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Paediatric language research

Everything we have read on paediatric language. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

479 PAPERS · PAGE 2 OF 10 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPCase-Control2018Episodic memory retrieval in adolescents with and without developmental language disorder (DLD).International journal of language & communication disordersTwenty-three adolescents with developmental language disorder recognised individual pictures less well than 23 peers, especially after focusing on the picture alone. Pairing items together seemed to help, but that difference was not clear.
• SLPCohort2018More or less likely to offend? Young adults with a history of identified developmental language disorders.International journal of language & communication disordersYoung adults with a history of identified DLD who had attended language units reported less police contact, less heavy drinking and less drug use than matched peers. They had higher aggression scores, but not more rule-breaking.
• SLPCohort2018Education and employment outcomes of young adults with a history of developmental language disorder.International journal of language & communication disordersAt age 24, people with a history of developmental language disorder had fewer higher qualifications and less full-time professional work than peers, but pay did not differ for similar jobs or qualifications.
• SLPCohort2018Parental Broad Autism Phenotype and the Language Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersMothers who were less socially interested or more inflexible had children who showed less engagement with objects or people and lower language skills. The finding came from 16 families of children with autism and does not prove parent traits caused language problems.
• SLPOther2018Verbal Learning and Memory After Cochlear Implantation in Postlingually Deaf Adults: Some New Findings with the CVLT-II.Ear and hearingPostlingually deaf cochlear implant adults matched normal-hearing peers on most visual word-list learning, but recalled fewer words from the new interference list and showed weaker recent-item memory. These cognitive measures related to speech recognition, but the links were exploratory.
• SLPCohort2018Blood lead levels and longitudinal language outcomes in children from 4 to 12 years.Journal of communication disordersHigher blood lead levels in early childhood were linked to poorer total, receptive and expressive language scores, and the difference was more visible later in childhood than in early childhood.
• SLPCase-Control2018Executive function and childhood stuttering: Parent ratings and evidence from a behavioral task.Journal of fluency disordersPreschool children who stutter did not differ from fluent peers on a behavioral executive function task overall. Parents rated them lower in working memory and shifting, and flagged more everyday executive function concerns.
• SLPCohort2018Speed of Language Comprehension at 18 Months Old Predicts School-Relevant Outcomes at 54 Months Old in Children Born Preterm.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPIn children born preterm, faster eye-tracking word comprehension at 18 months predicted better general language and non-verbal IQ at 4½ years, beyond family background, gestational age, and medical complications.
• SLPOther2018Sensitivity to audio-visual synchrony and its relation to language abilities in children with and without ASD.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchTypically developing children looked more at the video matching the sound when the other video was off by 0.6 or 1.0 seconds. Children with ASD did not show this preference. More looking at the matching video was associated with better language scores.
• SLPCohort2018Bidirectional influences of caregiver utterances and supported joint engagement in children with and without autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchIn play, caregiver talk about what the child was doing, especially suggestions for how to play, was more likely to be followed by higher-level joint engagement than caregiver-focused talk. This held for children with and without autism, but cannot prove intervention effects.
• SLPCohort2018Development of first- and second-language vocabulary knowledge among language-minority children: evidence from single language and conceptual scores.Journal of child languageAt entry, Spanish-speaking preschoolers knew more words in Spanish than English. English scores rose faster and were 16 points higher by Year 2. By Year 2, 8% of known words were unique to Spanish.
• OTSLPCohort2018From Using Tools to Using Language in Infant Siblings of Children with Autism.Journal of autism and developmental disordersHigh-risk infants who used a spoon functionally at 10 months had better word comprehension at 12 months and word production at 24 and 36 months. Infants later diagnosed with autism showed delayed emergence of these functional actions compared to those without diagnosis.
• SLPCohort2018Growth and Decline in Language and Phonological Memory Over Two Years Among Adolescents With Down Syndrome.American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilitiesOver two years, adolescents with Down syndrome showed growth in receptive vocabulary, while grammar stayed stable. Younger participants also showed gains in expressive vocabulary and digit memory, but nonword repetition declined.
