Vocabulary competence in early childhood: measurement, latent construct, and predictive validity

We systematically examined relations among 6 measures of child language derived from 3 sources, including observations of the child's speech with mother, experimenter assessments, and maternal reports. A total of 184 20-month-olds and their mothers contributed complete information about child language comprehension and expression. Correlations of child language measures with socioeconomic status and maternal education were accounted for, as were correlations of child language measures with mothers' verbal intelligence, maternal report measures with mothers' tendency to respond in a socially desirable fashion, and experimenter assessments with child social competence. Structural equation modeling supported (1) strong relations among child language measures derived from observations of the child's speech with mother, experimenter assessments, and maternal reports; (2) the loading of multiple measures of child language from different sources on a single latent construct of vocabulary competence; and (3) the predictive validity of the vocabulary competence latent variable at 20 months, as well as receptive vocabulary specifically, for both verbal and performance IQ (verbal better than performance) at 48 months. Neither an index of child monologing (a nonvocabulary language measure) nor symbolic play (a nonlinguistic representational measure) covaried with vocabulary competence. Girls consistently outperformed boys on individual language measures, but no differences emerged in any model in the fit for boys and girls.     

Joint picture-book reading correlates of early oral language skill

The purpose of this study was to explore the relation between joint picture-book-reading experiences provided in the home and children's early oral language skills. Subjects were 41 two-year-old children and their mothers. Measures included maternal report of the age at which she began to read to the child, the frequency of home reading sessions, the number of stories read per week, and the frequency of visits by the child to the local library. Measures of language skill used were the child's receptive and expressive scores on the revised Reynell Developmental Language Scales. Multiple regression analyses indicated that picture-book reading exposure was more strongly related to receptive than to expressive language. Age of onset of home reading routines was the most important predictor of oral language skills. Directions of effect, the importance of parental beliefs as determinants of home reading practices, and the possible existence of a threshold level for reading frequency are discussed.     

The role of otitis media in the development of expressive language disorder.

The role of otitis media (OM) was investigated in a group of preschool children with a rigorously defined language impairment: developmental expressive language disorder (ELD). No differences in the frequency, duration, or timing of medically documented episodes of OM were found between 65 ELD and 50 normal children. However, longitudinal analyses with the ELD children revealed a relation between OM and expressive language improvement. The strongest positive predictor of language improvement between 2 and 3 yrs of age was the amount of time spent with OM between 12 and 18 mo of age. These findings suggest that children with ELD represent 2 etiological populations depending on a history of OM. When ELD is influenced strongly by OM during a critical period for the development of expressive language, improvement is highly likely. However, in the absence of such a history, the causes of ELD are likely to be more central and long-lasting. The absence of between-groups differences, coupled with the predictive power of OM history within the ELD group, suggests either that another factor interacts with OM to cause ELD or that OM depresses development for all children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal interaction in mother-child dyads.

Examined the verbal interaction of mothers and their children in mother-child dyads. Ss were 24 children (12 2-yr-olds and 12 3-yr-olds) and their mothers. Each child was selected on the basis of age and pretest results indicating nondelayed receptive and expressive language function. The mother and her child were given an assortment of toys, and the mother was asked to play with her child. Tape recordings were made of each session. Analysis of the mother-child dyadic data revealed that the verbalizations of 2 groups of mothers differed significantly. Mothers of the older group of children used more complex expatiations and modeled interrogations. The occurrence of expansions and direct imitations was not a function of age of the child. The verbal interactions of 2- and 3-yr-olds was significantly different in that 2-yr-olds produced a greater percentage of imitations with reduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological-educational intervention for autistic children]

A "TEACCH" experience conducted in Lyon, France, with autistic children within the framework of an infant-juvenile psychiatric intersectory is described here: the proposal for an individualized educational project stems from the developmental possibilities of each child; taking children into care is inspired by Schopler's proposals: in a structured environment the child is placed in an educational setting; alternatives to verbal communication are also proposed to the children, who for the most part are non verbal. At the same time, work with families is put into place: it consists of support in the taking in charge by the parents on a daily basis of the handicap of the child: a broad place is given to the harmonization of help to the child in his different life contexts. Contribution and limits of this work are also discussed: the child's capacity to relax, the improvement of his relational capacities and his autonomy are noteworthy; restoration of quality of life and relation with families is clear; the child's mental deficit is obviously a limiting factor.     

