Impact of Cognitive Impairment and Dysarthria on Spoken Language in Multiple Sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of cognitive impairment on spoken language produced by speakers with multiple sclerosis (MS) with and without dysarthria. METHOD: Sixty speakers comprised operationally defined groups. Speakers produced a spontaneous speech sample to obtain speech timing measures of speech rate, articulation rate, and silent pause frequency and duration. Twenty listeners judged the overall perceptual severity of the samples using a visual analog scale that ranged from no impairment to severe impairment (speech severity). A 2 × 2 factorial design examined main and interaction effects of dysarthria and cognitive impairment on speech timing measures and speech severity in individuals with MS. Each speaker group with MS was further compared to a healthy control group. Exploratory regression analyses examined relationships between cognitive and biopsychosocial variables and speech timing measures and perceptual judgments of speech severity, for speakers with MS. RESULTS: Speech timing was significantly slower for speakers with dysarthria compared to speakers with MS without dysarthria. Silent pause durations also significantly differed for speakers with both dysarthria and cognitive impairment compared to MS speakers without either impairment. Significant interactions between dysarthria and cognitive factors revealed comorbid dysarthria and cognitive impairment contributed to slowed speech rates in MS, whereas dysarthria alone impacted perceptual judgments of speech severity. Speech severity was strongly related to pause duration. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest the nature in which dysarthria and cognitive symptoms manifest in objective, acoustic measures of speech timing and perceptual judgments of severity is complex.

Core-Shell {Mn7⊂(Mn,Cd)12} Assembled from Core {Mn7} Disc.

Postsynthetic decoration of the Mn7, {MnIII⊂MnII6}, core with CdII in the outer shell to form the next generation Mn13Cd6, {MnIII⊂MnIII3MnII3⊂ MnII6CdII6}, core-shell disc was achieved and confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The formation of Mn13Cd6 has only been successful with CdII and if the Cd salt is added within the first half hour window when the inner Mn7 has formed. EDX and ICP-AES gave the accurate content and confirm the average found by X-ray diffraction. HR-ESI-MS was even more precise by revealing three prominent molecular species, Mn13Cd6, Mn14Cd5 and Mn15Cd4, having a distribution of metals. The presence of nonmagnetic metal on the periphery reduces the exchange between these clusters as well as the low magnetic moment decreases the dipolar interaction resulting in a paramagnet compared to the ferrimagnetism found for the parent Mn19, {MnIII⊂MnIII3MnII3⊂MnII12}, disc. This study opens the way for the syntheses of heterometallic core-shell clusters in a controllable fashion.

Two Unprecedented POM-Based Inorganic-Organic Hybrids with Concomitant Heteropolytungstate and Molybdate.

Two novel POM-based inorganic-organic hybrids, [Cu6II(2,2'-bipy)6(Mo6O22)(SiW12O40)]n (1), and {[Cu6II(ppz)6(H2O)5(MoO4)(SiW12O40)]·4H2O}n (2) (2,2'-bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine, Hppz = 3-(pyrid-2-yl)pyrazole), have been constructed from heteropolytungstates and molybdates. Two compounds have been identified by single crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, and FT-IR. Compound 1 shows a 1D (one-dimensional) chain structure constructed from classical Keggin heteropolytungstate [SiW12O40]4- clusters and [Cu6(2,2'-bipy)6] modified isopolymolybdates [Mo6O22]8-. Compound 2 also represents a 1D chain-like motif built from classical Keggin heteropolytungstate [SiW12O40]4- clusters and [Cu8(ppz)6(H2O)5] modified molybdates MoO42-. Compound 1 represents the first example of POM-based inorganic-organic hybrid with mixed heteropolytungstates and isopolymolybdates. ESI-MS (electrospray ionization mass spectrometry) technique was employed to reveal the species and their evolutions in the hydrothermal reaction, whereby trivacant [SiW9] building block gradually transforms to classical Keggin [SiW12] during assembly process. Furthermore, the electrocatalytic and magnetic properties were discussed in details.

Heptanuclear CoII5CoIII2 Cluster as Efficient Water Oxidation Catalyst.

