Temporal processing deficits in remediation-resistant reading-impaired children

There is considerable interest in whether a deficit in temporal processing underlies specific learning and language disabilities in school-aged children. This view is particularly controversial in the area of developmental reading problems. The temporal-processing hypothesis was tested in a sample of normal children, 9-11 years of age, and in a sample of age-matched children with reading impairments, by assessing temporal-order discrimination. Five different binary temporal-order tasks were evaluated in the auditory and visual sensory modalities. Other basic discrimination abilities for single auditory stimuli were also assessed, including just noticeable differences (JNDs) for frequency and intensity and a simple threshold detection task. In these tasks, the temporal dimension was the duration of the individual stimuli (20 and 200 ms). All data were obtained using forced- choice psychophysical methods, either in a single-track adaptive format or using psychometric functions. The results from these experiments showed that children with reading impairments had deficits in temporal-order discrimination, but these effects were not modality specific. These same children also had significantly elevated frequency and intensity JNDs and their performance on these tasks were not dependent on stimulus duration. No group differences were observed on the threshold detection task, and the derived measurements of temporal integration (i.e. the threshold difference between the 20- and 200-ms stimuli) were considered normal, averaging 11.7 dB. As a whole, discrimination deficits observed in the reading-impaired group only occurred with suprathreshold stimuli. The deficits were neither modality specific nor temporal (duration) specific.     

Effects of listening ability on speaking, writing and reading skills of children who were suspected of auditory processing difficulty

Objectives

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of listening ability on speaking, writing and reading skills of children who was suspected of auditory processing difficulty (APD).

Method

This research was conducted with 67 children in 1st or 2nd grade of primary school. The first group (Group I—control) was comprised of 41 children without APD. The second group (Group II—study group) was comprised of 26 children with APD. Listening, speaking, reading and writing skills were evaluated by Observational Rating Scale (ORS) and analyzed in both groups.

Results

Listening value of ORS in APD group was significantly lower; and, speaking, reading and writing values of ORS in APD group were significantly higher than control group (p = 0.000). It was also found that, the main effect of listening skills was on speaking in normal childs, and on writing ability in children with APD.

Conclusion

It was concluded that, for school-aged children, APD can lead to or is associated with difficulties in written language.     

Temporal integration of tone glides by children with auditory-memory and reading problems

Temporal auditory integration for short-duration, frequency-varying signals was examined in children with deficits in auditory memory and reading. Signals were similar to those previously used: a fixed-frequency tone, a tone glide rising in frequency, and a tone glide falling in frequency. No significant differences were found between the Experimental and Control groups' thresholds as a function of signal class (i.e., fixed-frequency or tone glide) or duration. In addition, a significant asymmetry in the thresholds of short-duration rising and falling tone glides was found for both groups. Falling tone glides were detected at higher intensities than were rising tone glides. Data from this study indicated this particular group of children with auditory memory and reading problems was able to detect simple and complex short-duration signals in a manner similar to normal children.     

Auditory temporal processing in children with specific reading disability with and without attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

The auditory temporal deficit hypothesis predicts that children with specific reading disability (RD) will exhibit a deficit in the perception of auditory temporal cues in nonspeech stimuli. Tasks assessing perception of auditory temporal and nontemporal cues were administered to children with (a) RD without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (RD/no-ADHD, n = 40), (b) ADHD alone (ADHD/no-RD, n = 33), (c) RD and ADHD (RD/ADHD, n = 36), and (d) no impairment (NI, n = 41). The presence of RD was associated with a specific deficit in detection of a tone onset time asynchrony, but no reduction in performance on other tasks assessing perception of temporal or nontemporal acoustic cues. The presence of ADHD was associated with a general reduction in performance across tasks. The pattern of results did not indicate a pervasive deficit in auditory temporal function in children with RD, but did suggest a possible sensitivity to backward masking in this group. Results also indicated that the comorbid presence of ADHD is a significant factor in the performance of children with RD on psychoacoustic tasks.     

Deficits in working memory in young adults with reading disabilities

The purpose of the present study was to assess the extent to which reading disabilities (RD) in young adults are related to deficits in specific aspects of temporary storage of verbal information, namely, memory span and the central executive (CE) component of working memory. Thirty-two native Hebrew-speaking young adults with and without RD were administered a battery of memory tasks. These tasks included Digit Span Forward and Backward tests and a new version of the Token Test (TT) which is aimed at detecting subtle deficits in auditory verbal working memory. Results showed significantly poorer performance of the RD participants than the controls on the memory tests, especially on tasks that tax the CE. These findings, albeit preliminary, support the general working memory deficit hypothesis in individuals with RD, indicating that both memory span and the CE are deficient. LEARNING OUTCOMES: As a result of this activity, the reader will able to describe the different components of the verbal working memory and the debate concerning the origin of working memory deficits in individuals with reading disabilities. The reader will also be able to apply clinical suggestions as to how one might assess components of working memory.     

