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A longitudinal study was conducted to determine the ability of the Uzgiris and Hunt scales to predict adaptive behaviour including, but not limited to, language. The Uzgiris and Hunt scales, six of the ABS domains and the Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language (REEL) scale were administered to 61 children who were severely or profoundly mentally retarded. The ABS domains and the REEL were readministered 4 years later. The findings generally supported earlier cross-sectional research and theory. However, this methodology permitted the finding that the earlier score on the ABS domain or REEL was by far the best single predictor of the later score on that same measure, an intuitively obvious, but nevertheless, important finding. The findings were interpreted regarding their implications for theory, practice and methodology.
The Boston Naming Test has enjoyed increasing use in many research studies since its introduction. However, there is little normative data on the age group above 60 years of age. This study presents data from a sample of 58 well-defined healthy elderly males and females between the ages of 60 and 85. In comparison with published normative data, our sample has higher means, smaller standard deviations, and narrower ranges. These results suggest that aging alone does not significantly alter recognition-cued word-finding ability as defined by the Boston Naming Test. Also there is remarkably consistent performance throughout our age range.
The items of the Five Minute Speech Sample, an instrument to elicit relatives' expressed emotion, were investigated in a follow-up study of 120 parents of adolescents with recent-onset schizophrenia. A composite scale was constructed using Mokken scale analysis. From the 9 available items, 6 formed a unidimensional and cumulative scale. This scale was applicable for the total parent group, as well as for fathers and mothers separately. A second scale of 2 items did not meet the criteria for the Mokken model completely and was applicable for the parent group as a whole, but not for fathers and mothers as separate groups. The configuration of the subscales as found with the Mokken scale analysis was comparable with the results of principal component analysis. A quantitative measure may detect smaller differences in expressed emotion than the dichotomous index and expands the possibilities for statistical tests.
This article presents a longitudinal study of the early literacy development of 47 children with speech difficulties from ages 4 to 7 years. Of these children, 19 with specific speech difficulties were compared with 19 children with speech and language difficulties and 19 normally developing controls. The risk of literacy difficulties was greater in the group with speech and language difficulties, and these children displayed deficits in phoneme awareness at 6 years. In contrast, the literacy development of children with isolated speech problems was not significantly different from that of controls. A path analysis relating early speech, language, and literacy skills indicated that preschool language ability was a unique predictor of phoneme awareness at 5;8 (years; months), which, together with early reading skill, predicted literacy outcome at 6;9. Once the effects of phoneme awareness were controlled, neither speech perception nor speech production processes predicted variation in literacy skills. However, it is noteworthy that children with persisting speech difficulties at 6;9 were particularly vulnerable to deficits in reading-related processes.
Dementia is a syndrome of intellectual impairment. Established criteria can be used to diagnose dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) and to categorize it into three stages. This article compares DAT with other types of dementia and outlines the characteristic clinical differences. Some neurobehavioural testing is described.
This study tested the hypothesis that specifically language-impaired (SLI) children have a qualitatively different cognitive system from that of normal language (NL) children. Twenty NL and 20 SLI children between the ages of 4:2 (years:months) and 5:11 were presented with experimental language-learning measures, experimental nonverbal measures, and verbal and nonverbal norm-referenced tests. A confirmatory analysis of the covariance matrix structures of the two subject groups indicated that relations among cognitive skills differed between NL and SLI children. In addition, a planned comparison indicated that the relation between nonverbal rule-induction and novel bound-morpheme learning differed significantly between groups. The findings indicate that a "qualitative-differences" model of specific language impairment better accounts for the co-occurrence of poor verbal and poor nonverbal cognitive skills in SLI children than a "low-normal" model.
This study was an investigation of the role of language proficiency and automatization of language skills in the use of spontaneous rehearsal strategies by children who are deaf. Thirty-one profoundly deaf children, 7 to 13 years old, were given a serial recall task, a test of language proficiency (the Language Proficiency Profile-I), and a rapid automatized naming (RAN) task. Similar to previous studies, when the data were examined by age, an apparent developmental lag was observed in the children's spontaneous use of a cumulative rehearsal strategy. Logistic regression analyses further demonstrated that age was actually a nonsignificant predictor of rehearsal use, but that both language proficiency and the automatization of language skills were highly significant predictors. In subsequent hierarchical analyses, automatized language was a partial mediator of the language proficiency --> rehearsal use relation. These results provided support for the view that automatization of language skills is an important and perhaps necessary contribution to the relation between language proficiency and rehearsal use, but that other additional aspects of language proficiency also affect the child's use of a strategy. These findings were discussed in relation to Cummins' (1984) model of language proficiency.
