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History of in utero cocaine exposure in language-delayed children.

To determine whether children with language delays are more likely to have been exposed to cocaine in utero than children with normal language development, a case-control study was undertaken. Based on routine office screening in our primary-care clinic over a 1-year period, we identified 29 consecutive children, aged 24 to 48 months, as language-delayed. They were compared with an approximate 2:1 match of children without language delay who had been seen in the clinic on the same days and who were of similar age. There was more reported cocaine use during pregnancy (six of 29, 21%) among the language-delayed children than among the controls (five of 71, 7%). This difference is statistically significant (P < 0.05, chi 2 = 3.92; odds ratio = 3.4 +/- 2.2). Discriminant analysis revealed that both cocaine and nicotine exposure were associated with delayed language development--with an unexpected negative, i.e., an antagonistic, protective, interactive effect (F[3,96] = 4.66, R2 = 12.7%, P < .005); neither gender nor caretaker contributed to language development in this sample. These results suggest that children with language delay detected in a clinical setting are more likely to have been exposed in utero to cocaine than children with normal language development. Prenatal cocaine exposure should be a risk factor in monitoring development in children.

Case-Control Studies↗

Narrative development in late talkers: early school age.

Children with slow expressive language development (SELD) as toddlers and a control group of children with normal language development (NL) were followed to early school age. Children with SELD were, at that point, subdivided into two groups: those who had moved within the normal range of expressive language (the History of Expressive Language Delay [HELD] subgroup); and those who continued to score below the normal range in expressive language at school age (the Expressive Language Delay [ELD] subgroup). During their kindergarten, first, and second grade years, they were administered a narrative generation task. Narratives were analyzed for MLU, lexical diversity, amount of information included, proportion of complete cohesive ties, and overall stage of narrative maturity. In kindergarten, children with normal language history scored significantly higher than those with HELD and ELD on lexical diversity and narrative stage; and higher than those with ELD in proportion of complete cohesive ties. In first grade, children with normal language history again scored significantly higher than those with HELD and ELD on narrative maturity, with no other significant differences. In second grade, there were no significant differences among the groups.

Age Factors↗

The functions of immediate echolalia in autistic children: a developmental perspective.

This study examined differences in the use of immediate echolalia by autistic children at different stages of language development. Eighteen autistic children, aged 4 to 12 years, were videotaped in play sessions with a parent and with an examiner. Data were collected on frequency of echolalia, percentage of language that was echolalic, functions of echolalia (Prizant & Duchan, 1981), chronological age, nonverbal mental age, and language level. Frequency of immediate echolalia varied with expressive language level but not with nonverbal mental age or chronological age. The percentage of language that was echolalic was high at early stages of language development but decreased as language skills improved. No significant relationships were found between number of functions and language level, chronological age, or nonverbal mental age. Although coding of functions was reliable, the validity of functional categories for echolalia was not strongly supported. Implications for autistic language development and for methodology in this area are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Chronic physiologic instability is associated with neurodevelopmental morbidity at one and two years in extremely premature infants.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationships between chronic physiologic instability, as assessed by the cumulative daily Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology (SNAP), and neurodevelopmental morbidity in premature infants at 1 year and at 2 to 3 years of age. DESIGN: The subjects of this retrospective study were extremely premature (</=30 weeks' gestational age [GA]) infants born in 1993 and 1994 who were seen in follow-up at least once between 1 and 3 years of age. Cumulative daily SNAP scores were calculated over the entire neonatal intensive care unit course for 96 infants (mean GA, 27.3 +/- 1.6 weeks; mean birth weight, 1065 +/- 270 g). The Mental and Psychomotor Developmental (MDI and PDI) of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (II) were administered at 1 year and at 2 to 3 years of age; the Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale (REEL) was administered at 2 to 3 years of age. To compare the most stable infants with the most unstable infants, the subjects were divided into three quartile groups based on their cumulative SNAP scores (<25th percentile, 25 to 75th percentile, and >75th percentile). MDI, PDI, and REEL scores were compared for the three groups using analysis of variance. To evaluate the relative contributions of physiologic stability, intracranial abnormalities, GA, and early postnatal nutritional intakes, multiple regression analyses were performed using cumulative SNAP score, an intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) score (incorporating IVH and periventricular leukomalacia), GA, and a weight-change score for the first month as independent variables, and MDI, PDI, and REEL quotients as dependent variables. Regression analyses were repeated, with cumulative SNAP subscores for oxygenation, hypotension, acidosis, and hypoxia/ischemia included with IVH score, GA, and first month weight z score change as independent variables, and MDI, PDI, and REEL quotients as dependent variables. RESULTS: The infants with the highest degree of physiologic instability (cumulative SNAP scores greater than the 75th percentile) had significantly lower MDI scores at 1 year of age and lower PDI scores at 1 year and at 2 to 3 years of age than did infants who were more physiologically stable. Sixty-seven percent of infants with cumulative SNAP scores greater than the 75th percentile had neurodevelopmental abnormalities at 2 to 3 years of age (cerebral palsy or delayed mental, motor, or language development). Using multiple regression analyses, higher cumulative SNAP scores, IVH scores, and GA were associated with lower 1-year MDI scores. Higher cumulative SNAP scores and IVH scores were associated with lower 1-year PDI scores. By 2 years, only higher cumulative SNAP scores were significantly associated with lower MDI and PDI scores. With respect to language development, only lower weight-change scores over the first month were significantly associated with poorer receptive language development. Lower weight-change scores over the first month and higher hypotension scores were significantly associated with poorer expressive language development. In the secondary regression analyses, higher IVH score, higher cumulative oxygenation scores, and higher hypoxia/ischemia scores all were significantly associated with lower 1-year MDI scores. By 2 to 3 years of age, only higher oxygenation scores were significantly associated with lower MDI scores. CONCLUSIONS: Prolonged physiologic instability was associated with deleterious neurodevelopmental consequences for extremely premature infants through 2 to 3 years of age, independent of effects of intracranial abnormalities and GA.