Cognitive evoked potentials and central auditory processing in children with reading and writing disorders

Learning disorders are often magnified by auditory processing disorders (APD).ObjectiveThis paper aims to verify whether individuals with reading and writing disorders and P300 latencies above the average also present altered Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW) and speech-in-noise test results suggestive of APD.Materials and MethodsThis is a cross-sectional cohort study. Twenty-one individuals with reading and writing disorders aged between 7 and 14 years were enrolled.ResultsAll subjects had normal findings on ENT examination, audiological tests, and brainstem auditory evoked potentials. The average P300 latency (334,25 ms) of all patients was picked as a cutoff point to divide the subjects into two groups: group A with latencies above 335 ms, and group B with latencies below 335 ms. Individuals in group A underwent SSW and speech-in-noise testing.ConclusionAltered results in the SSW and speech-in-noise tests suggestive of APD were found in the group of individuals with reading and writing disorders with P300 latencies above 335 ms.     

The processing of morphology in old age: evidence from Hebrew.

PURPOSE: Taking advantage of the rich morphological structure of Hebrew, the current article aims to examine whether age affects the processing of morphological forms through an investigation of 2 systematic morphological paradigms. METHOD: Forty-eight young and 48 old Hebrew speakers completed 2 experiments: the 1st investigated sensitivity to subject-verb gender incongruity in a reading task, and the 2nd examined parsing of pseudoverbs containing existing and nonexisting consonantal roots in a lexical-decision task. RESULTS: Older adults were slower relative to the young, but both groups were slower on incongruent relative to congruent targets and on a pseudoverb with a real root relative to a pseudoverb with a nonexistent root. In both experiments the interaction between condition and age was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: While older adults demonstrate preserved morphological parsing abilities, possible explanations for the interaction effect include cognitive slowing or deficient inhibitory control.     

Unisensory and bisensory processing skills of children having misarticulations and normally speaking peers

The purpose of this investigation was to test the developmental delay hypothesis as a possible explanation for the existence of misarticulations in 7- and 8-year-old children. To accomplish this, 10 normally speaking children, 10 having mild misarticulations, and 10 children with severe misarticulations were administered unisensory and bisensory processing tasks. Unisensory tasks consisted of oral and manual form discrimination and auditory recall of word strings. Bisensory tasks were combinations of the unisensory ones and were of major interest, because this form of processing has been considered a test of children's CNS maturity. Results showed that children having misarticulations obtained lower scores than children with normal articulation on all bisensory tasks and had larger decrements from unisensory to bisensory tasks than control subjects. On unisensory tasks involving recall of word strings and manual form discrimination, differences were also found in favor of the control subjects. The results supported the hypothesis that delayed CNS development may coexist with misarticulations of 7- and 8-year-old children.     

Articulation skills in Turkish speaking children with cochlear implant

Objective

The benefits of using cochlear implant (CI) on speech perception and production have been documented. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of age of cochlear implantation performed and length of auditory experience with CI on the development of articulation skills in prelingual children with CI.

Methods

For this purpose, 14 children with CI were administered through the standardized articulation test named AAT (Ankara Articulation Test). In order to evaluate the development of articulation skills, AAT was applied to each child with CI at the first and the fourth years of CI. The test group was selected among those congenitally hearing impaired children who had used hearing aids bilaterally before the age of one and a half, and received intervention after fitting hearing aids. The test group was divided into two subgroups: Group 1 consisted of the children implanted at and below the age of 3 and Group 2 consisted of the children implanted after the age of 3. Evaluations of articulation skills between groups and within groups were performed in the first and fourth years of implantation. In the study, nonparametric statistics have been used to compare the test scores. Mann-Whitney U-test and Wilcoxon test have been used in the comparisons made between groups and within groups, respectively.

Results

While there has not been observed any statistically significant difference between the first year articulation skills of children with CI at and below the age of three and children with CI above the age of 3, for the fourth year this difference has been found to be statistically significant.

Conclusions

The results demonstrate the importance of the early application of CI and length of auditory experience with CI in the development of articulation skills.     

The relationship among receptive and expressive vocabulary, listening comprehension, pre-reading skills, word identification skills, and reading comprehension by children with reading disabilities.

PURPOSE: Some researchers (F. R. Vellutino, F. M. Scanlon, & M. S. Tanzman, 1994) have argued that the different domains comprising language (e.g., phonology, semantics, and grammar) may influence reading development in a differential manner and at different developmental periods. The purpose of this study was to examine proposed causal relationships among different linguistic subsystems and different measures of reading achievement in a group of children with reading disabilities. METHODS: Participants were 279 students in 2nd to 3rd grade who met research criteria for reading disability. Of those students, 108 were girls and 171 were boys. In terms of heritage, 135 were African and 144 were Caucasian. Measures assessing pre-reading skills, word identification, reading comprehension, and general oral language skills were administered. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling analyses indicated receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge was independently related to pre-reading skills. Additionally, expressive vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension skills were found to be independently related to word identification abilities. CONCLUSION: Results are consistent with previous research indicating that oral language skills are related to reading achievement (e.g., A. Olofsson & J. Niedersoe, 1999; H. S. Scarborough, 1990). Results from this study suggest that receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge influence pre-reading skills in differential ways. Further, results suggest that expressive vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension skills facilitate word identification skills.     

