The Efficacy of Story Champs for Improving Oral Language in Third-Grade Spanish-English Bilingual Students With Developmental Language Disorder.

PURPOSE: We investigated the efficacy of Story Champs for improving oral language in third-grade Spanish-English bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD). METHOD: We implemented a concurrent multiple-baseline across-participants single-case design with four bilingual Spanish-English third-grade students with DLD. Treatment was carried out over 12 sessions with approximately two sessions per week. Maintenance sessions were conducted 1, 2, and 4 weeks postintervention. Participants were explicitly taught story grammar elements, causal and temporal connections, and modifiers within story retells and personal narratives. Dependent variables were story grammar, grammatical complexity, modifiers and listening comprehension within story retells, and story grammar and grammatical complexity within personal narratives. Outcome measures were assessed at the end of every baseline, intervention, and maintenance session using the Narrative Language Measures-Listening (NLM-L). RESULTS: Visual analyses for outcome measures suggested slight increases in scores on the NLM-L during intervention accompanied by marked variability. Within-case analyses of story retell performance suggested an intervention effect on story grammar for two participants and on grammatical complexity and modifier use for one participant. For personal narratives, within-case analyses of personal narrative performance suggested an intervention effect on story grammar for one participant. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, Story Champs demonstrated efficacy for improving story grammar use in story retells for three out of four participants. It did not show efficacy for improving grammatical complexity, modifier use, or listening comprehension within story retells, nor did it show efficacy for improving story grammar and grammatical complexity within personal narratives. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.26053033.

Efficacy of the Teaching Early Literacy and Language Curriculum With Preschoolers From Low-Income Families.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of the Teaching Early Literacy and Language (TELL) curriculum package for improving the early literacy and oral language skills of preschoolers from low-income families. METHOD: In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), TELL was implemented in 30 TELL and 28 business-as-usual classrooms. TELL is a Tier 1 whole-class curriculum package that includes a scope and sequence of instruction, lesson plans and materials, high-quality books, curriculum-based measures (CBMs), and professional development training and coaching. RESULTS: Implementation fidelity was high; however, due to COVID-19 school closures, we did not collect end-of-year data for our third cohort of teachers. Results indicated significant TELL effects on all code-related CBMs and two code-related distal measures as well as receptive and expressive vocabulary CBMs. No significant differences were found on distal measures of oral language/vocabulary or listening comprehension. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the present study, paired with findings from an earlier TELL RCT with children with developmental speech and/or language impairments, suggest that children enrolled in TELL classrooms achieve higher outcomes on a variety of code-related and vocabulary measures by the end of their final preschool year. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25345708.

Phonological Working Memory and Sentence Production in School-Age Children with Typical Language, Dyslexia, and Comorbid Dyslexia and Developmental Language Disorder.

PURPOSE: Little is known about the relationship between sentence production and phonological working memory in school-age children. To fill this gap, we examined how strongly these constructs correlate. We also compared diagnostic groups' working memory abilities to see if differences co-occurred with qualitative differences in their sentences. METHOD: We conducted Bayesian analyses on data from seven- to nine-year-old children (n = 165 typical language, n = 81 dyslexia-only, n = 43 comorbid dyslexia and developmental language disorder). We correlated sentence production and working memory scores and conducted t tests between groups' working memory scores and sentence length, lexical diversity, and complexity. RESULTS: Correlations were positive but weak. The dyslexic and typical groups had dissimilar working memory and comparable sentence quality. The dyslexic and comorbid groups had comparable working memory but dissimilar sentence quality. CONCLUSION: Contrary to literature-based predictions, phonological working memory and sentence production are weakly related in school-age children.

Working Memory Predicts New Word Learning Over and Above Existing Vocabulary and Nonverbal IQ.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to use an established model of working memory in children to predict an established model of word learning to determine whether working memory explained word learning variance over and above the contributions of expressive vocabulary and nonverbal IQ. METHOD: One hundred sixty-seven English-speaking second graders (7- to 8-year-olds) with typical development from two states participated. They completed a comprehensive battery of working memory assessments and six word learning tasks that assessed the creation, storage, retrieval, and production of phonological and semantic representations of novel nouns and verbs and the ability to link those representations. RESULTS: A structural equation model with expressive vocabulary, nonverbal IQ, and three working memory factors predicting two word learning factors fit the data well. When working memory factors were entered as predictors after expressive vocabulary and nonverbal IQ, they explained 45% of the variance in the phonological word learning factor and 17% of the variance in the semantic word learning factor. Thus, working memory explained a significant amount of word learning variance over and above expressive vocabulary and nonverbal IQ. CONCLUSION: Results show that working memory is a significant predictor of dynamic word learning over and above the contributions of expressive vocabulary and nonverbal IQ, suggesting that a comprehensive working memory assessment has the potential to identify sources of word learning difficulties and to tailor word learning interventions to a child's working memory strengths and weaknesses. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.19125911.

