Language skills of children during the first 12 months after stuttering onset

PurposeTo describe the language development in a sample of young children who stutter during the first 12 months after stuttering onset was reported.MethodsLanguage production was analysed in a sample of 66 children who stuttered (aged 2–4 years). The sample were identified from a pre-existing prospective, community based longitudinal cohort. Data were collected at three time points within the first year after stuttering onset. Stuttering severity was measured, and global indicators of expressive language proficiency (length of utterances and grammatical complexity) were derived from the samples and summarised. Language production abilities of the children who stutter were contrasted with normative data.ResultsThe majority of children’s stuttering was rated as mild in severity, with more than 83% of participants demonstrating very mild or mild stuttering at each of the time points studied. The participants demonstrated developmentally appropriate spoken language skills comparable with available normative data.ConclusionIn the first year following the report of stuttering onset, the language skills of the children who were stuttering progressed in a manner that is consistent with developmental expectations.     

学龄弱智儿童语言发展研究

本研究运用三项测试,考查了学龄弱智儿童语言发展状况。结果表明,弱智儿童语言发展过程和规律与正常儿童相似,并没有脱离正常儿童语言发展的一般模式,但他们语言发展速度极其缓慢,即使匹配了智龄,也远不如正常儿童,而且弱智儿童在语言运用上有其特点,与正常儿童有“质”的差异。     

Performance or capacity, the model still requires definitions and boundaries it doesn't have

Siegel is correct that, in its current form, the specific constructs underlying the Demands and Capacities Model cannot be adequately defined. However, substituting observable behavior (performance) for presumed underlying weaknesses in the speech production systems of those who stutter (capacity) does not appear to solve the problem of circularity identified. Rather, demands have not been adequately defined, either.

There is much to agree with in Siegel's note. However, it is not clear to me that the Demands and Capacities Model is salvaged by substituting the term “Performance” for “Capacity.” Rather, the problem with the Model is one of defining terms precisely enough so that the Model is not circular (as Ingham & Cordes (1997) have noted), or the logical inverse of Procruste's bed, as I have stated elsewhere (Bernstein Ratner, 1997), a model that fits all interpretations simply because it stretches to fit all possibilities.     

DEVELOPMENT OF SPONTANEOUS MANDING IN LANGUAGE DEFICIENT CHILDREN

Six institutionalized children, aged 7–11, with little or no spontaneous vocal manding, were trained to request food items under appropriate natural conditions when snacks were presented. “I want a” was appropriate when an adult presented food in the playroom. “Out” was appropriate when the items were displayed in the hallway, across a half-door barrier from the child. A sequence of steps was trained, through increasingly naturalistic setting and cuing conditions. The two mands were trained in sequence, not concurrently. To encourage “spontaneous” productions, no vocal cuing was provided by the adult. After criterion performance in each step, several probe sessions were conducted for various cuing conditions, adults, and settings. Probes after imitation training showed no spontaneous manding. Thus, failure of manding was not due to production difficulties. In probes after training for “approximately” natural cues, most children showed little transfer to the natural cues. This implies that training for the specific appropriate cues may often be required. However, good transfer generally occurred across persons, and from training room to playroom. Probes also showed that most children did not use one of the trained mands in the stimulus conditions that were appropriate for the other mand. Thus, adding a second mand did not generally disrupt use of the first. However, significant disruption occurred for two children. Finally, at the end of training, extinction training was given for one mand in one setting. Performance of the other mand was litle affected. In sum, the appropriate form of a mand depends on specific stimulus and setting characteristics, and these characteristics must be considered in training.     

SLCA III: A METATHEORETIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE

Discourse analysis is a fundamental concern for the study of human communication, accessible through an analysis of language behavior. A theoretic basis is provided for eight variable classes identified by Syntactic Language Computer Analysis (SLCA-III). Numerous empirical studies support its utility as an indicator of perception and cognition. Issues are raised regarding the role of language research in communication. Emphasis is placed on treatment of language as a behavioral indicator of experience, fluctuating as a barometer of social roles, psychological states, communication disorders, and communication mode.     

Multilingual children who stutter: clinical issues

Stuttering occurs across all languages and cultures. However, the impact of speaking more than one language on assessment and treatment of young children who stutter is not well documented. This paper discusses some of the challenges related to clinical issues pertaining to this population including (a) identifying stuttering in an unfamiliar language, (b) the influence of language proficiency, and (c) treatment of multilingual young children who stutter. The paper is written from the perspective of the author's experience treating multilingual children who stutter within the context of the linguistic and cultural diversity of Canada, notably in the French speaking Province of Quebec where many children grow up speaking two or more languages in everyday life. Clinical examples will be taken from the evidence-based literature as well as the author's clinical experience.Educational objectives: After reading this paper, the learner will be able to (1) summarize the literature regarding assessment and treatment of stuttering in young children speaking more than one language, (2) summarize some of the challenges related to this issue and (3) describe some of the findings associated with treatment of bilingual children who stutter and (4) be prepared to apply some of these suggestions in the treatment of bilingual children who stutter.     