• SLPOther2018A new measure of child vocal reciprocity in children with autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchDaylong recordings of young children with autism produced a new vocal back-and-forth score that rose with their consonant variety. It is a research measure, not a treatment result, and was tested in 21 children.
• SLPCohort2018The relation between phonological and lexical development in French-speaking children.Clinical linguistics & phoneticsFrench-speaking children with smaller vocabularies at age 2.5 rely heavily on words with many sound neighbours and simpler phonetic structures. They also have poorer non-word repetition and fewer consonants in their speech. These phonological factors explain 76% of the variance in vocabulary size.
• SLPCohort2018Predicting reading ability in teenagers who are deaf or hard of hearing: A longitudinal analysis of language and reading.Research in developmental disabilitiesFor teenagers with permanent hearing loss, language in middle childhood predicted reading comprehension but not word reading accuracy, even after earlier reading scores.
• SLPCohort2018Language development in deaf or hard-of-hearing children with additional disabilities: type matters!Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDRFrom 3 to 5 years, overall average language scores were steady, but children with autism, cerebral palsy, or developmental delay had score drops while children with other disabilities improved. Oral-only early communication was linked to better vocabulary.
• SLPCase-Control2018Speech Recognition in Noise by Children with and without Dyslexia: How is it Related to Reading?Research in developmental disabilitiesFlattened frequency speech did not explain hearing speech problems in children with dyslexia. They still recognized speech less accurately in noise and quiet than typical peers. Reading and listening in noise relied on different language skills.
• SLPCohort2019Longitudinal associations across vocabulary modalities in children with autism and typical development.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceEarly spoken words predicted later understood words more strongly in children with autism. The reverse link did not show a group difference in this study. Caregiver follow-in talk during higher-order joint engagement was linked to this pathway in autism.
• SLPOther2018Typical vs. atypical: Combining auditory Gestalt perception and acoustic analysis of early vocalisations in Rett syndrome.Research in developmental disabilitiesExperts inconsistently rated early vocalisations from one infant with Rett syndrome. Only 9 were unanimously atypical, but over half had at least one listener flagging them. Timbre was the most common perceived deviation, matching acoustic spectral analysis.
• SLPCohort2019Naturalistic language sampling to characterize the language abilities of 3-year-olds with autism spectrum disorder.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceOnly 3.7% of 3-year-olds with autism used no words in parent play, but 34% used fewer than 20 words. In autism, more word use and initiations were linked to better social scores.
• SLPCohort2018Longitudinal growth of receptive language in children with cerebral palsy between 18 months and 54 months of age.Developmental medicine and child neurologyFor children with cerebral palsy, language comprehension scores at 24 and 30 months strongly separated later growth paths. Children who could not speak at 48 to 54 months had severe delays and little progress.
• SLPOther2018Reading Comprehension in Children With and Without ASD: The Role of Word Reading, Oral Language, and Working Memory.Journal of autism and developmental disordersWorking memory did not predict reading comprehension after age, word reading, vocabulary and autism diagnosis were considered. Vocabulary was the best predictor, and children with autism had poorer comprehension despite matched language.
• SLPPilot2019Autism at a glance: A pilot study optimizing thin-slice observations.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceShort 2-minute play videos rated by five people produced stable scores linked to autism severity and language. The method was not ready to identify autism on its own.
• SLPCohort2019Autism spectrum disorder symptoms from ages 2 to 19 years: Implications for diagnosing adolescents and young adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchCaregiver-reported social-communication symptoms often decreased from age 2 to 19, especially when phrase speech emerged. Minimally verbal participants improved less, and facial expression problems persisted. Caregiver interview scores may miss adult ASD symptoms.