Phonological working memory and central executive function differ in children with typical development and dyslexia.

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the working memory performance of monolingual English-speaking second- grade children with dyslexia (N = 82) to second-grade children with typical development (N = 167). Prior to making group comparisons, it is important to demonstrate invariance between working memory models in both groups or between-group comparisons would not be valid. Thus, we completed invariance testing using a model of working memory that had been validated for children with typical development (Gray et al., 2017) to see if it was valid for children with dyslexia. We tested three types of invariance: configural (does the model test the same constructs?), metric (are the factor loadings equivalent?), and scalar (are the item intercepts the same?). Group comparisons favoured the children with typical development across all three working memory factors. However, differences in the Focus-of-Attention/Visuospatial factor could be explained by group differences in non-verbal intelligence and language skills. In contrast, differences in the Phonological and Central Executive working memory factors remained, even after accounting for non-verbal intelligence and language. Results highlight the need for researchers and educators to attend not only to the phonological aspects of working memory in children with dyslexia, but also to central executive function.

Phonological Vulnerability for School-Aged Spanish-English-Speaking Bilingual Children.

This study examined accuracy on syllable-final (coda) consonants in newly-learned English-like nonwords to determine whether school-aged bilingual children may be more vulnerable to making errors on English-only codas than their monolingual, English-speaking peers, even at a stage in development when phonological accuracy in productions of familiar words is high. Bilingual Spanish-English-speaking second- graders (age 7-9) with typical development (n=40) were matched individually with monolingual peers on age, sex, and speech skills. Participants learned to name sea monsters as part of five computerized word learning tasks. Dependent t-tests revealed bilingual children were less accurate than monolingual children in producing codas unique to English; however, the groups demonstrated equivalent levels of accuracy on codas that occur in both Spanish and English. Results suggest that, even at high levels of English proficiency, bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children may demonstrate lower accuracy than their monolingual English-speaking peers on targets that pattern differently in their two languages. Differences between a bilingual's two languages can be used to reveal targets that may be more vulnerable to error, which could be a result of cross-linguistic effects or more limited practice with English phonology.

The Process and Product of Coherence Monitoring in Young Readers: Effects of Reader and Text Characteristics.

We examined sixth graders' detection of inconsistencies in narrative and expository passages, contrasting participants who were monolingual speakers (N = 85) or Spanish-English DLLs (N = 94) when recruited in pre-kindergarten (PK). We recorded self-paced reading times and judgments about whether the text made sense, and took an independent measure of word reading. Main findings were that inconsistency detection was better for narratives, for participants who were monolingual speakers in PK, and for those who were better word readers. When the text processing demands were increased by separating the inconsistent sentence and its premise with filler sentences there was a stronger signal for inconsistency detection during reading for better word readers. Reading patterns differed for texts for which children reported an inconsistency compared to those for which they did not, indicating a failure to adequately monitor for coherence while reading. Our performance measures indicate that narrative and expository texts make different demands on readers.

Selective visual attention skills differentially predict decoding and reading comprehension performance across reading ability profiles.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between selective visual attention (SVA), reading decoding, listening comprehension and reading comprehension in children with and without a reading disorder. Methods: We used longitudinal data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. We split children into four groups: Typical Readers, Dyslexics, Poor Comprehenders and Comorbid Reading Disorder. We included measures of single word reading, nonword reading, spelling, phonological processing, vocabulary, receptive language, nonverbal intelligence, selective attention and reading comprehension. We used analysis of variance, correlations and structural equation modelling to examine the relationship between SVA and reading. We fit two possible models: SVA Indirect and SVA Direct. The difference between these models was the inclusion of a direct path from SVA to reading comprehension. Results: We examined an indirect model, where SVA predicted reading comprehension through word decoding and listening comprehension, and a direct model, which included a pathway from SVA to reading comprehension. Based on our analysis of variance and correlation results, we collapsed the Dyslexic, Poor Comprehenders and Comorbid Reading Disorder groups for the structural equation modelling. We found evidence that for Typical Readers, an indirect model was the best fit, whereas the direct model was the best model for children with a reading disorder. Conclusions: Selective visual attention is related to reading comprehension. This relationship differs for children with and without a reading disorder.