青少年学生自我价值感特点的初步研究

采用《青少年学生自我价值感量表》对初中一年级到大学四年级共２１８７名青少年学生进行问卷调查,结果发现：（１）不同年级的学生在总体自我价值感、社会取向和个人取得的自我价值感方面差异极显著。（２）男生个人取向的自我价值感显著高于女生,女生社会取向的自我价值感则显著高于男生;男生个人取向的道德价值感高于女生,女生的社会取向的道德价值感则高于男生。（３）重点中学的学生在总体自我价值感、社会取向和个人取向的自我价值感、个人取向的家庭价值感以及社会取向的心理价值感、家庭价值感方面均显著高于非重点中学的学生。     

Children and adolescents who stutter: Further investigation of anxiety

PurposeDespite the greatly increased risk of social anxiety disorder in adults who stutter, there is no clear indication of the time of onset of this disorder in childhood and adolescence. The purpose of this study was to explore this issue further using the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS), so that appropriate interventions can be developed prior to adulthood. This is the first time the RCMAS has been completed by children younger than 11 years. Using the same test for both school-age children and adolescents can potentially identify when anxiety starts to develop from age 6 years through to adulthood.MethodsThe RCMAS was administered to 18 school-age boys, five school-age girls, 41 adolescent boys and nine adolescent girls who were seeking treatment for their stuttering. Participants also rated the severity of their own stuttering.ResultsAll mean scaled scores on the four RCMAS subscales and Total Anxiety scores were within normal limits. However, for both groups of boys, scores on the Lie Scale were significantly higher than scores on the other three subscales.ConclusionsExperts suggest high scores on the RCMAS Lie Scale are indicative of participants attempting to present themselves in a positive light and so cast doubt on the veracity of their other responses on the test. One interpretation, then, is that the boys were concealing true levels of anxiety about their stuttering. The results suggest why findings of anxiety studies in children and adolescents to date are equivocal. Clinical implications are discussed.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (a) discuss why understanding when anxiety starts in people who stutter is important, (b) describe the function of the RCMAS Lie sub scale and (c) summarize the possible implications of the RCMAS findings in this study.     

ACQUISITION OF SIGN LANGUAGE BY AUTISTIC CHILDREN. I: EXPRESSIVE LABELLING

There has been growing interest in teaching sign language to autistic children who have failed to develop speech. However, controlled experimentation in this area is nonexistent. In the present study, four nonverbal autistic children were taught expressive sign labels for common objects, using a training procedure that consisted of prompting, fading, and stimulus rotation. The efficacy of the procedure was demonstrated in a multiple-baseline design across objects. The results were reliable, replicable across children, and generalizable across therapists. A stimulus control analysis demonstrated that, for three of the children, correct signing was controlled solely by the visual cues associated with the presentation of a given object and was independent of the auditory cues related to the same object. These latter results are discussed with respect to the known perceptual and linguistic deficits of autistic children.     

中国儿童认知能力的性别差异发展倾向：韦氏儿童智力量表结果分析

分析韦氏儿童智力量表的全国常模以探讨中国儿童认知能力的性别差异。研究中使用多元变量（ｍｕｌｔｉｖａｒｉａｔｅ）分析和单元变量（ｕｎｉｖａｒｉａｔｅ）分析两种手段。在多元交量分析中,首先使用线性结构关系（ＬＩＳＲＥＬ）多样本分析检验各年龄组中男女协方差矩阵、平均数向量和因子平均数的一致性;随后用区分分析确定造成差异的变项。与西方研究相比,中国儿童具有类似的性别差异类型与发展倾向,区别在于中国儿童的数学能力不存在明显的性别差异,这可能与中国的男女接受同等教育有关。     

初中学生问题解决能力发展的跨文化研究

本研究采用多因素实验设计。实验中的问题是初三教学涉及的电阻定律,要求学生自己动牧比较抽象概括来解决问题。通过方差分析考察诸多因素对问题解决水平的影响。结果表明：初中学生解决问题能力的水平有多个层次,目前约有６５％的初中生面对较复杂问题无法进行较好的抽象概括,但有针对怀的启发对问题解决有明显遥促进作用;学生的年龄、智力、学绩、教学方式和社会文化环境影响着问题解决的水平。     

