Language Capacity Research Articles

Homesign Research, Gesture Studies, and Sign Language Linguistics: The Bigger Picture of Homesign and Homesigners.

Studies of homesigns have shed light on the human capacity for language and on the challenging problem of language acquisition. The study of homesign has evolved from a perspective grounded in gesture studies and child development to include sign language linguistics and the role of homesigns in language emergence at the community level. One overarching finding is that homesigns more closely resemble sign languages used by linguistic communities than they resemble the gestures produced by hearing people along with spoken language. Homesigns may not exhibit all of the linguistic properties of community languages, but the properties they do exhibit are language properties, and for the people who use them, homesigns are their language. Further, the linguistic structures in homesigns are innovated by the deaf people who use them and are imperfectly learned by their hearing communication partners. I close with a call to action: We cannot celebrate discoveries about the mind made possible by studies of homesigns and emerging languages while ignoring the pervasiveness of language deprivation among deaf people, and the relative lack of deaf participation in science, even in studies of sign languages. While the scientific community learns much from studying homesigns and sign languages, we also have a responsibility to work toward ensuring that every deaf person has access to language, communication, and education.

The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative-4 (ADNI-4) Engagement Core: A culturally informed, community-engaged research (CI-CER) model to advance brain health equity.

The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative-4 (ADNI-4) Engagement Core was launched to advance Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementia (ADRD) health equity research in underrepresented populations (URPs). We describe our evidence-based, scalable culturally informed, community-engaged research (CI-CER) model and demonstrate its preliminary success in increasing URP enrollment. URPs include ethnoculturally minoritized, lower education (≤ 12 years), and rural populations. The CI-CER model includes: (1) culturally informed methodology (e.g., less restrictive inclusion/exclusion criteria, sociocultural measures, financial compensation, results disclosure, Spanish Language Capacity Workgroup) and (2) inclusive engagement methods (e.g., the Engagement Core team; Hub Sites; Community-Science Partnership Board). As of April 2024, 60% of ADNI-4 new in-clinic enrollees were from ethnoculturally or educationally URPs. This exceeds ADNI-4's≥50% URP representation goal for new enrollees but may not represent final enrollment. Findings show a CI-CER model increases URP enrollment in AD/ADRD clinical research and has important implications for clinical trials to advance health equity. The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative-4 (ADNI-4) uses a culturally informed, community-engaged research (CI-CER) approach. The CI-CER approach is scalable and sustainable for broad, multisite implementation. ADNI-4 is currently exceeding its inclusion goals for underrepresented populations.

Meta-analysis reveals low language capacity in childhood is associated with mental health problems in adulthood.

Children and adolescents with language problems have poorer mental health compared with their non-language impaired peers. Less is known about mental health in adults with a history of language problems. This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis that addresses this gap in the literature. Specifically, it summarisesthe results from studies examining anxiety and depression in adults (aged 18 years and over) who were identified with language impairments or problems earlier in development. Five electronic databases (PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, EMBASE and PubMed) were searched for studies comparing anxiety and/or depression in a sample of adults with and without a history of language problems. Nine studies were found that met the inclusion criteria. From each, an odds ratio (OR) was computed measuring the relationship between childhood language problems and anxiety or depression in adulthood. The OR was computed so values > 1 which indicated anxiety/depression were associated with a history of language problems. ORs were averaged using multilevel random effects meta-analysis. Averaging the study's findings across both anxiety and depression outcomes, we found that a history of childhood language problems was associated with poorer mental health in adulthood (OR = 1.79, p = 0.004). The association for anxiety was also significant (OR = 1.80, p = 0.012) and close to statistical significance for depression (OR = 1.60, p = 0.054). This review reveals that adults with a history of language problems are more likely to experience poorer mental health outcomes compared with controls. These findings demonstrate childhood language problems affect not only communication but also mental health and well-being in the long term. What is already known on the subject Prior research examining mental health in children and adolescents with language problems reveals a twofold increased risk of internalisingproblems, including anxiety and depression. However, little is known about mental health outcomes in adults with a history of language problems. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge The main finding was that childhood language problems are associated with increased risk of anxiety and depression in adulthood. What are the practical and clinical implications of this work? First, the study demonstrates childhood language problems increase the risk of poor mental health in adulthood. Second, in adult mental health settings there is a need to screen for language problems and, where applicable, adjust interventions to accommodate communicative needs for patients/clients. Solving these issues requires integration and recognition of the importance of speech-language therapy in the adult mental health system.

