Children's Lexical Development Research Articles

Maternal occupational exposure to carbonaceous nanoscale particles and neurodevelopmental outcomes in early childhood: Analysis of the French Longitudinal Study of Children – Elfe study

ObjectiveTo investigate the association between occupational exposures to carbonaceous unintentionally emitted nanoscale particles (UNPs) during pregnancy and the child's language development and behaviour at two years old. MethodsUsing data from the French Longitudinal Study of Childhood - ELFE, we selected mothers who worked during pregnancy and their children. Exposure to carbonaceous UNPs was assessed by the MatPUF (job-exposure matrix for ultrafine particles). Children's lexical development was analysed using ‘the Mac Arthur - Bates communicative development inventories-words and sentences-short form’ (MB-CDI) in a multivariate binary logistic regression. Their risk for autism spectrum disorders was studied using ‘the Modified-CHecklist for Autism in Toddler’ (M-CHAT) according to the recommended thresholds (low risk = 0–2; intermediate risk = 3–6 and high risk = 7–23) in unordered multinomial logistic regression models. ResultsMaternal occupational exposure to carbonaceous UNPs was associated with delayed child language development (ORadj: 1.34; 95 % CI: 1.00, 1.80) but not with behavioural disorders (autism spectrum disorders) at two years old. ConclusionThis is the first epidemiological study to show a significant association between maternal occupational exposure to carbonaceous nanoscale particles and child language development at 2 years old.

The more they hear the more they learn? Using data from bilinguals to test models of early lexical development

Children have an early ability to learn and comprehend words, a skill that develops as they age. A critical question remains regarding what drives this development. Maturation-based theories emphasise cognitive maturity as a driver of comprehension, while accumulator theories emphasise children's accumulation of language experience over time. In this study we used archival looking-while-listening data from 155 children aged 14–48 months with a range of exposure to the target languages (from 10% to 100%) to evaluate the relative contributions of maturation and experience. We compared four statistical models of noun learning: maturation-only, experience-only, additive (maturation plus experience), and accumulator (maturation times experience). The best-fitting model was the additive model in which both maturation (age) and experience were independent contributors to noun comprehension: older children as well as children who had more experience with the target language were more accurate and looked faster to the target in the looking-while-listening task. A 25% change in relative language exposure was equivalent to a 4 month change in age, and age effects were stronger at younger than at older ages. Whereas accumulator models predict that the lexical development of children with less exposure to a language (as is typical in bilinguals) should fall further and further behind children with more exposure to a language (such as monolinguals), our results indicate that bilinguals are buffered against effects of reduced exposure in each language. This study shows that continuous-level measures from individual children's looking-while-listening data, gathered from children with a range of language experience, provide a powerful window into lexical development.

Tres indicadores de exposición a la lengua y su efecto en la adquisición del léxico de una lengua minoritaria

The current study analyses short Basque CDI questionnaires’ accuracy to measure the effect of the amount of exposure to the language on bilingual children's vocabulary size. Additionally, it compares the predictive ability of three variables related to the amount of exposure: relative input, language of parental communication and parents’ linguistic profile. Data of 2098 children (8–49 months) obtained with the short versions of the Basque CDI (CDI-1vb, CDI-2vb and CDI-3v) revealed (a) these three instruments’ sensibility to measure the effect of language exposure on children's expressive vocabulary, (b) a very similar effect size for the three variables, and (c) an increase in effect size with age: no effect at the age of 8–15 months, small at 16–29 months and large at the age of 30–49 months. Data suggests that parents’ linguistic profile and language of inter-parental communication are indicators equally suitable of preschool children's exposure to the language, or even more so, than input, and leads the authors to claim the inclusion of those factors in the assessment of young children's lexical development, especially in minority languages.

Preverbal Production and Early Lexical Development in Children With Cochlear Implants: A Longitudinal Study Following Pre-implanted Children Until 12 Months After Cochlear Implant Activation.

