Five Additional Evidence-Based Principles to Facilitate Grammar Development for Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

PURPOSE: Because the development of grammatical forms is difficult for many children with developmental language disorder (DLD), language interventions often focus on supporting children's use of grammatical language. This article proposes five additional principles to those suggested by Fey et al. (2003) to facilitate the development of grammatical forms by children with DLD. Three of the five additional principles address the selection and presentation of linguistic contexts to be used with target grammatical forms (Principles 11-13); two principles encourage the incorporation of additional intervention components: auditory bombardment and explicit instruction (Principles 14 and 15, respectively). METHOD: We present empirical evidence and, when available, describe the theoretical motivations to support each of the five additional principles. We then describe how we have integrated the five principles into 20- to 30-min intervention sessions that target regular past tense -ed, third-person singular -s, present progressive is/are verb+ing, or do/does questions for 4- to 8-year-olds with DLD. Each session includes four activities: sentence imitation, story retell, structured play, and auditory bombardment. We provide details of each activity, relevant materials, and illustrative examples that highlight the incorporation of each of the principles. RESULTS: When targeting the development of grammatical forms in intervention, current evidence supports the use of a high degree of linguistic variability (Principle 11), the presentation of target forms in contexts that vary in difficulty (Principle 12), the presentation of target forms in sentences that vary in syntactic structure (Principle 13), the use of auditory bombardment (Principle 14), and the incorporation of explicit instruction (Principle 15). Clinicians can use these principles when targeting a range of grammatical forms in relatively short intervention sessions comprising a variety of activities. CONCLUSIONS: This article encourages the employment of five additional principles into grammatical language intervention. Descriptions, materials, and examples demonstrate how the principles can all be addressed within a single intervention session.

Outcome trajectory estimation for optimal dynamic treatment regimes with repeated measures.

In recent sequential multiple assignment randomized trials, outcomes were assessed multiple times to evaluate longer-term impacts of the dynamic treatment regimes (DTRs). Q-learning requires a scalar response to identify the optimal DTR. Inverse probability weighting may be used to estimate the optimal outcome trajectory, but it is inefficient, susceptible to model mis-specification, and unable to characterize how treatment effects manifest over time. We propose modified Q-learning with generalized estimating equations to address these limitations and apply it to the M-bridge trial, which evaluates adaptive interventions to prevent problematic drinking among college freshmen. Simulation studies demonstrate our proposed method improves efficiency and robustness.

Verbs Matter: A Tutorial for Determining Verb Difficulty.

PURPOSE: Research indicates that when teaching grammatical forms to children, the verbs used to model specific grammatical inflections matter. When learning grammatical forms, children have higher performance when they hear many unique verb forms that vary in their frequency and phonological complexity. In this tutorial, we demonstrate a method for identifying and characterizing a large number of verbs based on their frequency and complexity. METHOD: We selected verbs from an open-access database of transcribed child language samples. We extracted verbs produced by 5- to 8.9-year-old children in four morphosyntactic contexts: regular past tense -ed, third person singular -s, is/are + verb+ing, and do/does questions. We ranked verbs based on their frequency of occurrence across transcripts. We also coded the phonological complexity of each verb. We coded each verb as high or low frequency and high or low phonological complexity. RESULTS: The synthesis yielded 129 unique verbs used in the regular past tense -ed context, 107 verbs used in the third person singular -s context, 69 verbs used in the is/are + verb+ing context, and 16 verbs used in the do/does question context. We created tables for each form that include the frequency rankings and phonological complexity scores for every verb. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians may use the verb lists, frequency ratings, and phonological complexity scores to help identify verbs to incorporate into assessment and intervention sessions with children. Researchers and clinicians may use the step-by-step approach presented in the tutorial to identify verbs or other syntactic components used in different morphosyntactic contexts or produced by individuals of different demographics in different speaking contexts.

Comprehension of indirect answers: Developmental trajectory for preschool- and early elementary school-aged children with typical development.