Families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a review

OBJECTIVES: 1) To review the evidence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other conditions in family members (siblings and parents) of children with ADHD and determine the importance of genetic and environmental factors in this condition. 2) To describe the prospective 10-year follow-up of 65 families with ADHD children and 43 families of matched normal controls. 3) To review various studies that have looked at parent-child interactions with ADHD children on and off stimulant medication, and such interactions over time. The paper thus provides an overview of family pathology and functioning of families of ADHD children over time. METHOD: The paper outlines twin, sibling, family and adoption studies with regard to possible genetic and environmental factors in ADHD. It also presents data of a prospective 10-year follow-up of 65 families with ADHD children and 43 families of normal controls. This family study evaluated sociocultural factors, child rearing practices, health of family members and relationships, as well as the parental view of the child's functioning over time. RESULTS: A review of the literature suggests that ADHD has a strong genetic component, but that environmental factors also play an important role. Families of children with ADHD have more problems than families of normal controls, but these problems improve as the child with ADHD grows up and leaves home. Families of ADHD subjects can appreciate positive as well as negative changes in their children over time. Generally, family interactions with children with ADHD are problematic but improve when the child is on medication and when the child becomes an adult. CONCLUSIONS: This condition has strong genetic underpinnings; therefore, diagnosing and treating family members (parents and siblings) as well as the child with ADHD is important in improving parent-child interactions and better long-term outcome for the child and his or her family.     

Experimental studies on the infectivity of Anguillicola crassus third-stage larvae (Nematoda) from paratenic hosts

Speech, language, and communication disorders are prominent reasons for referrals to a child development center. From 1984 to 1988, 1,090 preschool children were referred to our child development center, which serves the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Of all referrals, 432 (41%) were primarily due to speech, language, and communication problems. After exclusion of those with IQ < 50 and those with non-language-related disabilities, 323 children remained. The children were classified into different subtypes of developmental language disorders and autistic spectrum disorders. The main developmental language disorder subtypes were combined expressive-receptive (49%) and expressive (44%). Central processing deficits were less common, occurring in 20 (7%) of the children. Parents of children with developmental language disorders had educational levels similar to those of parents of children referred to the child development center for other causes. However, parents of children with infantile autism had higher educational levels than parents of children with developmental language disorder or parents of children referred for other causes (P < .001). Our results reflect the distribution of language and related problems in an unselected population of preschool children referred to a child development center.     

Identifiers of predominantly Spanish-speaking children with language impairment

The purpose of this study was to identify a set of measures that would discriminate 31 predominantly Spanish-speaking children with normal language (NL children) from 31 children with language impairment (LI children). The LI children were identified as such by experienced, bilingual (Spanish/English), ASHA-certified, speech-language pathologists who were currently seeing the children in their caseloads. Children ranged in age from 5 to 7 years and were matched for age, gender, and school. Additionally, nonverbal cognitive measures assured that they did not differ significantly intellectually. Measures of vocabulary, novel bound-morpheme learning skills, and language form were randomly administered to all children. Further, parents responded to questions about their perceptions of their children's speech and language skills and family history of speech and language problems. A stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that 4 measures discriminated the groups of children with a sensitivity of 91.3% and a specificity of 100% (p < .0001): parental report of the child's speech and language skills, number of errors per T-unit, mean length per T-unit, and family history of speech and language problems. A second discriminant analysis indicated that the sensitivity and specificity could be maintained when only the first 2 measures were included. Confirmatory discriminant analyses of the 2- and 4-measure models indicated that the discriminant accuracy was stable on an independent sample.     

External sources of individual differences? A cross-linguistic analysis of the phonetics of mothers' speech to 1-yr-old children.

Wide individual differences in early word production characterize children learning the same language, but the role of specific adult input in this interchild variability is unknown. Sampling the speech of American, French, and Swedish mothers (5 in each language group) to their 1-yr-old children, this study analyzed the distribution of consonantal categories, word length, and final consonants in running speech, content words, initial consonant of content words, and target words (adult models of words attempted by the children) as well as the children's own early words (from age 9 mo to about 18 mo). Variability is greater in child words than adult speech, and individual mother–child dyads show no evidence of specific maternal influence on the phonetics of the child's speech. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding and assessing communicative disorders in children

The pediatrician is frequently confronted with the problem of diagnosis and treatment of preschool-aged children suspected of having middle ear disease and speech / language impairments. Guidelines for referral of these children (otolaryngologist, audiologist, speech therapist) have not been clearly defined. The use of tympanometry and acoustic reflex testing was described to assist in the diagnosis of middle ear pathology, to provide an objective way to monitor spontaneous or antibiotic-induced remissions and to determine more accurately when a referral for surgical intervention is needed. A 35-item screening test is described, permitting speech and language assessments in the office and quantifying and comparing with age peers: vocabulary, articulation, receptive language and expressive language abilities. These office interventions enhance the physician's ability to judiciously recommend consultations.     

