Exploring word production in three-year-old monolingual French-speaking children.

There is a general need for more knowledge on the development of French phonology, and little information is currently available for typically developing French-speaking three-year-old children. This study took place in Belgium and explores the accuracy of speech production of 34 typically developing French-speaking children using a picture naming task. Measures of speech accuracy revealed lower performance than previously seen in the literature. We investigated speech accuracy across different phonological contexts in light of characteristics of target words that are known to have an influence on speech production, namely the condition of production (spontaneous vs. imitated), the length of the word (in number of syllables), syllable complexity (singleton vs. cluster) and positional complexity (onset vs. coda). Results indicate that the accuracy of words produced spontaneously did not differ from imitated words. The presence of consonant clusters in the target word was associated with lower performance on measures of Percentage of Consonants Correct and Whole Word Proximity for both 1- and 4-syllable words. Singleton codas were produced less accurately than onsets in 1-syllable words. Word-internal singleton codas were produced less accurately than final codas. In our sample, 1-syllable words showed surprisingly low levels of performance which we can explain by an over-representation of phonologically complex properties in the target words used in the present study. These results highlight the importance of assessing various aspects of phonological complexity in French speech tasks in order to detect developmental errors in typically developing children and, ultimately, help identify children with speech sound disorders.

How do children with developmental language disorder extend novel nouns?

In this study, we investigated the ability of children with developmental language disorder (DLD) to extend nouns referring to different categories of novel objects. In a word extension task, we used several types of object entities (solid, animate, nonsolid, functional, and spatial relations) for which children needed to attend to diverse properties (shape, texture, role, or spatial relation) to decide category membership. We compared 15 school-aged children with DLD with typically developing (TD) children matched on either age or vocabulary. Our results indicate that children with DLD were impaired in extending novel words for nonsolid substances and relational objects, whereas age-matched TD children performed well for all object classes. Similar to children with DLD, TD children matched on language had difficulty in extending spatial relation categories. We also show that children with DLD needed more learning exemplars and relied more on shape-based information than TD children, especially for spatial configuration objects. Overall, our findings suggest that children are able to learn regularities between object properties and category organization and to focus on diverse features according to the object presented when extending novel nouns. They also provide clear evidence linking DLD to deficits in novel name generalization and word learning.

The generalisation of linguistic constructions in children with or without developmental language disorders.

The generalisation of linguistic constructions is performed through analogical reasoning. Children with developmental language disorders (DLD) are impaired in analogical reasoning and in generalisation. However, these processes are improved by an input involving variability and similarity. Here we investigated the performance of children with or without DLD in a construction generalisation task. We also compared their performance following training with an input involving progressive alignment (combining similarity and variability) or high variability. Progressive alignment improves construction generalisation in children with or without DLD, which could have implications for our understanding of language development and for interventions conducted with children with DLD.

Supporting language development in Lebanese preschools: SLT and pre-KT practice and perception of roles.

