Autism and Developmental Language Impairments最新文献

{"title":"Assessment and diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder: The experiences of speech and language therapists","authors":"Sheila A. Thomas, J. Schulz, Nuala Ryder","doi":"10.1177/2396941519842812","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519842812","url":null,"abstract":"Background For many years research and practice have noted the impact of the heterogeneous nature of Developmental Language Disorder (also known as language impairment or specific language impairment) on diagnosis and assessment. Recent research suggests the disorder is not restricted to the language domain and against this background, the challenge for the practitioner is to provide accurate assessment and effective therapy. The speech and language therapist aims to support the child and their carers to achieve the best outcomes. However, little is known about the experiences of the speech and language therapist in the assessment process, in contrast to other childhood disorders, yet their expertise is central in the assessment and diagnosis of children with language disorder. Aims This study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences of speech and language therapists involved in the assessment and diagnosis of children with Developmental Language Disorder including the linguistic and non-linguistic aspects of the disorder. Methods and procedures The qualitative study included three focus groups to provide a credible and rich description of the experiences of speech and language therapists involved in the assessment of Developmental Language Disorder. The speech and language therapists who participated in the study were recruited from different types of institution in three NHS trusts across the UK and all were directly involved in the assessment and diagnosis procedures. The lengths of speech and language therapist experience ranged from 2 years to 38 years. The data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis within a phenomenological approach. Outcomes and results The analysis of the data showed three main themes relating to the speech and language therapists’ experience in assessment and diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder. These themes were the participants’ experiences of the barriers to early referral (subthemes – parents’ misunderstanding and misconceptions of Developmental Language Disorder, bilingualism can mask Developmental Language Disorder and public lack of knowledge of support services), factors in assessment (subthemes – individual nature of impairments, choosing appropriate assessments, key indicators and identifying non-language difficulties) and the concerns over continued future support (subthemes – disadvantages with academic curriculum, disadvantages for employment, impact of Developmental Language Disorder on general life chances). Conclusions and implications This study provides first-hand evidence from speech and language therapists in the assessment of children with Developmental Language Disorder, drawing together experiences from speech and language therapists from different regions. The implications are that support for early referral and improved assessment tools are needed together with greater public awareness of Developmental Language Disorder. The implications are discussed in relat","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941519842812","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41590861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Academic skills in children with autism spectrum disorders with monolingual or bilingual experience","authors":"Sandra B. Vanegas","doi":"10.1177/2396941519888170","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519888170","url":null,"abstract":"Background and aims The academic development of children with autism spectrum disorders is important to investigate as it can provide opportunities for higher education, independent living, and successful employment in adulthood. Although educational data find that children with autism spectrum disorders can achieve similar levels of academic achievement in inclusive settings as neurotypical children, little is known about how children with diverse language experiences with autism spectrum disorders develop academically. Research on neurotypical, bilingual children finds that although many may lag behind their monolingual peers on measures of academic achievement, these gaps can be minimized with bilingual education programs. Within clinical practice, concerns are still raised about bilingual exposure in children with autism spectrum disorders, with assumptions and recommendations made to limit the language of exposure to minimize risks to development. To improve the evidence-base on bilingual experience in children with autism spectrum disorders, the present study will examine whether basic academic skills (i.e., word reading, numerical operations, spelling) vary as a function of language experience (i.e., monolingual vs. bilingual). Methods The data presented in this study were based on medical records of children with autism spectrum disorders who visited a clinic in a large, urban city in the United States. Records were included for this study if children had information/data on language status, nonverbal cognition, and standardized scores for reading, math, and spelling on a standardized academic achievement test. The final sample included children with autism spectrum disorders with monolingual language experience (n = 18) or bilingual language experience (n = 13). Results Repeated measures analysis of variance analyses found that children with autism spectrum disorders with monolingual experience had higher scores on word reading skills when compared to children with autism spectrum disorders with bilingual experience. However, a different pattern was found for numerical operations, with children with autism spectrum disorders with bilingual experience outperforming children