Analysis of Variance↗

Economic evaluation of ventilation tubes in otitis media with effusion.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the costs and effectiveness of treatment with ventilation tubes as compared with watchful waiting in children with persistent otitis media with effusion. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Institutional practice. PATIENTS: A total of 187 young children (19 months old) with persistent bilateral otitis media with effusion. INTERVENTIONS: Treatment with ventilation tubes or watchful waiting. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The time without effusion, language development, and the costs from a societal perspective during 1-year follow-up. RESULTS: The mean duration of effusion was 9.2 months in the watchful waiting group and 4.7 months in the ventilation tube group. The language development was comparable in both groups (0.7 month of improvement difference [95% confidence interval, -0.3 to 1.7 months] after correction for confounding variables). Because no statistically significant differences were found in the language development between the treatment groups, we performed a cost minimization analysis. The mean costs per child during 1 year of follow-up were 454 US dollars in the ventilation tube group and 120 US dollars in the watchful waiting group. On average, an additional investment of 334 US dollars per patient was needed for ventilation tube treatment. CONCLUSION: In the absence of differences in language development and in view of higher costs, treatment with ventilation tubes is not recommended as standard treatment in all young children with persistent otitis media with effusion traced by a population-based screening program.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗

[Early childhood autism: age at onset and early regression].

OBJECTIVES: The age at onset of autistic symptoms and an early setback in the social or language development of children with early infantile autism has been discussed in the literature as a possible marker for a special subgroup. Information on the number of children with these symptoms varies widely in different reports. The purpose of this study is to analyse how often a late onset or a regression in social or language behaviour are reported in a clinical sample and how they are related to other abnormalities found in these children. METHODS: The files on 101 children seen in a specialised outpatient department since 1993 and diagnosed with early infantile autism were analysed. Information on the six axes of the multiaxial classification, the age at onset of symptoms and at setback in social or language development was extracted. RESULTS: Of these 101 children, 75% were described as being different from other children from the beginning. Fourteen showed a regression in social behaviour and 21 a regression in language development. These symptoms did not correlate with intelligence or the status of language development at the time of the assessment. Children with a setback more frequently had epileptic seizures than did children without a setback. CONCLUSIONS: The accumulated data permit the hypothesis that children with a late onset of autistic symptoms or a regression constitute a special subgroup within the group of children with early infantile autism. These symptoms should lead to an intensive diagnostic process in order to exclude epileptic abnormalities.