Myth, Religion, Imagination, and (Virtual) Realities

This article provides a way to think through the division between religious and secular approaches to contemporary society through the use of rival myths. Myths are narrative structures that invite the interplay of language and the imagination, resulting in the creation of virtual realities and social imaginaries. Strong virtual realities were once premised on myths that guided the imagination to embrace an openness to mystery and the unknowable; however, current technological culture is predicated on a closed imagination that has led to worldwide despair. Religion was originally grounded in the virtual reality inspired by language and the capacity of language to distill and extract the “virtual” from the real. The ability of language to create a virtual reality created the capacity to think of a soul, as well as destinations for the soul. In the twentieth century, Freud found that the notion of “God” that was created had become problematic for humans and so created a modern myth that would provide a secular substitute. After providing a close reading of Freud’s governing myth for modern culture, showing how it inspires the imagination and the ways in which it falls short, this article concludes with an alternative myth—that of the Invisible City—proposed to inspire faith, hope, and love in our modern world. My approach relies on a depth psychological framework, which was formed to interrogate the nature of reality (relative to individuals and culture) at the intersection of myth, religion, language, and imagination. Throughout, I use a hermeneutic methodology, which is consistent with the initial mode of depth psychological exploration as well as the central role language plays in revealing the truth of a reality. This orientation enables an exploration of a deeper sense of virtual realities than what is deployed through current technology.

INTERVENSI DINI BAHASA DAN BICARA ANAK SPEECH DELAY

Language development is one indicator of the overall development of the achievement of cognitive abilities of children Language and speech delays must be recognized by parents from an early age, so that the management provided can maximize the language and speech capacity of children. This research was conducted to describe strategies for implementing early language and speech interventions. talk to children with speech delay The research method used is a qualitative approach with a case study design. This research was conducted at the Happy Living Tesbatan Amarasi PAUD with a total of five children aged 4 years. Data collection techniques through observation, interviews and documents (diaries, checklist documents instrument for assessing achievement of language and speech development, video of early intervention program activities) Method of data analysis using descriptive analysis with a qualitative approach Based on the results of the discussion it can be concluded that there is an increase in language and speech of children with speech delay after being given early intervention Improved language and speech skills can be proven from the results checklist instrument by marking the achievement of language and speech indicators, namely children are able to answer simple questions, express feelings with adjectives, express wishes and mention familiar words

O desenvolvimento das capacidades de linguagem no processo de escrita dos estudantes universitários: o Projeto de Pesquisa para Iniciação Científica em foco

This article aims to demonstrate the role that the Academic Literacy Laboratory at the University of São Paulo (LLAC) plays in improving students' textual production in the genre of Research Project for Scientific Initiation. This article is part of a master's research project that aims to go beyond a merely descriptive analysis, seeking to illustrate the interaction between theories of texts and genres and teaching practices. Based on the analysis of LLAC's impact on the textual production of genres in the university context, the article tracks the development of language capacities: action capacity, discursive capacity, and linguistic-discursive capacity (Dolz, Pasquier, Bronckart, 1993) of university students. In this sense, the article provides analyses of the development of written production in Portuguese, as a mother tongue, aiming to identify how students develop their language capacities based on the teachable characteristics of the Research Project genre. Through the analysis of various excerpts, it was observed that the interventions during the sessions played the role of a mediating tool in students' language actions, highlighting the importance of the monitor-tutor's role in the reformulation of texts.

Transitioning to the New Normal and Beyond: Maximizing Students’ Active Learning in Task-Supported Curricula

ABSTRACT Amid the lingering impacts of COVID-19, consistently shifting between online and face-to-face educational settings can be particularly challenging for language teachers and learners. Regardless of the learning environment, it is crucial to provide language learners with opportunities to engage in interactive and communicative activities both in and outside the classroom. In the context of a liminal pandemic era, this article aims to share task-supported learning activities developed for Korean learners at the beginner level. The developed task set contains in-class and out-of-class tasks focused on developing the three modes of communication (interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational) and intercultural competence. Given as open educational resources (OER), these collaboratively developed tasks have been piloted across two higher education settings in the United States, demonstrating their sustainability in various learning environments, whether they be online, in person, or hybrid. These tasks that are designed based on the backward design process provide a systematic roadmap for the transition from perception-based tasks to production-based tasks that adhere to the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements (2017). Students’ reflections and instructors’ observations indicate that these tasks and assessment tools are beneficial in developing students’ language capacities, intercultural competencies, and sense of achievement in learning.

