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ABSTRACT: AIM: To explore the link between pre-school children's general home computer use and their letter knowledge. METHODS: As part of the Early Language in Victoria Study, a community cohort of 1539 four-year-old children was tested on letter knowledge as well as on non-verbal intelligence, oral language, articulation and phonological awareness. Performance on these measures was examined in relation to parent-questionnaire responses exploring home literacy environment and the amount of time children spent using the computer. RESULTS: A positive correlation between computer use and letter knowledge was found, and this association was still evident after controlling for other cognitive and environmental factors known to predict the development of letter knowledge in young children. CONCLUSIONS: Greater computer use in pre-school children appears to have a positive association with emerging literacy development. Future research needs to examine the nature of that association.
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 02/2013; · 1.28 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: PURPOSE: The evidence of a deficit in working memory in SLI is of sufficient magnitude to suggest a primary role developmental language disorder. However, little research has investigated memory in late talkers who recover from their early delay. Drawing on a longitudinal, community sample, this study compared the memory profiles of three groups of 5-year-olds: children with SLI who had been identified as late talkers, resolved late talkers (RLT), and children with typical language development (TLD). METHOD: Participants were 25 children with SLI, 45 RLTs, and 32 children with TLD. Subtests from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children and the Children's Memory Scale plus recalling sentences and nonword repetition tasks were administered to test the components of Baddeley's working memory model. RESULTS: The SLI showed significantly poorer performance than the RLT and TLD groups on measures of the phonological loop and episodic buffer. The RLT and TLD groups scored similarly on all memory measures. CONCLUSIONS: The results support previous findings that sentence recall and nonword repetition are markers of SLI. Although residual effects of late talking status may emerge over time, RLTs do not necessarily show memory deficits at 5 years of age despite delayed early vocabulary development.
Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research 05/2012; · 1.88 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To quantify the contributions of child, family, and environmental predictors to language ability at 4 years.
A longitudinal study was performed with a sample of 1910 infants recruited at 8 months in Melbourne, Australia. Predictors were child gender, prematurity, birth weight and order, multiple birth, socioeconomic status, maternal mental health, vocabulary, education, and age at child's birth, non-English-speaking background, and family history of speech/language difficulties. Outcomes were Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool, language scores, low language status (scores >1.25 SDs below the mean), and specific language impairment (SLI) (scores >1.25 SDs below the mean for children with normal nonverbal performance).
A total of 1596 children provided outcome data. Twelve baseline predictors explained 18.9% and 20.9% of the variation in receptive and expressive scores, respectively, increasing to 23.6% and 30.4% with the addition of late talking status at age 2. A total of 20.6% of children (324 of 1573 children) met the criteria for low language status and 17.2% (251 of 1462 children) for SLI. Family history of speech/language problems and low maternal education levels and socioeconomic status predicted adverse language outcomes. The combined predictors discriminated only moderately between children with and without low language levels or SLIs (area under the curve: 0.72-0.76); this improved with the addition of late talking status (area under the curve: 0.78-0.84).
Measures of social disadvantage helped explain more variation in outcomes at 4 years than at 2 years, but ability to predict low language status and SLI status remained limited.
PEDIATRICS 11/2010; 126(6):e1530-7. · 4.47 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Parent report instruments are frequently used for the identification of both 'at-risk' children and to support the diagnosis of communication delay. Whilst the evidence is strong for the accuracy of parent report of vocabulary between 2 and 3 years, there are fewer studies that have considered the ability of parents to report on early communication behaviours in 12-month-old infants.
To investigate the validity of the underlying structure of the Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales-Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP) for each of the direct observation and parent reports of communication behaviour in infants at 12 months of age.
Participants were 1725 infants, already participating in a longitudinal study of language development, whose parents completed the Infant-Toddler Checklist from the CSBS-DP. Seven hundred and twenty-eight (728) of these infants also completed the Behaviour Sample from the CSBS-DP. The structure of the CSBS-DP was examined using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of the Behaviour Sample and the Infant-Toddler Checklist. Correlations between the Infant-Toddler Checklist and the Behaviour Sample on the total, composite, and subscale scores were also calculated.