• PTSLPRCT2018Prenatal nutrition, stimulation, and exposure to punishment are associated with early child motor, cognitive, language, and socioemotional development in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.Child: care, health and developmentHigh caregiver stimulation was associated with higher reported cognitive/language scores, verbal and physical punishment with lower reported socioemotional scores, and prenatal vitamin A with lower reported motor scores in 198 Tanzanian children.
• SLPCohort2018Core vocabulary in the narratives of bilingual children with and without language impairment.International journal of speech-language pathologyBilingual children with language impairment used fewer common story words than peers, and in kindergarten they said those words less often. The difference between groups was larger by first grade.
• SLPOther2018Children's Recognition of Emotional Prosody in Spectrally Degraded Speech Is Predicted by Their Age and Cognitive Status.Ear and hearingIncreasing simulated cochlear implant speech channels from 8 to 16 did not show a stable benefit in normal-hearing children. Age and nonverbal intelligence predicted emotion recognition more than vocabulary or parent-rated executive function.
• SLPSurvey2018Talking Tots and the Terrible Twos: Early Language and Disruptive Behavior in Toddlers.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPToddlers with better language had fewer disruptive behaviors on parent report. The association was stronger for girls and toddlers in poverty. This cross-sectional survey cannot show language problems caused behavior problems.
• SLPCohort2018Word Learning in Children With Cochlear Implants: Examining Performance Relative to Hearing Peers and Relations With Age at Implantation.Ear and hearingChildren with cochlear implants matched hearing peers in understanding new words but struggled to say them correctly. Their speaking errors matched younger hearing children with similar vocabularies. Implant age did not predict word learning skills in this group.
• SLPPilot2019Effect of mobile technology featuring visual scene displays and just-in-time programming on communication turns by preadolescent and adolescent beginning communicators.International journal of speech-language pathologyFive beginning communicators took markedly more turns using a tablet app that let researchers snap photos of ongoing activities and add words instantly. The average increase was between 13 and 26 turns per 15-minute session, though it is unclear which feature caused the gain.
• SLPOther2019Voice Emotion Recognition by Children With Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss.Ear and hearingChildren with mild-to-moderate hearing loss recognized emotions from recorded speech as accurately as normal-hearing children and took similar time. They were still less accurate than adults, and vocabulary mattered for their performance.
• SLPCohort2018Coordination is key: Joint attention and vocalisation in infant siblings of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.International journal of language & communication disordersHigh-risk infants later diagnosed with ASD showed less advanced joint attention, such as showing and pointing, no age-related change in vocal development, and rarely paired sounds with these behaviours. Low-level request behaviours did not differ.
• SLPCohort2018Depressive symptoms and emotion regulation strategies in children with and without developmental language disorder: a longitudinal study.International journal of language & communication disordersChildren with DLD had more depressive symptoms over 18 months. In both groups, trying to solve problems and less worry or outbursts were linked to fewer symptoms. Word-meaning problems related to symptoms through worry and outbursts.
• SLPRCT2018Learning new words from an interactive electronic storybook intervention.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsGrade 1 children learned new words and kept them for 8 weeks after using an interactive e-book for two hours total. The control group also improved once they used the e-book. This shows short, independent digital exposure can build vocabulary in low-resource settings.
• SLPOther2019Reconceptualizing developmental language disorder as a spectrum disorder: issues and evidence.International journal of language & communication disordersIn a kindergarten DLD sample, children did not form clear diagnostic subtypes; language and performance IQ scores varied along a shared continuum. The results support a spectrum model rather than subtype labels.
• SLPOther2019A novel method for measuring learning opportunities provided by parents to young children with autism spectrum disorder.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceA new video coding method counts how often parents turn play into teaching moments. Higher counts correlated with better child language and cognition scores 12 weeks later, but not with autism symptom severity. The study shows the method works; it does not prove that more teaching moments cause progress.
• SLPCase-Control2019Mathematical thinking in children with developmental language disorder: The roles of pattern skills and verbal working memory.Journal of communication disordersChildren with developmental language disorder had weaker math and verbal working memory than matched peers, but similar pattern skills. Pattern skill predicted calculation in both groups, while verbal working memory partly accounted for calculation differences.
