Number Of Conversational Turns Research Articles

Estimating infants’ language exposure: A comparison of random and volume sampling from daylong recordings collected in a bilingual community

In North America, the characteristics of a child’s language environment predict language outcomes. For example, differences in bilingual language exposure, exposure to electronic media, and exposure to child-directed speech (CDS) relate to children’s language growth. Recently, these predictors have been studied through the use of daylong recordings, followed by manual annotation of audio samples selected from these recordings. Using a dataset of daylong recordings collected from bilingually raised infants in the United States as an example, we ask whether two of the most commonly used sampling methods, random sampling and sampling based on high adult speech, differ from each other with regard to estimating the frequencies of specific language behaviors. Daylong recordings from 37 Spanish-English speaking families with infants between 4 and 22 months of age were analyzed. From each child’s recording, samples were extracted in two ways (at random/based on high adult speech) and then annotated for Language (Spanish/English/Mixed), CDS, Electronic Media, Social Context, Turn-Taking, and Infant Babbling. Correlation and agreement analyses were performed, in addition to paired sample t-tests, to assess how the choice of one or the other sampling method may affect the estimates. For most behaviors studied, correlation and agreement between the two sampling methods was high (Pearson r values between 0.79 and 0.99 for 16 of 17 measures; Intraclass Correlation Coefficient values between 0.78 and 0.99 for 13 of 17 measures). However, interesting between-sample differences also emerged: the degree of language mixing, the amount of CDS, and the number of conversational turns were all significantly higher when sampling was performed based on high adult speech compared to random sampling. By contrast, the presence of electronic media and one-on-one social contexts was higher when sampling was performed at random. We discuss advantages of choosing one sampling technique over the other, depending on the research question and variables at hand.

Fine motor skill and expressive language in minimally verbal and verbal school-aged autistic children.

Fine motor skill is associated with expressive language outcomes in infants who have an autistic sibling and in young autistic children. Fewer studies have focused on school-aged children even though around 80% have motor impairments and 30% remain minimally verbal (MV) into their school years. Moreover, expressive language is not a unitary construct, but it is made up of components such as speech production, structural language, and social-pragmatic language use. We used natural language sampling to investigate the relationship between fine motor and speech intelligibility, mean length of utterance and conversational turns in MV and verbal autistic children between the ages of 4 and 7 while controlling for age and adaptive behavior. Fine motor skill predicted speech production, measured by percent intelligible utterances. Fine motor skill and adaptive behavior predicted structural language, measured by mean length of utterance in morphemes. Adaptive behavior, but not fine motor skill, predicted social-pragmatic language use measured by number of conversational turns. Simple linear regressions by group corrected for multiple comparisons showed that fine motor skill predicted intelligibility for MV but not verbal children. Fine motor skill and adaptive behavior predicted mean length of utterance for both MV and verbal children. These findings suggest that future studies should explore whether MV children may benefit from interventions targeting fine motor along with speech and language into their school years.

Curating feedback for parents based on interactions during parent–child book reading activities

Assessing child language and communication skills in naturalistic settings requires a motivating framework for adults and children to interact. Book reading is widely used by parents to interact with children, providing parents opportunities to engage children in conversation and practice communication skills. Recordings of interactions between parents and children can be automatically analyzed to provide feedback to parents to maximize developmental benefits of book reading. Encouraging children to participate actively in book reading yields gains in terms of language acquisition and improved literacy. In this study, we focus on extracting fruitful feedback from parent–child book reading activities for parents. Audio evaluated were collected by consenting families in home settings during parent–child science book reading activities. A range of parameters are analyzed to track reading/learning behaviors that include number of questions asked, number of conversational turns, number of words spoken, repetition, and vocabulary diversity. These parameters can help track engagement of story reading, including changes over time. Discussions with various stakeholders including parents, teachers and researchers will be presented. Speech technology automation of this analysis process can help parents track language development, improve communication skills, and increase school preparedness of their children. [Work sponsored by NSF Grants #1918032 & #1918012.]

Talk it Out: Teen Reactions to a Supportive Conversational Agent

AbstractCOVID‐19 measures of isolation exacerbated the negative feeling, particularly in younger and older populations. We tested a voice conversational agent designed to support teens by offering interactions based on five types of behavioral interventions (compassion, self‐compassion, positive psychology, mindfulness, and humor), and examined teen reactions to these interventions. Thirty‐nine adolescents were asked to assess one randomized interaction a day for fifteen days. All five intervention types received positive ratings, with self‐compassion scoring the highest and compassion scoring the lowest by the participants. Participants shared more positive than negative feedback about the interaction scenarios, the perceived agent’s personality and conversational flow. Positive feedback emphasized enjoyment and benefits of the interaction, empathetic traits in the agent’s responses, a sense of validation, and moments for self‐reflection fostered by the interactions. Participants enjoyed the conversation flow that felt similar to a natural conversation. Negative comments generally revolved around perception of the impersonal agent, inappropriate pace of conversation (too slow/fast) or number of conversational turns, and dislike of some interaction topics. Recommendations based on this exploratory work are included.

Randomised controlled trial of maternal infant-directed reading among hospitalised preterm infants.