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Sex steroids and the X chromosome can independently affect cognitive abilities. Because subjects with Turner syndrome (TS) have gonadal aplasia, and various alterations in X chromosome structure and number, they provide a model to study the effects of sex steroids and of the X chromosome on human brain function. We used neuropsychological tests to study the cognitive abilities of 18 TS adults and 19 age/sex matched healthy controls. Nine TS subjects were mosaic for the 45,X karyotype, and 9 were non-mosaic 45,X (full TS). The TS group as a whole, compared to controls, had (i) significantly lower scores in tests of language and visual-spatial function, attention and memory, and (ii) a significantly greater discrepancy between verbal and performance scores. Mosaic TS subjects were intermediate between full TS and controls in some tests of verbal ability, but did not differ significantly from controls in others. Visuospatial ability was significantly lower than controls in both mosaic and full TS. Within the mosaic TS group, there was a significant negative correlation between visuospatial ability and % lymphocytes having a 45,X karyotype. Memory test scores were reduced independently of "X chromosome dosage" in all TS subjects. We conclude that in humans, the X chromosome is involved in development of both cerebral hemispheres, but moreso of the association neocortices. Also, sex steroids may modulate this effect--particularly in hippocampus.
Word category-specific deficits were investigated in two patients with right hemispheric lesions and hemiparesis affecting the left extremities. Words from three categories, action verbs, nouns with strong visual associations and nouns with both strong action and visual associations, were presented in a lexical decision task. The stimulus categories were matched for word length and frequency. In both patients, responses to action verbs were slowed and/or less accurate compared with the other word categories. This was so even in the patient with a minor lesion in the motor, pre-motor and somatosensory areas of the hand representation. Control subjects did not show category differences when tested with the same stimulus materials. These results are consistent with the view that the cortical areas involved in the programming of body movements, even those in the hemisphere not dominant for language, specifically contribute to and are necessary for the processing of words referring to such movements. As an alternative, the affected brain areas may be of particular relevance for the processing of words from the lexical category of verbs. The results are consistent with a brain model of language based on Hebb's cell assembly concept.
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AIMS: To investigate the effects of small for gestational age (SGA) in very low birthweight (VLBW) infants on growth and development until the fifth year of life. METHODS: VLBW (< 1500 g) infants, selected from a prospective study, were classified as SGA (n = 115) on the basis of birth weight below the 10th percentile for gestational age and were compared with two groups of appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants matched according to birth weight (AGA-BW; n = 115) or gestation at birth (AGA-GA; n = 115). Prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal risk factors were recorded, and duration and intensity of treatment were computed from daily assessments. Body weight, length, and head circumference were measured at birth, five and 20 months (corrected for prematurity), and at 56 months. General development was assessed at five and 20 months with the Griffiths scale of babies abilities, and cognitive development at 56 months with the Columbia mental maturity scales, a vocabulary (AWST) and language comprehension test (LSVTA). RESULTS: Significant group differences were found in complications (pregnancy, birth, and neonatal), parity, and multiple birth rate. The AGA-GA group showed most satisfactory growth up to 56 months, with both the AGA-BW and SGA groups lagging behind. The AGA-GA group also scored significantly more highly on all developmental and cognitive tests than the other groups. Developmental test results were similar for the SGA and AGA-BW groups at five and 20 months, but AGA-BW infants (lowest gestation) had lower scores on performance intelligence quotient and language comprehension at 56 months than the SGA group. When prenatal and neonatal complications, parity, and multiple birth were accounted for, group differences in growth remained, but differences in cognitive outcome disappeared after five months. CONCLUSIONS: Being underweight and with a short gestation (SGA and VLBW) leads to poor weight gain and head growth in infancy but does not result in poorer growth than in infants of the same birth weight but shorter gestation (AGA-BW) in the long term. SGA is related to early developmental delay and later language problems; however, neonatal complications may have a larger detrimental effect on long term cognitive development of VLBW infants than whether they are born SGA or AGA.
This study describes the development of the auditory, cognitive, linguistic, and social domains of a child deafened by meningitis at 20 months of age. He received a 3M/House cochlear implant at 27 months and is believed to be the youngest child to receive a cochlear implant. He was seen for intervention emphasizing audiometric conditioning and testing and language (speech and sign) stimulation for a period of 2:9 years (6 months pre-implant to 2:3 years post-implant). Videotapes of intervention; interviews with parents, teachers, and clinicians; test results; and medical and clinical reports were documented from pre-implant to two years post-implantation. The child regressed in all areas evaluated following his illness and subsequent deafness and cochlear implantation. At about one year after implantation, his social and cognitive skills began to improve. By two years after implantation (chronological age (CA) = 4:6), his abilities in all areas except auditory reception and speech had progressed to about the 4:0 age level. He communicates primarily through signs and seems to derive environmental sound and speech duration cues from the implant. Although it is difficult to separate the effects of the implant from maturational factors, he now willingly uses the implant simultaneously with his hearing aid on the non-implanted ear every day and seems to be functioning well with them. He responds inconsistently to his name when called, and consistently provides appropriate signed responses to questions. His imitative skills are improving; he can discriminate one- vs two-syllable words; and produces limited spontaneous speech. His cognitive and social abilities are at least age-appropriate and he signs 3- and 4-word combinations.
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