• SLPNarrative Review2018Understanding Dyslexia in the Context of Developmental Language Disorders.Language, speech, and hearing services in schoolsDyslexia and developmental language disorder are separate but often co-occur. Many children with dyslexia have language weaknesses beyond word reading. Speech-language pathologists should assess and monitor vocabulary, grammar and discourse, not only decoding.
• SLPCohort2018Visual-graphic symbol acquisition in school age children with developmental and language delays.Augmentative and alternative communication (Baltimore, Md. : 1985)Children with developmental and language delays learned both picture-like and abstract symbols after repeated computer exposure. Picture-like symbols helped comprehension overall, but not production, and gave no advantage for words the children did not yet understand.
• SLPOther2019The syntactic and semantic features of two-year-olds' verb vocabularies: a comparison of typically developing children and late talkers.Journal of child languageLate talkers produced 5.4 verbs versus 32.7 for typically developing two-year-olds, but their verb vocabularies mostly followed the same patterns. The clear difference was that late talkers seemed to know fewer manner verbs, such as walk and run, than expected from their total verb count.
• SLPNarrative Review2019Cognitive predictors of sentence comprehension in children with and without developmental language disorder: Implications for assessment and treatment.International journal of speech-language pathologyChildren with developmental language disorder understood simple subject-object and reversed word-order sentences worse than matched peers. The model links comprehension to complex working memory, not one single ability. It does not show that training working memory helps.
• SLPCohort2019Autism With and Without Regression: A Two-Year Prospective Longitudinal Study in Two Population-Derived Swedish Cohorts.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAbout one in five children with autism had lost words they already used. These children had more severe language and thinking difficulties, so ask parents about earlier words and plan detailed follow-up.
• SLPCohort2019Differences in the relation between temperament and vocabulary based on children's stuttering trajectories.Journal of communication disordersChildren who stutter had lower word-understanding scores when parents rated them as more emotionally negative. This link was not seen in children who did not stutter. It did not separate children who persisted from those who recovered.
• SLPNarrative Review2019Five overarching factors central to grammatical learning and treatment in children with developmental language disorder.International journal of language & communication disordersNo original methods or results are reported. This narrative review offers expert recommendations, not tested interventions.
• SLPCohort2019Novel word learning at 21 months predicts receptive vocabulary outcomes in later childhood.Journal of child languageAmong 17 children followed from 21 months to mean 9.56 years, better novel word learning predicted higher later receptive vocabulary, but not non-verbal IQ or visuospatial skills. The sample was small, so this is a possible early marker, not a diagnostic tool.
• SLPOther2019Visual sequential processing and language ability in children who are deaf or hard of hearing.Journal of child languageCompared with 19 hearing peers, 17 children with hearing loss scored lower on visual sequence tasks, especially nameable color tasks. In the hearing loss group, better color sequence learning went with higher receptive vocabulary scores. This was not a treatment study.
• SLPCase Series2019Communication and school readiness abilities of children with hearing impairment in South Africa: A retrospective review of early intervention preschool records.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsChildren with hearing impairment in South African early intervention preschools were identified late, received amplification late, and started services late. Five of eight had delayed communication, and five of eight lacked age-appropriate school readiness.
• SLPQualitative2019Speech therapy students' perceptions of authentic video cases in a theory module on child language disorders.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsStudents said authentic video cases helped them remember child language theory and understand the profession. They asked for short clips, clear viewing tasks, and varied examples to avoid feeling overwhelmed by real clinical videos.
• SLPCohort2019Do parents provide a helping hand to vocabulary development in bilingual children?Journal of child languageWhen parents turned bilingual children's gestures into words, those words were more likely to enter the child's spoken vocabulary. This held for bilingual and monolingual children. English-dominant bilingual children showed the clearest gain in English.