The Contribution of Socioeconomic Status to Children's Performance on Three Grammatical Measures in the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative contribution of socioeconomic status (SES) on three grammatical measures-finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), percent grammatical utterances (PGU), and clausal density-in children between the ages of 4 and 9 years. Method Data for this study were from the normative sample in the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. For 359 children, hierarchical linear regression was performed to evaluate the amount of variance in FVMC, PGU, and clausal density that was uniquely explained by SES after accounting for child chronological age and language status (typical, impaired). Results After child age and language status were controlled, SES was a significant predictor of PGU and clausal density scores, but not of FVMC scores. SES uniquely accounted for 0.5% of variance in PGU scores and 0.8% of variance in clausal density scores. Conclusions Consistent with maturational accounts of children's development of tense markers, results of this study offer evidence that, among grammatical measures, FVMC is uniquely robust to variation in SES. Although significant, the variance of PGU and clausal density scores uniquely accounted for by SES was close to minimum. Clinicians can therefore include these three grammatical measures for assessing children of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14810484.

Clausal Density Between Ages 4 and 9 Years for the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument: Reference Data and Psychometric Properties.

Purpose This study provided reference data and examined psychometric properties for clausal density (CD; i.e., number of clauses per utterance) in children between ages 4 and 9 years from the database of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI). Method Participants in the ENNI database included 300 children with typical language (TL) and 77 children with language impairment (LI) between the ages of 4;0 (years;months) and 9;11. Narrative samples were collected using a story generation task, in which children were asked to tell stories based on six picture sequences. CD was computed from the narrative samples. The split-half reliability, concurrent criterion validity, and diagnostic accuracy were evaluated for CD by age. Results CD scores increased significantly between ages 4 and 9 years in children with TL and those with LI. Children with TL produced higher CD scores than those with LI at each age level. In addition, the correlation coefficients for the split-half reliability and concurrent criterion validity of CD scores were all significant at each age level, with the magnitude ranging from small to large. The diagnostic accuracy of CD scores, as revealed by sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios, was poor. Conclusions The finding on diagnostic accuracy did not support the use of CD for identifying children with LI between ages 4 and 9 years. However, given the attested reliability and validity for CD, reference data of CD from the ENNI database can be used for evaluating children's difficulties with complex syntax and monitoring their change over time. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13172129.

Properties of Lexical Diversity in the Narratives of Children With Typical Language Development and Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose We examined four measures of lexical diversity in the narratives of children with typical language development (TLD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) that comprised the normative sample of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (Schneider et al., 2005). The purpose was to document the properties of each measure with respect to variations in utterance and sample length, developmental trends, and group differences. Method The sample consisted of 377 picture-elicited, story generation transcripts from children with TLD (n = 300) and DLD (n = 77) aged 4-9 years. We extracted the moving-average type-token ratio (MATTR) and the number of different words from the full sample, from samples equated for the number of utterances, and from samples equated for the total number of words. Results MATTR was the only measure to show no relationships to utterance or sample length. All measures showed significant positive growth with age and significant groupwise differences between children with TLD and DLD. However, the magnitude of age effects and differentiation between groups varied considerably across measures. Across measures, there were significant differences in the number of children with DLD who were identified with low lexical diversity relative to their same-age peers in the TLD group. Conclusion The results of this study support the view that different measures of lexical diversity may be appropriate for different clinical purposes. It is important for clinicians to understand how measures of lexical diversity function in order to make educated choices among measures and ensure appropriate interpretation.

Finite Verb Morphology Composite Between Age 4 and Age 9 for the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument: Reference Data and Psychometric Properties.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to provide reference data and evaluate the psychometric properties for the finite verb morphology composite (FVMC) measure in children between 4 and 9 years of age from the database of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI; Schneider, Dubé, & Hayward, 2005). Method Participants included 377 children between age 4 and age 9, including 300 children with typical language and 77 children with language impairment (LI). Narrative samples were collected using a story generation task. FVMC scores were computed from the samples. Split-half reliability, concurrent criterion validity, and diagnostic accuracy for FVMC were further evaluated. Results Children's performance on FVMC increased significantly between age 4 and age 9 in the typical language and LI groups. Moreover, the correlation coefficients for the split-half reliability and concurrent criterion validity of FVMC were medium to large (rs ≥ .429, ps < .001) at each age level. The diagnostic accuracy of FVMC was good or acceptable from age 4 to age 7, but it dropped to a poor level at age 8 and age 9. Conclusion With the empirical evidence, FVMC is appropriate for identifying children with LI between age 4 and age 7. The reference data of FVMC could also be used for monitoring treatment progress. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.10073183.

Percent Grammatical Utterances Between 4 and 9 Years of Age for the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument: Reference Data and Psychometric Properties.

Purpose The purpose of this article was to provide the reference data and evaluate psychometric properties for the percent grammatical utterances (PGU; Eisenberg & Guo, 2013) in children between 4 and 9 years of age from the database of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI; Schneider, Dubé, & Hayward, 2005). Method Participants were 377 children who were between 4 and 9 years of age, including 300 children with typical language (TL) and 77 children with language impairment (LI). Narrative samples were collected using the ENNI protocol (i.e., a story generation task). PGU was computed from the samples. Split-half reliability, concurrent criterion validity, and diagnostic accuracy for PGU were further evaluated. Results PGU increased significantly in children between 4 and 9 years of age in both the TL and LI groups. In addition, the correlation coefficients for the split-half reliability and concurrent criterion validity of PGU were all large (rs ≥ .557, ps < .001). The diagnostic accuracy of PGU was also good or acceptable from ages 4 to 9 years. Conclusions With the attested psychometric properties, PGU computed from the ENNI could be used as an assessment tool for identifying children with LI between 4 and 9 years of age. The reference data of PGU could also be used for monitoring treatment progress. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9630590.