BACKGROUND: Speech and language therapists (SLTs) are increasingly engaging in school-based interventions targeting children with language difficulties. Collaborative work between teachers and SLTs has shown to be beneficial in fostering language development in all children. Both groups of professionals have different but complementary roles in offering language support, according to children's needs. Effective collaboration between SLTs and teachers requires both parties to understand their roles and practices in schools. However, little is known about language support practices in Lebanese preschools and the roles of SLTs in these contexts. AIMS: (1) To explore the perceptions and reported practices among preschool teachers (pre-KTs) to support language development; (2) to investigate the current practices of SLTs in preschools; and (3) to understand pre-KTs' and SLTs' perceptions of the SLTs' role in Lebanese preschools. METHOD & PROCEDURES: Using a quantitative method, the study reports the results of two questionnaires (one for pre-KTs and one for SLTs) that were developed based on a review of the academic literature and adapted to the contextual realities. Questionnaires were completed in hard or soft copy by pre-KTs and through an online survey by SLTs. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: The questionnaires were completed by 1259 out of 1442 pre-KTs from 175 Lebanese preschools, and by 200 out of 391 SLTs from across Lebanon. First, the findings show that both professional groups recognize they have a role in supporting language development. Second, differences in reported practices were identified regarding language strategies for children with communication needs. In particular, pre-KTs reported less use of specific language strategies targeting children with language difficulties, while SLTs reported that their practices in schools remain primarily focused on children with communication needs. Finally, the analysis of perceptions showed a lack of acknowledgement of the SLTs' role in the prevention of communication and language disorders among all children. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: This study provides an overview of the perceptions and reported practices of language development support in Lebanese preschools. The majority of SLTs and pre-KTs acknowledge their role in supporting language development. However, the slight differences in perceptions of SLT roles in prevention interventions highlight the necessity for SLTs to promote their active involvement in services targeting all children. Future research will investigate how SLTs are beginning to reconceptualize their role in intervention for preschool children. This will help to better define SLTs' roles and responsibilities in educational settings and foster effective professional collaboration. What this paper adds What is already known on the subject Collaboration between teachers and SLTs has been shown to be beneficial in supporting language among all children. The way SLTs and pre-KTs view each other's roles could result in more effective professional collaboration. The SLT profession in Lebanon emerged about 20 years ago, yet SLTs are still struggling to define a framework for the scope of their practice in Lebanese preschools and to increase awareness of the relevance of their intervention in language. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The results revealed that there are major agreements between pre-KTs and SLTs concerning the support of language development in preschools. However, the findings highlight slight differences in the perception of the SLTs' role in the prevention of communication, language and literacy disorders in educational settings. It seems that their role is more commonly acknowledged for children with identified language and communication needs. Moreover, despite the strong agreement between both professionals on the role of the SLT to target all children, SLTs' practices in preschools are still mostly limited to meeting only referred and diagnosed needs in children. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? This study's findings contribute to a better understanding of the perceptions regarding the roles and practices of both groups of professionals in language development. The differences in how the SLTs' roles are perceived could lead to a more difficult implementation of collaborative language practices in preschools. It is therefore necessary to ensure a better understanding of the roles played by professionals, who could receive the relevant training in undergraduate education programmes. There is also a pressing need to provide a clearer definition of SLTs' roles in educational settings by reconceptualizing them into a preventive approach in collaboration with teachers.

Effects of speech cues in French-speaking children with dysarthria.

BACKGROUND: Articulatory excursion and vocal intensity are reduced in many children with dysarthria due to cerebral palsy (CP), contributing to the children's intelligibility deficits and negatively affecting their social participation. However, the effects of speech-treatment strategies for improving intelligibility in this population are understudied, especially for children who speak languages other than English. In a cueing study on English-speaking children with dysarthria, acoustic variables and intelligibility improved when the children were provided with cues aimed to increase articulatory excursion and vocal intensity. While French is among the top 20 most spoken languages in the world, dysarthria and its management in French-speaking children are virtually unexplored areas of research. Information gleaned from such research is critical for providing an evidence base on which to provide treatment. AIMS: To examine acoustic and perceptual changes in the speech of French-speaking children with dysarthria, who are provided with speech cues targeting greater articulatory excursion (French translation of 'speak with your big mouth') and vocal intensity (French translation of 'speak with your strong voice'). This study investigated whether, in response to the cues, the children would make acoustic changes and listeners would perceive the children's speech as more intelligible. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Eleven children with dysarthria due to CP (six girls, five boys; ages 4;11-17;0 years; eight with spastic CP, three with dyskinetic CP) repeated pre-recorded speech stimuli across three speaking conditions (habitual, 'big mouth' and 'strong voice'). Stimuli were sentences and contrastive words in phrases. Acoustic analyses were conducted. A total of 66 Belgian-French listeners transcribed the children's utterances orthographically and rated their ease of understanding on a visual analogue scale at sentence and word levels. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Acoustic analyses revealed significantly longer duration in response to the big mouth cue at sentence level and in response to both the big mouth and strong voice cues at word level. Significantly higher vocal sound-pressure levels were found following both cues at sentence and word levels. Both cues elicited significantly higher first-formant vowel frequencies and listeners' greater ease-of-understanding ratings at word level. Increases in the percentage of words transcribed correctly and in sentence ease-of-understanding ratings, however, did not reach statistical significance. Considerable variability between children was observed. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Speech cues targeting greater articulatory excursion and vocal intensity yield significant acoustic changes in French-speaking children with dysarthria. However, the changes may only aid listeners' ease of understanding at word level. The significant findings and great inter-speaker variability are generally consistent with studies on English-speaking children with dysarthria, although changes appear more constrained in these French-speaking children. What this paper adds What is already known on the subject According to the only study comparing effects of speech-cueing strategies on English-speaking children with dysarthria, intelligibility increases when the children are provided with cues aimed to increase articulatory excursion and vocal intensity. Little is known about speech characteristics in French-speaking children with dysarthria and no published research has explored effects of cueing strategies in this population. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This paper is the first study to examine the effects of speech cues on the acoustics and intelligibility of French-speaking children with CP. It provides evidence that the children can make use of cues to modify their speech, although the changes may only aid listeners' ease of understanding at word level. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? For clinicians, the findings suggest that speech cues emphasizing increasing articulatory excursion and vocal intensity show promise for improving the ease of understanding of words produced by francophone children with dysarthria, although improvements may be modest. The variability in the responses also suggests that this population may benefit from a combination of such cues to produce words that are easier to understand.

