Speech and Language Disorders in Children
22 September 2024
Speech and Language
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S100
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10:00
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11:00
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Speech and Language Disorders in Children
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Amphitheater Séquoia - 1175
Speech and Language
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INT84
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Assessing Reading Skills in Monolingual and Bilingual Adolescents
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A.
Aude
LALOI (France)
Content : Aims: This study explored reading abilities in early-successive bilingual adolescents learning French as their second language (L2) in comparison to monolingual peers. Specifically, it aimed to uncover potential differences between French L2 adolescents and monolinguals in decoding skills, reading comprehension, phonological processing, and oral language proficiency. Additionally, the research examined whether monolingual assessment tools are reliable for diagnosing reading disorders in bilingual adolescents.
Methodology: Twenty-seven bilingual French-speaking adolescents (mean age: 12;5) were evaluated in decoding, reading comprehension, phonological processing, and oral language skills, alongside 22 monolingual peers. All participants were 7th-grade students, and no significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of age, gender, socio-economic status, or non-verbal abilities. The assessments were conducted using a French test battery with national norms. Evaluation tasks included measures of reading speed and accuracy of words and text, sentence and text comprehension, phonological processing, as well as picture naming and sentence comprehension to assess oral language skills.
Results: Bilingual adolescents performed comparably to their monolingual peers in phonological processing and decoding, both in accuracy and speed. However, for oral proficiency, bilinguals demonstrated a more limited French vocabulary than monolinguals, though their morphosyntactic comprehension was similar. In terms of reading comprehension, performance differences emerged depending on whether the material was presented in a narrative format (text) or as isolated sentences. Bilinguals were less accurate than monolinguals in sentence comprehension but did not exhibit slower processing times. In contrast, when reading narrative texts, bilinguals read more slowly but achieved similar comprehension levels. Finally, a higher proportion of bilinguals, compared to monolinguals, scored below the clinical threshold (7th percentile) for text decoding, reading comprehension, and oral language proficiency. This pattern did not extend to word decoding or phonological processing.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that monolingual norms may be reliable for identifying decoding impairments and phonological deficits in bilinguals but are less effective for diagnosing reading comprehension deficits.
Key words: Assessment, Adolescents, Early Successive Bilingual, Reading Skills
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INT86
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Function words in children with speech and language disorders
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M-T.
Marie-Thérèse
LE NORMAND (France),
H.
Hung
THAI VAN (France)
Content : Objectives: This study set out to understand the role of Function Words (FWs) and their hierarchical use in typically developing (TD) young children: How do function words (e.g., prepositions, pronouns, determiners) contribute to early grammar construction? The study also aims to compare the role of FWs in nominal and verbal contexts in three groups of monolingual French-speaking children: TD children (mean age 2;6 years:months), children with cochlear implant (CI) (mean age 4;7), children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) (mean age 4;7).
Methodology: A total of 229 speech samples was collected, transcribed, and analyzed with the KidEval program from the CHILDES tools. Mean Length of Utterance (MLU = 2.5) was used as a standardized measure to ensure comparability of syntactic complexity across the groups. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were performed to identify differences between groups and to predict the relationship between MLU and FWs in nominal and verbal contexts.
Results: Distinct developmental profile in subject pronouns and prepositions were found, marking atypical patterns in children with CI and DLD. In the TD and DLD groups, subject pronouns were the most significant predictors of MLU whereas determiners were significant predictors of MLU in the CI group.
Conclusions: Children with CI and DLD rely more on nominal contexts (e.g., articles) than verbal contexts (e.g., pronouns) when using FWs, suggesting difficulties in the perception and encoding of grammatical structures. This contrasts with the TD group, where pronominal forms and subject pronouns play a more important role. Although their MLU is similar, children with CI and DLD show atypical patterns of grammatical acquisition, particularly regarding syntactic learning. The results suggest that implicit and explicit grammatical deficits are present in children with CI and DLD, impacting on their ability to construct and use early grammatical structures effectively. This implies that interventions targeting FWs in both nominal and verbal contexts could be beneficial for children with CI and DLD.
Keywords: Cochlear Implantation; Developmental Language Disorder; Function Words, Early Grammar.
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INT88
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Speech and Language Development in Children Born During The COVID-19 Pandemic: Case study
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J.
Jade
NAPPA (Malta),
H.
Helen
GRECH (Malta)
Content : Aims
The study's objectives included identifying challenges in speech and language development during the COVID-19 period, exploring correlations with language exposure factors, socioeconomic status (SES), siblings, as well as identifying social interactions and patterns in routine and screen time among children born between March 2020 and March 2022 in the Maltese Islands.
Population
Caregivers of children born duringte Covid-19 period.
The number of valid responses was 115 to questionnaire.
A total of 13 individuals participated in the focus group interview within the University clinic.
Methods
A questionnaire to caregivers of children born within the specified timeframe, residing in Malta or Gozo, was self-constructed, validated and circulated through social media. The caregivers were also invited to participate in a focus group.
Results
The quantitative data obtained from online questionnaires were analysed using the Pearson Chi-Squared Test. Quantitative analysis revealed that despite pandemic restrictions, children had varied opportunities for social interaction, particularly with grandparents.
Qualitative data revealed six key themes: 1) the impact of COVID-19 on language and communication, 2) the broader impact of COVID-19, 3) opportunities for social interaction, 4) the emotional and psychological well-being of caregivers, 5) the role of screen time, and 6) routines and the child’s environment.
Interpretation
The study found no significant correlation between speech and language development and variables such as maternal education, birth order, gender, or language exposure. However, it indicated that children born early in the pandemic were more impacted than those born later.
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INT90
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Multilingual Challenges in Children with Speech and Language Difficulties
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M-T.
Marie-Thérèse
LE NORMAND (France),
H.
Helen
GRECH (Malta)
Content : The trajectory and rate of acquisition of speech and language skills of multilingual children and how these compare with those of monolinguals are indicated as per cross-linguistic studies. Developmental data of monolingual and bilingual Maltese-English speakers are reported as an example to the data being collated cross-lingustically. Little is known about the prevalence of multilingual children with speech, language and literacy difficulties. Several factors are related to this such as the scarcity of language specific assessment tools which reflect on underdiagnosis and over diagnosis of these children. However, there are clear indications that multilingual children are at higher risk than monolingual children for such difficulties. Referral routes are not necessarily optimal due to various factors. Over-and under diagnosis are reported.
The existence of limited evidence of specific intervention with multilingual children is discussed. Yet, early intervention of speech and language difficulties cannot be over-emphasised to prevent repercussions on children’s communication, education and wellbeing. Evidence-based practice is crucial to convince policy makers to invest in earlier and effective intervention with such children
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