Exploring how preschoolers who stutter use spoken language during free play: A feasibility study.

Purpose: Play is critically important for the healthy development of children. This study explored the viability of a methodology to investigate how preschoolers who stutter use language in play with peers.Method: Transcripts of peer-directed utterances of four preschoolers who stutter and four matched non-stuttering children during free play were analysed for measures of verbal output (numbers of utterances and words), length and complexity of utterances (mean length of communication unit and syntactic complexity), and lexical diversity (number of different words, type token ratio and vocd).Result: Viable speech samples were obtained. Verbal output scores of two children who stutter were the same or higher than their matched controls whereas mean length of communication unit and syntactic complexity scores for three children who stutter were lower than their matched controls. In 22 of the 24 comparisons across number of different words, type token ratio, and vocd, scores of children who stutter were the same or higher than their matched controls.Conclusion: Interpretation of data is limited by the small sample size and lack of standardised testing. However, results indicate that the methodology has promise for future research into the way preschoolers who stutter use spoken language during play and the quality of their play.

Differentiating School-Aged Children With and Without Language Impairment Using Tense and Grammaticality Measures From a Narrative Task.

PURPOSE: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), number of errors per C-unit (Errors/CU), and percent grammatical C-units (PGCUs) in differentiating school-aged children with language impairment (LI) and those with typical language development (TL). METHOD: Participants were 61 six-year-olds (50 TL, 11 LI) and 67 eight-year-olds (50 TL, 17 LI). Narrative samples were collected using a story-generation format. FVMC, Errors/CU, and PGCUs were computed from the samples. RESULTS: All of the three measures showed acceptable to good diagnostic accuracy at age 6, but only PGCUs showed acceptable diagnostic accuracy at age 8 when sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios were considered. CONCLUSION: FVMC, Errors/CU, and PGCUs can all be used in combination with other tools to identify school-aged children with LI. However, FVMC and Errors/CU may be an appropriate diagnostic tool up to age 6. PGCUs, in contrast, may be a sensitive tool for identifying children with LI at least up to age 8 years.

Discriminating children with language impairment among English-language learners from diverse first-language backgrounds.

PURPOSE: In this study, the authors sought to determine whether a combination of English-language measures and a parent questionnaire on first-language development could adequately discriminate between English-language learners (ELLs) with and without language impairment (LI) when children had diverse first-language backgrounds. METHOD: Participants were 152 typically developing (TD) children and 26 children with LI; groups were matched for age (M = 5;10 [years;months]) and exposure to English (M = 21 months). Children were given English standardized tests of nonword repetition, tense morphology, narrative story grammar, and receptive vocabulary. Parents were given a questionnaire on children's first-language development. RESULTS: ELLs with LI had significantly lower scores than the TD ELLs on the first-language questionnaire and all the English-language measures except for vocabulary. Linear discriminant function analyses showed that good discrimination between the TD and LI groups could be achieved with all measures, except vocabulary, combined. The strongest discriminator was the questionnaire, followed by nonword repetition and tense morphology. CONCLUSION: Discrimination of children with LI among a diverse group of ELLs might be possible when using a combination of measures. Children with LI exhibit deficits in similar linguistic/cognitive domains regardless of whether English is their first or second language.

Who does what to whom: introduction of referents in children's storytelling from pictures.

PURPOSE: This article describes the development of a measure, called First Mentions (FM), that can be used to evaluate the referring expressions that children use to introduce characters and objects when telling a story. METHOD: Participants were 377 children ages 4 to 9 years (300 with typical development, 77 with language impairment) who told stories while viewing 6 picture sets. Their first mentions of 8 characters and 6 objects were scored as fully adequate, partially adequate, inadequate, or not mentioned. Total FM scores were compared across age and language groups. RESULTS: There were significant differences for age and language status, as well as a significant Age × Language interaction. Within each age group except age 9, children in the typical development group attained higher scores than children in the group with language impairment. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the FM measure is a useful tool for identifying whether a child has a problem with introducing referents in stories.

Story presentation effects on children's retell content.

This study investigated the possibility that the amount of content children include in their stories is affected by how stories are presented. Simple stories were presented to kindergarten and Grade 2 children in 3 conditions: orally (oral only), pictorially (pictures only), and combined oral and pictures. The kindergarteners recalled more content in the combined condition than in pictures, only. The 2nd graders recalled more content in the oral only and combined conditions than in pictures only. The grades differed in both conditions involving oral presentation, but not in the pictures only condition. Thus, children in both grades provided more story information when they retold a story presented orally than when they told the story from pictures alone.

Adults' judgments of fictional story quality.

Narratives are commonly used for research and clinical purposes, but the ecological validity of our analyses needs verification. Do our macrostructural and microstructural narrative analysis methods give us an accurate picture of what would generally be considered "story quality"? We addressed this question by using 39 untrained adult judges who were presented with sets of brief stories, each set constructed to vary on a single story aspect (story grammar elements, story grammar structural pattern, referring expressions, or connectives). Judges ranked the stories in each set from best to worst. Results indicate that judges were generally sensitive to story features commonly used in narrative analyses, including characters' thoughts and feelings, goal-directedness, adequacy of referent introductions, and connectedness of clauses. However, they failed to make distinctions between stories that differed in types of connectives or referring expressions and had mixed reactions to description in stories.