Inferential Comprehension Abilities in French-Speaking Preschoolers Exposed to Neglect in the Early Longitudinal Language and Neglect Study.

PURPOSE: Using a longitudinal design, this study aimed to describe inferential comprehension abilities of neglected French-speaking preschool children from 42 to 66 months of age in comparison to non-neglected peers, to examine the association with receptive vocabulary, and to determine whether rates of change in inferential abilities over time was stable between the two group conditions. METHOD: An inferential comprehension task and the French version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition were administered to a group of neglected children (n = 37-40) and to a group of same-age non-neglected children (n = 71-91) at 42, 54, and 66 months old, as part of the Early Longitudinal Language and Neglect study. RESULTS: Results show that children exposed to neglect obtain significantly lower scores compared to their same-age peers on inferential comprehension and receptive vocabulary measures at all three time points (p < .001) with large to very large effect sizes and indicate moderate to strong correlations between the two variables. Children from the neglected group present difficulties in inferencing compared to same-age non-neglected peers, a disadvantage that remains stable over time. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the significant gap in inferential comprehension abilities between neglected and non-neglected preschool children. These results reiterate the importance of early detection of language comprehension difficulties in young children coming from vulnerable environments.

Developmental trajectories of speech and language in neglected children aged 3 to 5 years: Results of the ELLAN study.

BACKGROUND: Neglected children are at high risk for significant difficulties in speech and language development. Because no longitudinal study has been conducted to date, the dynamic description of development during the preschool period is unknown. OBJECTIVES: Establish the developmental trajectories of speech sounds, receptive and expressive vocabulary, and morphosyntax among neglected children during the preschool years and compare them with those of non-neglected children. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants are 69 neglected children and 99 same age non-neglected peers (37 and 46 males respectively) recruited at 36 months of age. Data were collected at home. METHODS: Data were collected at six-month intervals between the ages of 3 and 5.5 years using psychometrically robust tools. Neglected and control groups were compared according to age using repeated measures ANOVAs on all variables. A discrete mixture model for clustering longitudinal data was used for testing the heterogeneity of the language trajectories among neglected children. RESULTS: The language development of the neglected children as a whole group is lower than that of the control group for all variables. Two subgroups are identified within the neglected group: one with a developmental trajectory similar to that of the non-neglected children, and another whose trajectory is far below that of the control group. The effect sizes of these differences vary between 1.4 and 3 standard deviations under the mean. CONCLUSIONS: A large proportion of neglected children present significant speech and language difficulties from the age of 3, but some of them catch up and develop similarly to non-neglected children.

Spoken Communicative Intents Among 3- to 4.5-Year-Old French-Speaking Children: Procedure and Data From the Early Longitudinal Language and Neglect Study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to (a) provide speech-language pathologists and researchers with a play-based procedure to measure the expression of spoken communicative intents by children aged 3 to 4.5 years and (b) present indicators of these children's capacity to produce these intents in this context. METHOD: A method inspired by TRIAGE (Technique de Recherche d'Informations par Animation d'un Group d'Experts) allowed an advisory group of 16 speech-language pathologists to select and agree on definitions of intents to include in this procedure, among a set of 13 preselected intents based on the scientific literature. A longitudinal design including four measuring times was used to verify the production of these intents by 99 French-speaking children (46 boys; M age = 36.09 months) at 36, 42, 48, and 54 months using the Neighborhood Game, a previously developed elicitation procedure of communicative intents conducted within the context of symbolic play. For each measurement time, the average percentage of children who had produced each intent at least 3 times was calculated with a 95% confidence interval. Nonparametric analysis of variance for longitudinal data was carried out to verify progression with age. RESULTS: A finalized list of eight communicative intents was selected along with their definition and a standardized script to elicit them during symbolic play. The production frequency of most intents showed significant progression between the first and the fourth measurement time. Arguing is the only intent that is still not produced by more than 90% of children at the age of 54 months. CONCLUSIONS: This study led to the development of an assessment procedure, which presents ecological validity and elicits the expression of eight communicative intents among 3- to 4.5-year-olds. This procedure can support the work of speech-language pathologists and researchers. The accompanying indicators of children's capacity to produce these intents at a given age in this kind of context are a notable addition to the knowledge on typical language development. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21844206.

