Open navigation menu
Close suggestions
Search
Search
en
Change Language
Upload
Sign in
Sign in
Download free for days
0 ratings
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
60 views
36 pages
Leonard (2000)
Uploaded by
Sandra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content,
claim it here
.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
Download
Save
Save Leonard (2000) For Later
Share
0%
0% found this document useful, undefined
0%
, undefined
Print
Embed
Report
0 ratings
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
60 views
36 pages
Leonard (2000)
Uploaded by
Sandra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content,
claim it here
.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
Carousel Previous
Carousel Next
Download
Save
Save Leonard (2000) For Later
Share
0%
0% found this document useful, undefined
0%
, undefined
Print
Embed
Report
Download
Save Leonard (2000) For Later
You are on page 1
/ 36
Search
Fullscreen
Chapter 1 Introduction This book is about children with specific language impairment (SLD. These are children who show a significant limitation in language ability, yet the factors usually accompanying language learning problers—such as hearing impairment, low non- verbal intelligence test scores, and neurological damage—are not evident. ‘This is a real curiosity, especially in light of the many language acquisition papers that begin with a statement to the effect that “all normal children” learn language rapidly and effortlessly. The only thing clearly abnormal about these children is that they don't learn language rapidly and effortlessly. ‘The prevalence of SLI is about 7%. SLI is more likely to be seen in males than in females, and children with SLI are more likely than other children to have parents and siblings with a history of language learning problems. There are areas of language that are especially dificult for most children with SLI, but the heterogeneity of lan- ‘guage profiles in this population is: nevertheless considerable. Treatment improves these children’s language learning, but the deficits in language do not go away easily ‘Adolescents and adults who had been diagnosed with SLI as preschoolers often earn lower scores on tests of language ability than same-age peers with no such history. Childcen with SLI are also at risk for reading disorders when they reach school age. The fact that SLI adversely affects the lives of children with SLI and their families constitutes the most pressing reason to uncover the mysteries surrounding this type of disorder. Through a better understanding of SLI, more effective methods of assess- ment, treatment, and prevention might be developed. However, there are also some ‘good theoretical reasons to study SLI. On the face of it, SLI seems to constitute com- pelling support for certain theories of language development and structure; according, fo other theories, SLI shouldn't exist. In the pages of this book, we shall be consider- ing all ofthese points in detail. “The study of children with SLI is not new. Unfortunately, terminology has changed greatly over the years, making it easy to miss some interesting details ofthe study of these children. For example, one of the early tests of Piaget's theories of the relation- ship between language and other symbolic abilities was conducted by Inhelder (1963), 1 frequent collaborator of Piaget's, who tested this relationship with a group of chl- dren with SLI. Menyuk’'s (1964) investigation of the grammatical deficits in children. with SLI was one of the first to apply Chomsky’s theory of transformational grammar to the study of language development. Bloom's (1967) first paper on the advantages of rich interpretation and the problems with pivot grammar was a critique of an investigation of the two-word utterances used by children with SLL. An abbreviated review of the history of the study of SLI will be provided in this chapter. However, wwe begin with a brief case study, for a more personal introduction to some of the characteristics of SLL 14 Foundations One Child with Specific Language Impairment Here are some brief excerpts from one English-speaking child with SLL, age four years, three months (4:3). The excerpts come from sessions that were patt of a cross- linguistic investigation of SLI conducted by Leonard, Bortolini, Caselli, McGregor, and Sabbadini (1992). In (1), the child was being shown sets of sequence pictures and asked to make up a story for each (0) Adult: Ok, ready? Child: Ready. Adult: This is Jim. Tell me a story about Jim. Child: Him going fishing, jim hold... water. And go fish. And [unclear] Adult; 1 didn’t hear this fast] one. Child: 1 don’t know. Adult: Ok. How many more do you think we have? Child: I don't know. Adult: Ok, ready? Child: Ready. Adult: This is Kathy. Tell me a story. Child: . Kathy brush teeth. Her eat. And her get clothes on. Adult, She must be getting ready to go to school, huh? ‘The child's productions in (2) and (3) were in response to pictures designed to create obligatory contexts for definite and indefinite articles, and regular and irregular past forms, respectively. Responses typical of normally developing children of the same age and obtained from the same study are provided in parentheses @) a Adult: This is a woman and this is.... Child: Boy. (A man) Adult: The woman is washing dishes and... Child: Boy is painting. (The man is painting) b. Adult: This is a baby and this is. Child: A dog. (A dog) Adult: ‘The baby is drinking milk and... Child: Dog chew bone. (The dog is chewing a bone) Adult: This isa girl and this is.... Child: Boy. (A boy) Adult: The git is throwing a ball and Child: The boy hitting ball (The boy is hitting the ball) @) a Adult: He's catching the steer. What happened? Child: He caught him. He caught hint) b. Adult: He's zipping his jacket. What did he dot Child: Zip jacket. (Zipped his jacket) © Adult: She's combing her hair. What did she do? Child: Comb hair. (Combed her hair)age four fa cross- AcGregor, tures and sit i I Introduction 5 d. Adult: He's drawing a picture. What did he do? Child: Drawed picture. (Drew a picture; drawed a picture) “The child's utterances were quite short on average: in fact, in spontaneous speech they were characteristic of those produced by children more than a year younger. Omissions of grammatical suffixes and function words (grammatical morphemes) ‘were rampant, even exceeding the degree of omission expected in short utterances. Yet, on occasion, errors of creativity were also seen, as in her production of demoed instead of drew in (3), an overregularization that we also saw in many of the normally developing children serving as age controls. As a conversationalist, this litle girl was not assertive. Although she enjoyed interacting with others, che initiated verbal ‘exchanges relatively infrequently. Communicative attempts were often abandoned if they were not understood on the fst try. Not obvious from the excerpts is the fact that her vocabulary was rather limited for her age, and she sometimes struggled to find words that she had occasionally produced in the past. In addition, her phonological abilities were below age-level expectations, though her use of fal consonants was sufficient to rule out a purely phonological explanation for her omissions of grammatical inflections such as -ed. Formal test results obtained during the same period were consistent with the inter- pretation that this child’s language abilities were quite limited for her age. Scores of Tanguage comprehension were higher than language production scores, but even some of these were below age level. At the time of writing, this child was 11 years of age. She experienced academic difficulties in school, especially in reading. Her father had received professional atten- tion for language problems as a youngster. He had some difficulties in school, though he earned his high school diploma. The child's mother had completed two years of college, and had never experienced language learning problems. This child is not the most dramatic case that could be offered; some of these will be discussed later. However, she and her family illustrate some of the hallmarks of SLI that will be discussed more fully in this book. We shall retum to this child later in this chapter. ‘A Brief Review of a Not-So-Brif History On occasion, the study of SLI attracts a great deal of attention from the scientific ‘community at large thanks to the appearance of an unusually important or interesting finding. Although the excitement surrounding such developments injects a freshness into the study of SLI, work in this area actually dates back to the first half of the nineteenth century. This section will provide a brief summary of the study of SLL Additional details of work conducted in the twentieth century can be found in reviews by Myklebust (1971), Leonard (1979), Aram and Nation (1962), and John- ston (1988). P. Weiner (1986) provides an especially useful review of work done in the nineteenth century. In 1822, Gall published 2 description of children who had clear problems in lan- ‘guage but did not display the characteristics of other known disorders. One comment was the following (from the English translation of 1835) There are many children...who do not speak to the same degree as other children although they understand well or are far from being idiotic. In these6 Foundations ‘cases the trouble lies notin the vocal organs, as the ignorant sometimes insist and still less in the apathetic state of the subject. Such children, on the contrary, show great physical vivacity. They not only skip about but pass from one idea to another with great rapidity. If one holds them and pronounces a word in their ear, they repeat it distinctly. (p. 24) By today’s standards, Gall's description is a bit oversimplified (though not bad, con- sidering that one of the treatments of the day was “curative tonic"), alls publication was followed by a smattering of case reports over the remaining ‘years ofthe nineteenth century. These case studies, published in English, French, and, ‘most often, German, were written by physicians. The authors emphasized the appar- ently normal nonverbal intelligence, seemingly good comprehension, and extremely limited speech output of these children. These studies included the reports of Wilde (1853), Benedikt (1865), Broadbent (1872), Waldenburg (1873), Clarus (1874), Bastian (1880), Uchermann (1891), Wyllie (1894), Lavrand (1897), and Moyer (1898). During this period, Vaisse (1866) introduced the term “congenital aphasia,” and applied it to these children. However, the German literature used the term (translated into English) “hearing mutism’ (Con, 1886). This term seemed apt in large part because the authors discussed children whose language output was severely restricted. Children produc- ing utterances more than one word in length (even if the children were older) were considered to have production limitations attributable to severe phonological prob- lems (Gutemann, 1894; Treitel, 1893). The apparent reluctance to include grammatical difficulties in this clinical category continued until well into the twentieth century. For example, even after drawing parallels between agtammatism in adults with apha- sia and the grammatical difficulties of an 11-year-old, Fréschels (1918) preferred the term “delayed speech development” as a descriptor of the child's deficit. Liebmann (1898) may have been the first to discuss subtypes of children, but his descriptions covered only those children with severe output limitations. One subtype constituted a deficit that was motoric in nature. A second subtype concemed children who could succeed only in comprehending single words. The third subtype involved children who completely lacked the ability to comprehend language. This last sub- type began to be called “congenital word deafness” (McCall, 1911); subsequently, the terms “congenital auditory imperception” (Worster-Drought & Allen, 1929) and “congenital verbal auditory agnosia” (Karlin, 1954) also were used. Because neurological damage was not evident in these children, some authors proposed that the nature of the problem was functional (Coén, 1886). Limitations in attention and memory were hypothesized to play an important role (Treitel, 1893). In the English and French literature of the early 1900s, the term “congenital aphasia” came into greater use. This term was applied more broadly than “hearing mutism,” extending to children whose language output had progressed well beyond single- ‘word ullerances. Deficits in comprehension as well as production were included in this category. At the same time, it was recognized that earlier authors’ efforts in ruling ‘out deficits in hearing, oral motor ability, and nonverbal intelligence might have been too casual. Town (1911) offered the following definition: ‘Aphasia then is an inability, total or partial, to understand or to use language in any one or all ofits forms, such inability being independent of any other mental capacity or of deformity or disease affecting the organs of articulation. (p. 167) case‘mes insist, contrary, m one idea a word in, bad, con- schon the appar. extremely 3 of Wilde 4), Bastian 8), During plied it to ‘0 English) he authors 1 produc. Ider) were ical prob- ammatical 1 century. vith apha- ferred the 1, but his e subi Toe, involved last sub- ently, the 929) and