Studies have shown that children vary in the trajectories of their language development after cochlear implant (CI) activation. The aim of the present study is to assess the preverbal and lexical development of a group of 20 Italian-speaking children observed longitudinally before CI activation and at three, 6 and 12 months after CI surgery (mean age at the first session: 17.5 months; SD: 8.3; and range: 10–35). The group of children with CIs (G-CI) was compared with two groups of normally-hearing (NH) children, one age-matched (G-NHA; mean age at the first session: 17.4 months; SD: 8.0; and range: 10–34) and one language-matched (G-NHL; n = 20; mean age at the first session: 11.2 months; SD: 0.4; and range: 11–12). The spontaneous interactions between children and their mothers during free-play were transcribed. Preverbal babbling production and first words were considered for each child. Data analysis showed significant differences in babbling and word production between groups, with a lower production of words in children with CIs compared to the G-NHA group and a higher production of babbling compared to the G-NHL children. Word production 1 year after activation was significantly lower for the children with CIs than for language-matched children only when maternal education was controlled for. Furthermore, latent class growth analysis showed that children with CIs belonged mainly to classes that exhibited a low level of initial production but also progressive increases over time. Babbling production had a statistically significant effect on lexical growth but not on class membership, and only for groups showing slower and constant increases. Results highlight the importance of preverbal vocal patterns for later lexical development and may support families and speech therapists in the early identification of risk and protective factors for language delay in children with CIs.

THE LEXICAL INDICATOR OF SPEECH DEVELOPMENT AT PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SELF- REGULATION

The article presents the empirical study that has shown the interdependence between the development of regulatory functions and the lexical indicator of speech development at preschoolers. The study included 179 children attending senior groups at kindergartens. The technique of “Associative Series” used to study the speech vocabulary turned out to be an adequate tool assessing senior preschoolers’ lexical development. Significant differences in lexical development of children with high and low levels of regulatory functions were revealed. Children from 5–6 to 7–8 years increase the efficiency of word selection, which indicates that this period is sensitive to the development of this speech component. The efficient solution of the tasks revealing lexical speech development was the most strongly linked with auditory working memory and cognitive flexibility. The efficiency of appeared free associations was linked with spatial working memory; and the so-called directed associations (names of actions and animals) were associated with inhibition. We used cluster analysis to divide the sample into three groups: preschoolers with high, average, low levels of regulatory functions, these group division corresponded also to different lexical speech indicators. This proves that certain level of self-regulation must be achieved for effective speech development and vice versa. Children with poorly developed regulatory functions cope much worse with all tasks for associative series selection in comparison with children having highly developed regulatory functions. The study results did not allowed us to make a conclusion on causative-consecutive links, but showed a two-way link between speech (lexical indicator) and regulatory functions, which is consistent with most studies in this field. Only one indicator of speech development (namely, lexical) was examined, so we are planning to examine links between the development of regulatory functions and all speech indicators to obtain a more comprehensive picture of these two constructs important for the preschool age.

Expressive Vocabulary Growth After Pediatric Auditory Brainstem Implantation in Two Cases' Spontaneous Productions: A Comparison With Children With Cochlear Implants and Typical Hearing.

Auditory brainstem implants (ABI) are recently being used to restore hearing of children with a congenital hearing loss, due to for instance the absence of auditory nerves. Thus far, the literature has focused on perceptual outcomes. The present study is among the first ones to investigate the spoken language development after implantation. The lexical development of children with ABI is examined longitudinally in comparison to children with typical hearing and children with cochlear implants. Results show that children with ABI still have smaller spoken vocabularies as compared to (hearing) age-matched children with cochlear implants and children with typical hearing. Implications will be discussed.