Autistic Disorder↗

[Analyses of answers presented by children with and without specific language impairment].

BACKGROUND: children start to differentiate questions from non-questions and also start to adjust their answers at the age of two. This participation in verbal exchanges requires basic conversational abilities such as the competence to initiate interact and reply appropriately, and to maintain the interaction. AIM: to analyze and correlate the pragmatic aspects of language, related to the type of answers, during an adult/child interaction in children with normal language development and in those diagnosed with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). METHOD: 16 children with SLI (GP) and ages between three and six years, and 60 children with normal language development (GC) and ages between three to five years - 20 for each age group, 10 of each gender. Data gathering occurred in two different days, with the adult/child interaction being facilitated by toys. Data (speech of child and adult) were transcribed and analyzed, obtaining a Reliability Index of 93.75%, and later were submitted to statistical analyses. RESULTS: answers were classified in categories and grouped according to the following: Adequate Answers (RA) and Inadequate Answers (RI), always in accordance to the established communicative context. GC presented a significantly higher average of RA when compared to GP, and GP presented a significantly higher average of RI when compared to GC. GC presented a decrease in the use of RI at the increase of age. GP maintained the use of RI at the increase of age, including the age group of six. CONCLUSION: it was observed that the increase in age emphasized differences between GP and GC. GP presented a less effective communication maintaining unintelligible speech, whereas GC presented more elaborate communication abilities. More studies with older children are necessary for the better understanding of the observed trends.

Age Factors↗

The interruption of young children's responses by older siblings.

A group of language-delayed children, a group of older children with normal language development, and a group of younger children with normal language development served as subjects in this study. Questions were asked after a story was read to a younger child in the presence of an older sibling. The older sibling's interruptions of the question-answer dialogue was scored by frequency, type of interruption, and difficulty level of the questions being interrupted. Older siblings interrupted the question-answer interactions of the language-delayed children with a frequency that was similar to that observed in siblings of younger normal children but the interruptions of the language-delayed children were qualitatively different. Older siblings tended to directly answer questions addressed to language-delayed children rather than to provide prompts or rephrasings of the question as they did for young normal children. Siblings of both the language-delayed and the young normal children interrupted more frequently as the questions increased in difficulty.

Age Factors↗

Using the Java language to develop computer based patient records for use on the Internet.

The development of the Java Programming Language by Sun Microsystems has provided a new tool for the development of Internet based applications. Our preliminary work has shown how Java can be used to program an Internet based CBPR. Java is well suited to the needs of patient records and can interface with clinical data repositories written in MUMPS or SQL.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Deficient acquisition strategies: a proposed conceptual framework for analyzing severe language deficiency.

A conceptual framework was proposed for analyzing aberrant or retarded language development. Recent developments in psycholinguistics have led to a view of language acquisition as an interactive process involving external interactions between child and environment and internal interactions between cognitive holdings and processes. The child's active participation in these interactions is conceptualized as a system of language-acquisition strategies. These consist of both information-gathering strategies and information-processing strategies and are distinguished from the adult speaker's facilitation strategies. We suggest that aberrant or retarded language development may be viewed in terms of specific process deficits in one or more of these strategy systems. In the present article three preverbal information-gathering strategies identified as selective listening, establishment of joint reference, and feedback mechanisms were described. Suggestions for future research and implications for intervention were discussed.

Adult↗

Should children be screened to undergo early treatment for otitis media with effusion? A systematic review of randomized trials.

BACKGROUND: Otitis media with effusion (OME) is the most common cause of acquired hearing loss in childhood and has been associated with delayed language development and behavioural problems. Some have argued that children should be screened and treated early if found to have clinically important OME. The aim of this review was to assess evidence from randomized controlled trials about the effectiveness of screening and treating children with clinically important OME in the first 4 years of their life. The primary outcome was language development. METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLINE and EMBASE and reference lists of all included studies in February 2003. We also contacted the first authors of the studies included in this review. Search terms included otitis media; otitis media with effusion; glue ear; OME; screen; children; treatment; language; and behaviour. Data extraction and methodological quality assessment were performed by at least two of us for each study independently, using methods described in the Cochrane Collaboration Handbook. RESULTS: From the three included randomized controlled trials evaluating interventions among children with OME identified through screening, we found no evidence of clinically important benefit in language development. CONCLUSIONS: The identified randomized trials do not show an important benefit on language development from screening the general population of asymptomatic children in the first 4 years of life to undergo early treatment for OME. Screening asymptomatic children in the first 4 years of life for OME is not recommended.