with autism spectrum disorders with monolingual experience. No differences were found between groups on spelling skills. Conclusions The preliminary findings suggest that bilingual language experience may be related to early literacy and math skills in children with autism spectrum disorders. It may be that word reading skills are slower to develop among children with autism spectrum disorders with bilingual experience due to the development of two linguistic profiles. Math skills may be enhanced in children with autism spectrum disorders with bilingual experience through the mediation of other cognitive skills (e.g., executive functioning). Implications: This preliminary study demonstrates that bilingual experience does not negatively affect the development of academi","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941519888170","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44622749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Health-related quality of life in children with autism spectrum disorders and children with developmental language disorders","authors":"Catherine Coales, N. Heaney, J. Ricketts, J. Dockrell, G. Lindsay, Olympia Palikara, T. Charman","doi":"10.1177/2396941519851225","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519851225","url":null,"abstract":"Background and aims There is a paucity of literature investigating health-related quality of life in neurodevelopmental populations including children with developmental language disorders and children with autism spectrum disorder. Health-related quality of life in these two groups remains poorly understood. Furthermore, studies have typically relied on reports from caregivers and teachers rather than using self-report measures. The aim of the current study is to compare the levels and profiles of self-reported health-related quality of life of children with developmental language disorders and children with autism spectrum disorder. Methods Participants comprised 114 7-to-13-year-old children with developmental language disorders (n = 63) and children with autism spectrum disorder (n = 51) attending mainstream school. Self-reported health-related quality of life was measured using the KIDSCREEN-52. We also collected standardised measures of receptive language, autism spectrum disorder symptoms, nonverbal IQ and emotional and behavioural problems. Results Children with developmental language disorders reported health-related quality of life commensurate with normative ranges, except for 2 of the 10 dimensions; the Moods and Emotions domain and the Social acceptance/bullying domain, which were below norms. Children with autism spectrum disorder reported significantly lower health-related quality of life compared to norms and the developmental language disorders group. However, when the effects of non-verbal ability and language – on which the groups were not matched – were covaried most group differences fell to non-significance or disappeared. Child characteristics showed few associations with dimensions of health-related quality of life across groups. Conclusions Children with autism spectrum disorder may be particularly vulnerable to poorer health-related quality of life and the relevant professionals need to be aware of this. Children with developmental language disorders exhibit a profile of health-related quality of life more in-line with average ranges. However, certain domains warrant monitoring and may benefit from intervention. Many of the between-group differences in self-reported health-related quality of life disappeared when non-verbal and language ability were covaried, though neither of the covariates was systematically related to scores. Other within-child factors such as emotional understanding and competence should be explored in future studies. Implications Further research into child and contextual factors may elucidate risk or protective factors for health-related quality of life in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941519851225","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43407078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Motor speech impairment predicts expressive language in minimally verbal, but not low verbal, individuals with autism spectrum disorder.","authors":"Karen Chenausky,&nbsp;Amanda Brignell,&nbsp;Angela Morgan,&nbsp;Helen Tager-Flusberg","doi":"10.1177/2396941519856333","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519856333","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Developmental motor speech impairment has been suspected, but rarely systematically examined, in low- and minimally verbal individuals with autism spectrum disorder. We aimed to investigate the extent of motor speech impairment in this population and its relation to number of different words produced during a semi-structured language sample.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Videos of 54 low-verbal and minimally verbal individuals (ages 4;4-18;10) performing portions of a speech praxis test were coded for signs of motor speech impairment (e.g., childhood apraxia of speech). Age, autism spectrum disorder severity, nonspeech oral-motor ability, speech production ability, nonverbal IQ, and receptive vocabulary were compared between groups.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Four groups emerged: (1) speech within normal limits (<i>n</i>=12), (2) non-childhood apraxia of speech impairment (<i>n</i>=16), (3) suspected childhood apraxia of speech (<i>n</i>=13), and (4) insufficient speech to rate (<i>n</i>=13). Groups differed significantly in nonspeech oral-motor ability, speech production ability, nonverbal IQ, and receptive vocabulary. Overall, only speech production ability and receptive vocabulary accounted for significant variance in number of different words. Receptive vocabulary significantly predicted number of different words only in Groups 1 and 2, while speech production ability significantly predicted number of different words only in Groups 3 and 4.