Reciprocal relationships between lexical and syntactic skills of children with Developmental Language Disorder and the role of executive functions

Background and aims Recent research indicates that children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) often also score lower than their peers with typical development (TD) on tasks testing nonverbal executive functioning (EF). This study investigated whether there is evidence that children with DLD use linguistic and EF resources to support their lexical and syntactic development. Three questions were addressed: (1) How do children with DLD develop in the domains of lexicon and syntax, and how does their development compare to TD controls? (2) To what extent do children with DLD show reciprocal relations between lexical and syntactic skills, and how does this compare to TD controls? (3) Is EF ability related to DLD children’s lexical and syntactic skills, and how does this compare to TD controls? Methods Data from 117 children (NDLD = 78; NTD = 39) were collected three times with yearly intervals. At time 1, the children were 5 or 6 years old. Standardized receptive vocabulary and sentence repetition tests measured lexicon and syntax, respectively. Nonverbal EF tasks tested selective attention, interference control and working memory. Cross-lagged analyses were conducted to determine the direction of relationships. Results Both groups showed stable lexical and syntactic growth. In children with DLD, but not in TD controls, syntactic skills predicted lexical skills. In the DLD group, EF predicted lexical skills. Reversely, in the TD group, lexical skills predicted EF. Conclusions The results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that the lexical development of children with DLD is supported by both their verbal abilities in the domain of syntax and their nonverbal EF abilities. Implications Interventions that improve the syntactic and EF abilities of children with DLD may have spreading effects and positively impact on word learning by children with DLD.

Lexical Development in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): How ASD May Affect Intake From the Input.

Most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have below-age lexical knowledge and lexical representation. Our goal is to examine ways in which difficulties with social communication and language processing that are often associated with ASD may constrain these children's abilities to learn new words and to explore whether minimizing the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation can lead to successful learning. In this narrative review of recent work on lexical development in ASD, we describe key findings on children's acquisition of nouns, pronouns, and verbs and outline our research program currently in progress aimed at further elucidating these issues. Our review of studies that examine lexical development in children with ASD suggests that innovative intervention approaches that take into account both the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation may be particularly beneficial. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7324013.

What happens to the basic level in language?

AbstractIt is a common assumption that basic level categories are cognitive units that share perceptual and linguistic characteristics at the same time. They are taken to be perceptual and functional gestalts designated by words that have a special status with regard to lexical development in children and frequency of occurrence and usefulness in everyday communication. Despite this connectedness of the two aspects of the basic level they do not go hand in hand. The perceptual side of basic level categorization is primary to language and exists independently of it. Basic level categories emerge naturally in the human perceptual-cognitive system as a result of our biological make-up in order to facilitate a proper functioning and orientation in our environment. The linguistic side relies on perception but is at the same time determined by several other factors. Basic level designations do not directly represent perceptual information because they contain additional conceptual knowledge reflecting cultural conceptualizations. This dissociation between the two sides can be seen on the one hand in the inconsistencies between perceptual qualities of entities and the way in which these entities are grouped together in linguistic basic level categories. On the other hand it is revealed through crosslinguistic discrepancies in category boundaries as delineated by words that are considered basic level terms and seemingly correspond in their semantics. An explanation of these phenomena requires that we do not handle the basic level as one phenomenon in which the perceptual and linguistic aspects merge but keep the two sides of the basic level apart while paying attention to their specific connections and influences on each other.

Early lexical expression in children exposed to mixed input: A case of monolingual or bilingual development?

Aims and objectives:This study documents early lexical expression in children whose language input in the home was predominantly Maltese, accompanied by regular exposure to English lexical mixing. Bilingualism and language contact were also present at the societal level. The study attempts to determine whether the children’s pattern of vocabulary growth corresponded to a monolingual or bilingual mode of development.Methodology:The expressive vocabularies of 60 children aged 1;0 to 2;6 years were measured using caregiver reports and language sampling.Data and analysis:Expressive scores representing total vocabulary, Maltese and English words as well as translation equivalents were derived from the language samples and caregiver-completed vocabulary checklists.Findings and conclusions:Both Maltese and English words were identified in the children’s expressive vocabularies. Higher translation equivalent proportions were reported across daily settings than were sampled. Participants seemed to introduce new equivalents for words previously used in one language according to the needs of the communicative context. These findings demonstrate a basic level of bilingualism in the participants and suggest selective use of equivalents in response to environmental demands. The latter would imply the presence of a double lexical system, indicating a more refined bilingual status, although insufficient contextual evidence made this a tentative proposition. Fragmented exposure to English appeared unable to support the participants’ bilingual development beyond the lexical domain.Originality:While documenting lexical development in children exposed to a distinctive language-learning context that is as yet under-researched, this study adds to the limited evidence on lexical expression in young children exposed to substantial lexical mixing in their input.Significance:These findings highlight the development of bilingual proficiency as a process that spreads across linguistic levels in accordance with input variables. They also suggest that Maltese children’s bilingual lexicons may have the potential to kick-start their sequential bilingual development once systematic exposure to integral English is introduced through schooling.