sci cei Introduction 7 Additional advances were made conceming the bases of these difculties, Ewing (1930) observed that the pattem of change in these children was consistent with 4 significant neurodevelopmental delay. During this same period, evidence for a study by Ley (1929). As the twentieth century progressed, the term “aphasia” was accompanied by new modifiers, though the basic meaning was unchanged. The highly respected child development team of Gesell and Amatruda (1947) used the term “infantile aphasia," a did several other authors (e.g. Van Gelder, Kennedy, & Lagauite, 1952). The term “developmental aphasia” fist used in the second decade of the century (eg. Kern, 1917), became the preferred term by the 1950s. Influential studies by Morley, Court, Miller, and Garside (1955), T. T. S. Ingram and Reid (1956), Benton (1964), and Eisenson (1968) employed this term. At this time, authors began to use the terme “expressive developmental aphasia” and “receptive-expressive developmental apha- (Sometimes “receptive developmental aphasia” was used instead of the latte) to stinguish between deficits centering on language production and those involving (deAjuriaguerra, Jaeggi, Guignard, Kocher, Maquard, Roth, & Schmid, 1965; Irhelder, 1963; P. Weiner, 1969). By the 1980s, authors choosing one of these two terms were ‘more likely to use “developmental dysphasia” (eg, Chiat & Hirson, 1987; Clahsen, 1989; Wyke, 1978). Technical accuracy might have been one reason for this gradual change; the prefix a- implies the absence of language, whereas dys- implies only problems with language (e.g. Eisenson, 1972). Although “developmental aphasia” gradually gave way to “developmental dys- phasa” the most sallet trend in the literature of the second half of the century has developmental dysphasia (see Johnston, 1988). This is no longer the ease. Children sfering such neurological ineults are now described as “children with acquired aphasia” or “children with focal brain injury.” The latter term is preferred when the je occurs prior to the acquisition of language. When language disruption occurs with the onset of a convulsive disorder, the term “Landaukletiner syndrome” te used, after the researchers who frst described the problem (Landau & Kleffnes, 1957), The second reason for change away from “aphasia” and “dysphasia” was emphasis. ‘This era was one of intense description of the linguistic characteristics of thece chil dren's speech. Accordingly, most ofthe terms applied to these children contained the ford “language,” along with a descriptor that conveyed impairment. Unfortunately for most of this period there was no consistency in the tome employed To the aa initiated, the dizzying array of labels probably the fact that the same {general types of children participated in these studies. Since the 1960s, the fol {tims have appeared in the literature: “infantile speech” (Menyuk, 1964), “aphesoide owe & Campbell, 1965), “delayed speech (Lovell, Hoyle, &e Siddall, 1968) “deviant L8 Foundations language” (Leonard, 1972), “language disorder” (Rees, 1973), “delayed language” ©. Weiner, 1974), “developmental language disorder” (Aram & Nation, 1975), “devel- ‘opmental language impairment” (Wolfus, Moscovitch, & Kinsboure, 1980), “specific language deficit” (Stark & Tallal, 1981), and “language impairment” Johnston & Ramstad, 1983). Investigators studying the academic or preacademic skills of these cildren sometimes employed the term “language/learning-disabled” or “language/learning- impaired” (Tallal, Ross. & Curtiss, 1989), presumably as a reminder that these children's spoken language deficits do not exclude them from being considered learn- ing disabled (indeed, these deficits might be a central component of the learning dis- ability). The term “specific language impairment” (e.g. Leonard, 1981), along with its abbreviation SLI (Fey & Leonard, 1983), is the most widely adopted term at present, ‘especially in the research literature. ‘The clinical and educational world is also replete with alternative terms for SLL ‘The Diagnostic and Siatistical Manual of Mental Disorder, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) uses the term “developmental language disorder.” with the subtypes of “expressive” and “receptive and expressive” The International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 1995) employs the terms “developmental aphasia” and “word deafness” as well as “developmental language disorder." Finally, some