Impact of processing load on analogical mapping with visual sequences in children with developmental language disorders (DLD).

BACKGROUND: Analogical mapping is a domain-general cognitive process used notably in language development, and particularly in the abstraction of construction schemas. Children with developmental language disorders (DLD) display an impairment in linguistic productivity and creativity, which can be linked to a lack of generalization of construction schemas. AIMS: To investigate analogical mapping in children with DLD, and especially the influence of processing load, as it could explain the lack of creativity observed in children with DLD. It was hypothesized that analogical mapping is altered in children with DLD and that greater cognitive load (sequential presentation and no perceptual support) would be linked to poorer performance in these children. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Fifteen children with DLD and their age-matched peers were administrated a visual analogical reasoning task where they had to complete a sequence sharing the same relational structure as previously presented sequences. Two factors influencing processing load were studied: the modality of presentation (sequential versus simultaneous) and the perceptual support (with versus without). OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Results showed an expected group effect with poorer performance in children with DLD compared with children with typical language development (TLD). Results corroborated hypotheses according to which children with DLD have difficulties with analogical mapping, which could hinder their abstraction of construction schemas. Results about the influence of processing load were mixed. While the difference between the two groups was more marked for the items without perceptual support than for those with perceptual support, children with DLD were not more affected by the sequential presentation than children with TLD. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Children with DLD have impaired analogical mapping competences, especially when the relational similarities are not supported by perceptual cues. This impairment may be the cause of their difficulties in abstracting construction schemas, thus provoking their poor linguistic productivity and creativity. However, more studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis, as the influence of analogical reasoning on language development could also be reversed or could be linked to another external factor.

Controlled before-after study to evaluate change in evidence-based practice of speech and language therapy students.

BACKGROUND: The integration of evidence-based practice (EBP) into speech and language therapy (SLT) curricula has been increasingly encouraged in recent years. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to evaluate whether an educational module on EBP for undergraduate SLT students can improve their EBP competencies. METHODS: The EBP module, taught by a SLT faculty member and a librarian, was delivered over 2 months. All fourth year SLT students (trained group) and all fourth year psychology students (control group) of the University of Liège (Belgium) were asked to participate in the study. Their performance on an adapted Fresno test was measured before and after the module. In addition, the SLT students took a computer-based searching task. They were also asked to share their perceptions towards the module. RESULTS: All the 47 SLT students and 57/108 psychology students took the pre- and post-tests. Although both groups performed similarly at the baseline, only the trained students gained new skills and knowledge. Furthermore, 36 SLT students shared their perceptions on the module and offered suggestions on ways to improve it. DISCUSSION-CONCLUSION: Trained students improved their EBP competencies. Nevertheless, the module could be strengthened along with better integration of EBP into clinical modules and across the curriculum.