Parental behaviors associated with the level of pragmatic language ability among 42-month-old neglected children.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to neglect can severely compromise children's pragmatic skills (social language use). The disruptions of parent-child interactions that typically occur in context of neglect may compromise several parental behaviors which are known to foster language skills such as pragmatics. OBJECTIVES: 1- Compare the behaviors of neglectful and non-neglectful parents in four domains which are of interest for pragmatic language development, namely, responsive, supportive, affective, and control behaviors, and 2- Identify parental behaviors associated with the levels of pragmatic ability of 42-month-old neglected children. PARTICIPANTS: Study sample consisted of 21 neglected children living in their biological family, recruited in four Youth Centers in the province of Québec (Canada) and 95 non-neglected children recruited in child-care centers. METHOD: Parental behaviors were video recorded in context of free-play with the child at the participants' homes between 2015 and 2017, and subsequently analyzed using the Coding Observations of Parent-Child Interactions (COPI), developed to observe ten parental behaviors associated with early language development. The level of pragmatic ability of children was established using the Language Use Inventory: French, a standardized questionnaire completed with parents of both groups. RESULTS: Parents in situation of neglect scored lower than parents in the control group on eight of the ten behaviors (p < .001). Parental reciprocity was associated with the level of pragmatic ability of 42-month-old neglected children (p = .04). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this exploratory study provide insight on the associations between parental behaviors and the level of pragmatic language skills of children experiencing neglect.

Children's Emotional Self-Regulation in the Context of Adversity and the Association with Academic Functioning.

The aims of this study were to study reciprocal interactions between emotion regulation skills, association of these skills with children's school functioning and how these underlying skills develop in children in the context of adversity. 48 children (mean age = 5 years 8.2 months) were divided into an adversity risk group and a low-risk group. Emotional regulation was assessed via an emotion identification task, a Stroop task and near-infrared spectroscopy. School functioning was documented using the Social Skills Improvement System with parents and teachers. During the Stroop task, there was a difference in the activation of the right Brodmann area 8 in both groups. During the emotion regulation tasks, BA8L and BA9R showed activation and an association with school functioning. These results contribute to the accuracy of cerebral mapping associated with emotion regulation and support its potential contribution in preventive programs aimed at the functioning of children at risk of school difficulties.

Morphosyntactic Development and Severe Parental Neglect in 4-Year-Old French-Speaking Children: ELLAN study.

Language is the most frequently compromised area of development in English-speaking neglected children, particularly the morphosyntactic component of language. This is very worrisome given its central role in academic success and social participation. No previous study has examined the morphosyntactic skills of French-speaking neglected children, despite the morphological richness of French. This study aimed to fill this gap. Forty-four neglected (mean age = 48.32 months, SD = 0.45) and 92 non-neglected (mean age = 48.07 months, SD = 0.24) French-speaking children participated. Measures of morphosyntactic skills were derived from a sample of spontaneous language collected during standardized semistructured play and analyzed using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts software (2012) . Four morphosyntactic indicators were compared using analyses of variance and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests: the mean length of utterances (MLU), verbal inflections, word-level errors, and omission errors. The results indicate that 25.6% of the neglected children presented clinically significant morphosyntactic difficulties, as evidenced by a significantly shorter MLU (M = 5.60, SD = 1.13; M = 6.90, SD = 1.30), fewer verbal inflections, and more frequent word omission errors compared to their non-neglected peers. The results confirm that French-speaking neglected children present many morphosyntactic difficulties. This study argues for sustained speech-language services for these children.

The Pragmatic Language Skills of Severely Neglected 42-Month-Old Children: Results of the ELLAN Study.

The goals of this study were twofold: (1) to compare the pragmatic language skills (i.e., social communication skills) of 42-month-old neglected children with those of same-aged non-neglected children and (2) to measure the prevalence of pragmatic difficulties among the neglected children. The study sample was composed of 45 neglected and 95 non-neglected 42-month-old French-speaking children. The Language Use Inventory: French (LUI-French) was completed with all parents. This measure, comprised of 159 scored items divided into 10 subscales, was used to assess the children's pragmatic skills. The 10th percentile on the LUI-French (95% confidence interval ) was used to identify children with pragmatic difficulties. The neglected children had lower scores than the non-neglected children on all 10 dimensions of pragmatics evaluated (p < .01), as well as lower LUI-French Total Scores (p < .001). The effect sizes of these differences varied between 0.84 and 2.78. Forty-four percent of the neglected children presented significant pragmatic difficulties compared to 4.2% of their non-neglected peers (p < .001). It can be concluded that exposure to neglect significantly compromises children's pragmatic skills. These results support the need for interventions geared toward neglected children and their families to support the early development of their pragmatic skills.

Prediction of the outcome of children who had a language delay at age 2 when they are aged 4: Still a challenge.