Inspired by the transition-metal-oxo cubical Mn4CaO5 in photosystem II, we herein report a disc-like heptanuclear mixed-valent cobalt cluster, [CoII5CoIII2(mdea)4(N3)2(CH3CN)6(OH)2(H2O)2·4ClO4] (1, H2mdea = N-methyldiethanolamine), for photocatalytic oxygen evolution. The topology of the Co7 core resembles a small piece of cobaltate protected by terminal H2O, N3-, CH3CN, and multidentate N-methyldiethanolamine at the periphery. Under the optimal photocatalytic conditions, 1 exhibits water oxidation activity with a turnover number (TON) of 210 and a turnover frequency (TOFinitial) of 0.23 s-1. Importantly, electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was used to not only identify the possible main active species in the water oxidation reaction but also monitor the evolutions of oxidation states of cobalt during the photocatalytic reactions. These results shed light on the design concept of new water oxidation catalysts and mechanism-related issues such as the key active intermediate and oxidation state evolution in the oxygen evolution process. The magnetic properties of 1 were also discussed in detail.

A Pyridazine-Bridged Sandwiched Cluster Incorporating Planar Hexanuclear Cobalt Ring and Bivacant Phosphotungstate.

A planar hexanuclear cobalt ring was clamped by two bivacant α1-[PW10O37](9-) with the assistance of the pyridazine bridges to form a novel sandwiched Co(II)-polyoxometalate cluster compound, [Na(H2O)6][Co3(OH) (pydz)4(H2O)7][Co6(PW10O37)2(pydz)4(H2O)6]·43H2O (1; pydz = pyridazine).This cluster was identified by X-ray single-crystal diffraction, elemental analysis, Fourier transform IR and UV-visible spectroscopies, and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Structural analysis reveals that 1 comprises a hexahydrated sodium, a trinuclear [Co3(OH) (pydz)4(H2O)7](5+) cationic cluster, and an anionic [Co6(PW10O37)2(pydz)4(H2O)6](6-) sandwiched cluster, thus giving an intrinsical intercluster compound. The isolation of such cluster was dependent on the in situ transformation of trivacant [α-P2W15O56](12-) to α1-[PW10O37](9-) under the hydrothermal condition. The CV shows reversible multielectron waves from the redox of W(VI) in 1. Cluster 1 exhibits remarkable electrocatalytic activity toward the reduction of nitrite. Magnetism studies indicated a weak anti-ferromagnetic exchange interaction between Co(II) ions within 1.

Using Language Sample Analysis in Clinical Practice: Measures of Grammatical Accuracy for Identifying Language Impairment in Preschool and School-Aged Children.

This article reviews the existing literature on the diagnostic accuracy of two grammatical accuracy measures for differentiating children with and without language impairment (LI) at preschool and early school age based on language samples. The first measure, the finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), is a narrow grammatical measure that computes children's overall accuracy of four verb tense morphemes. The second measure, percent grammatical utterances (PGU), is a broader grammatical measure that computes children's accuracy in producing grammatical utterances. The extant studies show that FVMC demonstrates acceptable (i.e., 80 to 89% accurate) to good (i.e., 90% accurate or higher) diagnostic accuracy for children between 4;0 (years;months) and 6;11 in conversational or narrative samples. In contrast, PGU yields acceptable to good diagnostic accuracy for children between 3;0 and 8;11 regardless of sample types. Given the diagnostic accuracy shown in the literature, we suggest that FVMC and PGU can be used as one piece of evidence for identifying children with LI in assessment when appropriate. However, FVMC or PGU should not be used as therapy goals directly. Instead, when children are low in FVMC or PGU, we suggest that follow-up analyses should be conducted to determine the verb tense morphemes or grammatical structures that children have difficulty with.

Robust Cluster Building Unit: Icosanuclear Heteropolyoxocopperate Templated by Carbonate.

