Ch 5 Childhood Language Impairments October 6 2011 Language Impairment Heterogeneous group of disorders and populations affected diverse kinds of issues age ranges affected diversity as to what areas of language are impacted Developmental and or acquired disorders and or delays both are impairments o Delay 12 year old s language looks like a normal 8 year old s language o Disorder the profile does not fit into any normal age group Affects spoken and or written language in comprehension and or production Involves one or more aspects of language o Receptive comprehension listening or reading o Expressive production writing or speaking o Can have one or both NOT a language difference o Can have a difference and an impairment but that is not always the case o Language issues can have physical causes or no known cause Language Development Through the Lifespan Pre Language Caregivers talk to infants as if they understand helps shape early language behavior expectation o Communication to infant that he she has communication ability shows o Crucial for normal language development Reciprocal relationship begins early o Eye gaze rituals and game playing by 3 4 months i e peek a boo Establish that want infant to be looking at an object when being spoken to o Caregiver child interaction can be disrupted i e Postpartum depression Do not interact with child in the same way infant and caregiver interaction is usually diminished Intentionality share goals through gestures and eye gaze o Phonetically consistent form consistent vocal patterns being produced by infant 8 9 months infant is about to transition to words Learning language is strongly related to cognition o Representation one thing stands for another infants have mastered object permanence realizing that if something is not in sight it can still be present o Symbolization something arbitrary can stand for another thing 12th month milestone should be able to at least say first word Language Development Through the Lifespan Toddler Language Have 50 single words and combine them at 18 months o Expect to see vocabulary grow expect to begin combining words huge milestone Use Pragmatics may use a single word for various purposes Content and Form o By 2 have an expressive vocabulary of 150 300 words adding more words 2 year old word burst Comprehension is probably more than what they say comprehension precedes production o Lexicon personal dictionary o Early word combinations follow predictable word order patterns See Language Development Through the Lifespan Preschool Language 3 5 years of age Box 5 2 Expanded conversational skills o Big pragmatic explosions 2 o Kids have better memory can retain more information can retain more conversation Children form hypotheses about language rules o See overgeneralizations i e eated o Children with ID MR or LD may have difficulty cognitive impairments Use turns o Topic maintenance for 2 3 turns can stay on topic and elaborate for 2 3 o Begin to consider the listener kids become less egocentric engage in conversational repairs o Tell simple sequential stories Content o 3 years 900 words o 4 years 1 500 words o Fast mapping incidental learning kids pick up vocabulary without anyone explicitly teaching them the words mutual exclusivity Once learned the first time knows it forever o Learning relational words and phrases i e location word usually follows an action word in a sentence Form o Dramatic change in syntax Mean length of utterance MLU longer periods of talking and complexity o Negative interrogative and imperative sentences o Compound sentences and conjunctions some complex because is a subordinating conjunction o Several bound morphemes increases MLU Language Development Through the Lifespan completed by age 5 School Age and Adolescent Language Means of communication changes with reading and writing development 3 o Metalinguistic skills increase awareness of language the ability to make judgments on correctness and know certain kinds of ways to manipulate language Semantic and pragmatic development blossoms because reading and writing are occurring o Greater understanding of figurative language o Pick up more on non vocal messages tone sarcasm irony etc Use you speak to Content Form o Refine conversation skills adapting language depending on the people o Narratives gain essential elements more than beginning middle and end plots characterization conflict resolution etc o Definitions become more dictionary like more standard o Understand and use figurative language o By age 5 use most verb tenses possessive pronouns and conjunctions o Morphology derivational suffixes and prefixes o Syntax passive sentences reflexive pronouns compound complex sentences more adult like Language Development Through the Lifespan Adult Language Development continues by at a slower pace Should continue to develop if no neuropathologies i e stroke TBI Specialized vocabulary reflects work environment religion hobbies etc Associated Disorders and Related Causes Mental retardation intellectual disability MR ID Learning disabilities 4 Specific language impairment Autism spectrum disorder PPD Brain injury Neglect and abuse impairment s Characterized by Fetal alcohol syndrome and drug exposed children Mental Retardation Intellectual Disability Not called Intellectual Disability ID probably going to have some language o Substantial limitations in intellectual functioning Kids given cognitive tests to assess how they process certain things Normal score 77 115 if above or below cognition is not normal o Significant limitations in adaptive behavior i e feeding potty training self help care skills o Originates before age 18 Severity based on IQ ranges from mild to profound Look at Table 5 3 Causes can be biological or socioenvironmental o Biological genetic chromosomal disorders i e Downs syndrome o Socioenvironmental maternal infections during pregnancy and disrupts brain development Lifespan Issues o Early intervention prenatal immediately receives services key for increasing chances for normalcy o Educational placement depends on severity 5 Learning Disabilities Inclusion for mild less severe ID self contained classroom for more severe ID special services o Adulthood living and working arrangements vary widely can be in group homes some can live independently some can be employed Language Characteristics o Language abilities can be below cognitive abilities SLP goal is to raise language ability to cognitive ability different for