Maternal depression and expressive communication in one-year-old infants

To separate effects of maternal depression on infant cognitive versus language development, 1-year-olds were assessed using the revised Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III). Percentile scores on the Bayley Expressive Communication (EC) subscale were significantly negatively correlated with maternal self-report scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). However, mothers’ BDI-II scores did not correlate with infant percentile scores on the general cognitive (COG) or receptive communication (RC) subscales. Boys had significantly lower percentile scores than girls on the RC and EC scales, but did not differ on the Cog scale. Gender and maternal depression did not significantly interact on any of the scales. These findings suggest problems with expressive communication precede, and may at least partially account for, apparent deficits in general cognitive development.     

Gestural development and its relation to a child's early vocabulary

Gesture and language are tightly connected during the development of a child's communication skills. Gestures mostly precede and define the way of language development; even opposite direction has been found. Few recent studies have focused on the relationship between specific gestures and specific word categories, emphasising that the onset of one gesture type predicts the onset of certain word categories or of the earliest word combinations.The aim of this study was to analyse predicative roles of different gesture types on the onset of first word categories in a child's early expressive vocabulary. Our data show that different types of gestures predict different types of word production. Object gestures predict open-class words from the age of 13 months, and gestural routines predict closed-class words and social terms from 8 months. Receptive vocabulary has a strong mediating role for all linguistically defined categories (open- and closed-class words) but not for social terms, which are the largest word category in a child's early expressive vocabulary. Accordingly, main contribution of this study is to define the impact of different gesture types on early expressive vocabulary and to determine the role of receptive vocabulary in gesture-expressive vocabulary relation in the Croatian language.     

Experimental manipulations of perspective taking and perspective switching in expressive writing

Previous studies suggest that those who naturally vary their pronoun use over the course of expressive writing subsequently report the greatest improvements in physical and mental health. To explore possible perspective taking or perspective switching effects, two studies manipulated writing perspectives about emotional events from either a first-person, second-person, or third-person perspective. In Study 1, 55 students were randomly assigned to one of the three writing perspectives and were asked to write from the same perspective for three 5-minute writing sessions. In Study 2, 129 students wrote for three 5-minute sessions, one from each perspective in a counterbalanced order. The results showed that writing from a first-person perspective conferred more perceived benefits and was associated with using more cognitive mechanism words, whether engaged in perspective taking or perspective switching.     

Emotion Regulation with Mindful Arts Activities Using a Personalized Self-Soothing Kit

Contrary to the occupational therapy tradition, there is little current research on harmonizing expressive doing with contemporary occupational therapy practice. This phenomenological multiple case study explored an integrated application of mindfulness, creative activity, and sensory modulation for adult mental health services users by making and using personalized self-soothing kits. The results showed significant improvements in arousal regulation, positive changes in emotion regulation and mixed results for mood regulation. Progress in participation in present roles and an increased focus on future productivity goals were also among the outcomes reported. The theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

An intervention using morphology to derive word meanings for English language learners

Many English language learners (ELL) experience academic and reading difficulties compared to native English speakers (NES). Lack of vocabulary knowledge is a contributing factor for these difficulties. Teaching students to analyze words into their constituent morphemes (meaningful word units) in order to determine the meaning of words may be an avenue to increase vocabulary knowledge. This study investigated potential benefits of morphological instruction for learning vocabulary words and generalizing taught words to untaught words containing these morphemes. Nine fourth‐ and fifth‐grade ELL with reading difficulties participated in a multiple baseline, single‐case design study. Visual analysis of the results revealed a functional relation between the intervention and an increase in participants' vocabulary scores with 90% to 100% nonoverlapping data for eight participants. The effects of training generalized to untaught words. These findings suggest that morphological analysis is a promising approach to increase vocabulary knowledge of ELL.     