Intertwining worlds: The dynamics of linguistic religion and religious language

Linguists and scholars in Iran have overlooked the interaction between language and religion. The correlation between language and religion is substantial among individuals. This study aims to determine whether language serves religion or if there is a distinct category known as religious language. The purpose of this study is to explore further and analyze various perspectives on the relationship between language and religion. We devised a fundamental structure of conversation guidelines based on the works "Religious Language" by Peter Donovan and "Religion and the Making of Society" by Charles Davis. This study examines the argumentation topic through three primary points. The first portion of the text provides a concise overview of the essential information regarding the epistemological and ontological elements of language and religion. A comprehensive analysis of many papers and books has been conducted to extract diverse viewpoints on the interplay between language and religion. The disparities in this region were elucidated by describing both the real and fictitious aspects, as well as the meaningful and meaningless distinctions. The subsequent part explores several tactics employed in theological texts and religious languages and their influence on the dissemination of religious ideology. The primary contention in this part revolves around the capacity of religious language to incite and evoke emotions in individuals. The final section of the paper examines the objectives and intentions of religious declarations and texts by analyzing their discourses using Van Dijk's framework of ideological discourse analysis.

The controller-first constraint beyond the Basic Variety: how do instructed learner varieties solve contexts of competition?

Abstract The Basic Variety has been described as a fully fledged system that is developed in second-language acquisition. It is guided by a small number of interacting phrasal, semantic, and pragmatic constraints. This article is devoted to the semantic controller-first constraint, which says that “the NP-referent with highest control comes first” in discourse contexts where this constraint comes into conflict. The Basic Variety, as described by Klein and Perdue, relates to migrant learners that were exposed to target languages in naturalistic contexts and situations outside the classroom. Our study also deals with learners living in the target language’s country at the time of the data collection, but our learners were benefiting from foreign language teaching at university. The goal of this study is twofold. The first part of the article discusses the origins of the key notion of ‘controller’ and introduces related theoretical underpinnings, such as argument hierarchies of transitive verbs and crucial factors determining argument realization. Our analysis shows that the controller-first constraint overlaps with two key concepts of the description of L1 functional grammars – i.e., control asymmetry and the Actor-Undergoer Hierarchy – suggesting that it does not only pertain to the Basic Variety but broadly speaking to the human language capacity. The second part of this study presents some preliminary results on the L2 grammars of Spanish-speaking learners of French in a context of ‘competition’. Our results show the pervasiveness of the controller-first constraint on L2 grammars beyond initial, non-instructed learner varieties, suggesting that this semantic principle is not totally independent of (a) the specifics of the source language and (b) the target constructions of the foreign language classroom.

Effect of advancing age on event-related potentials (P300) measures

BackgroundAging has been defined as a persistent deterioration in the age-specific fitness components of an organism, attributed to internal physiological degeneration. Cognitive abilities, encompassing attention, memory, executive cognitive functions, language, and visuospatial capacities, are distinctive domains affected by aging. Numerous studies have documented measurable effects on these cognitive domains, indicating a discernible decline in their functionality with advancing age. Cognitive impairment often unfolds insidiously, remaining clinically silent for extended periods. Age, as a critical factor, exerts a notable influence on P300 measures.ResultSpearman rank correlation was calculated between age and P300 measures. In group 1A (age range of 10–20 years), we found a strong positive correlation between age and amplitude of P300 (r = 0.96, p < 0.001), while a weak correlation was found between latency and age. In group IB (age range: 21–40 years), a moderate negative correlation (r = − 0.43, p < 0.05) was found between age and amplitude of P300, while a strong positive correlation (r = 0.87, p < 0.001) was obtained between age and latency. In group 2A (age: 41–60 years), it was found that amplitude has a strong negative correlation (r = − 0.97, p < 0.001) with age, while latency has a strong positive correlation (r = 0.89, p < 0.001). In group 2B (age: 61–80 years), it was found that amplitude has a strong negative correlation (r = − 0.93, p < 0.001) with age, while latency has a strong positive correlation (r = 0.95, p < 0.001).ConclusionIn this study, it is concluded that amplitude of P300 decreases and latency increases with increasing age.

Synthesizing the temporal self: robotic models of episodic and autobiographical memory.