Child↗

The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Normative Data for American Sign Language.

To This is a 1 test per thousand learn more about normal language development in deaf children, we have developed the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory for American Sign Language (ASL-CDI), a parent report that measures early sign production. The ASL-CDI is an inventory of sign glosses organized into semantic categories targeted to assess sign language skills in children ages 8 to 36 months. The ASL-CDI uses a recognition format in which parents check off signs that their child produces. The form has demonstrated excellent reliability and validity. To date, normative data have been collected from 69 deaf children with deaf parents who are learning sign language as a first language. We discuss the development of the ASl-CDI and preliminary cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from this early data collection with particular focus on parallels with spoken language acquisition. We also discuss the acquisition of first signs, negation, wh-questions, and fingerspelling with developmental patterns provided based on age, as well as vocabulary size.

Journal Article↗

Persuasive writing in children, adolescents, and adults: a study of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic development.

PURPOSE: Persuasive writing is a demanding task that requires the use of complex language to analyze, discuss, and resolve controversies in a way that is clear, convincing, and considerate of diverse points of view. This investigation examined selected aspects of later language development in the context of persuasive writing. The purpose of the study was to obtain current information that could be used to design collaborative instruction involving speech-language pathologists and classroom teachers. In schools today, these professionals often work closely together to facilitate students' language development, including their ability to write persuasively. METHOD: Persuasive writing was investigated in typically developing children, adolescents, and adults (N = 180) whose mean ages were 11, 17, and 24 years, respectively. Each participant wrote an essay on the controversial topic of animals being trained to perform in circuses. Following this, the essays were examined in detail, focusing on selected aspects of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic development. RESULTS: Performance improved in each of these domains during the years between childhood and adulthood. Age-related changes included gradual increases in essay length; mean length of utterance; relative clause production; and the use of literate words, including adverbial conjuncts (e.g., typically, however, finally), abstract nouns (e.g., longevity, respect, kindness), and metalinguistic and metacognitive verbs (e.g., reflect, argue, disagree). In addition, older writers produced a greater number of different reasons in their essays and were more likely to acknowledge diverse points of view as compared to younger writers, thereby evidencing greater flexibility of thought. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The study offers useful implications for speech-language pathologists and classroom teachers working together to improve students' persuasive writing skills. Suggestions are offered for ways to accomplish this by focusing on key aspects of later language development in the areas of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Adolescent↗

Can clinical judgment detect children with speech-language problems?

Pediatricians often rely on clinical judgment derived from observation or parental concern to identify children with developmental problems. The less popular but recommended alternative is to repeatedly administer standardized screening tests. Such tests are time consuming but, unlike clinical judgment, have known detection rates. Preliminary research concerning clinical judgment showed that clusters of parental concerns related to their childrens' performances on screening tests. In the present study, previous research was refined by assessment of the meaning of parents' concerns about their childrens' speech-language development. In this study of 157 families seeking pediatric care, 72% of children whose speech-language screening yielded positive results had parents who were concerned about their speech-language development. Of children with negative screening results, 83% had parents with no concerns about their speech-language development. Although standardized screening tests should be used occasionally in the developmental surveillance process, the findings show that the problems of most children with developmental problems were detected through clinical judgment based on parental concern.

Child↗

Language input and language growth.

This report is concerned with the sources of language development in the child. We have found a substantial relation between naturally occurring variations in children's language environments and their language skills, both at the earliest stages of language development and later, at 5 and 6 years of age. Our studies show that children's language development is related to the speech they hear at home and the speech they hear at school. Although much more work remains to be done, it is clear that differences in language input within the normal range are causally related to the growth of children's vocabularies and their syntactic skills.

Adolescent↗