Linguistic environment of 1- to 2-year-old twins.

Investigated differences in the language learning environments of singletons and twins, with special reference to pragmatic factors that might be expected to differ in dyadic and triadic interactive situations. Six twin pairs and 12 singleton children (all firstborn) were observed in natural interactions with their mothers, once at 15 mo of age and again at 21 mo of age. Findings reveal that twins were lower than singletons on all measures of language development and that their language learning environments were significantly different. Although twin mothers spoke and interacted with their children as much as singleton mothers when twins were analyzed together, when analyzed as individuals, twin children received less speech directed specifically to them, participated in fewer and shorter episodes of joint attentional focus, and had fewer and shorter conversations with their mothers. Twin mothers were also more directive in their interactional styles. Correlational analyses indicated that variation of these language learning environment factors for the sample as a whole, and variation for some of these factors within the twin group itself, were related to early language growth. It is proposed that both the quantitative and qualitative differences observed in the language learning environments of singletons and twins derive from the nature of the triadic situation and that these differences have important effects on the child's early language development. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Follow-up study of a right- and a left-hemispherectomized child: implications for localization and impairment of language in children

Two hemispherectomized girls, one operated on the right, the other on the left, were followed from time of surgery until 9 and 10 years of age and compared with respect to course of language acquisition following surgery. At conclusion of follow-up, receptive and expressive language, phoneme perception and production, and sentence processing of the two hemispherectomized children were compared with those of two control groups of similar age, one developing language normally, the other language-impaired. The left-hemispherectomized child's abilities were similar to those of the language-impaired children; the right-hemispherectomized child's abilities resembled those of the language-normal children. Implications for localization of developmental anomalies in language-impaired children are discussed.     

Effects of marital discord on young children's peer interaction and health.

Reports an investigation of the effects of marital discord on the peer interactions and physical health of preschool children. A sample of families that ranged widely in marital satisfaction and had a 4- to 5-yr-old child participated in several home and laboratory sessions involving marital, parent-child, and peer (with a best friend) interaction. Obtained observational, self-report, and physiological indices. Hypothesized that the ability to regulate emotion would be disrupted in children from maritally distressed homes and that this would result in poor child outcomes. Found support for a path-analytic model correlating the child outcomes of the child's level of play, negative peer interaction, and physical health, using marital satisfaction, the parents' physiology during marital interaction, observations of parent–child interaction, the child's physiology during parent–child interaction, indices of emotion during the directed facial action task, and urinary assays of catecholamine endocrine variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament in late talkers

This study examines the temperamental characteristics of children who were identified at age two as being slow in expressive language development, and those of peers with normal language history. When the children were in first grade (approximately age six), parents and clinicians rated subjects' temperamental characteristics, using a standardized temperament assessment instrument. Subjects with a history of slow expressive language development were rated significantly lower on Approach/Withdrawal--indicating shyness, aloofness, or reduced outgoingness--than peers with normal language history. Approach/Withdrawal scores were significantly correlated with average sentence length in spontaneous speech, and this measure also predicted Approach/Withdrawal scores in regression analyses. The clinical and theoretical implications of these findings for early language delay are discussed.     

Assessment information for predicting upcoming change in language production

Initial language assessments are used not only to determine the presence of a language problem and establish eligibility for intervention, but also to provide information about a child's readiness for immediate change in language growth. This study explored static assessment profiling (specific variables and discrepancies in performance) and dynamic assessment results to determine their relative effectiveness for predicting immediate change. Correlation data were used to examine how well each assessment measure predicted upcoming language production changes for children with specific expressive language impairment. Results indicated that dynamic assessment outcomes were most highly correlated with immediate language growth, followed by discrepancy in receptive and expressive language age. Findings are discussed in terms of their clinical and theoretical importance.     

Temperament, Relationships, and Young Children's Receptive Cooperation With Their Parents.