Confirmatory factor analysis of the CSBS-DP Behaviour Sample replicated previous work conducted during the development of the instrument, but on a larger and younger cohort of Australian infants. The data provided support for at least three factors, broadly representing Social, Speech, and Symbolic communication skills, with some evidence that the speech factor could be further split into sub-factors representing Sounds and Words. There was support for a three-factor structure for the Infant-Toddler Checklist. Moderate correlations were found between results from the Behaviour Sample and the Infant-Toddler Checklist.
As measures of early communication skill for young infants, the CSBS-DP Behaviour Sample and the Infant-Toddler Checklist are valid clinical tools for measuring constructs broadly representing Social, Speech, and Symbolic communication skills. The Speech composite in particular emerged as a strong factor under the Behaviour Sample.
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 11/2009; 45(5):572-85. · 1.95 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study examines potential predictors of 'precocious talking' (expressive language ≥90th percentile) at one and two years of age, and of 'stability' in precocious talking across both time periods, drawing on data from a prospective community cohort comprising over 1,800 children. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between precocious talking and the following potential predictors: gender, birth order, birth weight, non-English speaking background, socioeconomic status, maternal age, maternal mental health scores, and vocabulary and educational attainment of parents. The strongest predictors of precocity (being female and having a younger mother) warrant further exploration. Overall, however, it appears that precocity in early vocabulary development is not strongly influenced by the variables examined, which together explained just 2.6% and 1% of the variation at 1;0 and 2;0 respectively.
Journal of Child Language 10/2009; 37(5):1109-21. · 1.41 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Within a longitudinal study using a large representative, community sample of infants recruited at mean age 8 months, we examined influences on infant communication development at 24 months, including child gender, shy temperament, behavioural and emotional problems, and several variables relating to maternal psychosocial health. On most developmental measures girls were in advance of boys and they also showed shyer temperament. Child gender, shy temperament and maternal psychosocial indices were associated with both vocabulary development as measured by the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI), and communication and symbolic development assessed via the Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales-Developmental Profile (CSBS) at 24 months. No prediction was found using scores at 8 or 12 months, although moderate stability between measures between 12 and 24 months was evident. Predictors of 24 month outcomes were all concurrently measured variables, and included temperamental shyness, but very little variance in communication outcomes was explained. Children whose mothers were experiencing clinical levels of depression and life difficulties reported more child behavioural problems.
Infant behavior & development 05/2008; 31(2):270-9. · 1.34 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This article responds to evidence gaps regarding language impairment identified by the US Preventive Services Task Force in 2006. We examine the contributions of putative child, family, and environmental risk factors to language outcomes at 24 months of age.
A community-ascertained sample of 1720 infants who were recruited at 8 months of age were followed at ages 12 and 24 months in a prospective, longitudinal study in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Outcomes at 24 months were parent-reported infant communication (Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales and MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories vocabulary production score). Putative risk factors were gender, preterm birth, birth weight, multiple birth, birth order, socioeconomic status, maternal mental health, maternal vocabulary and education, maternal age at birth of child, non-English-speaking background, and family history of speech-language difficulties. Linear regression models were fitted to total standardized Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales and Communicative Development Inventories vocabulary production scores; a logistic regression model was fitted to late-talking status at 24 months.
The regression models accounted for 4.3% and 7.0% of the variation in the 24-month Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales and Communicative Development Inventories scores, respectively. Male gender and family history were strongly associated with poorer outcomes on both instruments. Lower Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales scores were also associated with lower maternal vocabulary and older maternal age. Lower vocabulary production scores were associated with birth order and non-English-speaking background. When the 12-month Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Total score was added as a covariate in the linear regression of 24-month Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Total score, it was by far the strongest predictor.
These early risk factors explained no more than 7% of the variation in language at 24 months. They seem unlikely to be helpful in screening for early language delay.
PEDIATRICS 01/2008; 120(6):e1441-9. · 4.47 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To describe changes in infant prelinguistic communication skills between 8 and 12 months, and identify factors associated with those skills.
Parent questionnaire data for a prospective population-based cohort of infants in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.
1911 infants born November 2002-August 2003.
Infant communication (Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales (CSBS)) at 8 and 12 months. Potential risk factors: sex; prematurity; multiple birth; sociodemographic indicators; maternal mental health, vocabulary and education; non-English speaking background; and family history of speech-language difficulties. Linear regression models were fitted to total standardised CSBS scores at 8 and 12 months.