Episodic memories are experienced as belonging to a self that persists in time. We review evidence concerning the nature of human episodic memory and of the sense of self and how these emerge during development, proposing that the younger child experiences a persistent self that supports a subjective experience of remembering. We then explore recent research in cognitive architectures for robotics that has investigated the possibility of forms of synthetic episodic and autobiographical memory. We show that recent advances in generative modeling can support an understanding of the emergence of self and of episodic memory, and that cognitive architectures which include a language capacity are showing progress towards the construction of a narrative self with autobiographical memory capabilities for robots. We conclude by considering the prospects for a more complete model of mental time travel in robotics and the implications of this modeling work for understanding human episodic memory and the self in time. This article is part of the theme issue 'Elements of episodic memory: lessons from 40 years of research'.

Linkages Between Brain Size and Language Capacity

The organ in the human body that controls all movements and functions, including language, is the brain. The cerebrum, especially the left hemisphere, is crucial for language activities. The human left brain is a domain that functions as a place of concentration and as a regulator and controller of language abilities. The left hemisphere also appears to be involved in sign language processing, similar to how it is involved in non-signers. The right brain is also involved in complex ways but differently for sign language users. Studies on brain and language continue to develop and have shown significant progress. However, findings sometimes appear inconsistent, particularly regarding the involvement of the right brain in language. Many studies suggest that the second language can sometimes be located in the right brain, though this is not always the case. There may be variables that determine the brain's language localization, but these have not yet been fully identified. One factor may be the age at which the second language is learned, as well as the unique growth and development of each individual.

Assessing the perception of emotional prosody in healthy ageing.

Emotional prosody is the reflection of emotion types such as happiness, sadness, fear and anger in the speaker's tone of voice. Accurately perceiving, interpreting and expressing emotional prosody is an inseparable part of successful communication and social interaction. There are few studies on emotional prosody, which is crucial for communication, and the results of these studies have inconsistent information regarding age and gender. The primary aim of this study is to assess the perception of emotional prosody in healthy ageing. The other aim is to examine the effects of variables such as age, gender, language and neurocognitive capacity on the prediction of emotional prosody recognition skills. Sixty-nine participants between the ages of 18-75 were included in the study. Participants were grouped as the young group aged 18-35 (n = 26), the middle-aged group aged 36-55 (n = 24) and the elderly group aged 56-75 (n = 19). Perceptual emotional prosody test, motor response time test, and neuropsychological test batteries were administered to the participants. Participants were asked to recognise the emotion in the sentences played on the computer. Natural (neutral, containing neither positive nor negative emotion), happy, angry, surprised and panic emotions were evaluated with sentences composed of pseudoword stimuli. It was observed that the elderly group performed worse in recognising angry, panic, natural and happy emotions and in total recognition, which gives the correct recognition performance in recognition of all emotions. There was no age-related difference in recognition of the emotion of surprise. The women were more successful in recognising angry, panic, happy and total emotions compared to men. Age and Motor Reaction Time Test scores were found to be significant predictors in the emotional response time regression model. Age, language, attention and gender variables were found to have a significant effect on the regression model created for the success of total recognition of emotions (p<0.05). This was a novel study in which emotional prosody was assessed in the elderly by eliminating lexical-semantic cues related to emotional prosody and associating emotional prosody results with neuropsychiatric tests. All our findings revealed the importance of age for the perception of emotional prosody. In addition, the effects of cognitive functions such as attention, which decline with age, were found to be important. Therefore, it should not be forgotten that many factors contribute to the success of recognising emotional prosody correctly. In this context, clinicians should consider variables such as cognitive health and education when assessing the perception of emotional prosody in elderly individuals. What is already known on the subject Most of the studies compare young and old groups, and these studies evaluate the perception of emotional prosody by using sentences formed by observing the speech sounds, syllables, words and grammar rules in the vocabulary of the language. It has been reported that the perception of emotional prosody is lower, mostly in the elderly group, but there is inconsistent information in terms of age and gender. What this paper adds to existing knowledge Perceptual Prosody Recognition was evaluated with an experimental design in which sentence structures consisting of lexemes were used as stimuli and neurocognitive tests were included, taking into account the phonological and syntactic rules of language. This study was a novel study in diagnosing emotional prosody in terms of comparing different age groups and determining the factors affecting multidimensional emotional prosody, including neuropsychiatric features. What are the clinical implications of this work? All our findings revealed the importance of age for the perception of emotional prosody. In addition, it was determined that the effects of cognitive functions such as attention were important with age.

