Statistical word learning in Catalan-Spanish and English-speaking children with and without developmental language disorder.

BACKGROUND: A growing body of work shows that children with developmental language disorder (DLD) perform poorly on statistical word learning (SWL) tasks, consistent with the predictions of the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis that predicts that procedural memory is impaired in DLD. To date, however, SWL performance has not been compared across linguistically heterogeneous populations of children with DLD. AIMS: To compare SWL performance in a group of age, sex and non-verbal IQ-matched Catalan-Spanish and English-speaking children with and without DLD. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Two cohorts of children: (1) 35 Catalan-Spanish-speaking children with DLD (Mage = 8;7 years) and 35 age/sex-matched typical developing (TD) children (Mage = 8;9 years), and (2) 24 English-speaking children with DLD (Mage = 9;1 years) and 19 age/sex matched TD controls (Mage = 8;9 years) completed the tone version of a SWL task from Evans et al. (2009). Children listened to a tone language in which transitional probabilities within tone words were higher than those between words. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: For both Catalan-Spanish and English cohorts, overall performance for the children with DLD was poorer than that of the TD controls regardless of the child's native language. Item analysis revealed that children with DLD had difficulty tracking statistical information and using transitional probability to discover tone word boundaries within the input. For both the Catalan-Spanish and English-speaking children, SWL accounted for a significant amount of unique variance in Receptive and Expressive vocabulary. Likelihood ratio analysis revealed that for both Catalan-Spanish and English cohorts, children having performance ≤ 45% on the SWL task had an extremely high degree of likelihood of having DLD. The analysis also revealed that for the Catalan-Spanish and English-speaking children, scores of ≥ 75% and ≥ 70%, respectively, were highly likelihood to be children with normal language abilities. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The findings add to a pattern suggesting that SWL is a mechanism that children rely on to acquire vocabulary. The results also suggest that SWL deficits, in particular when combined with other measures, may be a reliable diagnostic indicator for children with DLD regardless of the child's native language, and whether or not the child is bilingual or monolingual. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject Although there is some disagreement, a small but growing body of work suggests that deficits in procedural memory, as measured either by motor sequencing (Serial Reaction Time-SRT) or SWL tasks, may be part of the deficit profile of children with DLD. To date, studies have not examined SWL across linguistically heterogeneous populations of children with DLD to determine if it is a unique clinical marker of the disorder. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The results show that children with DLD, regardless of their native language, or whether the child is bi- or monolingual, have difficulties on SWL tasks, and that these deficits are linked to severity of the language disorder. Taken together, these results indicate that procedural memory deficits may be a core feature of DLD. This suggests that statistical-learning tasks using tone stimuli can also advance our understanding of statistical-learning abilities in children with DLD more globally. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The current study shows that statistical-learning tasks using tone stimuli can be used in conjunction with standardized assessment measures to differentiate children with DLD from children with typical language ability.

Vocabulary Abilities and Parents' Emotional Regulation Predict Emotional Regulation in School-Age Children but Not Adolescents With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

A comprehensive approach, including social and emotional affectations, has been recently proposed as an important framework to understand Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). There is an increasing considerable interest in knowing how language and emotion are related, and as far as we know, the role of the emotional regulation (ER) of parents of children with and without DLD, and their impact on their children's ER is still unknown. The main aims of this study are to advance our knowledge of ER in school-age children and adolescents with and without DLD, to analyze the predictive value of expressive and receptive vocabulary on ER in school-age children and adolescents, and to explore parental ER and their effect on their children's and adolescents' ER. To cover all objectives, we carried out three studies. In the first and second study, expressive and receptive vocabulary were assessed in wave 1, and ER (Emotional Regulation Checklist -ERC- for children and Emotion Regulation Scale -DERS- for adolescents) was assessed in wave 2, 4 years later. Participants in the first study consisted of two groups of school-aged children (13 had DLD and 20 were typically developing children -TD). Participants in the second study consisted of two groups of adolescents (16 had DLD and 16 were TD adolescents). In the third study, the ER of 65 of the parents of the children and adolescents from study 1 were assessed during wave 2 via self-reporting the DERS questionnaire. Results showed no significant differences in ER between DLD and TD groups neither in middle childhood nor in adolescence. Concerning vocabulary and ER, expressive language predicted ER in school-age children but not in adolescents. Finally, parental ER explained their school-age children's ER, but this was not the case in adolescents. In conclusion, the present data indicated that expressive vocabulary has a fundamental role in ER, at least during primary school years, and adds new evidence of the impact of parents' ER upon their children's ER, encouraging educators and speech language pathologists to include parents' assessments in holistic evaluations and interventions for children with language and ER difficulties.

El trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje (TDL) más allá de las dificultades lingüísticas: memoria y atención / Developmental language disorder beyond language difficulties: Memory and attention

INTRODUCCIÓN: Los niños y niñas con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje (TDL) además de las dificultades del lenguaje, también pueden tener afectados otros aspectos cognitivos como la atención y la memoria. Los estudios de estos aspectos supralingüísticos han abierto un debate en la comunidad científica y profesional para cambiar la denominación de trastorno «específico» a «trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje». Existe un consenso sobre los déficits en la memoria fonológica, aunque hay resultados contradictorios en relación a la memoria visual y la atención. En el presente estudio evaluamos algunos aspectos de la memoria y la atención, así como el nivel de vocabulario en un grupo con TDL y un grupo con DT para conocer diferencias e interacción entre estas variables. MÉTODO: Participaron 39 niños/as con TDL y 39 niños/as con DT (de 5 a 12 años) bilingües del catalán y español, emparejados por edad y sexo. Se administraron baterías de evaluación de memoria visual (inmediata/demorada), repetición de pseudopalabras, atención selectiva sostenida y un reporte familiar para evaluar inatención e hiperactividad. Aplicamos análisis lineales generalizados para comparar el rendimiento entre grupos y correlaciones con el vocabulario. RESULTADOS: El grupo con TDL mostró un rendimiento inferior en todas las tareas de atención y memoria. El rendimiento de estas correlacionó positivamente con el nivel de vocabulario. El reporte familiar mostró que el número de niño/as con TDL con rasgos de inatención fue más elevado que en el grupo con DT. CONCLUSIONES: El diagnóstico, la intervención y la investigación del TDL tienen que considerar que las dificultades de esta población van más allá del lenguaje, y que se relacionan con déficits múltiples y variados en el desarrollo neuropsicológico

INTRODUCTION: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have cognitive deficit aspects such as attention and memory in addition to language difficulties. Studies of these supra-linguistic aspects have opened a debate in the scientific and professional community on changing the name of "specific" disorder to "developmental language disorder". There is consensus about phonological memory deficits in this population but there are conflicting results in relation to visual memory and attention. In the present study we evaluated some aspects of memory and attention capacities, as well as vocabulary knowledge in a group of children with and without DLD to find differences and interaction between these variables. METHOD: 39 bilingual Catalan-Spanish children with DLD and 39 typical developing (TD) children (from 5 to 12 years old), matched by age and sex participated in the study. Both groups were evaluated with a test battery of visual memory (immediate/delayed), non-word repetition task, sustained selective attention. A family report was used to assess inattention and hyperactivity. Linear mixed model analyses were used to compare performance between groups and correlations with vocabulary were applied. RESULTS: The group of children with DLD showed a lower performance in all attention and memory tasks. The performance of the tasks correlated positively with the level of vocabulary. The family report showed that the number of children with DLD with inattention features was higher than the number of children in the TD group. CONCLUSIONS: DLD diagnosis, intervention and research have to consider that the difficulties of this population go beyond language, and that they are related to multiple and varied deficits in neuropsychological development

Dificultades morfosintácticas en niños y niñas de 5 a 8 años con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje a través de subpruebas del CELF-4 / Morphosyntactic difficulties in children aged 5 to 8 with developmental language disorder through subtests of the CELF-4

ANTECEDENTES Y OBJETIVO: El objetivo de este estudio es analizar, a nivel expresivo y receptivo, las dificultades morfosintácticas en niños y niñas con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje (TDL) a través de tres subpruebas del CELF-4: estructura de palabras, estructura de oraciones y formulación de oraciones. MÉTODO: Participaron 25 niños/as con TDL y 25 niños/as con desarrollo típico, de entre 5 y 8 años de edad, bilingües del catalán y español, emparejados por edad y sexo. La subprueba estructura de palabras evaluó la producción de palabras, concretamente flexiones nominales y verbales, palabras derivadas, comparaciones y el uso de pronombres. A nivel receptivo se evaluó la comprensión de estructuras sintácticas a través de la subprueba estructura de oraciones, en la cual tuvieron que elegir imágenes que ilustraban el significado de la oración. Finalmente, la producción de oraciones se evaluó con la subprueba de formulación de oraciones, indicando a los participantes la palabra con la debían crear una oración. Se analizaron los resultados obtenidos comparando los tipos de palabras que produjeron en la tarea de estructura de palabras y según el tipo de oración que incluían las pruebas de estructura de oraciones y formulación de oraciones dependiendo del ítem. De este modo se han podido describir las dificultades morfosintácticas de forma más específica. RESULTADOS: Los resultados muestran que los participantes con TDL tienen dificultades gramaticales especialmente en los verbos y oraciones morfosintácticamente más complejas. También se constató que la comprensión de oraciones está más preservada que la producción. CONCLUSIONES: La evaluación según los tipos de marcas morfológicas y los tipos de oraciones es importante para poder hacer una mejor adaptación de las reeducaciones a las necesidades de los niños/as con TDL