Analogical reasoning in children with specific language impairment: Evidence from a scene analogy task.

Analogical reasoning is a human ability that maps systems of relations. It develops along with relational knowledge, working memory and executive functions such as inhibition. It also maintains a mutual influence on language development. Some authors have taken a greater interest in the analogical reasoning ability of children with language disorders, specifically those with specific language impairment (SLI). These children apparently have weaker analogical reasoning abilities than their aged-matched peers without language disorders. Following cognitive theories of language acquisition, this deficit could be one of the causes of language disorders in SLI, especially those concerning productivity. To confirm this deficit and its link to language disorders, we use a scene analogy task to evaluate the analogical performance of SLI children and compare them to controls of the same age and linguistic abilities. Results show that children with SLI perform worse than age-matched peers, but similar to language-matched peers. They are more influenced by increased task difficulty. The association between language disorders and analogical reasoning in SLI can be confirmed. The hypothesis of limited processing capacity in SLI is also being considered.

Implicit Spoken Words and Motor Sequences Learning Are Impaired in Children with Specific Language Impairment.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to compare verbal and motor implicit sequence learning abilities in children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). METHODS: Forty-eight children (24 control and 24 SLI) were administered the Serial Search Task (SST), which enables the simultaneous assessment of implicit spoken words and visuomotor sequences learning. RESULTS: Results showed that control children implicitly learned both the spoken words as well as the motor sequences. In contrast, children with SLI showed deficits in both types of learning. Moreover, correlational analyses revealed that SST performance was linked with grammatical abilities in control children but with lexical abilities in children with SLI. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this pattern of results supports the procedural deficit hypothesis and suggests that domain general implicit sequence learning is impaired in SLI.

Information behaviour of French-speaking speech-language therapists in Belgium: results of a questionnaire survey.

BACKGROUND: Speech-language therapists (SLTs) are encouraged to implement evidence-based practice (EBP). Nevertheless, EBP use by practitioners can be questioned. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to explore Belgian French-speaking SLTs' information behaviour and their awareness of EBP. The collected data allow one to determine how far they have embraced this approach. METHODS: The two Belgian French-speaking SLT professional associations promoted an online questionnaire survey by email. Additionally, clinical supervisors of students were asked to participate. In March 2012, 2068 emails were sent. RESULTS: The participation rate was at least 20% (n = 415). The reported information needs mainly concerned treatment or diagnosis. Most of the time, to attempt to fulfil their information needs, SLTs relied on their own resources (personal experience and libraries) and on colleagues in the workplace. When they searched on the Internet, they preferred to use a general search engine rather than a specialised bibliographic database. Barriers to obtaining scientific information are highlighted. Only 12% of the respondents had already heard about EBP. CONCLUSION: This study provides the first overview of the information behaviour of SLTs working in the French community of Belgium. Several recommendations are suggested for SLTs and librarians.

The impact of attentional allocation capacities on nonword repetition in children with specific language impairment.

This study aimed at directly assessing the hypothesis that attentional allocation capacity influences poor nonword repetition (NWR) performances in children with specific language impairment (SLI), using an attention demanding visual search task given concurrently with the NWR task. Twenty-one children with SLI, 21 typically developing children matched on age and 21 typically developing children matched on nonword span performed an immediate serial recall task of nonwords. The nonword lists were presented either alone or concurrently with the visual search task. Overall, results revealed a resource-sharing trade-off between the two tasks. Children with SLI were affected to the same extent as their span-matched controls by the necessity to allocate their attentional resources between the two tasks. Interestingly, nonword processing strategies seemed to differ among groups: age-matched controls allocated a larger part of their attentional resources to the encoding stage, whereas nonword recall was more attention demanding in children with SLI and younger controls.

Complexity markers in morphosyntactic productions in French-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI).