Indirect answers are a common type of non-literal language that do not provide an explicit "yes" or "no" to a question (e.g., "I have to work late" indirectly answered "Are you going to the party?" with a negative response). In the current study, we examined the developmental trajectory of comprehension of indirect answers among 5- to 10-year-old children with typical development. Forty-eight children, 23 boys and 25 girls, between the ages of 5 years; 0 months and 10 years; 11 months (M = 8;2, SD = 19.77 months) completed an experimental task to judge whether a verbally presented indirect answer meant yes or no (Comprehension Task) and then explain their choice (Explanation Task). Responses were scored for accuracy and coded for error analysis. On the Comprehension Task, the 5- to 8-year-olds performed with approximately 85% accuracy, while the 9- and 10-year-olds achieved 95% accuracy. On the Explanation Task, the cross-sectional trajectory revealed three stages: the 5- and 6-year-olds adequately explained indirect answers 32% of the time, the 7- and 8-year-olds performed significantly higher at 55%, and the 9- and 10-year-olds made significant gains than the younger children at 66%. Error analysis revealed that when children fail to interpret speaker intentions appropriately, they repeat the speaker's utterance or provide an insufficient explanation 80% of the time. Other responses, such as those irrelevant to the context, indicating "I don't know" or no response, or that were made-up interpretations each accounted for 2%-10% of total inadequate explanations. Study findings indicate discrepancies between task performances and offer two separate sets of baseline data for future comparisons that investigate comprehension or explanation of indirect answers by children with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and by those with varying cognitive and language profiles.

Developmental Language Disorder Terminology: A Survey of Speech-Language Pathologists' Use and Knowledge.

PURPOSE: Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a relatively new, internationally promoted term to describe individuals with language impairments not secondary to a biomedical condition. This study aimed to better understand speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') current level of comfort using DLD terminology and knowledge of DLD in the United States to help SLPs better understand how and why they should consider adopting DLD terminology in their clinical practice. METHOD: After completing an online presurvey to evaluate current comfort levels in using DLD terminology and current knowledge of DLD, currently practicing SLPs viewed a 45-min prerecorded educational video on DLD. Following this viewing, participants completed a postsurvey nearly identical to the presurvey to measure change in their comfort levels with DLD terminology use and in DLD knowledge. RESULTS: After filtering to remove likely fraudulent responders, we included 77 participants in all analyses. Presurvey Likert scale responses indicated at least some comfort in using DLD terminology. Additionally, presurvey results of true/false DLD knowledge questions revealed high variability in respondents' knowledge of DLD. A McNemar chi-square test indicated statistically significant changes in participants' comfort levels in using DLD terminology from pre- to postsurvey for each question. A paired t test indicated statistically significant changes in DLD knowledge from pre- to postsurvey. CONCLUSION: Despite some limitations, it was concluded that diffusion efforts, such as educational presentations, are likely to increase SLPs' comfort levels in using DLD terminology and SLPs' knowledge of DLD. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.22344349.

Consistency and reliability of automated language measures across expressive language samples in autism.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with substantial clinical heterogeneity, especially in language and communication ability. There is a need for validated language outcome measures that show sensitivity to true change for this population. We used Natural Language Processing to analyze expressive language transcripts of 64 highly-verbal children and young adults (age: 6-23 years, mean 12.8 years; 78.1% male) with ASD to examine the validity across language sampling context and test-retest reliability of six previously validated Automated Language Measures (ALMs), including Mean Length of Utterance in Morphemes, Number of Distinct Word Roots, C-units per minute, unintelligible proportion, um rate, and repetition proportion. Three expressive language samples were collected at baseline and again 4 weeks later. These samples comprised interview tasks from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) Modules 3 and 4, a conversation task, and a narration task. The influence of language sampling context on each ALM was estimated using either generalized linear mixed-effects models or generalized linear models, adjusted for age, sex, and IQ. The 4 weeks test-retest reliability was evaluated using Lin's Concordance Correlation Coefficient (CCC). The three different sampling contexts were associated with significantly (P < 0.001) different distributions for each ALM. With one exception (repetition proportion), ALMs also showed good test-retest reliability (median CCC: 0.73-0.88) when measured within the same context. Taken in conjunction with our previous work establishing their construct validity, this study demonstrates further critical psychometric properties of ALMs and their promising potential as language outcome measures for ASD research.

