Although a growing literature points to substantial variation in speech/language abilities related to individual differences in musical abilities, mainstream models of communication sciences and ...disorders have not yet incorporated these individual differences into childhood speech/language development. This article reviews three sources of evidence in a comprehensive body of research aligning with three main themes: (a) associations between musical rhythm and speech/language processing, (b) musical rhythm in children with developmental speech/language disorders and common comorbid attentional and motor disorders, and (c) individual differences in mechanisms underlying rhythm processing in infants and their relationship with later speech/language development. In light of converging evidence on associations between musical rhythm and speech/language processing, we propose the Atypical Rhythm Risk Hypothesis, which posits that individuals with atypical rhythm are at higher risk for developmental speech/language disorders. The hypothesis is framed within the larger epidemiological literature in which recent methodological advances allow for large‐scale testing of shared underlying biology across clinically distinct disorders. A series of predictions for future work testing the Atypical Rhythm Risk Hypothesis are outlined. We suggest that if a significant body of evidence is found to support this hypothesis, we can envision new risk factor models that incorporate atypical rhythm to predict the risk of developing speech/language disorders. Given the high prevalence of speech/language disorders in the population and the negative long‐term social and economic consequences of gaps in identifying children at‐risk, these new lines of research could potentially positively impact access to early identification and treatment.
This article is categorized under:
Linguistics > Language in Mind and Brain
Neuroscience > Development
Linguistics > Language Acquisition
The article proposes the Atypical Rhythm Risk Hypothesis, which posits that individuals with poor rhythm are at higher risk for developmental speech/language disorders. If a significant body of evidence is found to support this hypothesis, we can envision new risk factor models that incorporate atypical rhythm to predict risk of developing speech/language disorders.
Background
Diagnosis of ‘specific’ language impairment traditionally required nonverbal IQ to be within normal limits, often resulting in restricted access to clinical services for children with ...lower NVIQ. Changes to DSM‐5 criteria for language disorder removed this NVIQ requirement. This study sought to delineate the impact of varying NVIQ criteria on prevalence, clinical presentation and functional impact of language disorder in the first UK population study of language impairment at school entry.
Methods
A population‐based survey design with sample weighting procedures was used to estimate population prevalence. We surveyed state‐maintained reception classrooms (n = 161 or 61% of eligible schools) in Surrey, England. From a total population of 12,398 children (ages 4–5 years), 7,267 (59%) were screened. A stratified subsample (n = 529) received comprehensive assessment of language, NVIQ, social, emotional and behavioural problems, and academic attainment.
Results
The total population prevalence estimate of language disorder was 9.92% (95% CI 7.38, 13.20). The prevalence of language disorder of unknown origin was estimated to be 7.58% (95% CI 5.33, 10.66), while the prevalence of language impairment associated with intellectual disability and/or existing medical diagnosis was 2.34% (95% CI 1.40, 3.91). Children with language disorder displayed elevated symptoms of social, emotional and behavioural problems relative to peers, F(1, 466) = 7.88, p = .05, and 88% did not make expected academic progress. There were no differences between those with average and low‐average NVIQ scores in severity of language deficit, social, emotional and behavioural problems, or educational attainment. In contrast, children with language impairments associated with known medical diagnosis and/or intellectual disability displayed more severe deficits on multiple measures.
Conclusions
At school entry, approximately two children in every class of 30 pupils will experience language disorder severe enough to hinder academic progress. Access to specialist clinical services should not depend on NVIQ.
A large number of studies have shown a relationship between language disorders and problem behaviors; however, methodological differences have made it difficult to draw conclusions from this ...literature.
To determine the overall impact of language disorders on problem behaviors in children and adolescents between the ages of birth and 18 years and to investigate the role of informant type, age, and type of problem behavior on this relationship.
We searched PubMed, EBSCO, and ProQuest.
Studies were included when a group of children with language disorders was compared with a group of typically developing children by using at least 1 measure of problem behavior.
Effect sizes were derived from all included measures of problem behaviors from each study.
