Productive vocabulary size predicts event-related potential correlates of fast mapping in 20-month-olds

Although it is well documented that children undergo a productive vocabulary spurt late in the second year, it is unclear whether this development is accompanied by equally significant advances in receptive word processing. In the present study, we tested an electrophysiological procedure for assessing receptive word learning in young children, and the impact of productive vocabulary size for performance in this task. We found that 20-month-olds with high productive vocabularies displayed an N400 incongruity effect to violations of trained associations between novel words and pictures, whereas 20-month-olds with low productive vocabularies did not. However, both high and low producers showed an N400 effect for common real words paired with an incongruous object. These findings indicate that there may be substantial differences in receptive fast mapping efficiency between typically developing children who have reached a productive vocabulary spurt and typically developing children who have not yet reached this productive spurt.     

Verbal and nonverbal semantic processing in children with developmental language impairment

In an effort to clarify whether semantic integration is impaired in verbal and nonverbal auditory domains in children with developmental language impairment (a.k.a., LI and SLI), the present study obtained behavioral and neural responses to words and environmental sounds in children with language impairment and their typically developing age-matched controls (ages 7-15 years). Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while children performed a forced-choice matching task on semantically matching and mismatching visual-auditory, picture-word and picture-environmental sound pairs. Behavioral accuracy and reaction time measures were similar for both groups of children, with environmental sounds eliciting more accurate responses than words. In picture-environmental sound trials, behavioral performance and the brain's response to semantic incongruency (i.e., the N400 effect) of the children with language impairment were comparable to those of their typically developing peers. However, in picture-word trials, children with LI tended to be less accurate than their controls and their N400 effect was significantly delayed in latency. Thus, the children with LI demonstrated a semantic integration deficit that was somewhat specific to the verbal domain. The particular finding of a delayed N400 effect is consistent with the storage deficit hypothesis of language impairment (Kail & Leonard, 1986) suggesting weakened and/or less efficient connections within the language networks of children with LI.     

Parent–Child Gesture Use During Problem Solving in Autistic Spectrum Disorder

This study examined the relationship between child language skills and parent and child gestures of 58 youths with and without an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Frequencies and rates of total gesture use as well as five categories of gestures (deictic, conventional, beat, iconic, and metaphoric) were reliably coded during the collaborative Tower of Hanoi task. Children with ASD had lower Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test scores and gestured less and at lower rates compared to typically developing children. Gesture use was unrelated to vocabulary for typically developing children, but positively associated with vocabulary for those with ASD. Demographic correlates of gesturing differed by group. Gesture may be a point of communication intervention for families with children with ASD.     

The vocabulary profile of Slovak children with primary language impairment compared to typically developing Slovak children measured by LITMUS-CLT

ABSTRACT

This study compared a sample of children with primary language impairment (PLI) and typically developing age-matched children using the crosslinguistic lexical tasks (CLT-SK). We also compared the PLI children with typically developing language-matched younger children who were matched on the basis of receptive vocabulary. Overall, statistical testing showed that the vocabulary of the PLI children was significantly different from the vocabulary of the age-matched children, but not statistically different from the younger children who were matched on the basis of their receptive vocabulary size. Qualitative analysis of the correct answers revealed that the PLI children showed higher rigidity compared to the younger language-matched children who are able to use more synonyms or derivations across word class in naming tasks. Similarly, an examination of the children’s naming errors indicated that the language-matched children exhibited more semantic errors, whereas PLI children showed more associative errors.     

Signaling noncomprehension of language: a comparison of fragile X syndrome and Down syndrome

Signaling noncomprehension of the spoken messages of others was examined for youth with fragile X or Down syndrome in comparison with each other and nonverbal MA-matched typically developing children. A direction-following task was used in which some of the directions were inadequate. Both syndrome groups signaled noncomprehension less often than did the typically developing children. The ability to signal noncomprehension appropriately was related to a measure of receptive vocabulary and syntax. Preliminary analyses indicated that males with fragile X syndrome signaled noncomprehension less often than did their female peers, even after controlling for differences in nonverbal MA.     

Internal state language in the storybook narratives of children with and without autism spectrum disorder: Investigating relations to theory of mind abilities

The current study examines narratives elicited using a wordless picture book, focusing on language used to describe the characters’ thoughts and emotions (i.e., internal state language, ISL). The sample includes 21 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 24 typically developing controls, matched on children's gender, IQ, as well as receptive and expressive vocabulary. This research had three major findings. First, despite equivalent performance on standardized language assessments, the volume of children's narratives (i.e., the number of utterances and words, the range of unique verbs and adjectives) was lower in children with ASD than in typically developing controls. Second, after controlling for narrative volume, the narratives of children with ASD were less likely to reference the characters’ emotions than was the case for typically developing controls. Finally, our results revealed a specific association between children's use of emotion terms and their performance on a battery of experimental tasks evaluating children's Theory of Mind abilities. Implications for our understanding of narrative deficits in ASD as well as interventions that use narrative as a context for improving social comprehension are discussed.     

Receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, and speech production of boys with fragile X syndrome in comparison to boys with down syndrome

Boys with fragile X syndrome with (n = 49) and without (n = 33) characteristics of autism spectrum disorder, boys with Down syndrome (39), and typically developing boys (n = 41) were compared on standardized measures of receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, and speech administered annually over 4 years. Three major findings emerged. Boys with fragile X without autism spectrum disorder did not differ from the younger typically developing boys in receptive and expressive vocabulary and speech production when compared at similar levels of nonverbal cognitive skills. Boys with fragile X without autism spectrum disorder and typically developing boys had higher receptive vocabulary and speech production than did boys with Down syndrome. There were mixed patterns of results for the boys with fragile X and characteristics of autism spectrum disorder.     

Long-term outcomes on spatial hearing,speech recognition and receptive vocabulary after sequential bilateral cochlear implantation in children

Sequential bilateral cochlear implantation in profoundly deaf children often leads to primary advantages in spatial hearing and speech recognition. It is not yet known how these children develop in the long-term and if these primary advantages will also lead to secondary advantages, e.g. in better language skills. The aim of the present longitudinal cohort study was to assess the long-term effects of sequential bilateral cochlear implantation in children on spatial hearing, speech recognition in quiet and in noise and receptive vocabulary. Twenty-four children with bilateral cochlear implants (BiCIs) were tested 5–6 years after sequential bilateral cochlear implantation. These children received their second implant between 2.4 and 8.5 years of age. Speech and language data were also gathered in a matched reference group of 26 children with a unilateral cochlear implant (UCI). Spatial hearing was assessed with a minimum audible angle (MAA) task with different stimulus types to gain global insight into the effective use of interaural level difference (ILD) and interaural timing difference (ITD) cues. In the long-term, children still showed improvements in spatial acuity. Spatial acuity was highest for ILD cues compared to ITD cues. For speech recognition in quiet and noise, and receptive vocabulary, children with BiCIs had significant higher scores than children with a UCI. Results also indicate that attending a mainstream school has a significant positive effect on speech recognition and receptive vocabulary compared to attending a school for the deaf. Despite of a period of unilateral deafness, children with BiCIs, participating in mainstream education obtained age-appropriate language scores.     

Motor Skills in Children Aged 7–10 Years, Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study used the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC2) to assess motor skills in children aged 7-10?years with autism (n?=?18) in comparison to two groups of age-matched typically developing children; a receptive vocabulary matched group (n?=?19) and a nonverbal IQ matched group (n?=?22). The results supported previous work, as indicated by a significant general motor impairment in the group with autism. However, sub-analysis of the M-ABC2 revealed that there were only 2 out of 8 subcomponent skills which showed universal significant specific deficits for the autism group; i.e. catching a ball and static balance. These results suggest that motor skill deficits associated with autism may not be pervasive but more apparent in activities demanding complex, interceptive actions or core balance ability.     

Speech processing in children with functional articulation disorders

This study explored auditory speech processing and comprehension abilities in 5–8-year-old monolingual Hungarian children with functional articulation disorders (FADs) and their typically developing peers. Our main hypothesis was that children with FAD would show co-existing auditory speech processing disorders, with different levels of these skills depending on the nature of the receptive processes. The tasks included (i) sentence and non-word repetitions, (ii) non-word discrimination and (iii) sentence and story comprehension. Results suggest that the auditory speech processing of children with FAD is underdeveloped compared with that of typically developing children, and largely varies across task types. In addition, there are differences between children with FAD and controls in all age groups from 5 to 8 years. Our results have several clinical implications.     

Receptive Vocabulary in Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Cross-Sectional Developmental Trajectories

In light of evidence that receptive language may be a relative weakness for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this study characterized receptive vocabulary profiles in boys with ASD using cross-sectional developmental trajectories relative to age, nonverbal cognition, and expressive vocabulary. Participants were 49 boys with ASD (4–11 years) and 80 typically developing boys (2–11 years). Receptive vocabulary, assessed with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, was a weakness for boys with ASD relative to age and nonverbal cognition. Relative to expressive vocabulary, assessed with the Expressive Vocabulary Test, receptive vocabulary increased at a lower rate for boys with ASD. Vocabulary trajectories in ASD are distinguished from typical development; however, nonverbal cognition largely accounts for the patterns observed.     