Feasibility of a Proactive Parent-Implemented Communication Intervention Delivered via Telepractice for Children With Classic Galactosemia.

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the feasibility of Babble Boot Camp (BBC) for use with infants with classic galactosemia (CG) starting at less than 6 months of age. BBC is a parent-implemented intervention delivered by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) entirely via telepractice with the potential to increase access to early preventative interventions. We evaluated BBC feasibility based on acceptability, implementation, and practicality. METHOD: We obtained data from 16 parents of infants with CG (mean age at enrollment = 3.38 months) involved in a large randomized clinical trial of BBC. BBC uses a teach-model-coach-review approach to provide parents with strategies to support their child's communication development. Families completed, on average, eighty-one 15-min sessions over a 20-month intervention period. We drew data from surveys completed by parents at the end of the intervention period, intervention logs maintained by the SLPs, and intervention fidelity checks completed by research assistants. RESULTS: Data drawn from parent surveys, intervention logs, and intervention fidelity checks revealed high parent acceptability, high rates of completion and compliance, and low costs in terms of parent and clinician time. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that BBC is feasible for families of infants with CG, warranting further examination of BBC across a broader range of children with CG as well as other infants who are at predictable risk for speech and language impairment.

Caregiver-Implemented Communication Interventions for Children Identified as Having Language Impairment 0 Through 48 Months of Age: A Scoping Review.

PURPOSE: Caregiver-implemented interventions are frequently used to support the early communication of young children with language impairment. Although there are numerous studies and meta-analyses supporting their use, there is a need to better understand the intervention approaches and identify potential gaps in the research base. With that premise, we conducted a scoping review to synthesize existing data with an end goal of informing future research directions. METHOD: We identified relevant studies by comprehensively searching four databases. After deduplication, we screened 5,703 studies. We required included studies (N = 59) to evaluate caregiver-implemented communication interventions and include at least one caregiver communication outcome measure. We extracted information related to the (a) study, child, and caregiver characteristics; (b) intervention components (e.g., strategies taught, delivery method and format, and dosage); and (c) caregiver and child outcome measures (e.g., type, quality, and level of evidence). RESULTS: We synthesized results by age group of the child participants. There were no studies with children in the prenatal through 11-month-old age range identified in our review that yielded a caregiver language outcome measure with promising or compelling evidence. For the 12- through 23-month group, there were seven studies, which included eight communication intervention groups; for the 24- through 35-month group, there were 21 studies, which included 26 intervention groups; and for the 36- through 48-month group, there were 21 studies, which included 23 intervention groups. Across studies and age groups, there was considerable variability in the reporting of study characteristics, intervention approaches, and outcome measures. CONCLUSION: Our scoping review highlights important research gaps and inconsistencies in study reporting that should be addressed in future investigations. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.20289195.

Parent education to improve early language development: A preliminary evaluation of LENA StartTM.

Parents play an important role in creating home language environments that promote language development. A nonequivalent group design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based implementation of LENA Start™, a parent-training program aimed at increasing the quantity of adult words (AWC) and conversational turns (CT). Parent-child dyads participated in LENA Start™ (n = 39) or a generic parent education program (n = 17). Overall, attendance and engagement in the LENA StartTM program were high: 72% of participants met criteria to graduate from the program. Within-subject gains were positive for LENA Start™ families. Comparison families declined on these measures. However, both effects were non-significant. Between-group analyses revealed small to medium-sized effects favoring LENA Start™ and these were significant for child vocalizations (CV) and CT but not AWC. These results provide preliminary evidence that programs like LENA StartTM can be embedded in community-based settings to promote quality parent-child language interactions.

Using Computerized Language Analysis to Evaluate Grammatical Skills.

Purpose Conducting in-depth grammatical analyses based on language samples can be time consuming. Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) and the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) analyses provide detailed information regarding the grammatical profiles of children and can be conducted using free computer-based software. Here, we provide a tutorial to support clinicians' use of computer-based analyses to aid diagnosis and develop and monitor treatment goals. Method We analyzed language samples of a 5-year-old with developmental language disorder and an adolescent with Down syndrome using computer-based software, Computerized Language Analysis. We focused on DSS and IPSyn analyses. The tutorial includes step-by-step procedures for conducting the analyses. We also illustrate how the analyses may be used to assist in diagnosis, develop treatment goals focused on grammatical targets, and monitor progress on these treatment goals. Conclusion Clinicians should consider using Computerized Language Analysis's IPSyn and DSS analyses to support grammatical language assessments used to aid diagnosis, develop treatment goals, and monitor progress on these treatment goals. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12021141.

