Receptive and expressive vocabulary performance in 2- to 5-year-olds in care: The role of different care types and temperament.

The detrimental role of institutionalization in children's development has prompted the introduction of alternative care types designed to offer more personalized care. The current study aimed to test whether children in alternative care types (care villages, care homes, and foster care) performed better on vocabulary than those in institutions. The role of temperament, specifically perceptual sensitivity and frustration, and the interaction between temperament and care types on vocabulary performance were also explored. The study involved 285 2- to 5-year-old children from different care types, and they were assessed through receptive and expressive vocabulary tests and temperament scales. The results of the linear mixed model revealed that children in alternative care types exhibited significantly higher vocabulary scores compared with those in institutions. Moreover, perceptual sensitivity showed a positive association with receptive and expressive vocabulary skills and seemed to act as a protective factor by mitigating the lower vocabulary scores in institutions. Frustration moderated vocabulary outcomes differently for children in institutions and foster care, aligning with the diathesis-stress model and vantage sensitivity theory, respectively. The findings emphasize the positive role of alternative care types in vocabulary performance and the importance of children's temperamental traits in this process.

[Turkish expressive and receptive language test: I. Standardization, reliability and validity study of the receptive vocabulary sub-scale]. / Türkçe Ifade Edici ve Alici Dil (TIFALDI) Testi: I. Alici Dil Kelime Alt Testi Standardizasyon ve Güvenilirlik Geçerlik çalismasi

OBJECTIVE: A reliable, valid and original test to assess the receptive vocabulary skills of children in Turkey was not available. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to develop a receptive vocabulary test for Turkish children based on the Turkish language. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the Receptive Vocabulary Sub-Scale (TIFALDI-RT) 242 concrete and abstract words were chosen from word frequency lists and a comprehensive Turkish Dictionary. Pilot data were collected from 648 children aged 2 to 13 from Ankara, and norm data were collected from a nationally representative sample of 3755 children. RESULTS: Item analysis (item difficulty, discrimination and distractor) was carried out on the pilot data and based on the results, the total item number was reduced to 157. Further, three parameter item analyses (IRT) were carried out on the norm data by using BILOG-MG (SSI, 2002), and the results indicated that the TIFALDI Receptive Vocabulary Sub-Scale could be reduced to 104 items to assess 2 to 12 year-old children's receptive vocabulary. Test-retest and internal consistency reliabilities were calculated for the whole sample and age groups separately, and all the coefficients were high. For the validity, the relationship between the WISC-R and Ankara Developmental Screening Inventory (AGTE) and Receptive Vocabulary Sub-Scale were investigated. Once again, the TIFALDI Receptive Vocabulary Sub-Scale scores were found to be significantly related to WISC-R and AGTE scores. CONCLUSION: The TIFALDI Receptive Vocabulary Sub-Scale was developed on the basis of the Turkish Language and norm data were collected from a nationally representative sample. The TIFALDI-RT also had a high reliability and validity. Thus, the TIFALDI-RT can be used to assess 2 to 12 year-old children's receptive vocabulary skills.