We included 47 articles (63 153 participants). Meta-analysis of these studies revealed a difference in ratings of problem behaviors between children with language disorders and typically developing children of moderate size (
= 0.43; 95% confidence interval 0.34 to 0.53;
< .001). Age was entered as a moderator variable, and results showed that the difference in problem behavior ratings increases with child age (increase in
for each additional year in age = 0.06; 95% confidence interval 0.02 to 0.11;
= .004).
There was considerable heterogeneity in the measures of problem behaviors used across studies.
Children with language disorders display greater rates of problem behaviors compared with their typically developing peers, and this difference is more pronounced in older children.
Covering an array of evidence-based content, including aphasia, traumatic brain injury, dementia, and language in aging, Aphasia and Other Acquired Neurogenic Language Disorders: A Guide for Clinical ...Excellence, Second Edition is a must-have textbook for clinicians and students studying to be speech-language pathologists. This clinical guide strategically addresses scientific foundations, service delivery, international and multicultural perspectives, assessment, and treatment.
Background
Children with language impairment (LI) show heterogeneity in development. We tracked children from pre‐school to middle childhood to characterize three developmental trajectories: ...resolving, persisting and emerging LI.
Methods
We analyzed data from children identified as having preschool LI, or being at family risk of dyslexia, together with typically developing controls at three time points: t1 (age 3;09), t3 (5;08) and t5 (8;01). Language measures are reported at t1, t3 and t5, and literacy abilities at t3 and t5. A research diagnosis of LI (irrespective of recruitment group) was validated at t1 by a composite language score derived from measures of receptive and expressive grammar and vocabulary; a score falling 1SD below the mean of the typical language group on comparable measures at t3 and t5 was used to determine whether a child had LI at later time points and then to classify LIs as resolving, persisting or emerging.
Results
Persisting preschool LIs were more severe and pervasive than resolving LIs. Language and literacy outcomes were relatively poor for those with persisting LI, and relatively good for those with resolving LI. A significant proportion of children with average language abilities in preschool had LIs that emerged in middle childhood – a high proportion of these children were at family risk of dyslexia. There were more boys in the persisting and resolving LI groups. Children with early LIs which resolved by the start of formal literacy instruction tended to have good literacy outcomes; children with late‐emerging difficulties that persisted developed reading difficulties.
Conclusions
Children with late‐emerging LI are relatively common and are hard to detect in the preschool years. Our findings show that children whose LIs persist to the point of formal literacy instruction frequently experience reading difficulties.
Developmental dyslexia and specific language impairment (SLI) were for many years treated as distinct disorders but are now often regarded as different manifestations of the same underlying problem, ...differing only in severity or developmental stage. The merging of these categories has been motivated by the reconceptualization of dyslexia as a language disorder in which phonological processing is deficient. The authors argue that this focus underestimates the independent influence of semantic and syntactic deficits, which are widespread in SLI and which affect reading comprehension and impair attainment of fluent reading in adolescence. The authors suggest that 2 dimensions of impairment are needed to conceptualize the relationship between these disorders and to capture phenotypic features that are important for identifying neurobiologically and etiologically coherent subgroups.
Purpose Speech and language disorders are hallmark features of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22qDS). Learning disabilities, cognitive deficits, palate abnormalities, velopharyngeal dysfunction, ...behavioral differences, and various medical and psychiatric conditions are also major features of this syndrome. The goal of this document is to summarize the state of the art of current clinical and scientific knowledge regarding 22qDS for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and provide recommendations for clinical management. Method Best practices for management of individuals with 22qDS were developed by consensus of an expert international group of SLPs and researchers with expertise in 22qDS. These care recommendations are based on the authors' research, clinical experience, and literature review. Results This document describes the features of 22qDS as well as evaluation procedures, treatment protocols, and associated management recommendations for SLPs for the often complex communication disorders present in this population. Conclusion Early diagnosis and appropriate management of speech-language disorders in 22qDS is essential to optimize outcomes and to minimize the long-term effects of communication impairments. Knowledge of this diagnosis also allows anticipatory care and guidance regarding associated features for families, health care, and educational professionals.