Linguistic Maze Production by Children and Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Purpose Previous investigations reveal that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) produce elevated rates of linguistic mazes (i.e., filled pauses, repetitions, revisions, and/or abandoned utterances) in expressive language samples (Redmond, 2004). The current study aimed to better understand maze use of children and adolescents with ADHD with a focus on the specific maze types produced in different language sampling contexts based on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2; Lord et al., 2012). Method Participants included twenty-five 4- to 13-year-olds with a confirmed diagnosis of ADHD. Each participant completed the ADOS to provide narrative and conversational language samples. Research assistants transcribed at least 100 utterances from the ADOS using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (Miller & Chapman, 2000) conventions. Dependent variables included the rates of repetitions, revisions, filled pauses, content mazes (Thordardottir & Ellis Weismer, 2002), and stalls (Rispoli, 2003; Rispoli, Hadley, & Holt, 2008) produced in narrative and conversational portions of the ADOS. Results In the full sample, participants produced a significantly greater rate of revisions than filled pauses (p = .01) and repetitions (p < .01). Participants also produced a significantly lower rate of filled pauses than content mazes (p < .01). Across contexts, participants produced a higher rate of filled pauses in conversational versus narrative contexts. Age was positively correlated with revisions and content mazes. Mean length of utterance was positively correlated with revisions, repetitions, and context mazes. Expressive language ability was positively correlated with filled pauses and stalls. Conclusion The children and adolescents in our sample demonstrated a unique profile of maze use. Sampling context had a limited influence on maze use, whereas maze use was impacted by age, mean length of utterance, and expressive language ability. Study findings highlight the importance of analyzing maze types separately rather than as a single category.

Requests for Communication Repair Produced by Typically Developing Preschool-Age Children.

Purpose When breakdowns in communication occur, children may request a repair to increase understanding of the message. Unrepaired communication breakdowns may cause confusions, limit conversational exchanges, and restrict children's learning opportunities. Relatively little is known regarding the conditions under which children produce repair requests. Thus, this study examined the verbal communication repair requests produced by typically developing children and evaluated the relationship between children's repair requests and performance on a theory of mind task. Method Participants included 25 typically developing 4-year-old children who completed standardized, norm-referenced assessments of their expressive language, receptive language, and IQ; a theory of mind task; and a shared book reading task. In the shared book reading task, the examiner elicited child repair requests using questions and statements that contained insufficient information. Results Participants produced a statistically significant greater number of repair requests when presented with questions with insufficient information compared to statements with insufficient information ( p < .001). There were no differences in total repair requests between participants who passed or failed the theory of mind task ( p = .45). Conclusion Among preschool-age children, the shared book reading task provided a naturalistic medium that facilitated the examination of children's repair requests. Results from this study provide baseline information to which the repair requests produced by other populations, such as children with autism spectrum disorder, can be compared.

Evaluation of an Explicit Instructional Approach to Teach Grammatical Forms to Children With Low-Symptom Severity Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Purpose Weaknesses in the use of grammatical forms may reduce the functional use of language for verbally expressive children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and exacerbate difficulties with academic and social skill development. This early efficacy study evaluated a combined explicit-implicit instructional approach to teach novel grammatical forms to children with ASD. Method Seventeen children with ASD between the ages of 4 and 10 years who demonstrated weaknesses in expressive grammatical language completed 2 tasks, each targeting a different novel grammatical form. One form was a gender marking, which required the child to modify the verb if the sentence subject was a boy. The other form was a person marking, which required the child to modify the verb if the sentence subject was the 1st person, "I." Each form was targeted using implicit-only instruction or combined explicit-implicit instruction. With implicit-only instruction, the examiner presented models and recasts of the targeted form. With explicit-implicit instruction, the examiner presented the rule guiding the form as well as models and recasts. Learning was assessed during each of 4 treatment sessions and after a 1-week delay in 2 contexts. Results For the gender target form, significantly more children reliably produced the target form with explicit-implicit instruction (χ2 = 4.10, p = .04). For the person target form, the difference in instruction was not statistically significant. Task performance revealed a positive association with receptive language skills, but not age, nonverbal intelligence, or severity of autism-related behaviors for the person form. Conclusion This study provides preliminary evidence that expressively verbal children with low-symptom severity ASD can successfully learn novel grammatical forms with intervention that comprises both explicit and implicit instruction.