The usage-based theory considers that the morphosyntactic productions of children with SLI are particularly dependent on input frequency. When producing complex syntax, the language of these children is, therefore, predicted to have a lower variability and to contain fewer infrequent morphosyntactic markers than that of younger children matched on morphosyntactic abilities. Using a spontaneous language task, the current study compared the complexity of the morphological and structural productions of 20 children with SLI and 20 language-matched peers (matched on both morphosyntactic comprehension and mean length of utterance). As expected, results showed that although basic structures were produced in the same way in both groups, several complex forms (i.e. tenses such as Imperfect, Future or Conditional and Conjunctions) were less frequent in the productions of children with SLI. Finally, we attempted to highlight complex linguistic forms that could be good clinical markers for these children.

Towards a better diagnosis of mouth breathing: validity and reliability of a protocol for assessing the awake breathing pattern in preschool children.

PURPOSE: The Awake Breathing Pattern Assessment (ABPA) is a prototypical clinical grid recently designed through an international consensus of Speech and Language Pathologists (SLPs) to categorize the awake and habitual breathing pattern during the orofacial myofunctional assessment. This cross-sectional study aims to explore the psychometric properties of the ABPA in a preschool population. METHODS: 133 children from 2;11 to 6 years old were assessed with the ABPA. The percentage of time spent breathing through the mouth was objectively measured by a CO2 sensor and used as a baseline measurement. We first performed a multivariate Latent Profile Analysis based on the CO2 measurement and a parental questionnaire to define the number of categories that best characterize the breathing pattern. Subsequently, we assessed the intra- and inter-rater reliability, internal consistency criterion validity, construct validity and sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS: The awake breathing pattern can best be described by two groups: nasal and mouth breathing. The ABPA, initially designed in three groups, was adjusted accordingly. This final version showed excellent intra-rater and inter-rater reliability. There was a significant correlation between the ABPA and the CO2 measurement. The ABPA showed a fair sensitivity and a good specificity. CONCLUSION: The reference tool based on CO2 data was used in children for the first time and was found to be reliable. The ABPA is a suitable tool for SLPs to confirm the diagnosis of mouth breathing in preschool children if more sensitive screening tools, like parental questionnaires, are used beforehand.

Procedural learning in specific language impairment: effects of sequence complexity.

According to the procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH), abnormal development in the procedural memory system could account for the language deficits observed in specific language impairment (SLI). Recent studies have supported this hypothesis by using a serial reaction time (SRT) task, during which a slower learning rate is observed in children with SLI compared to controls. Recently, we obtained contrasting results, demonstrating that children with SLI were able to learn a sequence as quickly and as accurately as controls. These discrepancies could be related to differences in the statistical structure of the SRT sequence between these studies. The aim of this study was to further assess, in a group of 21 children with SLI, the PDH with second-order conditional sequences, which are more difficult to learn than those used in previous studies. Our results show that children with SLI had impaired procedural memory, as evidenced by both longer reaction times and no sign of sequence-specific learning in comparison with typically developing controls. These results are consistent with the PDH proposed by Ullman and Pierpont (2005) and suggest that procedural sequence-learning in SLI children depends on the complexity of the to-be-learned sequence.

The influence of the frequency of functional markers on repetitive imitation of syntactic constructions in children with specific language impairment, from their own language productions.

Several studies provide considerable insight into the role that frequency plays in language development. However, no study has investigated the direct relationship between frequency and grammatical acquisition in children with specific language impairment (SLI). In this study, we focus specifically on the influence of the frequency of functional words on the ability of children with SLI to produce grammatical constructions based on the children's own previous production but containing previously unused functional words. To test our hypothesis, the children were administered an imitative repetition task, tailored to their current level of language development. Results showed that children with SLI performed more poorly than language-matched children with typical language development. The difference between the two groups was more marked when the previously unused functional words were infrequent rather than frequent. Consequently, it would seem that the token frequency of functional words influences grammatical acquisition in children with SLI. The results and their implications for linguistic theories are discussed.

Assessment of mouth breathing by Speech-Language Pathologists: an international Delphi consensus.