</p><p><strong>Conclusions and implications: </strong>If replicated, our findings have important implications for developing much-needed spoken language interventions in minimally verbal individuals with autism spectrum disorder.</p>","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":"4 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941519856333","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39916540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A review of language regression in autism spectrum disorder and the role of language theories: Towards explanation","authors":"Kaitlyn A Clarke","doi":"10.1177/2396941519889227","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519889227","url":null,"abstract":"Background & aims The purpose of this study is to summarize characteristics of language regression—a phenomenon most commonly associated with autism spectrum disorder, outline language theories of early word learning, and use them to propose theoretical bases to language regression. Method Using a systematic review of the current literature in language regression and a purposive sampling of language theories, hypotheses for the cause of language regression are discussed. Results The following hypotheses were developed based on the reviewed theories of word learning: (a) Initial first words were not true words, but instead were protowords; (b) fast mapped forms never progressed to truly learned words; (c) initial first words were echoed productions of heard words; (d) the described regression is actually a maintenance of previous developmental levels with increasing chronological age. Conclusions It is possible that individuals with autism spectrum disorder are not “losing” words, but instead are not progressing in their ability to learn and use new words. Early word learning in typically developing children is seemingly similar to early development in individuals with autism spectrum disorder; however, the ability to expand from early “intermediate words” to expansive vocabularies, word combinations, and morphological variations is impeded. Clinical implications for evaluation of word “loss” and treatments are discussed.","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941519889227","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41574957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Assessment of Phase of Preschool Language: Applying the language benchmarks framework to characterize language profiles and change in four- to five-year-olds with autism spectrum disorder","authors":"Helen E Flanagan, I. Smith, Fiona Davidson","doi":"10.1177/2396941519864084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519864084","url":null,"abstract":"Background and aims We introduce the Assessment of Phase of Preschool Language (APPL), a rating form that characterizes children’s language according to a well-established framework recommended by Tager-Flusberg et al. (2009). The language benchmarks framework defines children’s language as falling at one of the Pre-verbal, First Words, Word Combinations, Sentences, or Complex Language phases for phonology, vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics, and overall language. The APPL is a flexible assessment tool that allows assessors to determine language phase using a range of assessment sources: natural language samples, standardized measures, and/or parent rating forms. Using the APPL, we examined language profiles in four- and five-year-olds with autism spectrum disorder and explored language development during a community-based Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention program. Methods Community speech-language pathologists completed the APPL with 95 four- and five-year-olds at the beginning of the treatment. The APPL was re-administered after a mean of 10 months of intervention (SD = 2 months) for 46 of these children. Children received treatment for up to 15 h per week in their homes and/or community childcare centers. Pivotal Response Treatment was the main form of intervention. The Picture Exchange Communication System or other augmentative and alternative communication systems were also used with many pre-verbal children. Results At the beginning of intervention, the most common language phase was Word Combinations (44%), followed by Pre-verbal (26%), Sentences (20%), and then First Words (10%). Only 24% of children had even profiles (i.e. phonology, vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics skills at the same level). Phonology was a common area of relative strength, and pragmatics was a common area of relative weakness. Ten months of intervention was associated with gains in overall language phase for 37% of children. Approximately half gained at least one phase in Grammar (57%), Vocabulary (51%), and Phonology (46%), while Pragmatics improved for 33%. Gains varied based on initial language phase. Inclusion of skills using augmentative and alternative communication enhanced interpretation of change during intervention. Conclusions Four- and five-year-olds with autism spectrum disorder in this sample tended to have uneven skills across expressive language domains. Community-based Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention was associated with gains in language phase in older preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. Gains varied across language domains and were influenced by initial language phase. Implications The Assessment of Phase of Preschool Language is a useful tool to support consistent application of the language benchmarks framework. It is important to consider all language domains when characterizing language skills and treatment impact in children with autism spectrum disorder.","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941519864084","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41886098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Developmental social pragmatic interventions