The use of sophisticated words with children with specific language impairment during shared book reading

In the context of the use of sophisticated (i.e., low-frequency) words with children with specific language impairment (SLI), the present study investigates the relationship between maternal interactive support for meaning and both conversational responsiveness and lexical development of children with SLI. Fifteen Italian-speaking children with SLI (age range: 3;4–5;6) and two groups of typically developing children – 15 chronological age (CA)-matched (3;8–5;8) and 15 language age (LA)-matched (1;10–3;5) – were videotaped during shared book reading with their mothers. Maternal utterances which included or were related to a sophisticated word were coded on the basis of informativeness and scaffolding provided; child utterances were coded for complexity. In addition, child's lexical development was assessed three months later. Mothers of children with SLI produced a higher percentage of directly informative utterances with gestural scaffolding than did mothers of CA-matched children, and only in the SLI group this kind of utterances were significantly followed by child's extended utterances. Child's lexical development (production) was related to direct maternal informativeness in both the SLI- and CA-matched groups, and to gestural scaffolding only in the SLI group. On the whole, these findings suggest that mothers of children with SLI attune their language to their children's linguistic limitations and that the gestural quality of the interactive scaffolding is related to these children's conversational participation and their level of lexical progress.Learning outcomes: The reader will recognize the importance of maternal support for the meaning of low-frequency words in promoting the child's conversational responsiveness and lexical development, particularly with children with SLI. These children seem to benefit when provided with direct information accompanied by gestural scaffolding. These findings, if replicated with a larger group of participants, could help clinicians develop improved strategies for teaching parents.

The lexical development of children with hearing impairment and associated factors.

This study aimed at analyzing the association between the lexical development of children with hearing impairment and their psychosocial and socioeconomic characteristics and medical history. An analytic transversal study was conducted in an Auditive Health Attention Service. One hundred and ten children from 6 to 10 years old using hearing aids and presenting hearing loss that ranged from light to deep levels were evaluated. All children were subjected to oral, written language and auditory perception tests. Parents answered a structured questionnaire to collect data from their medical history and socioeconomic status, and questionnaires about the features of the family environment and psychosocial characteristics. Multivariate analysis was performed by logistic regression, being the initial model composed by variables with p<0,20 in the univariate analysis. In the final model, we adopted a significance level of 5%. The final model of the multivariate analysis showed an association between the performance on the vocabulary test and the results of phonemic discrimination test (OR=0.81; 95%CI 0.73-0.89). The results show the importance of stimulating the auditory processing, particularly the phonemic discrimination skill, throughout the rehabilitation process of children with hearing impairment. This stimulation can enhance lexical development and minimize the metalanguage and learning difficulties often observed in these children.

Vocabulary development in children with Down syndrome: Longitudinal and cross-sectional data

Background Research findings on vocabulary development1 in children with Down syndrome are inconsistent. This study aimed to analyse the developmental trend of vocabulary growth in children with Down syndrome and the relationships between vocabulary and chronological and developmental age.Method Children's vocabulary size was assessed by a parental report (the Italian version of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories [CDI]). A longitudinal study, involving 18 children with Down syndrome, and a cross-sectional study, involving 27 children with Down syndrome, were conducted.Results The variability in children's vocabulary size increased from a chronological age of 36 months. Both vocabulary size (from 36 months) and developmental level (from 42 months) were significant predictors of lexical outcomes at 48 months. A comparison with normative data showed that children with Down syndrome had a significantly lower vocabulary size than typically developing children at the same developmental age.Conclusion Although there are similarities with vocabulary growth in typically developing children, lexical development in children with Down syndrome appears to lag behind their cognitive development.

