews were analysed thematically. Result: Dyslexia was seen to impact at the individual, family and community level. Children’s accounts of their experiences were ecologically situated at both the micro and mesosystem levels of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, while parent’s accounts extended to include the exosystem. Both also reflected on “difference”, a theme related to cultural and attitudinal views at the level of the macrosystem. Conclusion: Presentation of the themes contrasts the experiences of children and parents, illustrating that the experience of dyslexia is indicative of broader challenges associated with societal values and attitudes that privilege perceived ability and shame difference. This study provides information that could be used to inform and educate families and teachers about the impact of living with dyslexia.

Is two too early? Assessing toddlers’ phonology

Early identification of phonological disorders is important for Speech Language Pathologists who assess and treat children aged under three years. Normative data justifies identification and standard scores can evaluate intervention that might prevent the negative consequences associated with phonological disorder. Two studies evaluated the reliability and predictive validity of the Toddler Phonology Test (TPT). Study 1 assessed 18 Australian toddlers, comparing their performance with normative data and reassessing them one month later to examine test–retest reliability. Study 2 assessed the predictive validity of the TPT’s quantitative and qualitative normative data by reassessing 24 British children between four and nine months after their first assessment and examining number and type of errors. Study 1 found no significant difference between the first and second assessment one month later for percent consonants and vowels correct but a drop in the number of atypical errors. Positive correlations for all performance measures showed strong test–retest ranking for children. Study 2 indicated that both quantitative and qualitative TPT data predicted phonological development over 4–9 months. Case data suggested that phonological disorder was best predicted by qualitative data. The results indicated that phonological disorder can be reliably diagnosed at two years of age.