Non-word repetition in 2-year-olds: Replication of an adapted paradigm and a useful methodological extension

Accurate non-word repetition (NWR) has been largely attributed to phonological memory, although the task involves other processes including speech production, which may confound results in toddlers with developing speech production abilities. This study is based on Hoff, Core and Bridges’ adapted NWR task, which includes a real-word repetition (RWR) condition. We tested 86 typically developing 2-year-olds and found relationships between NWR and both receptive and expressive vocabulary using a novel measure that controls for speech production by comparing contextually matched targets in RWR. Post hoc analyses demonstrated the influence of lexical and sublexical factors in repetition tasks. Overall, results illustrate the importance of controlling for speech production differences in young children and support a useful methodological approach for testing NWR.     

The phonological memory profile of preschool children who make atypical speech sound errors

Previous research indicates that children with speech sound disorders (SSD) have underlying phonological memory deficits. The SSD population, however, is diverse. While children who make consistent atypical speech errors (phonological disorder/PhDis) are known to have executive function deficits in rule abstraction and cognitive flexibility, little is known about their memory profile. Sixteen monolingual preschool children with atypical speech errors (PhDis) were matched individually to age-and-gender peers with typically developing speech (TDS). The two groups were compared on forward recall of familiar words (pointing response), reverse recall of familiar words (pointing response), and reverse recall of digits (spoken response) and a receptive vocabulary task. There were no differences between children with TDS and children with PhDis on forward recall or vocabulary tasks. However, children with TDS significantly outperformed children with PhDis on the two reverse recall tasks. Findings suggest that atypical speech errors are associated with impaired phonological working memory, implicating executive function impairment in specific subtypes of SSD.     

Short-term memory and vocabulary development in children with Down syndrome and children with specific language impairment

A longitudinal comparison was made between development of verbal and visuo-spatial short-term memory and vocabulary in children with Down syndrome (DS), children with specific language impairment (SLI), and typically developing children as a control group. Participants were 12 children with DS (6 males, 6 females; mean chronological age 9y 9mo [SD 2.8 mo], range 8y 6mo to 11y 4mo); nine children with SLI (4 males, 5 females; mean chronological age 3y 9mo [SD 4.8mo], range 3y 3mo to 4y 5mo); and 12 typically developing children (5 males, 7 females; mean chronological age 4y 4mo [SD 3.9mo], range 3y 3mo to 4y 3mo). Participants were matched on mental age (mean mental age 4y 3mo). All participants completed verbal short-term memory, visuo-spatial short-term memory, and expressive and receptive vocabulary tasks on three occasions over 1 year. Similarities were seen in the clinical groups for verbal short-term memory. There was some evidence of difficulty in visuo-spatial short-term memory in the children with SLI relative to the other groups, but all three groups showed overlap in visuo-spatial short-term memory performance. At the final time-point vocabulary performance in the clinical groups was similar; the typically developing children showed higher vocabulary abilities than both clinical groups.     

Postural adaptations to a suprapostural memory task among children with and without developmental coordination disorder

Aim The present study investigated the effects of varying the cognitive demands of a memory task (a suprapostural task) while recording postural motion on two groups of children, one diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and an age‐matched group of typically developing children. Method Two groups, each comprising 38 child volunteers (21 males, 17 females) aged 9 to 10 years, participated in the study. Each child performed a digital memory task at two levels of difficulty, low and high. Positional variability (standard deviation of position) of the head and torso were recorded as the biomechanical responses to the variation in task difficulty. Results Both groups significantly reduced postural motion when engaged in the high‐difficulty condition (p<0.05) compared with the low‐difficulty condition. Children with DCD exhibited significantly higher levels of postural motion (p<0.05) than the typically developing children. The typically developing children significantly reduced their postural motion in the high‐difficulty condition (p<0.05) compared with the low‐difficulty condition, whereas children with DCD did not. Interpretation Our results suggest that the postural responses of children with DCD differ from those of typically developing children while engaging in a memory task with various levels of difficulty.     

