Relationships between proximity to grocery stores and Oklahoma Early Care and Education classroom nutrition practices.

The study purpose was to determine associations between proximity to grocery stores and Early Care and Education programs' (i.e., ECEs) classroom nutrition practices and barriers, by ECE context (Head Start, community-based childcare [CBC], and family child care homes [FCCHs]). A statewide cross-sectional survey was implemented in Oklahoma ECEs. Directors reported classroom nutrition practices with the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment tool, and barriers to implementation. Locations of 457 grocery stores statewide were determined by in-person audit. Geocoded ECEs were considered within a "low proximity" area if no grocery stores were available within a 0.25-mile radius for urban, or 10-mile radius for rural, ECEs. From November 2019 to February 2020, 54 Head Starts, 159 CBCs, and 160 FCCHs participated. 31.0 % were considered as low proximity. Head Starts demonstrated the highest classroom nutrition scores for mealtime practices, and nutrition education and policy. While proximity to grocery stores was not related to classroom nutrition practices for any ECE context (p > 0.05), FCCHs located within a low proximity area reported barriers to implementing those practices more often compared to FCCHs in an area within accessible proximity of grocery store. Thus, proximity to grocery stores was related to barriers in FCCHs only; those provider's experiences and perceptions may be most susceptible to influence of the community nutrition environment, compared to other ECE contexts. Contrary to studies in residential areas and schools, nutrition environments were not related to nutrition practices in ECEs. ECEs may serve as protective micro-environments supporting health for children residing in nearby low-access communities.

An examination of cultural-linguistic influences on PPVT-4 performance in African American and Hispanic preschoolers from low-income communities.

In this study, we examined potential influences of cultural and linguistic background on PPVT-4 performance in a community sample of preschool-age children from low-SES households. We did this by evaluating PPVT-4 item-level performance across African American and Hispanic children from low-income families. We compared PPVT-4 item-level performance for 332 Hispanic and African American children (Mage = 48 months) using Wald chi-square tests of independence. There were clinically significant differences in accuracy on 14 PPVT-4 test items with most favouring the African American group. We then looked at the relationship between African American English use and PPVT-4 scores for a subset of 113 African American children (Mage = 49.9 months). A correlational analysis with PPVT-4 standard scores and a dialect density measure (DDM) in narratives revealed no association between these measures. We concluded that there were potential cultural-linguistic biases in PPVT-4 items that were not explained by income alone for the young Hispanic children.

The role of dialect density in nonword repetition performance: an examination with at-risk African American preschool children.

The Nonword Repetition Task (NRT) is considered to be a less-biased language measure for children from cultural minority groups. In the current study, we examined NRT performance of 50 at-risk, preschool-age children who spoke African American English (AAE). In addition to the NRT, measures included AAE dialect density and several standardised language tests. The primary aim was to determine significant contributors to NRT performance. We hypothesised that the language measures would significantly contribute to NRT performance while dialect density would be an insignificant contributor. Contrary to our predictions, dialect density was a unique and significant predictor of NRT performance (in addition to phonological awareness), while the language measures were not significant predictors. The current findings cast doubt on categorising the NRT as a less-biased language assessment for AAE-speaking preschoolers; however, the NRT may have potential as a screener for identifying preschoolers at risk for delays in literacy acquisition.

Role of linguistic input in third person singular -s use in the speech of young children.

PURPOSE: To examine the role of linguistic input in how young, typically developing children use the 3rd person singular -s (3S) inflection. METHOD: Novel verbs were presented to 16 young children in either 3S contexts (e.g., "The tiger heens") or nonfinite (NF) contexts (e.g., "Will the tiger heen?"). The input was further manipulated for length such that half of the presentations in each context had adjectives modifying the subject. Children were then prompted to use the novel verbs in contexts requiring 3S and in contexts requiring an infinitive form. The children's use of 3S with familiar verbs was also examined. RESULTS: Novel verbs heard only in 3S contexts were more likely to be produced with 3S in obligatory contexts and were more likely to be inappropriately applied to infinitive contexts than novel verbs heard only in NF contexts. Degree of 3S use in obligatory contexts was lower for familiar verbs than for novel verbs heard only in 3S contexts but higher than for novel verbs heard only in NF contexts. Length was not a significant factor. CONCLUSION: Linguistic input appears to have a strong effect on how young children use the 3S inflection in newly encountered verbs.