professionals in the clinical sphere have taken to heart guide- lines from the World Health Organization (Wood, 1980) that make a distinction among “impairment,” “disabilities,” and “handicap.” The first of these terms is used to refer to the abnormality itself; the second, to the functional consequences of the abnormality (eg, the child can’t communicate with peers; the third, to the social ‘consequences of the abnormality (e.,, social isolation). In summary, the study of children with SLI had its beginnings more than 150 years «ago. The earliest emphasis was on children with severe output limitations. Gradually, ‘the focus widened to include children who produced mult-word utterances; at this point, the significant grammatical deficits of children with SLI began to receive atten- tion, Efforts were made to distinguish deficits of production from those involving both comprehension and production, though both types of problems were included in the category of SLI. Children with postnatal brain injury were eventually con- sidered to fall outside of the category of SLI. The criteria for SLI were also tightened to ensure that children with demonstrable deficits in nonverbal intelligence, hearing, ‘or oral motor skills were not included in this clinical category. The diagnostic bound- aties resulting from these historical developments do not lead to a tightly homo- geneous group of children. However, the characteristics they have in common are considerable, and often have been overlooked as a result of the excessive number of labels that have been employed. Why Study SLI? ‘There are several important reasons to study SLI. The first, of course, pertains to clinical and educational concerns. With greater understanding of this type of disorder, more effective ways of assisting children with SLI and their families might be un- covered. If there were no other benefits to be gained, this possibility would be suff- cent justification to pursue this work,
You might also like
Language Development and Assessment in The Preschool Period
PDF
No ratings yet
Language Development and Assessment in The Preschool Period
18 pages
Help For Auditory Processing
PDF
No ratings yet
Help For Auditory Processing
192 pages
DLD BALSS 2025 Week 2 Lecture Notes
PDF
No ratings yet
DLD BALSS 2025 Week 2 Lecture Notes
43 pages
First Language Acquisition PDF
PDF
No ratings yet
First Language Acquisition PDF
19 pages
Language Acquisition PDF
PDF
No ratings yet
Language Acquisition PDF
176 pages
Language Development and Age
PDF
100% (1)
Language Development and Age
304 pages
Becoming Verbal Apraxia Marshalla Preview
PDF
No ratings yet
Becoming Verbal Apraxia Marshalla Preview
21 pages
Merlin
PDF
No ratings yet
Merlin
30 pages
Nihms 529546
PDF
No ratings yet
Nihms 529546
8 pages
Lidcombe
PDF
No ratings yet
Lidcombe
14 pages
Follow-Up of Children Attending Infant Language Units: Outcomes at 11 Years of Age
PDF
No ratings yet
Follow-Up of Children Attending Infant Language Units: Outcomes at 11 Years of Age
13 pages
Information For Parents: Speech and Language Difficulties
PDF
No ratings yet
Information For Parents: Speech and Language Difficulties
94 pages
AAC Intervention To Support Interaction in Persons With Dementia
PDF
No ratings yet
AAC Intervention To Support Interaction in Persons With Dementia
239 pages
The VCSL Checklist Is The Only Standardized Measure of American Sign Language
PDF
No ratings yet
The VCSL Checklist Is The Only Standardized Measure of American Sign Language
5 pages
Screening and Assessment Part 1
PDF
No ratings yet
Screening and Assessment Part 1
35 pages
LEST Scale
PDF
No ratings yet
LEST Scale
2 pages
Social Skills Program
PDF
No ratings yet
Social Skills Program
26 pages
Case Study
PDF
100% (1)
Case Study
43 pages
Speech Language Impairment
PDF
100% (1)
Speech Language Impairment
7 pages
Elderly Nursery Diagnostic Evaluation 2022
PDF
No ratings yet
Elderly Nursery Diagnostic Evaluation 2022
2 pages
Week 4 - 15.7.2021
PDF
No ratings yet
Week 4 - 15.7.2021
27 pages
2023-Prelinguistico - PRELINGUISTIC PREDICTOR OF LANGUAGE
PDF
No ratings yet
2023-Prelinguistico - PRELINGUISTIC PREDICTOR OF LANGUAGE
15 pages
Language Development - An Introduction
PDF
100% (1)
Language Development - An Introduction
31 pages
Stages of Language Acquisition
PDF
No ratings yet
Stages of Language Acquisition
40 pages
Child Language Acquisition and Development Saxton
PDF
No ratings yet
Child Language Acquisition and Development Saxton
3 pages