Social reasoning skills in adults with Down syndrome: the role of language,executive functions and socio‐emotional behaviour

Background Although the prevalence of mental illness and behaviour problems is lower in adults with Down syndrome (DS) than in other populations with intellectual disabilities, they do present emotional and relational problems, as well as social integration difficulties. However, studies reporting on specific competences known to be central in developing appropriate social relationships (e.g. social reasoning, emotion processing, theory of mind) remain rare in the adult DS population and the mechanisms underlying these people's emotional and relational difficulties are unclear. Method The present study investigated the ability to understand the appropriateness of others' social behaviour in 34 adults with DS, using the Social Resolution Task (SRT). Their results were compared with those of 34 typically developing (TD) children matched for gender and receptive vocabulary. The relationships among the SRT experimental task, cognitive competences (receptive and productive vocabulary, non‐verbal reasoning, inhibition, selective attention) and a caregiver‐rated measure of socio‐emotional behaviour were examined in the DS group. Results The DS participants' global SRT scores did not differ from those of the controls. However, analyses of the SRT subscores revealed that the DS group identified significantly fewer inappropriate situations than the control group. Nevertheless, when they correctly identified the behaviour as inappropriate, they were as well as the controls to explain the rules underlying their responses. Regression analyses showed that receptive vocabulary and selective attention and a specific dimension of the socio‐emotional profile (social relating skills) constituted the best predictors of the DS adults' performance on the SRT. Conclusions The main findings show that the DS participants demonstrate relatively good social reasoning skills in comparison with TD children matched for verbal age. However, the two groups present distinctions in their response patterns, and the influence of cognitive variables on success on the SRT also appears different. While selective attention skills are found to be significant predictors for both groups, the influence of receptive vocabulary level is much stronger in the DS group. The implications of particular cognitive and socio‐emotional factors for success on the SRT in this group are considered in more detail.     

How cognitive factors affect language development in children with intellectual disabilities

The present study investigated the language development of 50 children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and 42 typically developing children from age 4 to 5 years, and was designed to shed more light on the respective roles of phonological working memory (WM) and nonverbal intelligence in vocabulary and syntax development. Results showed that nonverbal intelligence predicted phonological WM, vocabulary and syntax of children with ID at age 4 and 5, and that it only predicted these skills at age 4 in typically developing children. Furthermore, syntax at age 5 was predicted by vocabulary at age 4 in children with ID, which points to children with ID requiring a larger critical mass of vocabulary for syntactic development to be initiated.     

Metaphor and metonymy comprehension in Chinese-speaking children with high-functioning autism

This study investigated the role of semantic knowledge in metaphor and metonymy comprehension in Chinese-speaking children with high-functioning autism (HFA). In the contexts of simple short stories, the authors studied autistic children's comprehension of metaphors in the fashion of “X is Y” and metonyms in the fashion of “X metonymically refers to Y”. Furthermore, the authors examined the semantic role of receptive vocabulary in metaphor and metonymy comprehension in autistic children, and compared it to that in typically developing (TD) children matched to chronological age, verbal IQ, performance IQ and total IQ. It was found that Chinese children with HFA exhibited lower competence in metonymy comprehension than in metaphor comprehension; semantic knowledge was correlated with the comprehension of metaphor rather than that of metonymy; Chinese children with HFA were capable to retrieve similarities between the two terms of the metaphor and construct conventional match relations, but not so capable as the TD peers; the static knowledge of the receptive vocabulary of autistic children cannot fully and effectively predict their performance on metaphor tasks, presumably because they represent semantic knowledge and process information in a manner distinct from TD children.     

Do children with Williams syndrome really have good vocabulary knowledge? Methods for comparing cognitive and linguistic abilities in developmental disorders

The comparison of cognitive and linguistic skills in individuals with developmental disorders is fraught with methodological and psychometric difficulties. In this paper, we illustrate some of these issues by comparing the receptive vocabulary knowledge and non-verbal reasoning abilities of 41 children with Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder in which language abilities are often claimed to be relatively strong. Data from this group were compared with data from typically developing children, children with Down syndrome, and children with non-specific learning difficulties using a number of approaches including comparison of age-equivalent scores, matching, analysis of covariance, and regression-based standardization. Across these analyses children with Williams syndrome consistently demonstrated relatively good receptive vocabulary knowledge, although this effect appeared strongest in the oldest children.     

Affective prosody in children with Williams syndrome

The aim of the current study was to investigate expressive affect in children with Williams syndrome (WS) in comparison to typically developing children in an experimental task and in spontaneous speech. Fourteen children with WS, 14 typically developing children matched to the WS group for receptive language (LA) and 15 typically developing children matched to the WS groups for chronological age (CA) were recruited. Affect was investigated using an experimental Output Affect task from the Profiling Elements of Prosodic Systems-Child version (PEPS-C) battery, and by measuring pitch range and vowel durations from a spontaneous speech task. The children were also rated for level of emotional involvement by phonetically na?ve listeners. The WS group performed similarly to the LA and CA groups on the Output Affect task. With regard to vowel durations, the WS group was no different from the LA group; however both the WS and the LA groups were found to use significantly longer vowels than the CA group. The WS group differed significantly from both control groups on their range of pitch range and was perceived as being significantly more emotionally involved than the two control groups.