Spelling errors reveal underlying sequential and spatial processing deficits in adults with dyslexia.

Recent studies showed that some adults with dyslexia have difficulty processing sequentially arranged information. In a companion study, this deficit manifested as low accuracy during a word pair comparison task involving same/different decisions when two words differed in their letter sequences. This sequential deficit was associated with left/right spatial letter confusion. In the present study, we found the same underlying difficulty with sequential and spatial letter processing during word spelling. Participants were the same 22 adults with dyslexia and 20 age- and gender-matched controls as in the companion study. In the spelling task, sequential error rates were higher in the dyslexia group, compared to the controls. Measures of accuracy of serial letter order during the spelling task and the word comparison task were correlated. Only three participants, each with dyslexia, produced left/right letter reversals during spelling. These were the same participants who produced left/right errors when naming single letters. They also had profound difficulty with sequential and left/right letter processing in the spelling and word comparison tasks, and they had the most severe spelling impairment. We conclude that this pervasive, persistent difficulty with sequential and spatial reversals contributes to a severe dyslexia subtype. In the dyslexia group as a whole, additional and separate sources of errors were underspecified word representations in long-term memory and homophone errors that likely represent language-based deficits in word knowledge. In the participants, these three factors (sequential/spatial letter confusion, underspecified word form representation, language-based deficits) occurred either as single factors or in combination with each other.

Sequential and spatial letter reversals in adults with dyslexia during a word comparison task: demystifying the "was saw" and "db" myths.

Whether sequential and spatial letter reversals characterize dyslexia in children has been unclear, largely due to developmental variability of these errors in children with and without dyslexia. Here we demonstrate both types of reversals for the first time in adults with dyslexia (n = 22) but not in control adults (n = 20). Participants evaluated 576 word pairs that consisted of two identical words or two words that differed subtly, by categorizing them as same or different. Two subsets of word pairs differed in sequential (e.g. "two tow") and spatial (e.g. "cob cod") letter reversals. The adults with dyslexia were less accurate than the controls regarding both types of word pairs. Their accuracy during left/right letter reversals was lower, compared to both up/down letter reversals (e.g. "cub cup") and nonsymmetric letter similarities (e.g. "half halt"). Accuracy during left/right reversals was correlated with accuracy during sequential rearrangement in the word pair task as well as with a composite measure of sequential processing based on nonword repetition, nonword reading, and multisyllabic word repetition. It was also correlated with a composite measure of literacy skills. A subset of the dyslexia group who produced left/right errors during a rapid single letter naming task obtained lower accuracy than the dyslexia subgroup without such errors during both types of letter reversals, and their overall literacy skills were lower. We conclude that sequential and left/right letter reversals characterize a severe dyslexia subtype. These two types of reversal are associated, are part of a general deficit in sequential processing likely due to cerebellar deficits, and persist into adulthood.

The Structure of Word Learning in Young School-Age Children.

Purpose We investigated four theoretically based latent variable models of word learning in young school-age children. Method One hundred sixty-seven English-speaking second graders with typical development from three U.S. states participated. They completed five different tasks designed to assess children's creation, storage, retrieval, and production of the phonological and semantic representations of novel words and their ability to link those representations. The tasks encompassed the triggering and configuration stages of word learning. Results Results showed that a latent variable model with separate phonological and semantic factors and linking indicators constrained to load on the phonological factor best fit the data. Discussion The structure of word learning during triggering and configuration reflects separate but related phonological and semantic factors. We did not find evidence for a unidimensional latent variable model of word learning or for separate receptive and expressive word learning factors. In future studies, it will be interesting to determine whether the structure of word learning differs during the engagement stage of word learning when phonological and semantic representations, as well as the links between them, are sufficiently strong to affect other words in the lexicon.

Spoken Word Learning Differences Among Children With Dyslexia, Concomitant Dyslexia and Developmental Language Disorder, and Typical Development.