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study is to analyse the morphosyntactic difficulties (expressive and receptive skills) of children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Three subtests of the CELF-4 were assessed. Firstly expressive language was assessed using the subtest estructura de palabras (word production) and formulación de oraciones (sentence production), secondly receptive language was assessed with the subtest estructura de oraciones (sentence comprehension). METHOD: 25 children with DLD and 25 children with typical development took part of the study, they were 5-8 years old, bilingual Catalan-Spanish, sex and age-matched. The word production subtest assessed the word production, specifically the ability to establish nominal and verbal inflexions, word derivations, comparisons and pronouns. Receptive language was assessed through the sentence comprehension test, considering the syntactic structure comprehension by the selection of the image that showed the oral sentence heard. The sentence production was assessed by giving to the participants a word that they had to use to create a sentence. The results obtained were also analysed to item level considering the type of word and sentence complexity, in order to describe more specifically the morphosyntactic difficulties shown. RESULTS: the results showed that children with DLD had more grammatical difficulties than the typical development group, especially with verbs and in complex sentences. In addition, comprehension was found less impaired than production. CONCLUSIONS: Assessing the morphological cues and different types of sentences is important for boys and girls with DLD in order to establish better interventions to cover their needs

Antecedentes familiares, factores sociodemográficos y dificultades lingüísticas en el trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje / Family history, sociodemographic factors and language difficulties in children with developmental disorder

ANTECEDENTES Y OBJETIVO: Cada vez hay más investigaciones que tratan de encontrar posibles identificadores tempranos de las dificultades del lenguaje. El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar los antecedentes familiares de trastornos del lenguaje u otros trastornos del neurodesarrollo, los factores sociodemográficos y otros indicadores de desarrollo a partir de informes parentales en niños con y sin diagnóstico de trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje. Además, se analizó el grado de acuerdo entre la percepción de dificultades lingüísticas reportadas por las familias (madres/padres) y el nivel obtenido en la evaluación estructurada. MÉTODO: Participaron 23 niños y niñas con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje y otros 23 con desarrollo típico, de entre 5 y 9 años, bilingües del catalán y español, emparejados por edad y sexo. Se utilizó la prueba CELF-4 para realizar la evaluación y el diagnóstico y test estandarizados para medir el nivel intelectual y el vocabulario expresivo y receptivo. Se administró un cuestionario parental para medir las variables: antecedentes familiares, factores sociodemográficos, indicadores de desarrollo y percepción de las dificultades lingüísticas de sus hijos. RESULTADOS: Se observó un mayor porcentaje de antecedentes familiares en el grupo con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje que en el grupo con desarrollo típico. Se encontró una relación entre el nivel económico y el hecho de presentar TDL, un efecto significativo de grupo para el nivel económico en relación con el vocabulario receptivo y una correlación significativa entre primeras palabras con el vocabulario expresivo y receptivo posterior. Se encontró acuerdo entre el informe parental y la evaluación estructurada, aunque solo en las dificultades más notorias. CONCLUSIONES: Diferentes variables sociodemográficas y la edad de adquisición de las primeras palabras están relacionadas con el nivel de desarrollo del vocabulario posterior