for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review","authors":"Amanda V Binns, J. O. Oram Cardy","doi":"10.1177/2396941518824497","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941518824497","url":null,"abstract":"Background and aims Developmental social pragmatic interventions are one treatment option for supporting the social communication and language skills of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. Our first aim was to differentiate interventions using a developmental social pragmatic model from other developmental or naturalistic behavioral approaches. We applied explicit criteria outlining core features of developmental social pragmatic interventions to identify programs that use these core features. We then systematically reviewed studies examining the impact of developmental social pragmatic interventions in supporting (a) foundational social communication and language skills of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder and (b) caregiver interaction style. Additionally, we reviewed results exploring mediators and potential factors influencing children’s response to developmental social pragmatic interventions. Methods A multistep comprehensive search strategy was used to identify developmental social pragmatic treatments and studies examining their effectiveness for preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. The characteristics of each study and their outcomes were then reviewed, and a modified Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool was used to evaluate rigor. Main contribution/Results Six interventions that met criteria to be classified as developmental social pragmatic are examined within this review. Ten studies of varying methodological rigor met criteria for inclusion and collectively reported on the outcomes of 716 preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder. All of the studies examined foundational communication outcomes and all but one reported positive outcomes for at least one of the measures. Seven studies examined language outcomes. While results were positive for language use within natural contexts, they were mixed for overall, receptive, and expressive language. Parents’ interaction styles significantly changed postintervention, namely in terms of increased responsiveness, synchronous behavior, use of affect, and decreased directiveness. Only two studies conducted formal mediation analysis and found that parent responsiveness and synchronous behavior were related to children’s positive response to treatment. Conclusions This review suggests that developmental social pragmatic treatments positively impact children’s foundational communication capacities (i.e. attention, social referencing, joint attention, initiation, reciprocity). Positive findings were not consistently found for supporting children’s language. Further, methodologically rigorous studies are needed to draw definitive conclusions. Additional research exploring components of developmental social pragmatic treatments that might mediate response to treatment is needed. Implications This review provides synthesized information for clinicians, families, and researchers on the effectiveness of developmental social pragmatic interventions ","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941518824497","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43793465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phonological awareness emergence in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder","authors":"J. Dynia, Allison F. Bean, L. Justice, J. Kaderavek","doi":"10.1177/2396941518822453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941518822453","url":null,"abstract":"Background and aims Phonological awareness begins to develop during the preschool years and is a primary factor underlying later reading abilities. Previous research has found mixed results on the phonological awareness skills of children with autism spectrum disorders. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to add to our understanding of phonological awareness in children with autism spectrum disorder by investigating residualized gains in phonological awareness skills over an academic year. Methods A total of 125 preschool (4- to 5-years old) children including 27 children with autism spectrum disorder, 28 children with language impairment, and 70 typically developing children were the focus of the present study. Participants in the current study represent a subset of participants from a larger study titled, Sit Together and Read. Children completed direct assessments in the beginning (fall) and end of school year (spring) on phonological awareness using the Test of Preschool Early Literacy. Results A one-way ANOVA compared the phonological awareness skills tasks (syllable/onset-rime, blending/elision, receptive/expressive) in the fall and the spring for each of the three groups (children with autism spectrum disorder, children with language impairment, children who are typically developing). In the fall and the spring, all of the analyses were found to be statistically significant. A Tukey HSD further indicated that children with autism spectrum disorder had significantly lower scores on all of the tasks at both time points compared to the typically developing peers. Children with autism spectrum disorder seem to make gains in phonological awareness tasks similarly to their typically developing peers for most of the phonological awareness tasks. Results from the final regression models indicated that children with autism spectrum disorder made gains similar to those of their typically developing peers for most phonological awareness tasks and that language skills predicted residualized gain for syllable, elision, and receptive tasks, as well as the total score when controlling for condition, IQ, and group status. Social skills were not a significant predictor for any of the tasks. Conclusions Three main findings emerged: (a) phonological awareness skills seem to be a deficit for