Purpose The purpose of our study was to test the hypotheses (a) that children with dyslexia have spoken word learning deficits primarily related to phonology and (b) that children with dyslexia and concomitant developmental language disorder (DLD) have word learning deficits related to both phonology and semantic processing when compared to peers with typical development (TD). Method Second-graders with dyslexia (n = 82), concomitant dyslexia and DLD (dyslexia + DLD; n = 40), and TD (n = 167) learned names and semantic features for cartoon monsters in 5 carefully controlled word learning tasks that varied phonological and semantic demands. The computer-based tasks were played in 6 different word learning games. We analyzed results using Bayesian statistics. Results In general, the dyslexia + DLD group showed lower accuracy on tasks compared to the dyslexia and TD groups. As predicted, word learning tasks that taxed phonology revealed deficits in the dyslexia group, although there were some exceptions related to visual complexity. Word learning deficits in the dyslexia + DLD group were present in tasks that taxed phonology, semantic processing, or both. Conclusions The dyslexia + DLD group demonstrated word learning deficits across the range of word learning tasks that tapped phonology and semantic processing, whereas the dyslexia group primarily struggled with the phonological aspects of word learning. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9807929.

Novel Word Learning in Children Who Are Bilingual: Comparison to Monolingual Peers.

Purpose We compared novel word learning in 2nd-grade children with typical development who were Spanish-English bilinguals to English monolinguals to understand word learning in bilingual children. Method Children (monolinguals n = 167, bilinguals n = 76) engaged in 5 computer-based tasks that assessed word learning in 6 different contexts. The tasks measured children's ability to link novel names with novel objects/actions, make decisions about the accuracy of those names and objects/actions, recognize the semantic features of the objects/actions, and produce the novel names. For analysis, we used Bayesian repeated-measures analyses of covariance with Bayesian independent-samples t tests to clarify interactions. Results Monolingual and bilingual children differed in some, but not most, word learning situations. There was at least moderate evidence that bilingual children were less accurate at naming in 1 condition and at detecting mispronunciations in 3 of 6 contexts and were less accurate at judging semantic features of a referent when that referent was paired with orthographic information. Discussion Among children with typical development, there were few differences in novel word learning between monolingual and bilingual participants. When differences did occur, they suggested that bilinguals were more accepting of phonological variations of word productions than their monolingual peers.

Working Memory Profiles of Children With Dyslexia, Developmental Language Disorder, or Both.

Purpose Compared to children with typical development, children with dyslexia, developmental language disorder (DLD), or both often demonstrate working memory deficits. It is unclear how pervasive the deficits are or whether the deficits align with diagnostic category. The purpose of this study was to determine whether different working memory profiles would emerge on a comprehensive battery of central executive, phonological, visuospatial, and binding working memory tasks and whether these profiles were associated with group membership. Method Three hundred two 2nd graders with typical development, dyslexia, DLD, or dyslexia/DLD completed 13 tasks from the Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children-Working Memory ( Gray, Alt, Hogan, Green, & Cowan, n.d. ) that assessed central executive, phonological, and visuospatial/attention components of working memory. Results Latent class analyses yielded 4 distinct latent classes: low overall (21%), average with high number updating (30%), average with low number updating (12%), and high overall (37%). Children from each disability group and children from the typically developing group were present in each class. Discussion Findings highlight the importance of knowing an individual child's working memory profile because working memory profiles are not synonymous with learning disabilities diagnosis. Thus, working memory assessments could contribute important information about children's cognitive function over and above typical psychoeducational measures.

What Clinicians Need to Know About Early Literacy Development in Children With Hearing Loss.

Purpose Children with hearing loss may not reach the same level of reading proficiency as their peers with typical development. Audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have important roles to play in preventing this problem early in children's development. In this tutorial, we aim to communicate how the habilitation practices of audiologists and intervention services of SLPs can support early literacy skill development in children with hearing loss. Method We describe key findings from peer-reviewed research articles to provide a review of early literacy skill development, to explain the relationship between early literacy skills and conventional reading skills, and to highlight findings from early literacy skill intervention studies that included children with hearing loss who use spoken language. We conclude with a hypothetical case study to illustrate how audiologists and SLPs can support early literacy acquisition in children with hearing loss. Conclusion Findings from studies of young children with hearing loss suggest that a promising approach to improving reading outcomes is to provide explicit early literacy instruction and intervention.