BACKGROUND AND AIM: There is a growing body of research seeking to find early identifiers of language difficulties. The aim of this study was to analyze family history of language disorders or other neurodevelopmental disorders, sociodemographic factors and other indicators of development from parental reports in order to distinguish between children with and without developmental language disorder. In addition, the degree of agreement between the perception of language difficulties reported by parents and the children's assessment scores was compared. METHOD: 23 Catalan-Spanish bilingual children with developmental language disorder and 23 typical development children, matched by age and sex from 5 to 9 years of age took part in the study. CELF-4 was used to perform the language assessment and diagnosis, as well as other standardized tests to measure non-verbal intellectual level and expressive and receptive vocabulary. A questionnaire was administered to parents to measure the following variables: family history of language and other difficulties, sociodemographic factors, developmental indicators and their own perception of their children's language difficulties. RESULTS: A higher percentage of family history of language and other difficulties was observed in the developmental language disorder group compared to the typical development group. The economic level and the presence of DLD were significantly related, and we also found an effect of group on the economic level and on receptive vocabulary. A significant correlation was also found between the first words and later receptive vocabulary. Parental perception of their children's language difficulties and the results of the standardized language evaluation were also correlated, although only in the most evident difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: Different sociodemographic variables and the age of acquisition of first words are related to the development of subsequent vocabulary

Dificultades sociales, emocionales y victimización específica por el lenguaje en el trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje / Social, emotional, and specific language bullying in developmental language disorder

ANTECEDENTES Y OBJETIVO: El presente estudio analiza la relación entre el trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje (TDL) y la presencia de síntomas emocionales o problemas con los compañeros/as. Concretamente, se estudia el riesgo de sufrir victimización en la población con TDL, y su relación con los problemas del lenguaje. MÉTODO: La investigación se realizó con una muestra de 42 participantes (21 con TDL; 21 con desarrollo típico (DT), cuyos padres/madres cumplimentaron el Cuestionario de Dificultades y Capacidades (versión en español del SDQ, Goodman, 1997) y un cuestionario creado ad hoc sobre Victimización General y Victimización Específica por el Lenguaje. En ellas se analizaron las variables Síntomas Emocionales, Problemas con los/as Compañeros/as, Victimización General y Victimización Específica por el lenguaje. RESULTADOS: Los resultados revelaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los grupos en cuanto a Síntomas Emocionales, Problemas con los/as Compañeros/as y en Victimización específica por el lenguaje. Sin embargo, no ocurrió así con Victimización General. CONCLUSIONES: Los resultados de este estudio indican que el tener TDL estaría relacionado con sufrir manifestaciones emocionales negativas y con el riesgo de sufrir victimización específica a causa de los déficits en el lenguaje

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to analyse the relationship between developmental language disorder (DLD) and the presence of emotional symptoms or problems with classmates. Specifically, it seeks to analyse the risk of suffering bullying in children with developmental language disorder (DLD), and its relation to language problems. METHOD: The study was carried out with a sample of 42 participants (21 with DLD; 21 with Typical Development-TD), their parents were asked to complete the spanish version of the Difficulties and Capabilities Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997) and a survey about bullying and linguistic bullying. We assessed Emotional Symptoms, Problems with Partners, bullying and Linguistic bullying variables. RESULTS: The results revealed statistically significant differences between the groups regarding Emotional Symptoms, Problems with Partners and in Linguistic bullying. However, this did not happen with General bullying. CONCLUSIONS: In light of these results, we conclude that language problems play a crucial role in the risk of linguistic bullying, a specific form of bullying

Consistency of a Nonword Repetition Task to Discriminate Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder in Catalan-Spanish and European Portuguese Speaking Children.

Nonword repetition has been proposed as a diagnostic marker of developmental language disorder (DLD); however, the inconsistency in the ability of nonword repetition tasks (NRT) to identify children with DLD raises significant questions regarding its feasibility as a clinical tool. Research suggests that some of the inconsistency across NRT may be due to differences in the nature of the nonword stimuli. In this study, we compared children's performance on NRT between two cohorts: the children in the Catalan-Spanish cohort (CS) were bilingual, and the children in the European Portuguese cohort (EP) were monolingual. NRT performance was assessed in both Spanish and Catalan for the bilingual children from Catalonia-Spain and in Portuguese for the monolingual children from Portugal. Results show that although the absolute performance differed across the two cohorts, with NRT performance being lower for the CS, in both Catalan and Spanish, as compared to the EP cohort in both, the cut-points for the likelihood ratios (LH) were similar across the three languages and mirror those previously reported in previous studies. However, the absolute LH ratio values for this study were higher than those reported in prior research due in part to differences in wordlikeness and frequency of the stimuli in the current study. Taken together, the findings from this study show that an NRT consisting of 3-, 4-, and 5-syllable nonwords, which varies in wordlikeness ratings, when presented in a random order accurately identifies and correctly differentiates children with DLD from TD controls the child is bilingual or monolingual.