Current Practice of Child Grammar Intervention: A Survey of Speech-Language Pathologists.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to better understand current grammatical intervention approaches. Despite grammatical language being a common weakness among children with language impairment, relatively little is known about current grammatical intervention practices of speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Such information is needed to guide the development and evaluation of grammatical interventions and to identify areas in which the current practice is not empirically supported. Method: Participants included 338 SLPs working primarily with children. Participants completed an online survey regarding their implementation of nine different grammatical intervention components, including goals, procedures, dosage, agents, contexts, goal attack strategies, service delivery models, activities, and outcome measurements. Participants also indicated how they would alter the intervention setting and dosage if resources were unlimited. Results: We grouped participants based on the ages of children that represent the largest percentage of their caseload resulting in an early education group (n = 114) and an elementary group (n = 224). We aggregated responses from each question to gain an estimate of current implementation practices associated with each intervention component queried. Conclusions: This study provides general guidelines of current clinical practices to help guide research on grammatical interventions for children and to promote successful translation and implementations of evidence-based treatment approaches. Results may also help clinicians and researchers better understand misalignments between empirically supported intervention approaches and current approaches for treating grammatical weaknesses.

Evaluation of an Explicit Intervention to Teach Novel Grammatical Forms to Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose: Unlike traditional implicit approaches used to improve grammatical forms used by children with developmental language disorder, explicit instruction aims to make the learner consciously aware of the underlying language pattern. In this study, we compared the efficacy of an explicit approach to an implicit approach when teaching 3 novel grammatical forms varying in linguistic complexity. Method: The study included twenty-five 5- to 8-year-old children with developmental language disorder, 13 of whom were randomized to receive an implicit-only (I-O) intervention whereas the remaining 12 participants were randomized to receive a combined explicit-implicit (E-I) intervention to learn 3 novel grammatical forms. On average, participants completed 4.5 teaching sessions for each form across 9 days. Acquisition was assessed during each teaching session. Approximately 9 days posttreatment for each form, participants completed probes to assess maintenance and generalization. Results: Analyses revealed a meaningful and statistically significant learning advantage for the E-I group on acquisition, maintenance, and generalization measures when performance was collapsed across the 3 novel targets (p < .02, Φs > 0.60). Significant differences between the groups, with the E-I group outperforming the I-O group, only emerged for 1 of the 3 target forms. However, all effect sizes ranged from medium to large (Φs = 0.25-0.76), and relative risk calculations all exceeded 0, indicating a greater likelihood of learning the target form with E-I instruction than I-O instruction. Conclusions: Study findings indicate that, as compared to implicit instruction, children are more likely to acquire, maintain, and generalize novel grammatical forms when taught with explicit instruction. Further research is needed to evaluate the use of explicit instruction when teaching true grammatical forms to children with language impairment.

Reporting child language sampling procedures.

PURPOSE: Despite the long history of language sampling use in the study of child language development and disorders, there are no set guidelines specifying the reporting of language sampling procedures. The authors propose reporting standards for use by investigators who employ language samples in their research. METHOD: The authors conducted a literature search of child-focused studies published in journals of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association between January 2000 and December 2011 that included language sampling procedures to help characterize child participants or to derive measures to serve as dependent variables. Following this search, they reviewed each study and documented the language sampling procedures reported. RESULTS: The authors' synthesis revealed that approximately 25% of all child-focused studies use language samples to help characterize participants and/or derive dependent variables. They found remarkable inconsistencies in the reporting of language sampling procedures. CONCLUSION: To maximize the conclusions drawn from research using language samples, the authors strongly encourage investigators of child language to consistently report language sampling procedures using the proposed reporting checklist.