Do Bilingual Children Have an Executive Function Advantage? Results From Inhibition, Shifting, and Updating Tasks.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine differences in performance between monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual second graders (aged 7-9 years old) on executive function tasks assessing inhibition, shifting, and updating to contribute more evidence to the ongoing debate about a potential bilingual executive function advantage. Method: One hundred sixty-seven monolingual English-speaking children and 80 Spanish-English bilingual children were administered 7 tasks on a touchscreen computer in the context of a pirate game. Bayesian statistics were used to determine if there were differences between the monolingual and bilingual groups. Additional analyses involving covariates of maternal level of education and nonverbal intelligence, and matching on these same variables, were also completed. Results: Scaled-information Bayes factor scores more strongly favored the null hypothesis that there were no differences between the bilingual and monolingual groups on any of the executive function tasks. For 2 of the tasks, we found an advantage in favor of the monolingual group. Conclusions: If there is a bilingual advantage in school-aged children, it is not robust across circumstances. We discuss potential factors that might counteract an actual advantage, including task reliability and environmental influences.

Children With Dyslexia Benefit From Orthographic Facilitation During Spoken Word Learning.

Purpose: Orthographic facilitation describes the phenomenon in which a spoken word is produced more accurately when its corresponding written word is present during learning. We examined the orthographic facilitation effect in children with dyslexia because they have poor learning and recall of spoken words. We hypothesized that including orthography during spoken word learning would facilitate learning and recall. Method: Children with dyslexia and children with typical development (n = 46 per group), 7-9 years old, were matched for grade and nonverbal intelligence. Across 4 blocks of exposure in 1 session, children learned pairings between 4 spoken pseudowords and novel semantic referents in a modified paired-associate learning task. Two of the pairings were presented with orthography present, and 2 were presented with orthography absent. Recall of newly learned spoken words was assessed using a naming task. Results: Both groups showed orthographic facilitation during learning and naming. During learning, both groups paired pseudowords and referents more accurately when orthography was present. During naming, children with typical development showed a large orthographic facilitation effect that increased across blocks. For children with dyslexia, this effect was present initially but then plateaued. Conclusions: We demonstrate for the first time that children with dyslexia benefit from orthographic facilitation during spoken word learning. These findings have direct implications for teaching spoken vocabulary to children with dyslexia.

Performance of Low-Income Dual Language Learners Attending English-Only Schools on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition, Spanish.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the performance of a group of Spanish-speaking, dual language learners (DLLs) who were attending English-only schools and came from low-income and low-parental education backgrounds on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition, Spanish (CELF-4S; Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2006). Method: Spanish-speaking DLLs (N = 656), ages 5;0 (years;months) to 7;11, were tested for language impairment (LI) using the core language score of the CELF-4S and the English Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test (Dawson, Stout, & Eyer, 2003). A subsample (n = 299) was additionally tested using a Spanish language sample analysis and a newly developed Spanish morphosyntactic measure, for identification of children with LI and to conduct a receiver operating characteristics curve analysis. Results: Over 50% of the sample scored more than 1 SD below the mean on the core language score. In our subsample, the sensitivity of the CELF-4S was 94%, and specificity was 65%, using a cutoff score of 85 as suggested in the manual. Using an empirically derived cutoff score of 78, the sensitivity was 86%, and the specificity was 80%. Conclusions: Results suggest that the CELF-4S overidentifies low-income Spanish-English DLLs attending English-only schools as presenting with LI. For this sample, 1 in every 3 Latino children from low socioeconomic status was incorrectly identified with LI. Clinicians should be cautious when using the CELF-4S to evaluate low-income Spanish-English DLLs and ensure that they have converging evidence before making diagnostic decisions.

Resources for LSHSS Authors.

Purpose: In this article, the Editor-in-Chief of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools (LSHSS) highlights key resources for authors wishing to publish their work in LSHSS.

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children - Working Memory (CABC-WM).

The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children - Working Memory (CABC-WM) is a computer-based battery designed to assess different components of working memory in young school-age children. Working memory deficits have been identified in children with language-based learning disabilities, including dyslexia1,2 and language impairment3,4, but it is not clear whether these children exhibit deficits in subcomponents of working memory, such as visuospatial or phonological working memory. The CABC-WM is administered on a desktop computer with a touchscreen interface and was specifically developed to be engaging and motivating for children. Although the long-term goal of the CABC-WM is to provide individualized working memory profiles in children, the present study focuses on the initial success and utility of the CABC-WM for measuring central executive, visuospatial, phonological loop, and binding constructs in children with typical development. Immediate next steps are to administer the CABC-WM to children with specific language impairment, dyslexia, and comorbid specific language impairment and dyslexia.