Construction of China’s National Image in the Digital and AI Era: A Study on the Influence of National Language Capacity in Media Narratives

This paper aims to explore the construction of China’s national image and the influence of national language capacity in this process against the backdrop of the digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) era. With the rapid development of digital and intelligent technologies, the media has undergone profound changes, presenting new challenges and opportunities for the dissemination of national images. The paper first analyzes the definition, components, and evaluation indicators of national language capacity and discusses its significant role in international communication. It is found that national language capacity plays a crucial role in the construction of a national image, as it not only enhances the efficiency of international communication but also strengthens a nation’s cultural soft power. The paper proposes that improving national language capacity requires efforts on four levels: policy, media, the public, and international cooperation.

Longitudinal associations between language network characteristics in the infant brain and school-age reading abilities are mediated by early-developing phonological skills.

Reading acquisition is a prolonged learning process relying on language development starting in utero. Behavioral longitudinal studies reveal prospective associations between infant language abilities and preschool/kindergarten phonological development that relates to subsequent reading performance. While recent pediatric neuroimaging work has begun to characterize the neural network underlying language development in infants, how this neural network scaffolds long-term language and reading acquisition remains unknown. We addressed this question in a 7-year longitudinal study from infancy to school-age. Seventy-six infants completed resting-state fMRI scanning, and underwent standardized language assessments in kindergarten. Of this larger cohort, forty-one were further assessed on their emergent word reading abilities after receiving formal reading instructions. Hierarchical clustering analyses identified a modular infant language network in which functional connectivity (FC) of the inferior frontal module prospectively correlated with kindergarten-age phonological skills and emergent word reading abilities. These correlations were obtained when controlling for infant age at scan, nonverbal IQ and parental education. Furthermore, kindergarten-age phonological skills mediated the relationship between infant FC and school-age reading abilities, implying a critical mid-way milestone for long-term reading development from infancy. Overall, our findings illuminate the neurobiological mechanisms by which infant language capacities could scaffold long-term reading acquisition.

Longitudinal associations between language network characteristics in the infant brain and school-age reading abilities are mediated by early-developing phonological skills

Reading acquisition is a prolonged learning process relying on language development starting in utero. Behavioral longitudinal studies reveal prospective associations between infant language abilities and preschool/kindergarten phonological development that relates to subsequent reading performance. While recent pediatric neuroimaging work has begun to characterize the neural network underlying language development in infants, how this neural network scaffolds long-term language and reading acquisition remains unknown. We addressed this question in a 7-year longitudinal study from infancy to school-age. Seventy-six infants completed resting-state fMRI scanning, and underwent standardized language assessments in kindergarten. Of this larger cohort, forty-one were further assessed on their emergent word reading abilities after receiving formal reading instructions. Hierarchical clustering analyses identified a modular infant language network in which functional connectivity (FC) of the inferior frontal module prospectively correlated with kindergarten-age phonological skills and emergent word reading abilities. These correlations were obtained when controlling for infant age at scan, nonverbal IQ and parental education. Furthermore, kindergarten-age phonological skills mediated the relationship between infant FC and school-age reading abilities, implying a critical mid-way milestone for long-term reading development from infancy. Overall, our findings illuminate the neurobiological mechanisms by which infant language capacities could scaffold long-term reading acquisition.

Making Faces: Unsettling the Ethnographic Paradigm in Clarice Lispector's "A menor mulher do mundo"

ABSTRACT: This article reads Clarice Lispector's short story "A menor mulher do mundo" in dialogue with decolonial anthropological thought and performance studies to explore the role literature might play in unsettling the colonial paradigm of ethnographic knowledge. I propose that Lispector's text simultaneously hails its reader as a discoverer or ethnographer and undermines the epistemological privilege of this position. Beyond recriminating the reader for their implication in violent othering practices, the text points to the performative nature of what Dianna Taylor calls the "scenario of discovery," revealing discoverer and discovered, ethnographer and native informant to be roles rather than essential identities. Lispector thus questions the unidirectionality of the colonialist gaze and asserts that its "object" not only looks back with its own desires but also makes faces to disarm this fetishizing gaze. The stakes of this reading extend to debates about World Literature and Lispector's place in it, suggesting that the performative capacities of literary language have an important role to play in governing, even checking, the consumption, assimilation, and canonization of literature from the formally colonized world.