The encapsulation of carbonate derived from atmospheric CO2 has resulted in an icosanuclear heteropolyoxocopperate, isolated as a metal-organic 1D chain, 2D sheet, or 3D framework, in which the Cu20 nanocluster represents the first eight-capped α-Keggin polyoxometalate with the late-transition-metal Cu(II) as the polyatom, CO3(2-) as the heteroanion, and OH(-) and suc(2-) or glu(2-) (H2suc=succinic acid; H2glu=glutaric acid) as the terminal ligands, which suggests a conceptual similarity to classical polyoxometalates. Even in the presence of competitive SO4(2-) in the assembly system, the CO3(2-) anion is still captured as a template to direct the formation of the Cu20 nanocluster, which indicates the stronger templation ability of CO3(2-) compared with SO4(2-). When other aliphatic dicarboxylates, such as glutaric acid, were used as ligands, the CO3(2-)-templated Cu20 nanocluster was maintained and acted as a cluster building unit (CBU) to be linked by two glutarate bridges to generate a distinct 1D metal-organic chain. This report presents not only a rare example of a huge anion-templated transition-metal cluster, but also its use as a robust CBU to construct novel coordination architectures. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility studies revealed that an antiferromagnetic interaction exists within the Cu20 nanocluster. The correlation between the coordination structure and the electron paramagnetic resonance spectra recorded of both powder and single-crystal samples are discussed in detail.

Validating the Use of Percent Grammatical Utterances for Assessing Mandarin-Speaking Children's Grammatical Skill: Evidence From 3-Year-Olds.

PURPOSE: The study examined the use of percent grammatical utterances (PGUs) for assessing grammatical skills in Mandarin-speaking 3-year-old children. METHOD: Participants were 30 Mandarin-speaking 3-year-olds with typical development. Language samples were collected in two visits for each child using a picture description task. Children were asked to talk about 16 pictures in response to questions and prompts at each visit. Pictures for the language sample collection were identical across the visits. PGUs were computed, and the grammatical errors that children produced in the task were coded and tallied for error types at each visit. Test-retest reliability, split-half reliability, and concurrent criterion validity of PGUs were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean PGU level was approximately 78% at Visit 1 and 81% at Visit 2, both of which were significantly below the mastery level (i.e., 90%). The correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability of PGU was large (r = .70, p < .01); the correlation coefficient for split-half reliability was medium at Visit 1 (r = .47, p < .01) and large (r = .65, p < .01) at Visit 2. In addition, the correlation coefficient for concurrent criterion validity of PGU was medium for both visits (rs ≥ .35, ps ≤ .03). The ranking and proportion of each error type were similar between the visits. CONCLUSION: The initial evidence from psychometric properties suggests that PGU computed from the picture description task is a reliable and valid measure for evaluating grammatical skills in Mandarin-speaking 3-year-old children. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25395499.

The Contribution of Noun and Verb Lexicon Sizes to Later Grammatical Outcomes in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants.

PURPOSE: The present study evaluated the applicability of the sentence-focused framework to Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) by examining the relative contribution of receptive/expressive noun and verb lexicon sizes to later grammatical complexity. METHOD: Participants were 51 Mandarin-speaking children who received cochlear implantation before 30 months of age. At 12 months after CI activation, parents were asked to endorse words that their child could understand only or understand and say using the infant version of the Early Vocabulary Inventory. At 24 months after CI activation, parents were asked to endorse the grammatical structures that their children were able to say using the Grammatical Complexity subtest in the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory-Taiwan. Children's receptive/expressive noun and verb lexicon sizes and grammatical complexity scores were computed from these parent checklists. RESULTS: Correlational analyses showed that children's receptive/expressive noun and verb lexicon sizes at 12 months after CI activation were all highly correlated with their grammatical complexity scores at 24 months after CI activation (ρs = .52-.63, ps < .001). Regression analyses further revealed that verb lexicon sizes at 12 months after CI activation outweighed noun lexicon sizes in accounting for grammatical complexity at 24 months after CI activation. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings supported the prediction of the sentence-focused framework. Emphasizing the role of verbs in early intervention has the potential to enhance grammatical outcomes in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.26129044.

Downregulation of peripheral luteinizing hormone rescues ovariectomy-associated cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 mice.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is more prevalent in women than men, supposing due to the decline of estrogens in menopause, accompanied by increased gonadotropins such as luteinizing hormone (LH). We and others found that the transcription factor early growth response-1 (EGR1) regulates cholinergic function including the expression of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and plays a significant role in cognitive decline of AD. Here we investigated in APP/PS1 mice by ovariectomy (OVX) and estradiol (E2) supplementation or inhibition of LH the effect on hippocampus-related cognition and related molecular changes. We found that OVX-associated cognitive impairment was accompanied by increased dorsal hippocampal EGR1 expression, which was rescued by downregulating peripheral LH rather than by supplementing E2. We also found in postmortem AD brains a higher expression of pituitary LH-mRNA and higher EGR1 expression in the posterior hippocampus. Both, in human and mice, there was a significant positive correlation between respectively posterior/dorsal hippocampal EGR1 and peripheral LH expression. We conclude that peripheral increased LH and increased posterior hippocampal EGR1 plays a significant role in AD pathology.