children with autism spectrum disorder, (b) in general, autism status does not predict residualized gain in phonological awareness skills, and (c) oral language is a significant predictor of residualized gain in phonological awareness skills. Implication Early childhood educators should focus on providing high-quality instruction on phonological awareness for children with autism spectrum disorder and researchers should focus on investigating the effectiveness of phonological awareness interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder.","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941518822453","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45955933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effectiveness of semantic intervention for word-finding difficulties in college-aged students (16–19 years) with persistent Language Disorder","authors":"L. Campbell, Hilary Nicoll, S. Ebbels","doi":"10.1177/2396941519870784","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519870784","url":null,"abstract":"Background and aims Little evidence exists for the effectiveness of intervention for older adolescents and young adults with language disorders, particularly for those over 16 years. This study involves college-aged students aged 16–19 years with Language Disorder and Word-Finding Difficulties and investigates whether progress in word finding following 1:1 semantic intervention is greater than progress during a baseline period as measured by a standardised test. Methods Twenty-five college-aged students (20 males and 5 females) with Language Disorder and Word-Finding Difficulties (aged 16;4–18;4 years) participated in a single baseline design study comparing progress on the Test of Adolescent and Adult Word Finding during an intervention period with progress during a baseline period of equal length. Intervention was focused on semantics of different words from those in the Test of Adolescent and Adult Word Finding and was delivered 1:1 by the participants’ usual Speech and Language Therapist, 30 minutes per week, for eight weeks. Results The participants made significant progress in raw score on the Test of Adolescent and Adult Word Finding during both the baseline (d = 1.4) and intervention (d = 2.5) periods, but progress during the intervention period was significantly greater than during the baseline period (d = 1.16). Individual data showed reliable change for five participants during the baseline period and for 20 participants during the intervention period. At the start of the study, all participants had standard scores below 85, but after intervention, 10/25 participants scored above 85. Conclusions Four hours of semantic intervention led to significantly greater gains on a standardised test of word finding than during a baseline period of equal length in 16–19 year olds with Language Disorder and Word-Finding Difficulties. The words in the standardised test had not been included in the intervention, indicating generalised gains. Implications This study shows that intervention (at least for Word-Finding Difficulties) can be effective for this older age group of college-aged students with Language Disorder and therefore the effectiveness of Speech and Language Therapy services for this age group in a wider range of areas of language should also be investigated.","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941519870784","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47451358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reciprocal relationships between lexical and syntactic skills of children with Developmental Language Disorder and the role of executive functions","authors":"E. Blom, T. Boerma","doi":"10.1177/2396941519863984","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2396941519863984","url":null,"abstract":"Background and aims Recent research indicates that children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) often also score lower than their peers with typical development (TD) on tasks testing nonverbal executive functioning (EF). This study investigated whether there is evidence that children with DLD use linguistic and EF resources to support their lexical and syntactic development. Three questions were addressed: (1) How do children with DLD develop in the domains of lexicon and syntax, and how does their development compare to TD controls? (2) To what extent do children with DLD show reciprocal relations between lexical and syntactic skills, and how does this compare to TD controls? (3) Is EF ability related to DLD children’s lexical and syntactic skills, and how does this compare to TD controls? Methods Data from 117 children (NDLD = 78; NTD = 39) were collected three times with yearly intervals. At time 1, the children were 5 or 6 years old. Standardized receptive vocabulary and sentence repetition tests measured lexicon and syntax, respectively. Nonverbal EF tasks tested selective attention, interference control and working memory. Cross-lagged analyses were conducted to determine the direction of relationships. Results Both groups showed stable lexical and syntactic growth. In children with DLD, but not in TD controls, syntactic skills predicted lexical skills. In the DLD group, EF predicted lexical skills. Reversely, in the TD group, lexical skills predicted EF. Conclusions The results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that the lexical development of children with DLD is supported by both their verbal abilities in the domain of syntax and their nonverbal EF abilities. Implications Interventions that improve the syntactic and EF abilities of children with DLD may have spreading effects and positively impact on word learning by children with DLD.","PeriodicalId":36716,"journal":{"name":"Autism and Developmental Language Impairments","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2396941519863984","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44886261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}