Re]Integrating a dispersed agenda: advancing archaeological research in Central Eurasia

Amid resurgent geopolitical fissures and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a growing awareness in the sector of the need for, and concern about, national and international collaboration in archaeological projects. This article reflects on present-day challenges for international collaboration in central Eurasian archaeology and furthers a much-needed discussion about (re)integrating local narratives with inter-regional trends in future research. Responsible and practical proposals for bridging collaborator differences in institutional or publishing obligations, language capacities and access to resources are discussed.

Cognition and Functional Capacity: An Initial Comparison of Veteran and Non-Veteran Older Adults.

The U.S. Military Veterans aged 65 and older comprise an estimated 43% of the 22 million living Veterans in the United States. Veterans have high rates of physical, psychiatric, and social challenges, but it is not known whether Veteran status confers additional risk for cognitive or functional impairments in later life. Thus, this investigation specifically compared older Veterans with their non-Veteran peers in cognitive functioning and performance-based functional capacity. Participants (N = 110; 29 Veterans and 81 non-Veterans) were part of a larger longitudinal study on biopsychosocial functioning in independently living older adult residents of a Continuing Care Senior Housing Community. The University of California San Diego Institutional Review Board approved the study and all participants provided written informed consent. Participants provided demographic and mental health information and were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Functional capacity was assessed using the UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment-Brief (UPSA-B), which uses financial and communication role-plays to assess everyday functioning skills. Neuropsychological scores were appropriately normed prior to analysis. Multivariate Analyses of Variances with post hoc t-tests and an Analysis of Covariance were used to examine neuropsychological and functional capacity differences, respectively, between Veterans and non-Veterans. Veterans did not differ from non-Veterans in educational attainment (16.4 years versus 15.5 years, P = 0.110), but they were significantly older (mean age 86.9 years ± 5.7, versus 81.74 years ± 6.53; P < 0.001) and were more likely to be male (X2 [1, N = 110] = 62.39, P < 0.001). Thus, though neuropsychological norms already accounted for demographic differences in our participants, age and sex were controlled in the Analysis of Covariance predicting UPSA-B score from Veteran status. Results suggested that, compared to non-Veterans, Veterans had significantly worse performance in the list learning portion of a test of verbal memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, Total Recall; t = 2.56, P = 0.012, d = 0.56). Veterans and non-Veterans did not significantly differ in performance on the delayed recall portion of the verbal learning test and did not differ on a cognitive screening test (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) or on measures of premorbid intellectual functioning (Wide Range Achievement Test-4 Reading), language (Boston Naming Test, Verbal Fluency), visual memory (Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised), attention/working memory (WAIS-IV Digit Span), processing speed (WAIS-IV Digit Symbol Coding), executive function (Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Trails and Color-Word Test), or functional capacity (UPSA-B). Because our examination of multiple outcomes might have inflated Type I error, we performed a post hoc adjustment of P values using Benjamini-Hochberg procedures and the group difference in verbal learning remained significant. Despite largely similar function in most domains, Veterans performed significantly more poorly in verbal list learning than their non-Veteran peers. Additional attention should be given to the understanding, assessment, and possible treatment of learning and memory differences in older Veterans, as this may be an area in which Veteran status confers additional risk or vulnerability to decline. This is the first study to compare objective neuropsychological and functional performance between older (age 65+) US Veterans and non-Veterans.

Perceived barriers and enablers to utilising the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme for adults with an intellectual disability and their families: A scoping review.

The introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia in 2013 promised significant improvements in the lives of adults with intellectual disabilities. Although the scheme enables support, there are challenges associated with establishing eligibility and administering funds. This scoping review explored perceived barriers and enablers to effectively utilising the NDIS for adults with intellectual disabilities and their families. A scoping review of the empirical literature on the NDIS and intellectual disabilities included nine studies in this review. These papers were subjected to thematic analysis and the findings were presented as a narrative synthesis. The key themes identified were: (1) Limited understanding of the NDIS process; (2) Language use and capacity assumptions; (3) Unrealistic goals and progress, and difficulty utilising plans; (4) Expectations of families and associated workloads; (5) Opening up opportunities not previously available; (6) Knowledgeable planners who actively seek to involve adults and their families. Although qualitative studies demonstrate that adults with an intellectual disability and their families are largely satisfied with the increased opportunities the NDIS has afforded them, there are various areas in which accessibility to services can be improved. In order for the NDIS to continue to improve, the results from this scoping review underline the need for adults with an intellectual disability and their support systems to have their voices heard and be utilised.