2 Zohran Speech & Language Assessment Report
PDF
No ratings yet
2 Zohran Speech & Language Assessment Report
4 pages
Cochlear Implant Brochure Boklet
PDF
No ratings yet
Cochlear Implant Brochure Boklet
17 pages
Speech-Language Pathologist Interventions For Communication in Moderate-Severe Dementia - A Systematic Review
PDF
No ratings yet
Speech-Language Pathologist Interventions For Communication in Moderate-Severe Dementia - A Systematic Review
17 pages
2021 SPHY304 Week 5 Lecture2pp
PDF
No ratings yet
2021 SPHY304 Week 5 Lecture2pp
39 pages
Module 4 - Receptive Language Development
PDF
No ratings yet
Module 4 - Receptive Language Development
7 pages
Language Disorders in Multilingual and Multicultural Population
PDF
No ratings yet
Language Disorders in Multilingual and Multicultural Population
34 pages
Approaches To Communication Assessment With Childr
PDF
No ratings yet
Approaches To Communication Assessment With Childr
23 pages
Piaget's Developmental Theory
PDF
No ratings yet
Piaget's Developmental Theory
32 pages
Preling and Emerging Lang Ax Stds 2015
PDF
No ratings yet
Preling and Emerging Lang Ax Stds 2015
80 pages
Bilingual Users of AAC
PDF
No ratings yet
Bilingual Users of AAC
15 pages
Early Language Development: Learning Objectives
PDF
No ratings yet
Early Language Development: Learning Objectives
17 pages
Speech & Language Therapy in Practice, Autumn 2003
PDF
No ratings yet
Speech & Language Therapy in Practice, Autumn 2003
32 pages
Sped413 A I Technology Resource Guide Organizer
PDF
No ratings yet
Sped413 A I Technology Resource Guide Organizer
8 pages
Role of Family in Intervention of Speech Sound Disorder
PDF
No ratings yet
Role of Family in Intervention of Speech Sound Disorder
2 pages
Chapter 7 - Reading Guide
PDF
100% (1)
Chapter 7 - Reading Guide
4 pages
(Joffe - Nippold, 2012) Progress in Understanding Adolescent Language Disorders
PDF
No ratings yet
(Joffe - Nippold, 2012) Progress in Understanding Adolescent Language Disorders
9 pages
Neurogenic Stuttering
PDF
No ratings yet
Neurogenic Stuttering
2 pages
Workshop Handout 2013sept PDF
PDF
No ratings yet
Workshop Handout 2013sept PDF
18 pages
Language Development
PDF
No ratings yet
Language Development
22 pages
Stimulus Characteristics of Single-Word Tests of Children 'S Speech Sound Production
PDF
No ratings yet
Stimulus Characteristics of Single-Word Tests of Children 'S Speech Sound Production
16 pages
Colourful Semantics - Level 5
PDF
No ratings yet
Colourful Semantics - Level 5
4 pages
Communication and Language Disorders in Young Learners
PDF
No ratings yet
Communication and Language Disorders in Young Learners
30 pages
Topic: Development of Hindi Language Monosyllabic Speech Perception Test Material For Children
PDF
No ratings yet
Topic: Development of Hindi Language Monosyllabic Speech Perception Test Material For Children
8 pages
Speech and Language Studies
PDF
No ratings yet
Speech and Language Studies
17 pages
Child Language and Related Disorders: A Resource For Parents & Professionals
PDF
No ratings yet
Child Language and Related Disorders: A Resource For Parents & Professionals
15 pages
Marzan (2011) Interface - Linguistics & SP - Paper
PDF
No ratings yet
Marzan (2011) Interface - Linguistics & SP - Paper
9 pages
(20838506 - Psychology of Language and Communication) Specific Language Impairment (SLI) - The Internet Ralli Campaign To Raise Awareness of SLI
PDF
No ratings yet
(20838506 - Psychology of Language and Communication) Specific Language Impairment (SLI) - The Internet Ralli Campaign To Raise Awareness of SLI
6 pages
How I Take Services Into The Community (2) : ADULTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES liveACTIVE
PDF
No ratings yet
How I Take Services Into The Community (2) : ADULTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES liveACTIVE
3 pages
It Ain't What You Say, It's The Way That You Say It.
PDF
No ratings yet
It Ain't What You Say, It's The Way That You Say It.
3 pages
Cluttering and Stuttering Ebook
PDF
No ratings yet
Cluttering and Stuttering Ebook
2 pages
Language Disorder Fact Sheet
PDF
No ratings yet
Language Disorder Fact Sheet
3 pages
Assessment of Fictional Narratives
PDF
No ratings yet
Assessment of Fictional Narratives
2 pages
Communication Requirements For Children With Special Needs
PDF
No ratings yet
Communication Requirements For Children With Special Needs
20 pages
Framework5 1
PDF
No ratings yet
Framework5 1
2 pages
Celf5 Final Essay
PDF
100% (1)
Celf5 Final Essay
11 pages