PURPOSE: This study investigated the role that variables related to children and their environment play in the prediction of outcomes at 4 years of age for children with a language delay at 2 years. METHOD: A longitudinal study was undertaken where 64 children (45 boys, 19 girls; mean age = 53.3 months; SD = 4.4) with language delay at age 2 years were re-evaluated at age 4 years. Three developmental trajectories were analysed. RESULT: The early stages of grammar, as estimated by mean length of utterance at 3.5 years, are an important prognosis factor of subsequent language impairment (LI). Children who are exposed to several risk factors simultaneously are more likely to have a language delay (LD) or a LI, but the profile of LD children is more akin to that of the typically developing (TD) children. Children with LI tend to have profiles with a greater number of risk factors. CONCLUSION: The results of this study encourage different intervention approaches depending on the child's language profile at 2 years, due to differing language prognosis. The results also point to the need to assess the child's environment. Future studies with large diverse population samples may give more precise information on potential risk factors and their cumulative effect.

Language Problems Among Abused and Neglected Children: A Meta-Analytic Review.

Research data show that exposure to abuse and neglect has detrimental effects on a child's language development. In this meta-analysis, we analyze studies (k = 23), to compare the language skills (receptive language, expressive language, pragmatics) of children who have experienced abuse and/or neglect with the language skills of children who have not experienced abuse and/or neglect and to examine whether age or type of maltreatment moderate the relationship between maltreatment and language skills. Results confirm that the language skills of children who have experienced abuse and/or neglect are delayed when compared to children who have not experienced abuse and/or neglect. Compared to older children, young children seem particularly vulnerable to abuse and neglect. No significant differences were demonstrated concerning the type of maltreatment suffered by the child. These findings support the necessity of early detection of language problems in abused and neglected children as well as early intervention in order to implement interventions that will positively stimulate their development.

Social participation of children age 8-12 with SLI.

PURPOSE: Two objectives are being pursued: (1) to describe the level of social participation of children aged 8-12 presenting a specific language impairment (SLI) and (2) to identify personal and family factors associated with their level of social participation. METHOD: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 29 children with SLI and one of their parents. Parental stress and family adversity were measured as risk factors. The measure of life habits (LIFE-H) adapted to children aged 5-3 was used to measure social participation. RESULTS: The assumption that social participation of these children is impaired in relation to the communication dimension was generally confirmed. The statements referring to the "communication in the community" and "written communication" are those for which the results are weaker. "Communication at home" is made easier albeit with some difficulties, while "telecommunication" is totally preserved. A high level of parental stress is also confirmed, affecting the willingness of parents to support their child's autonomy. CONCLUSIONS: The achievement of a normal lifestyle of children with SLI is upset in many spheres of life. Methods of intervention must better reflect the needs and realities experienced by these children in their various living environments, in order to optimize social participation, and consequently, to improve their well-being and that of their families. The need to develop strategies to develop children's independence and to reduce parental stress must be recognized and all stakeholders need to be engaged in the resolution of this challenge. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: The realization of life habits of SLI children is compromised at various levels, especially in the domain related to "communication in the community" and "written communication". Speech-language pathologists must consider providing ongoing support throughout the primary years of these children and during adolescence, to promote and facilitate the continued realization of life habits of SLI persons. Providing ongoing support throughout the primary years and thereafter is needed to facilitate the continuing realization of life habits of SLI persons. Parents of children with SLI experience considerable stress in relation to the exercise of their parental roles. It is important to intervene and to support parents to promote autonomy for their SLI children.

Social participation by children with developmental coordination disorder compared to their peers.

PURPOSE: Two objectives are being pursued: (1) to describe and compare the level of social participation of children aged 5-13 with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) to children of the same age with typical development (TD) and (2) to describe and compare the level of social participation of two subgroups of youths with DCD, e.g. children with dyspraxia affecting both the motor sphere and the verbal sphere (mixed dyspraxia) and children with developmental dyspraxia. METHOD: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 27 youngsters with DCD: 9 having developmental dyspraxia and 18 having mixed dyspraxia, compared to 27 same-age peers with TD. Life habits (LIFE-H) for children was used to measure social participation. RESULTS: Levels of lifestyle achievements among youngsters with DCD are significantly lower than those of TD youngsters in all categories. Noteworthy differences were found between subgroups of youngsters with DCD in the categories of life habits related to communication and education. The group with mixed dyspraxia obtained the lowest scores. CONCLUSIONS: The achievement of a normal lifestyle by youngsters with DCD is upset in all spheres of life. The impact of DCD on the level of participation of these youngsters is quite significant and affects all lifestyles measured in this study. Children with mixed dyspraxia are particularly affected. These facts must be taken into consideration by anyone involved in the lives of these youngsters. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: It is necessary to encourage social participation of DCD sufferers aged 5-13 in all spheres of life. Special attention should be paid to those who have a speech disorder. Life habits concerning communication and education may be related; greater efforts should be made to limit the negative impact on other lifestyles. Social participation of DCD sufferers should be measured periodically and appropriate resources must be made available to promote training and support for clinicians. It is important to provide tools to measure social participation for both stakeholders and parents.