Consonant development in pediatric cochlear implant users who were implanted before 30 months of age.

This study provided a yearly record of consonant development for the initial 4 years of cochlear implant (CI) use and established a precedent for using a standardized articulation test, the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation-2 (Goldman, R., & Fristoe, M. [2000]. Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation-2. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Services). The study used CI age as a referent for 32 children who received their CI before 30 months of age. Consonants produced by 70% of the children were listed, as were the most common error types, which were consonant omissions and substitutions. Using consonant repertoire lists and standard scores, the study revealed that children with CIs had acquisition patterns that were similar to their peers when the duration of CI experience was similar to the chronological age norms of typically developing children. The results revealed that CI users need time to coordinate their articulatory organizing principles with the input they receive from their CI. It is appropriate to use length of CI use as a proxy for chronological age during the first 4 years when comparing articulation development with hearing peers.

Acquisition of tense marking in English-speaking children with cochlear implants: a longitudinal study.

This study investigated the development of tense markers (e.g., past tense -ed) in children with cochlear implants (CIs) over a 3-year span. Nine children who received CIs before 30 months of age participated in this study at three, four, and five years postimplantation. Nine typical 3-, 4-, and 5-year- olds served as control groups. All children participated in a story-retell task. Percent correct of tense marking in the task was computed. Within the groups, percent correct of tense marking changed significantly in children with CIs and in typical children who had more hearing experience. Across the groups, children with CIs were significantly less accurate in tense marking than typical children at four and five years postimplantation. In addition, the performance of tense marking in children with CIs was correlated with their speech perception skills at earlier time points. Errors of tense marking tended to be omission rather than commission errors in typical children as well as in children with CIs. The findings suggested that despite the perceptual and processing constraints, children who received CIs may learn tense marking albeit with a delayed pattern.

Effect of Predicate Types on the Production of Copula "Is" in 2-Year-Old Children Who Speak General American English.

PURPOSE: Prior work has shown that subject types affected the production of copula BE in young children who spoke General American English (GAE). However, the role of predicate types on the production of copula BE remains unclear. This study examined how predicate types affected the production of copula "is" in young GAE-speaking children. METHOD: Seventeen 2-year-old children with typical language development who spoke GAE were included in this study. Children's production rate of copula "is" in sentences with nominal (e.g., The dog is a king ), permanent-adjectival (e.g., The dog is white ), temporary-adjectival (e.g., The dog is very hot ), or locative (e.g., The dog is outside ) predicates was examined using an elicited repetition task. RESULTS: Two-year-old children who spoke GAE were more likely to repeat copula "is" correctly with nominal, permanent-adjectival, and temporary-adjectival predicates than with locative predicates after sentence length was controlled. There were no other significant differences between predicate types. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, locative predicates are the least facilitative for the production of copula "is" as compared to other predicate types. Predicate types, especially locative predicates, should be considered when the clinician creates sentences to evaluate the production of copula BE and to provide intervention for GAE-speaking children. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.22630726.

Evaluating Different Scoring Systems for a Picture Description Task Among Preschool Children Who Speak African American English.