PURPOSE: mouth breathing (MB) has detrimental effects on children's growth. Diagnosis of MB is possible through a multidisciplinary approach including Speech-Language Pathologist's (SLP) assessment; however, SLPs currently have little to no defined selection criteria to determine the awake and habitual breathing pattern. This study aims at identifying relevant criteria for the assessment of the habitual and awake breathing pattern of preschool children, and developing a grid that would help SLPs diagnose MB in their clinical practice. METHODS: A three-rounded online international Delphi process was conducted to achieve a consensus on the relevant items and their interpretation. Agreement was established through a Content Validity Ratio calculation. Based on the agreed items, we developed a grid through a scoring function. RESULTS: Observing the child at rest (i.e., time spent with an open/closed mouth and position of the tongue/lips) was considered the most important criterion. The experts also considered that observing the breathing pattern while chewing (open/closed mouth) and after swallowing (i.e., air intake and open/ closed mouth just after swallowing) should provide relevant but secondary information in decision-making. We were able to establish a clinical grid based on those criteria. CONCLUSION: The Delphi procedure provided content-valid criteria and conditions of observation for the myofunctional SLP assessment of the awake and habitual breathing pattern in preschoolers. A clinical validation of the developed prototype grid should be conducted in preschool children to explore its effectiveness in the diagnosis of MB.

The impact of visual complexity on visual short-term memory in children with specific language impairment.

Many studies have assessed visual short-term memory (VSTM) abilities in children with specific language impairment (SLI), with contrasting results: some studies observed preserved VSTM capacities, while others reported impaired VSTM. The present study explores the hypothesis that the complexity of the visual information to be encoded and stored might underlie these discrepancies. Four VSTM conditions were administered to a group of 15 children with SLI, as well as to two groups of typically developing children, matched for chronological age and for VSTM capacity for visually simple stimuli, respectively. The stimuli to be remembered varied in their visual similarity and in the number of their visual features. Across the four VSTM conditions, children with SLI showed significantly reduced performance relative to an age-matched control group, and they were more strongly affected by visual similarity and number of features when compared to a control group matched for VSTM capacity for visually simple stimuli. The present results support the hypothesis that stimulus complexity is a determining factor of the poor VSTM performances in children with SLI.

F-LARSP 1.0: an adaptation of the LARSP language profile for French.

The Language Assessment, Remediation and Screening Procedure (Crystal, Fletcher and Garman, 1976; The grammatical analysis of language disability. London: Edward Arnold) is a linguistic profile commonly used by researchers and clinicians to carry out detailed analyses of the grammar and morphology of children's spontaneous language samples. This article discusses the methods used to adapt the profile from English to French using a large corpus of child language in order to accurately assign morphosyntactic structures to age-based stages.

Analogical reasoning in children with specific language impairment.

Usage-based theory considers analogical reasoning as a cognitive process required in language development. We hypothesized that difficulties with analogical reasoning could hinder the abstraction of construction schemas, thus slowing down morphosyntactic development for children with specific language impairment (SLI). We also hypothesized, in accordance with usage-based theory, that the same analogy mechanism is shared by linguistic and non-linguistic processes. The current study investigated the performance of 15 children with SLI in comparison with age-matched peers on a non-linguistic analogical reasoning task. Our experimental setting targeted two prerequisites of analogical reasoning: structural alignment and the discovery of relational similarity in comparison with perceptual similarity. The results obtained are compatible with our hypotheses according to which children with SLI would encounter problems building more abstract construction schemas, related to difficulties with analogical reasoning. The study also shows that children with SLI have specific cognitive difficulties regardless of their linguistic development.

Exploration of serial structure procedural learning in children with language impairment.

Recent studies on specific language impairment (SLI) have suggested that language deficits are directly associated with poor procedural learning abilities. Findings from our previous work are contrary to this hypothesis; we found that children with SLI were able to learn eight-element-long sequences as fast and as accurately as children with normal language (NL) on a serial reaction time (SRT) task. A probabilistic rather than a deterministic SRT paradigm was used in the current study to explore procedural learning in children with SLI to mimic real conditions of language learning. Fifteen children with or without SLI were compared on an SRT task including a probabilistic eight-element-long sequence. Results show that children with SLI were able to learn this sequence as fast and as accurately as children with NL, and that similar sequence-specific learning was observed in both groups. These results are novel and suggest that children with SLI do not display global procedural system deficits.