A systematic review of electrophysiological outcomes following auditory training in school-age children with auditory processing deficits

Abstract

Objective: To systematically review the peer-reviewed literature on electrophysiological outcomes following auditory training (AT) in school-age children with (central) auditory processing disorder ([C]APD). Design: A systematic review. Study sample: Searches of 16 electronic databases yielded four studies involving school-aged children whose auditory processing deficits had been confirmed in a manner consistent with and and compared to a treated and/or an untreated control group before and after AT. A further three studies were identified with one lacking a control group and two measuring auditory processing in a manner not consistent with and . Results: There is limited evidence that AT leads to measurable electrophysiological changes in children with auditory processing deficits. Conclusion: The evidence base is too small and weak to provide clear guidance on the use of electrophysiological outcomes as a measure of AT outcomes in children with auditory processing problems. The currently limited data can only be used to suggest that click-evoked AMLR and tone-burst evoked auditory P300 might be more likely to detect such outcomes in children diagnosed with (C)APD, and that speech-evoked ALLR might be more likely to detect phonological processing changes in children without a specific diagnosis of (C)APD.     

Cochlear implants in children with mental disabilities

INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, profoundly deaf children with associated psychotic disorders can sometimes benefit from a cochlear implant program. These fragile children who have a specific development need a reinforced observation and follow up, and active parental collaboration. METHODS: From a series of 8 children with psychotic disorders implanted between 1999 and 2006, we present 4 representative cases of our practise, which have at least 3 years post implant. RESULTS: The questions that should occur about the conditions of the cochlear implantation are discussed in the light of the results of our observations. No children deteriorated them selves. All of them use their cochlear implant continuously. CONCLUSION: Cochlear implant is a tool in a global approach towards mobilization of communication resources in such children.     

Prelinguistic predictors of language growth in children with developmental disabilities.

This study followed 18 children with developmental disabilities, whose chronological ages were between 3 years and 6 years at the start of the study, over a 2-year period. At initial observation, children communicated primarily through prelinguistic gestures, vocalizations, and single-word utterances. Children's language skills were measured every 6 months with the Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development-Revised (D. E. Hedrick, E. M. Prather, and A. R. Tobin, 1984). Prelinguistic communication rate and parental responsiveness were also measured at each observation. Development of language over time differed between participants in accordance with their entry-level communication. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that children's level of gestural attainment, rate of communication, and parent response contingency were significant predictors of language outcome.     

Grammatical morphology deficits in Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment.

The focus of this study was the use of grammatical morphology by Spanish-speaking preschoolers with specific language impairment (SU). Relative to both same-age peers and younger typically developing children with similar mean lengths of utterance (MLUs), the children with SU showed more limited use of several different grammatical morphemes. These limitations were most marked for noun-related morphemes such as adjective-agreement inflections and direct object clitics. Most errors on the part of children in all groups consisted of substitutions of a form that shared most but not all of the targets grammatical features (e.g., correct tense and number but incorrect person). Number errors usually involved singular forms used in plural contexts; person errors usually involved third person forms used in first person contexts. The pattern of limitations of the children with SU suggests that, for languages such as Spanish, additional factors might have to be considered in the search for clinical markers for this disorder. Implications for evaluation and treatment of language disorders in Spanish-speaking children are also discussed.     

The nature of written language deficits in children with SLI.

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have associated difficulties in reading decoding and reading comprehension. To date, few research studies have examined the children's written language. The aim of the present study was to (a) evaluate the nature and extent of the children's difficulties with writing and (b) investigate the relationship between oral and written language. Eleven children with SLI were identified (mean age = 11 years) and were compared with a group of children matched for chronological age (CA; mean age = 11;2 [years;months]) and language age (LA; mean CA = 7;3). All groups completed standardized measures of language production, writing, and reading decoding. The writing assessment revealed that the SLI group wrote fewer words and produced proportionately more syntax errors than the CA group, but they did not differ on a measure of content of written language or on the proportion of spelling errors. The SLI group also produced proportionately more syntax errors than the LA group. The relationships among oral language, reading, and writing differed for the 3 groups. The nature and extent of the children's written language problems are considered in the context of difficulties with spoken language.     

Evidence of motor programming deficits in children diagnosed with DAS.

In this study the hypothesis of motor programming involvement in developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) was investigated by studying articulatory compensation. Five children with DAS and 5 normally speaking children (age 5;0 [years;months] to 6;10), and 6 adult women produced utterances in a normal speaking condition and in a bite-block condition in which the mandible was kept in a fixed position. Throughout the utterances, the course of the second formant was used to determine articulatory compensation and the effect of the bite block on anticipatory coarticulation. Results showed that the bite-block condition in normally speaking children, like in adult women, did not affect the extent of anticipatory coarticulation. In the speech of children with DAS, the bite block had large effects on coarticulatory patterns and on vowel quality, which, contrary to expectations, had improved. These results are interpreted as a clear demonstration of deficient motor programming in DAS.