PURPOSE: Measures of grammatical accuracy are effective measures of children's language skills. However, many measures, such as percent grammatical utterances, were developed for children who speak General American English (GAE) and, therefore, may not be appropriate for students who speak other dialects. This study examines different scoring systems for a picture description task to explore the impact of different systems for children who speak African American English (AAE). METHOD: Eighteen preschool-age children who speak AAE completed a play-based language sample and a picture description task. The Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) was calculated for the play-based language samples and used as the reference measure. The picture description task was scored using four scoring systems: an expansive AAE scoring system, a GAE scoring system, and two strategic scoring systems. Scores were compared for each scoring system, and correlations between IPSyn scores and picture description scores were conducted. RESULTS: Scores on the picture description task were highest in the expansive AAE scoring system, followed by scores in the strategic scoring systems, all of which were higher than scores in the GAE scoring system. There was a significant correlation between IPSyn scores and picture description scores when using the GAE scoring system and the strategic scoring systems, but not when using the expansive AAE scoring system. CONCLUSIONS: Different scoring systems affect AAE-speaking preschoolers' scores on measures of grammatical accuracy, and the use of an expansive AAE scoring system, based on lists of nonmainstream features, may diminish the ability to differentiate between children with different ability levels. Future research is needed to refine scoring systems and to explore the validity of different scoring systems for detecting differences between preschoolers who speak AAE, with and without developmental language disorder. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21498618.

Noun and Verb Lexicons Differentially Predict Later Grammatical Development in Mandarin-Speaking Children With and Without Late Language Emergence.

PURPOSE: The current investigation evaluated the extent to which early noun, verb, and adjective lexicon sizes predicted later grammatical outcomes in Mandarin-speaking children with and without late language emergence (LLE) using a parent report. METHOD: In Study 1, the parents of 24 Mandarin-speaking children with typical language filled out the toddler version of Mandarin-Chinese Communicative Development Inventory-Taiwan (MCDI-T) when these children were 24 and 36 months old. In Study 2, the parents of 23 children with LLE completed the same form when these children were 24, 36, and 48 months old. Noun, verb, and adjective lexicon sizes and grammatical complexity scores were computed from the MCDI-T form for each child. RESULTS: Study 1 showed that verb lexicon size, but not noun or adjective lexicon size, at 24 months predicted grammatical complexity scores at 36 months for children with typical language. Study 2 revealed that noun lexicon size, but not verb or adjective lexicon size, at 24 months predicted grammatical complexity scores at 36 months for children with LLE. Noun lexicon size at 36 months was also the only significant predictor for grammatical complexity scores at 48 months in children with LLE. CONCLUSIONS: Noun and verb lexicon size differentially predicted later grammatical outcomes in young Mandarin-speaking children with and without LLE. The finding suggested that children with LLE may have approached grammatical learning differently from their typical peers due to the small verb lexicon size in the early phase of language development.

Characteristics of Early Expressive Vocabulary in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to evaluate whether Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) demonstrated early lexical composition similar to their hearing peers who were at the same vocabulary level and the extent to which children with CIs were sensitive to linguistic and conceptual properties when developing early lexicon. METHOD: Participants were 77 Mandarin-speaking children with CIs who received CIs before 30 months of age. Their expressive vocabulary was documented using the Infant Checklist of the Early Vocabulary Inventory for Mandarin Chinese 9 or 12 months after CI activation. Percent social words, common nouns, predicates (verbs, adjectives), and closed-class words in total vocabulary were computed for children at different vocabulary levels. Common nouns and verbs were further coded for their word class (noun, verb), word frequency, word length, and imageability to predict how likely a given noun or verb would be produced by children with CIs. RESULTS: Like children with typical hearing, social words were the most dominant category when vocabulary size in children with CIs was smaller than 20 words; common nouns became the most dominant category when the vocabulary size reached 21 words. The difference in percent common nouns and percent predicates (i.e., noun bias) was similar in children with CIs and their hearing peers. In addition, verbs, common words, monosyllabic words, and more imageable words were more likely to be produced by children with CIs than their counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Mandarin children with CIs showed language-specific patterns in early lexical composition like their hearing peers. They were able to use multiple linguistic and conceptual cues when approaching early expressive vocabulary despite perceptual and processing constraints. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21357723.