The authors studied receptive cooperation--a willing, eager stance toward parents--in 15-month-old children (N=101) in broadly ranging contexts. Children's anger proneness and parents' responsiveness (both observed at 7 months) and children's attachment security (assessed in Strange Situation at 15 months) were examined as predictors of children's receptive cooperation at 15 months. In mother-child dyads, secure attachment was strongly associated with children's higher receptive cooperation. Maternal responsiveness in infancy also promoted children's future receptive cooperation, but its impact was moderated by child anger: Responsiveness had a positive effect for children who as infants were highly anger prone. In father-child dyads, the negative effect of anger proneness on receptive cooperation with father was significantly amplified for insecure children. Mother's responsiveness and child's secure attachment to the mother promoted child receptive cooperation with the father, but there were no similar effects for fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification and cloning of three novel human G protein-coupled receptor genes GPR52, PsiGPR53 and GPR55: GPR55 is extensively expressed in human brain

OBJECTIVES: To examine the psychoeducational profile associated with the chromosome 22q11.2 microdeletion (DiGeorge/velocardiofacial syndrome). STUDY DESIGN: Thirty-three patients (aged 6 to 27 years) with a 22q11.2 microdeletion underwent psychoeducational testing as part of a comprehensive evaluation. Nonparametric statistics were used to compare verbal and performance IQ, academic achievement scores, and receptive versus expressive language scores. Post hoc comparisons were made of IQ subtest scores and of language versus verbal IQ. RESULTS: Full-scale IQ ranged from the normal to the moderately retarded range. Mean verbal IQ was significantly higher than mean performance IQ. In a similar manner, mean reading and spelling scores were superior to the mean mathematics score, although achievement scores typically were in the range of verbal IQ. In addition, many children showed clinically significant language impairments, with mean language scores lower than mean verbal IQ. CONCLUSIONS: The IQ and academic profiles are reminiscent of a "nonverbal learning disability," although achievement was not discrepant from IQ. The coincidence of language impairment with a relative strength in reading belies a unique neuropsychologic profile. Educational programming for these children must address both verbal and nonverbal deficits.     

Complexity of adult verbal behavior in a dyadic situation with retarded children.

The purpose of the study was to observe the verbal behavior of young normal adults assembled with retarded children characterized in advance as either high (H) or low (L) with a standardized language test. Each adult was asked to "interview" 1 child at a time for ? hr. 6 adults interviewed 4 different H children and the 6 other adults interviewed 4 different L children. A measure of the child's verbal output during the interview confirmed usefulness of the language test to classify children in advance. Adults assembled with L children had a significantly lower average type-token ratio than those assembled with H children. Measures of the complexity and number of adult questions did not show any significant differences between H and L children. Possible implications of adult reactions to retarded children were briefly discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting and child development in families with a child conceived through embryo donation.

Concerns have been raised regarding the potentially negative effects of conception using donated embryos on parenting and child development. Findings are presented of an exploratory study of families with a child conceived through embryo donation. Twenty-one embryo donation families were compared with 28 adoptive families and 30 in vitro fertilization families on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of the parents' marital and psychological state, the quality of parent-child relationships, and the child's development. In all 3 groups, the children were aged 2-5 years. The differences indicated higher emotional overinvolvement and defensive responding in the embryo donation families, along with greater secrecy about the child's origins. The children were not at increased risk of psychological problems. The study provides interesting but preliminary findings on parent-child relationships and child development in a new family form. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting during the second year: effects of children's age, sex, and attachment classification

70 2-parent families with 12-month-old infants and 67 2-parent families with 18-month-old toddlers participated in the study. Mothers and fathers participated in separate interviews and filled out questionnaires on family and child behaviors. Mothers and their children participated in the Ainsworth Strange Situation, and the families were observed for a total of 4 hours in their homes. Families were compared on composite measures of family environment variables, parents' perception of their children, and on process variables from home observations. Family differences in environmental stress and marital adjustment showed no effects for attachment classifications, although parents of 12-month-olds reported greater marital adjustment and more pleasure in parenting than parents of 18-months-olds. Both mothers and fathers reported that children classified as resistant were more difficult on several temperament measures. During home observations, 12-month-old children received more positive responses from mothers, and 18-month-old children received more instructions and directions from both parents. Insecure boys (both avoidant and resistant) received the least instructions and directions from both parents, but insecure-avoidant girls received the most instruction from fathers.