Social communication, especially the use of gesture, developed rapidly from 8 to 12 months. Female sex, twin birth, and family history were strongly associated with CSBS scores. The combined model accounted for 5% and 6% of the total variation at 8 and 12 months, respectively. CSBS score at 8 months strongly predicted CSBS score at 12 months (coefficient = 0.56, partial R(2) = 37.0).
There is a dramatic increase in communication skills between 8 and 12 months, particularly the development of gesture, which (as in previous studies) predates and predicts future language development. Risk factors explained little variation in early communication trajectories and therefore, based on our findings, this developmental course is more likely to be biologically predetermined. Rather than focusing on risk factors, we suggest that language promotion activities in otherwise healthy young infants should either be universal or, if targeted, be based on the level of communication skills displayed.
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 01/2007; 42(12):764-70. · 1.28 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To investigate the prevalence of specific reading disability in children with functional amblyopia and to explore the relationship between the two.
In this prospective study, 20 consecutive children, aged 6 to 15 years (mean 8 +/-1.99 years), and diagnosed with amblyopia underwent a vision and reading assessment. The orthoptic examination included the assessment of participants' visual acuity, ocular motility and binocular functions. Specific reading disability was diagnosed using the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT III Reading Subtest). Intelligence, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and the ability to read pseudo or nonsense words was also assessed using various psycho-linguistic reading tests.
The prevalence of specific reading disability in this small series of amblyopic children was found to be 5% (n=1/20). This was even less than that reported in the local Victoria general population (16%). The type of amblyopia appeared related to phonological awareness (p=0.018) and decoding words (p=0.024), those with anisometropic amblyopia performing significantly better on these tasks than the strabismic amblyopes. The presence of binocular vision functions was also related to decoding words; those with binocular single vision performed better than those with suppression and lacking single binocular vision (p=0.007). Generally, amblyopic children also showed a lower RAN score when compared to phonological awareness score. There was no statistically significant difference for the severity of amblyopia (p=>0.05).
In this very small pilot series, reading disorders were relatively rare in children with amblyopia. However, strabismic amblyopia and presence of suppression may have an adverse effect on phonological skills. In addition, amblyopia may be associated with a deficit in RAN. Further research is needed and planned to gain a better understanding about the relationship between amblyopia and reading ability.
Binocular vision & strabismus quarterly 01/2006; 21(1):27-32.
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ABSTRACT: Recent research suggests an auditory temporal deficit as a possible contributing factor to poor phonemic awareness skills. This study investigated the relationship between auditory temporal processing of nonspeech sounds and phonological awareness ability in children with a reading disability, aged 8-12 years, using Tallal's tone-order judgement task. Normal performance on the tone-order task was established for 36 normal readers. Forty-two children with developmental reading disability were then subdivided by their performance on the tone-order task. Average and poor tone-order subgroups were then compared on their ability to process speech sounds and visual symbols, and on phonological awareness and reading. The presence of a tone-order deficit did not relate to performance on the order processing of speech sounds, to poorer phonological awareness or to more severe reading difficulties. In particular, there was no evidence of a group by interstimulus interval interaction, as previously described in the literature, and thus little support for a general auditory temporal processing difficulty as an underlying problem in poor readers. In this study, deficient order judgement on a nonverbal auditory temporal order task (tone task) did not underlie phonological awareness or reading difficulties.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 04/2003; 84(3):218-43. · 3.12 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Recent research suggests an auditory temporal deficit as a possible contributing factor to poor phonemic awareness skills. This study investigated the relationship between auditory temporal processing of nonspeech sounds and phonological awareness ability in children with a reading disability, aged 8–12 years, using Tallal’s tone-order judgement task. Normal performance on the tone-order task was established for 36 normal readers. Forty-two children with developmental reading disability were then subdivided by their performance on the tone-order task. Average and poor tone-order subgroups were then compared on their ability to process speech sounds and visual symbols, and on phonological awareness and reading. The presence of a tone-order deficit did not relate to performance on the order processing of speech sounds, to poorer phonological awareness or to more severe reading difficulties. In particular, there was no evidence of a group by interstimulus interval interaction, as previously described in the literature, and thus little support for a general auditory temporal processing difficulty as an underlying problem in poor readers. In this study, deficient order judgement on a nonverbal auditory temporal order task (tone task) did not underlie phonological awareness or reading difficulties.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 02/2003; · 3.12 Impact Factor