Stuttering and Language Ability in Children: Questioning the Connection

This article explains why it is reasonable to question the view that stuttering and language ability in children are linked-the so-called "stuttering-language connection." Studies that focused on syntactic, morphologic, and lexical development in children who stutter (CWS) are examined for evidence to support the following claims: (a) that CWS, as a group, are more likely to have disordered or weak language skills ("language deficits") than children who do not stutter (CWNS); (b) that language deficits play a causal role in the onset of stuttering; and (c) that stuttering, over time, restricts children's language development. Analysis of the evidence suggests that CWS, like CWNS, show the full range of language abilities (high, average, low); that language deficits are not associated with stuttering onset or persistence; and that stuttering has little or no impact on language development. A connection between stuttering and language ability was not supported. An alternative perspective is that CWS have a compromised motor control system that makes it difficult for them to move forward in speech and that the tie to language lies not in a deficient linguistic system but in difficulty expressing the intended meaning via a fully functional speech system.

On general and specific markers of lexical development in children with autism from 5 to 8 years of age

Delays in language production in children with autism (ASD) are now well known. For parents and clinicians, the possibility of using the first vocal productions as prognostic indications has been tempting. However, such an approach implies questions of predictability and the development of language. To describe and analyze certain relationships between phonological and lexical development with the aim of determining a simple prognostic indicator, 60 children were observed twice, at 5 years of age (T1) and three years later (T2). Linguistic data were obtained in a semi-standardized situation (ADOS-G) and from parents (ADI-R, Item 19), and analyzed with CHILDES. At T1, the sample was distributed into a ‘verbal’ and a ‘non-verbal’ group. From T1 to T2, the sample replicated the four trajectories known from pathological development characterized by stability, progression and regression. A multiple regression analysis for predicting morpheme production at T2 showed that two general markers (CARS and DLS, being ‘risk factors’) and one specific marker (phoneme production, a ‘protection’ factor) were significantly related to lexical development.

Auditory, speech and language development in young children with cochlear implants compared with children with normal hearing

Objective This study had two aims: (1) to document the auditory and lexical development of children who are deaf and received the first cochlear implant (CI) by the age of 16 months and the second CI by the age of 31 months and (2) to compare these children's results with those of children with normal hearing (NH). Methods This longitudinal study included five children with NH and five with sensorineural deafness. All children of the second group were observed for 36 months after the first fitting of the device (cochlear implant). The auditory development of the CI group was documented every 3 months up to the age of two years in hearing age and chronological age and for the NH group in chronological age. The language development of each NH child was assessed at 12, 18, 24 and 36 months of chronological age. Children with CIs were examined at the same age intervals at chronological and hearing age. Results In both groups, children showed individual patterns of auditory and language development. The children with CIs developed differently in the amount of receptive and expressive vocabulary compared with the NH control group. Three children in the CI group needed almost 6 months to make gains in speech development that were consistent with what would be expected for their chronological age. Overall, the receptive and expressive development in all children of the implanted group increased with their hearing age. Conclusion These results indicate that early identification and early implantation is advisable to give children with sensorineural hearing loss a realistic chance to develop satisfactory expressive and receptive vocabulary and also to develop stable phonological, morphological and syntactical skills for school life. On the basis of these longitudinal data, we will be able to develop new diagnostic tools that enable clinicians to assess child's progress in hearing and speech development.