小学儿童词汇知识与阅读理解的关系：交叉滞后研究

对小学1、3、5年级共399名学生进行为期1年的追踪测查, 使用交叉滞后模型检验小学低、中、高年级儿童词汇知识与阅读理解的关系。在控制了语音意识、语素意识、一般认知能力和自回归效应之后, 结果发现：在小学低年级, 词汇知识与阅读理解之间未发现显著的纵向预测关系; 在中年级, 词汇知识和阅读理解存在显著的双向预测关系; 在高年级, T1的阅读理解能够显著预测T2的词汇知识, 而T1的词汇知识对T2阅读理解的预测作用不显著。研究结果表明词汇知识与阅读理解的关系在小学不同年级段存在不同的模式, 这一发现支持了阅读发展阶段论, 并对阅读三角理论进行了一定的补充。     

Predictors of early vocabulary growth in children born preterm and full term: A study of processing speed and medical complications

Delays in expressive vocabulary may be harbingers of long-term language difficulties. In toddlers born full term (FT), individual differences in language processing speed are associated with variation in expressive vocabulary growth. Children born preterm (PT) are at increased risk for persistent language deficits. Here, we evaluate predictors of early vocabulary growth in PT toddlers in relation to two sources of variability: language processing speed and medical complications of prematurity. Vocabulary growth from 16 to 30 months (adjusted for degree of prematurity) was modeled longitudinally using parent reports in English-speaking FT (n = 63; ≥37 weeks, ≥2495 g) and PT (n = 69; ≤32 weeks, <1800 g) children, matched on sex and socioeconomic status. Children were tested in the “looking-while-listening task” at 18 months to derive a measure of language processing speed. Each PT child was assessed for number of medical complications (13 maximum), based on medical chart reviews. PT and FT children displayed similar vocabulary trajectories; however, birth group disparities began to emerge by 30 months. PT children were slower in language processing speed than FT children. Critically, language processing speed predicted expressive vocabulary size at 30 months; interactions with birth group were not significant (all p > .20). In PT children, faster language processing speed predicted stronger outcomes regardless of number of medical complications; slower processing speed and more medical complications predicted poorer outcomes. Faster processing speed reflected favorable neuropsychological processes associated with faster expressive vocabulary growth that overrode the impact of medical complications on language outcomes in PT children.     

中国人敬畏特质的心理结构研究

本研究基于人格词汇学假设,探索中国人敬畏特质的心理结构。通过文献分析、专家访谈、开放式和半开放式问卷调查,建立39个词汇的敬畏特质词汇表。在此基础上,进行项目分析、探索性因素分析、验证性因素分析和信效度检验,编制了包含24个词汇的中国人敬畏特质词汇评定问卷。结果表明:(1)中国人的敬畏特质是一个包括谨慎、尊重、谦卑、欣赏的四维结构;(2)编制的中国人敬畏特质词汇评定问卷的信效度符合心理测量学的要求。     

Socioeconomic background,nonverbal IQ and school absence affects the development of vocabulary and reading comprehension in children living in severe poverty

Few studies have examined how socioeconomic status (SES) affects two essential parts of human development, namely vocabulary and reading comprehension, in children facing severe poverty. The Roma population is the largest minority group in Europe, the majority of whom live in severe poverty. This study compared the development of 322 Roma children with the development of 178 non‐Roma children, between the ages of 7 and 10 years, living in Romania. The Roma children had poorer initial vocabulary and reading comprehension skills as well as slower growth rates for both compared to the non‐Roma children. Importantly, SES had a direct influence on growth in both reading comprehension and vocabulary. The effect of SES was partly mediated by school absence and nonverbal IQ. This is a powerful finding since it suggests that poverty may have detrimental effects not only on reading but also on the development of verbal abilities.     

What does rapid automatized naming measure? A new RAN task compared to naming and lexical decision

The present research investigated the relationship between Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) performance, letter-string reading measures of sight vocabulary (SV) and phonetic decoding (PD), and lexical decision. Criterion-based naming rates were obtained from three types of RAN tasks: digits, letters, and letter sounds. Latency measures were obtained from the naming of regular words, exception words, nonwords and pseudohomophones; as well as button press and verbal lexical decision tasks. Regression analyses supported the hypotheses that RAN-Letters latency reflects SV processing in that its variance is uniquely accounted for by exception word naming latency and button press lexical decision latency, and that RAN-Letter Sounds latency best reflects PD processing in that its variance is uniquely accounted for by pseudohomophone and nonword naming latency. Findings are discussed in light of what the RAN tasks are measuring, implications involving visual word recognition models of reading, and the utility of the new RAN-Letter Sounds task with respect to diagnostic and remediation applications.