Vocabulary Growth in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Bilateral Cochlear Implants, Bimodal Stimulation, or Unilateral Cochlear Implants During the First Year After Activation.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate vocabulary development in Mandarin-speaking children with bilateral cochlear implants (CIs), bimodal stimulation (CI plus hearing aids [HAs]), or unilateral CIs during the first year after CI activation. METHOD: Participants included 23 children with simultaneous bilateral CIs, 23 children with bimodal stimulation, and 15 children with unilateral CIs. They all received CIs before 30 months of age. Parents were asked to endorse words that their child could understand only or understand and say using the Early Vocabulary Inventory for Mandarin Chinese at the day of CI activation and 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after CI activation. Receptive and expressive vocabulary sizes were computed. RESULTS: Growth curve analysis revealed that children with simultaneous bilateral CIs demonstrated faster growth of receptive vocabulary than those with bimodal stimulation, followed by those with unilateral CIs. Moreover, children with simultaneous bilateral CIs reached the 100-word mark for receptive vocabulary earlier than children with bimodal stimulation, followed by those with unilateral CIs. There were no significant differences among the three groups in expressive vocabulary. CONCLUSIONS: Bilateral CIs have an advantage over bimodal stimulation in early receptive vocabulary development in Mandarin, a tone language. HA usage is still recommended for those who receive one CI.

Clausal Density Between Ages 4 and 9 Years for the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument: Reference Data and Psychometric Properties.

Purpose This study provided reference data and examined psychometric properties for clausal density (CD; i.e., number of clauses per utterance) in children between ages 4 and 9 years from the database of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI). Method Participants in the ENNI database included 300 children with typical language (TL) and 77 children with language impairment (LI) between the ages of 4;0 (years;months) and 9;11. Narrative samples were collected using a story generation task, in which children were asked to tell stories based on six picture sequences. CD was computed from the narrative samples. The split-half reliability, concurrent criterion validity, and diagnostic accuracy were evaluated for CD by age. Results CD scores increased significantly between ages 4 and 9 years in children with TL and those with LI. Children with TL produced higher CD scores than those with LI at each age level. In addition, the correlation coefficients for the split-half reliability and concurrent criterion validity of CD scores were all significant at each age level, with the magnitude ranging from small to large. The diagnostic accuracy of CD scores, as revealed by sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios, was poor. Conclusions The finding on diagnostic accuracy did not support the use of CD for identifying children with LI between ages 4 and 9 years. However, given the attested reliability and validity for CD, reference data of CD from the ENNI database can be used for evaluating children's difficulties with complex syntax and monitoring their change over time. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13172129.

The Contribution of Socioeconomic Status to Children's Performance on Three Grammatical Measures in the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative contribution of socioeconomic status (SES) on three grammatical measures-finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), percent grammatical utterances (PGU), and clausal density-in children between the ages of 4 and 9 years. Method Data for this study were from the normative sample in the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. For 359 children, hierarchical linear regression was performed to evaluate the amount of variance in FVMC, PGU, and clausal density that was uniquely explained by SES after accounting for child chronological age and language status (typical, impaired). Results After child age and language status were controlled, SES was a significant predictor of PGU and clausal density scores, but not of FVMC scores. SES uniquely accounted for 0.5% of variance in PGU scores and 0.8% of variance in clausal density scores. Conclusions Consistent with maturational accounts of children's development of tense markers, results of this study offer evidence that, among grammatical measures, FVMC is uniquely robust to variation in SES. Although significant, the variance of PGU and clausal density scores uniquely accounted for by SES was close to minimum. Clinicians can therefore include these three grammatical measures for assessing children of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14810484.

Finite Verb Morphology Composite Between Age 4 and Age 9 for the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument: Reference Data and Psychometric Properties.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to provide reference data and evaluate the psychometric properties for the finite verb morphology composite (FVMC) measure in children between 4 and 9 years of age from the database of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI; Schneider, Dubé, & Hayward, 2005). Method Participants included 377 children between age 4 and age 9, including 300 children with typical language and 77 children with language impairment (LI). Narrative samples were collected using a story generation task. FVMC scores were computed from the samples. Split-half reliability, concurrent criterion validity, and diagnostic accuracy for FVMC were further evaluated. Results Children's performance on FVMC increased significantly between age 4 and age 9 in the typical language and LI groups. Moreover, the correlation coefficients for the split-half reliability and concurrent criterion validity of FVMC were medium to large (rs ≥ .429, ps < .001) at each age level. The diagnostic accuracy of FVMC was good or acceptable from age 4 to age 7, but it dropped to a poor level at age 8 and age 9. Conclusion With the empirical evidence, FVMC is appropriate for identifying children with LI between age 4 and age 7. The reference data of FVMC could also be used for monitoring treatment progress. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.10073183.