The acquisition of productive vocabulary in Spanish children with Down syndrome

Background It is generally assumed that children with Down syndrome (DS) present a deficit in lexical production relative to their cognitive abilities. However, the literature on this topic has recently shown several contradictory results. In addition, most studies only consider vocabulary production in its vocal modality. However it is also necessary to take into account gesture production, since this is a strength in children with DS. Our main purpose in this study, therefore, was to investigate the relationship between cognitive development and vocabulary size in both its vocal and gestural modalities in a broad sample of Spanish children with DS.Method Participants in the study were 66 children with DS and 66 children with typical development (TD), with a mental age (MA) of 14–28 months (divided into five groups with a MA of 14–16, 17–19, 20–22, 23–25 and 26–28 months). Children were matched on the basis of their gender and MA. Productive vocabularies were collected using an adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates CDI for children with DS.Results In vocal modality, the number of words produced by children with DS and children with TD is similar. As in previous studies, our data confirmed that gestural communication is superior in children with DS. However, when words and gestures are combined, the performance of both groups of children is practically equal.Conclusion Our results do not support a specific dissociation between cognitive and lexical development in children with DS.

Dynamic self-organization and early lexical development in children.

In this study we present a self-organizing connectionist model of early lexical development. We call this model DevLex-II, based on the earlier DevLex model. DevLex-II can simulate a variety of empirical patterns in children's acquisition of words. These include a clear vocabulary spurt, effects of word frequency and length on age of acquisition, and individual differences as a function of phonological short-term memory and associative capacity. Further results from lesioned models indicate developmental plasticity in the network's recovery from damage, in a non-monotonic fashion. We attribute the network's abilities in accounting for lexical development to interactive dynamics in the learning process. In particular, variations displayed by the model in the rate and size of early vocabulary development are modulated by (a) input characteristics, such as word frequency and word length, (b) consolidation of lexical-semantic representation, meaning-form association, and phonological short-term memory, and (c) delayed processes due to interactions among timing, severity, and recoverability of lesion. Together, DevLex and DevLex-II provide an accurate computational account of early lexical development.

Maternal responsive and directive behaviours and utterances as predictors of children's lexical development

Predictive relations were examined between measures of 20 mothers' behavioural and verbal general and specific responsiveness and intrusive and supportive directiveness and their children's subsequent expressive vocabularies during three developmental periods with endpoints at the beginning, middle, and end of the second year: 0; 10 to 1; 1, 1 ; 1 to 1; 5, and 1;5 to 1;9. Regression analyses, controlling for mothers' utterance frequencies and children's initial lexicons, revealed considerable consistency between reported and observed lexicons but changing patterns of predictive relations with development. During the first period, behavioural, but not verbal, measures of maternal responsiveness and supportive directiveness were positively predictive. In period two, verbal, but not behavioural, measures predicted children's vocabularies, with specific responsiveness and supportive directiveness as positive predictors and intrusive directiveness as a negative predictor. During the final period, mothers' behavioural and verbal responsiveness and behavioural supportive directiveness positively predicted and their verbal intrusive directiveness negatively predicted children's lexical growth.

Lexical Development of Thai Children at 0;9-2;0: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study investigates lexical development of Thai children at 0;9-2;0. Based on the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: Words and Gestures, 1989 (CDI), a Thai version of the CDI word checklist was developed. Following a cross-sectional research design, parents of 180 children were asked to report their children's lexical development. Four main aspects of lexical development were investigated: the onset of development, cumulative vocabularies, lexical categories of words acquired, and the relationship between comprehension and production in lexical acquisition. It was found that individual variation plays an important role in children's lexical development. Instead of pinpointing the exact age of the onset of development, a tentative range of onset is reported about 0;9-1;3. Although children's vocabulary items increase over time, it was found that there were two distinct types of increase: gradual and rapid. The gradual increase was found from 0;9-1;6, and 1;9-2;0. The rapid increase, at about 1;6, represents a period of vocabulary explosion. It was found that Thai children's lexicon is "noun" dominant. From an examination of the relationship between word comprehension and production, it was found that comprehension precedes production at the onset of lexical development. However, data from this study also demonstrate that at about the period of vocabulary explosion, some words are comprehended only after they have been produced. It is also suggested that lexical development should also be investigated using a longitudinal research design, because data from a longitudinal study can indicate the development of individual children and might demonstrate more clearly development in terms of individual variation.