Language learning of children with typical development using a deductive metalinguistic procedure.

PURPOSE In the current study, the author aimed to determine whether 4- to 6-year-old typically developing children possess requisite problem-solving and language abilities to produce, generalize, and retain a novel verb inflection when taught using an explicit, deductive teaching procedure. METHOD Study participants included a cross-sectional sample of 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children with typical cognitive and language development. The 66 participants were randomly assigned to either a deductive or inductive teaching condition in which they were taught a novel gender morphological inflection across 4 sessions. Learning was assessed on the basis of performance on learning, generalization, and maintenance probes. RESULTS Across all age groups, children were more likely to successfully use the novel gender form when taught using the deductive procedure than if taught using the inductive procedure (Φ range: .33-.73). Analyses within each age group revealed a robust effect for the 5-year-old children, with less consistent effects across the other age groups. CONCLUSIONS Study results suggest that 4- to 6-year-old children with typical language and cognitive abilities are able to make use of a deductive language teaching procedure when learning a novel gender inflection. Evidence also suggests that this effect is driven by expressive and receptive language ability.

Discriminating Down Syndrome and Fragile X syndrome based on language ability.

ABSTRACT This study compared the receptive and expressive language profiles of verbally expressive children and adolescents with Down Syndrome (DS) and those with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and examined the extent to which these profiles reliably differentiate the diagnostic groups. A total of twenty-four verbal participants with DS (mean age: 12 years), twenty-two verbal participants with FXS (mean age: 12 years), and twenty-seven participants with typical development (TD; mean age = 4 years) completed standardized measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary and grammar, as well as a conversational language sample. Study results indicate that there are distinct DS and FXS language profiles, which are characterized by differences in grammatical ability. The diagnostic groups were not differentiated based on vocabulary performance. This study supports the existence of unique language profiles associated with DS and FXS.

Macrostructural narrative language of adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome or fragile X syndrome.

PURPOSE: To gain a better understanding of language abilities, the expressive macrostructural narrative language abilities of verbally expressive adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome (DS) and those with fragile X syndrome (FXS) were examined. METHOD: The authors evaluated 24 adolescents and young adults with DS, 12 male adolescents and young adults with FXS, and 21 younger children with typical development (TD). Narrative samples were assessed at the macrostructural level using the narrative scoring scheme (Heilmann, Miller, Nockerts, & Dunaway, 2010). Three group comparisons were made using (a) the full sample matched on nonverbal mental age, (b) a subset of the participants individually matched on nonverbal mental age, and (c) a subset of participants individually matched on mean length of utterance. RESULTS: Study analyses revealed that the DS and FXS groups significantly outperformed the TD group on a limited number of narrative scoring scheme measures. No significant differences emerged between the DS and FXS groups. CONCLUSIONS: The study's results suggest that some aspects of macrostructural narrative language may be relative strengths for adolescents and young adults with DS and those with FXS. These results can be used to create more nuanced and informed approaches to assessment and intervention for these populations.

Expressive language profiles of verbally expressive adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome or fragile X syndrome.

PURPOSE: In this study, the authors examined the expressive language abilities of a subset of highly verbally expressive adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome (DS) and those with fragile X syndrome (FXS) for evidence of syndrome-related differences. FXS gender differences were also examined in an exploratory fashion. METHOD: The authors evaluated 24 adolescents and young adults with DS, 17 adolescents and young adults with FXS, and 21 children with typical development (TD), with the groups matched on nonverbal mental age. Language ability was examined using the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS; Carrow-Woolfolk, 1995) and Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS; Lee, 1974) scores derived from an oral narrative language sample. RESULTS: Study analyses revealed the following group differences: The FXS group outperformed the DS and TD groups on the OWLS measure; the TD group outperformed both other groups on some of the DSS measures; the FXS group outperformed the DS group on the DSS Sentence Point measure; and females with FXS outperformed males with FXS on several measures. CONCLUSIONS: Results contribute to the ongoing construction of the language phenotypes of individuals with DS and individuals with FXS and support the conclusion that there are quantitative rather than qualitative differences in their expressive language profiles.