Three profiles of language abilities in toddlers with an expressive vocabulary delay: variations on a theme.

PURPOSE: The presence of an expressive vocabulary delay (EVD) in the context of otherwise harmonious development has been the main criterion used to define language delay in 2-year-olds. To better understand the communicative functioning of these children, other variables must be considered. In this study, the aim was to delineate and characterize clusters of 2-year-olds with EVD by measuring other language variables in these children. METHOD: Language and related variables were measured in 68 francophone children with EVD. RESULTS: In a cluster analysis, 2 language variables--(a) language expression and engagement in communication and (b) language comprehension--yielded 3 clusters ranging from weak language ability to high scores on both variables. Further differences were found between these clusters with regard to 2 correlates of lexical acquisition--namely, size of the expressive vocabulary and cognitive development. CONCLUSION: These results shed new light on the notion of heterogeneity in toddlers who present with an EVD by proposing subgroups among them. A follow-up investigation of these participants is ongoing.

Language delay in severely neglected children: a cumulative or specific effect of risk factors?

OBJECTIVES: This research sought to determine if the language delay (LD) of severely neglected children under 3 years old was better explained by a cumulative risk model or by the specificity of risk factors. The objective was also to identify the risk factors with the strongest impact on LD among various biological, psychological, and environmental factors. METHODS: Sixty-eight severely neglected children and their mothers participated in this cross-sectional study. Children were between 2 and 36 months of age. Data included information about the child's language development and biological, psychological, and environmental risk factors. RESULTS: Prevalence of LD is significantly higher in this subgroup of children than in the population as a whole. Although we observed that the risk of LD significantly increased with an increase in the cumulative count of the presence of the child's biological-psychological risk factors, the one-by-one analysis of the individual factors revealed that the cumulative effect mainly reflected the specific impact of the child's cognitive development. When we considered also the environmental risk factors, multivariate logistic regression established that cognitive development, the mother's own physical and emotional abuse experience as a child, and the mother's low acceptability level towards her child are linked to LD in severely neglected children. CONCLUSIONS: Language development is the result of a complex interaction between risk factors. LD in severely neglected children is better explained by the specificity of risk factors than by the cumulative risk model. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Most prevention and early intervention programs promote and target an increase in the quantity and quality of language stimulation offered to the child. Our results suggest that particular attention should be given to other environmental factors, specifically the mother's psychological availability and her sensitivity towards the child. It is essential to suggest interventions targeting various ecological dimensions of neglectful mothers to help break the intergenerational neglect transmission cycle. It is also important to develop government policies and ensure that efforts among the various response networks are concerted since in-depth changes to neglect situations can only come about when all interested parties become involved.

Systematic review of the literature on characteristics of late-talking toddlers.

BACKGROUND: Research has investigated late-talking toddlers because they are at great risk of continuing to experience language-learning difficulties once they enter school and hence are candidates for early intervention. It is also important to consider this group of children with regards to the immediate characteristics which are detrimental to their development and for which early intervention has become increasingly available. AIMS: To review the literature on late-talking toddlers in order to identify the characteristics of this population whose importance has been clearly demonstrated, identify sources of incongruence in findings, and to underscore aspects of language delay at 2 years of age and characteristics about which additional knowledge is needed. MAIN CONTRIBUTION: The review highlights the need to define the language difficulties found in late-talking toddlers based on clinical profiles that go beyond the criterion of an expressive vocabulary delay. It also underscores the association between vocabulary delay and characteristics of the child such as social-emotional development and characteristics of the socio-familial environment such as language stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: Future research should take into account the lack of homogeneity observed within the population of children with a vocabulary delay at 2 years of age and attempt to identify subgroups within late-talking toddlers. It should also consider a multifactorial perspective of child development to further the understanding of this phenomenon.

[The prevalence of communication problems in neglected children under three years of age]. / Prévalence des problèmes de la communication chez des enfants négligés âgés de moins de trois ans.

OBJECTIVE: Estimate the prevalence of communication problems in children under three taken into care by Youth Centres in Quebec for negligence. Prevalence is calculated for the pragmatic aspect, receptive and expressive language, according to age and sex. METHOD: This is a cross-sectional study. A representative sample of 84 children was drawn consecutively from the lists of new children registered at the Youth Centres. RESULTS: 46.4% of the children present a problem in at least one area of communication. The prevalence and seriousness of the problems increase significantly with age. Boys are significantly more affected than girls. CONCLUSION: Negligence constitutes a threat to the development of communication. According to the data reported in this study, there is substantial justification for early intervention, promotion and prevention programs with regard to communication problems among neglected children.