This article reviews our understanding of reading disorders in children and relates it to current proposals for their classification in DSM‐5. There are two different, commonly occurring, forms of ...reading disorder in children which arise from different underlying language difficulties. Dyslexia (as defined in DSM‐5), or decoding difficulty, refers to children who have difficulty in mastering the relationships between the spelling patterns of words and their pronunciations. These children typically read aloud inaccurately and slowly, and experience additional problems with spelling. Dyslexia appears to arise principally from a weakness in phonological (speech sound) skills, and there is good evidence that it can be ameliorated by systematic phonic teaching combined with phonological awareness training. The other major form of reading difficulty is reading comprehension impairment. These children read aloud accurately and fluently, but have difficulty understanding what they have read. Reading comprehension impairment appears to arise from weaknesses in a range of oral language skills including poor vocabulary knowledge, weak grammatical skills and difficulties in oral language comprehension. We suggest that the omission of reading comprehension impairment from DSM‐5 is a serious one that should be remedied. Both dyslexia and reading comprehension impairment are dimensional in nature, and show strong continuities with other disorders of language. We argue that recognizing the continuities between reading and language disorders has important implications for assessment and treatment, and we note that the high rates of comorbidity between reading disorders and other seemingly disparate disorders (including ADHD and motor disorders) raises important challenges for understanding these disorders.
Studies of language disorders have shaped our understanding of brain-language relationships over the last two centuries. This article provides a review of this research and how our thinking has ...changed over the years regarding how the brain processes language. In the 19th century, a series of famous case studies linked distinct speech and language functions to specific portions of the left hemisphere of the brain, regions that later came to be known as Broca's and Wernicke's areas. One hundred years later, the emergence of new brain imaging tools allowed for the visualization of brain injuries in vivo that ushered in a new era of brain-behavior research and greatly expanded our understanding of the neural processes of language. Toward the end of the 20th century, sophisticated neuroimaging approaches allowed for the visualization of both structural and functional brain activity associated with language processing in both healthy individuals and in those with language disturbance. More recently, language is thought to be mediated by a much broader expanse of neural networks that covers a large number of cortical and subcortical regions and their interconnecting fiber pathways. Injury to both grey and white matter has been seen to affect the complexities of language in unique ways that have altered how we think about brain-language relationships. The findings that support this paradigm shift are described here along with the methodologies that helped to discover them, with some final thoughts on future directions, techniques, and treatment interventions for those with communication impairments. (JINS, 2017, 23, 741-754).
Jenny R. Saffran
Kathryn Robe-Torres
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Contact author: Julia L. Evans, School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile ...Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-1518. E-mail: jevans{at}mail.sdsu.edu .
Purpose: In this study, the authors examined (a) whether children with specific language impairment (SLI) can implicitly compute the probabilities of adjacent sound sequences, (b) if this ability is related to degree of exposure, (c) if it is domain specific or domain general and, (d) if it is related to vocabulary.
Method: Children with SLI and normal language controls (ages 6;5–14;4 years;months) listened to 21 min of a language in which transitional probabilities within words were higher than those between words. In a second study, children with SLI and Age–Nonverbal IQ matched controls (8;0–10;11) listened to the same language for 42 min and to a second 42 min "tone" language containing the identical statistical structure as the "speech" language.
Results: After 21 min, the SLI group's performance was at chance, whereas performance for the control group was significantly greater than chance and significantly correlated with receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge. In the 42-minute speech condition, the SLI group's performance was significantly greater than chance and correlated with receptive vocabulary but was no different from chance in the analogous 42-minute tone condition. Performance for the control group was again significantly greater than chance in 42-minute speech and tone conditions.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that poor implicit learning may underlie aspects of the language impairments in SLI.
KEY WORDS: specific language impairment, implicit learning, statistical learning, child language development, child language disorders
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