Speech disruptions in the sentence formulation of school-age children with specific language impairment.

BACKGROUND: Many school-age children with specific language impairment produce sentences that appear to conform to the adult grammar. It may be premature to conclude from this, however, that their language formulation ability is age appropriate. AIMS: To determine whether a more subtle measure of language use, speech disruptions during sentence formulation, might serve to distinguish children with specific language impairment from their typically developing peers at an age when grammatical accuracy was high. We analysed the rate of speech disruptions in simple sentence production in school-age children with specific language impairment and typically developing age-matched peers. We predicted that: (1) the specific language impairment group would exhibit more speech disruptions than the typically developing group as a result of reduced language proficiency even when grammatical accuracy was high; and (2) the specific language impairment group would demonstrate greater reductions in disruption frequency as compared with the typically developing group when given sentences that model the target syntactic structures. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Twenty-eight children (17 specific language impairment, 11 typically developing, mean = 8;10 years) with no history of stuttering were presented with a series of picture pairs. The examiner described the first picture using a simple sentence and asked the child to repeat the sentence; the child then described the second picture. There were two priming conditions: Matching Syntax condition (paired pictures requiring different syntactic structures) and Different Syntax condition (paired pictures requiring different syntax structures). All testing was audio-recorded and speech disruptions (repetitions, revisions, fillers, long silent pauses) were transcribed and tabulated for each target response. The data were analysed by analysis of variance (ANOVA). OUTCOMES & RESULTS: The specific language impairment group demonstrated a significantly greater number of speech disruptions when compared with the typically developing group. There was no effect for priming. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: School-age children with specific language impairment appear to have difficulty with sentence formulation when compared with typically developing peers even when grammatical accuracy is high. We concluded that school-age children with specific language impairment may demonstrate subtle but persistent language formulation difficulties.

Sustained attention in children with specific language impairment (SLI).

PURPOSE: Information-processing limitations have been associated with language problems in children with specific language impairment (SLI). These processing limitations may be associated with limitations in attentional capacity, even in the absence of clinically significant attention deficits. In this study, the authors examined the performance of 4- to 6-year-old children with SLI and their typically developing (TD) peers on a visual sustained attention task. It was predicted that the children with SLI would demonstrate lower levels of performance in the absence of clinically significant attention deficits. METHOD: A visual continuous performance task (CPT) was used to assess sustained attention in 13 children with SLI (M = 62.07 months) and 13 TD age-matched controls (M = 62.92 months). All children were screened for normal vision, hearing, and attention. Accuracy (d') and response time were analyzed to see if this sustained attention task could differentiate between the 2 groups. RESULTS: The children with SLI were significantly less accurate but not significantly slower than the TD children on this test of visual sustained attention. CONCLUSION: Children with SLI may have reduced capacity for sustained attention in the absence of clinically significant attention deficits that, over time, could contribute to language learning difficulties.

Grammatical Morpheme Effects on Sentence Processing by School-Aged Adolescents with Specific Language Impairment.

Sixteen-year-olds with specific language impairment (SLI), nonspecific language impairment (NLI), and those showing typical language development (TD) responded to target words in sentences that were either grammatical or contained a grammatical error immediately before the target word. The TD participants showed the expected slower response times (RTs) when errors preceded the target word, regardless of error type. The SLI and NLI groups also showed the expected slowing, except when the error type involved the omission of a tense/agreement inflection. This response pattern mirrored an early developmental period of alternating between using and omitting tense/agreement inflections that is characteristic of SLI and NLI. The findings could not be readily attributed to factors such as insensitivity to omissions in general or insensitivity to the particular phonetic forms used to mark tense/agreement. The observed response pattern may represent continued difficulty with tense/agreement morphology that persists in subtle form into adolescence.