Exploring the effects of a repair strategies training program among children with auditory processing disorder: A pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: Children with hearing loss, as well as those with auditory processing disorder (APD), experience more communication difficulties than their normal-hearing peers. Receiving training on communication strategies has been shown to be beneficial for children with hearing loss, but little is known on the effect of such training on children with APD. The main purpose of this pilot study was to assess the effects of a repair strategies training program among children with APD. METHODS: Ten school-aged children with APD participated in a ten 60-min weekly repair strategies training program (experimental group) and ten did not receive any training (control group). In pre- and post-intervention, children were filmed while taking part in short scripted conversation situations in which communication breakdowns were introduced. Additionally, questionnaires on communication difficulties and repair skills, on life habits related to communication and education as well as on emotional well-being were filled by the children and their parents. RESULTS: In post-compared to in pre-intervention, children in the experimental group used significantly more of the repair strategies taught right after a communication breakdown occurred, used a greater variety of repair strategies, and overcame more communication breakdowns. The number of strategies needed to overcome a breakdown was not significantly different after the training compared to before. The level of difficulty to accomplish education-related life habits was generally lower, although not significantly, after entering the program than before. The individualized data showed that the studied training was more suited for children aged 9 years and older. The results of the children in the control group were not significantly different between the two measured times on all outcomes. CONCLUSION: Learning how to recognize and overcome communication breakdowns through a training program was beneficial for children with APD. The program enabled them to use a wider variety of repair strategies and to be more proactive in situations where communication is difficult. Studies are needed to further examine these findings in a larger sample of children with APD and in real-life settings.

Bilingual Adolescents' Complex Syntax Production in Both Languages Across Conversational and Expository Contexts.

PURPOSE: Bilingual development has been shown to be highly dependent on language-specific exposure. This study extended the study of bilingual development to adolescence and to the production of complex syntax in two contexts: conversation and expository discourse. METHOD: English-French bilinguals (EFbil; n = 27) and French L1 speakers (n = 14) aged 12 to 17 years produced French and English conversational and expository samples. Measures of mean length of T-units and clausal density were used, as well as a measure of detailed subordinate clause diversity developed in this study. RESULTS: Both groups produced more complex syntax in expository discourse compared to conversation and performed very similarly overall. Significant group differences were found in French subordinate clause diversity but not in sentence length or clause density. For EFbil, differences between languages were unexpectedly greater in conversation. Previous language exposure impacted both languages of the EFbil and in both contexts. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to report on the spontaneous syntactic use of bilingual adolescents in both their languages. Subtle but significant differences were found in the syntactic skills of the two groups. Expository and conversational contexts each provided unique information on aspects of complex syntactic development, calling into question the idea that the ability to produce a more complex context guarantees conversational abilities. Finally, for the EFbil, previous language exposure impacted both languages, particularly in conversation. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23713152.

Does Efficacy Equal Lasting Impact? A Study of Intervention Short Term Gains, Impact on Diagnostic Status, and Association with Background Variables.

OBJECTIVE: This article examines the efficacy of language intervention services for monolingual and immigrant children in a public clinic in Montreal, Canada. Intervention is provided in French for a preset number of sessions regardless of intervention needs. The study assessed immediate gains after intervention, their maintenance over 2 months, and their effect on diagnostic status at both time points. METHODS: Participants included 15 children (57.7 months SD 7.8) diagnosed with developmental language disorder: 3 monolinguals and 12 bilingual immigrants. Intervention targeted vocabulary and syntax. Assessment of intervention targets and standardized testing was conducted before, after, and 2 months after treatment. Diagnostic status and severity level were assessed at each time point. RESULTS: Intervention was highly efficacious with large effect sizes for intervention targets. However, for diagnostic status, efficacy was more questionable. Seven children improved their diagnostic status from pre- to posttest; but many dropped back at maintenance point. For 3 children, all test time showed scores within the non-impaired range, indicating misdiagnosis or change in status while waiting for treatment. Amount of pain was not correlated with any background variable. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that intervention could be more efficacious by giving more therapy sessions and conducting evaluation and treatment closer in time.