聋童与听力正常儿童分类能力的比较研究

本研究通过不同性质的分类实验,比较了聋童和听力正常儿童在年龄和教育程度相同或相近的前提下表现出的分类能力的差异,研究结果表明:(1)听力正常儿童的分类水平高于聋童。(2)教育程度的提高对二者的分类水平均有明显的促进作用。(3)就本实验结果看,约在13、14岁间,二者的分类水平均趋于平稳。(4)具体语词的掌握对二者的分类水平均有明显的促进作用。(5)二者对具体材料的分类均优于对抽象材料的分类。     

A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF PERSONALITY: EGYPTIAN AND ENGLISH CHILDREN*

679 Egyptian boys and 696 girls completed the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, translated into Arabic. Factor comparisons were moderately high for extraversion and social desirability but weak for neuroticism and psychoticism. Suitable item substitution produced a scoring key resulting in adequate reliabilities with the exception of a somewhat low reliability for the boys on extraversion and low reliabilities on psychoticism for both sexes. Sex differences on means of the dimensions were as usual, boys scoring higher than girls on extraversion and psychoticism, but lower on neuroticism and social desirability. Moreover, on comparing Egyptian with English means, using scales of items in common only, the English boys and girls scored higher than their Egyptian counterparts on extraversion but significantly lower on social desirability. British boys scored higher on psychoticism than did Egyptian boys but British girls scored lower than Egyptian girls.     

影响儿童亲社会行为的因素的研究

本研究以小学二、四年级和初中预备班的学生为研究对象,通过问卷的方式对影响儿童亲社会行为的因素进行了测查.研究结果表明,人际交往状况对儿童亲社会行为的影响非常显著,同伴关系好、人际信任度高的儿童有较多的亲社会行为;父母教养方式对这一年龄段儿童的亲社会行为的影响不太明显;此外,研究还发现,焦虑程度较高的儿童,其亲社会行为相对较少.     

EFFECTS OF A MULTIFACETED TRAINING PROCEDURE ON THE SOCIAL BEHAVIORS OF HEARING-IMPAIRED CHILDREN WITH SEVERE LANGUAGE DISABILITIES: A REPLICATION

The effectiveness of a training package on the social behaviors of 20 hearing-impaired children with severe language disabilities was assessed. The package consisted of initial instruction in role-play situations, reinforcement of appropriate instances of the behaviors, and a correction procedure following inappropriate instances of the behaviors. Results showed that the training package was effective in increasing greeting, turn waiting, initiating interaction, and giving help and these effects were maintained over several weeks.     

ACQUISITION OF SIGN LANGUAGE BY AUTISTIC CHILDREN II: SPONTANEITY AND GENERALIZATION EFFECTS

Autistic children typically do not use their language repertoire in order to communicate. Six autistic children who exhibited poor communication skills were trained to use their sign repertoire to make spontaneous requests of adults. Training consisted of imitative prompting, fading, and differential reinforcement, and included aspects of incidental teaching. The children displayed an increase in the rate and variety of spontaneous sign requests (Experiment 1). Generalization of spontaneity across adults (Experiments 1 and 2) and settings (Experiment 2) was also observed. We suggest that spontaneity may be facilitated when language is brought under the control of broadly defined stimuli such as adult attention rather than narrowly defined stimuli such as the presence of specific objects or verbal prompting in the form of questions. Finally, response generalization was observed as well (Experiment 1). Specifically, as spontaneity increased, self-stimulatory behavior decreased. This result may be accounted for in terms of reinforcer competition, reinforcer consistency, or discriminative stimulus effects.     

汉字特征内隐学习的初步实验研究

在汉字特征识别的范围内,在高强度练习和正确反馈条件下探讨内隐学习汉字的某些特点。实验采用了一种测量内隐和外显学习的特征分类方法．这些特征包括汉字的笔划维度（显著性特征）和汉字的偏好维度（非显著性特征）。实验结果发现：汉字偏好特征的学习,内隐组被试表现出更大的底层规则的迁移;汉字的偏好特征还表现出高潜力的内隐知识。     

飞行错觉水平评定方法的初步研究

本文从飞行错觉发生的类型和频率出发,尝试对飞行员在实际飞行中所产生的错觉水平或空间定向能力做出基本的评定。本研究采用区间模糊统计的方法,对飞行错觉的类型（倾斜错觉、俯仰错觉、方位错觉、反旋转错觉和倒飞错觉）和频率（从无、偶尔、时有、经常、总是）做了经验的赋值工作,分别计算出了这些模糊概念（除从无外）的心理量表值和模糊度。同时我们认为,飞行错觉水平是频率与类型的函数,其数学表达式为：,并将这一表达式作为评定飞行员飞行错觉水平的基本模型。