A randomised trial to study the impact of a maternal-driven, infant-directed reading intervention on preterm infant language compared with matched controls. Infants born at 22-32 weeks in Women & Infants Neonatal Intensive Care were gestationally stratified to a reading intervention (n=33) or standard care (n=34). At 32-, 34- and 36-weeks postmenstrual age, 16-h language recordings were obtained in the hospital. Bivariate group comparisons and regressions adjusting for gestational age and multiples were run to predict word counts and conversational turns. Longitudinal analyses were conducted by negative binomial models containing intervention, randomised gestation group, recording number (1-3), an intervention × recording number interaction term and multiple birth adjustment by generalised estimating equations. In adjusted analyses, by 36-weeks postmenstrual age, infants in the reading group had twice the number of conversational turns as infants receiving standard care (Rate ratio 1.98, 95% CI 1.33-2.93, p < 0.05). In longitudinal analyses, only infants in the reading group had a significant increase in the conversational turns between 32- and 36-weeks postmenstrual age (Rate ratio 2.45, 95% CI 1.45-4.14, p < 0.05). A maternal infant-directed reading curriculum in the hospital demonstrated a positive impact on interactive conversations by 36-weeks postmenstrual age.

A comparative study on parental language used by parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and typically developing children

Purpose: Current study is designed to analyze the quantity and quality of parental language during parent-child interaction in the natural environment in both typically developing and in children with autism spectrum disorder.Methods: A total of 10 primary caregivers mainly parents in which 5 participants were parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and 5 participants were parents of typically developing children. A 10-15 minutes video recording of parent-child interaction was analyzed and drawn into conclusion about the quantity and quality of language used in terms of grammatical language measures, discourse function and pragmatic function.Results: Parents of children with ASD and parents of TD children who were developing normally produced similar amounts of linguistic input, but they differed on certain quality parameters. Parents of TD children use more Mean Length of Utterance. Significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of Discourse function and pragmatic functions. The parents of children with ASD used a comparatively lower number of nouns, verbs, conjunctions and case markers. In Discourse function analysis, significant differences were found in parental responses, number of conversational turns and number of parental responses to child’s initiations. While considering pragmatic/behavioral functions, significant differences were only in questions and expansions.Conclusions: The current study emphasizes the importance of parental language during parent-child interactions, as well as the need to profile the same which would provide precise information on the level of stimulation delivered.

Conversation Skills in Chinese-Speaking Preschoolers with Autism: The Contributing Role of Parents' Verbal Responsiveness.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have conversation deficits, yet the growth of conversation abilities is understudied, especially in Chinese-speaking populations. Little is known about whether their parents' verbal responsiveness and redirectives are related to their conversation skills. Children with ASD (N=37; M=5;5) and their parents contributed their language samples. These children interacted with their parents at four time points over nine months. The number of conversational turns and the proportion of child-initiated conversation (but not the proportion of children's appropriate responses) grew over nine months. After controlling for time, autism severity, and language skills, parents' verbal responsiveness positively predicted children's appropriate responses. Parents' redirectives negatively predicted the proportion of children's appropriate responses and the number of conversational turns.

Language and socioemotional development in early childhood: The role of conversational turns.

This study examines the role of language environment (number of conversational turns) in the development of socioemotional competencies between 18 and 30 months. The language environment of 43 infants and their social-emotional competencies were measured at 18 months and again at 30 months. Multiple regressions showed a significant contribution of turns at 18 months on socioemotional competencies at 30 months, controlling for their initial levels, child vocalizations, maternal warmth, and social risk. Cross-lagged analysis revealed that the direction of the longitudinal relation between turns and emotional competencies is more likely to go from turns to socioemotional development than the other way around. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

The Longitudinal Relationship Between Conversational Turn-Taking and Vocabulary Growth in Early Language Development.

Children acquire language embedded within the rich social context of interaction. This paper reports on a longitudinal study investigating the developmental relationship between conversational turn-taking and vocabulary growth in English-acquiring children (N=122) followed between 9 and 24months. Daylong audio recordings obtained every 3months provided several indices of the language environment, including the number of adult words children heard in their environment and their number of conversational turns. Vocabulary was measured independently via parental report. Growth curve analyses revealed a bidirectional relationship between conversational turns and vocabulary growth, controlling for the amount of words in children's environments. The results are consistent with theoretical approaches that identify social interaction as a core component of early language acquisition.

Naturalistic Language Input is Associated with Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Infancy.

The quantity and quality of the language input that infants receive from their caregivers affects their future language abilities; however, it is unclear how variation in this input relates to preverbal brain circuitry. The current study investigated the relation between naturalistic language input and the functional connectivity (FC) of language networks in human infancy using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI). We recorded the naturalistic language environments of five- to eight-month-old male and female infants using the Linguistic ENvironment Analysis (LENA) system and measured the quantity and consistency of their exposure to adult words (AWs) and adult-infant conversational turns (CTs). Infants completed an rsfMRI scan during natural sleep, and we examined FC among regions of interest (ROIs) previously implicated in language comprehension, including the auditory cortex, the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG). Consistent with theory of the ontogeny of the cortical language network (Skeide and Friederici, 2016), we identified two subnetworks posited to have distinct developmental trajectories: a posterior temporal network involving connections of the auditory cortex and bilateral STG and a frontotemporal network involving connections of the left IFG. Independent of socioeconomic status (SES), the quantity of CTs was uniquely associated with FC of these networks. Infants who engaged in a larger number of CTs in daily life had lower connectivity in the posterior temporal language network. These results provide evidence for the role of vocal interactions with caregivers, compared with overheard adult speech, in the function of language networks in infancy.

Maternal depression and the timing of mother-child dialogue

Early social interaction lays the foundation for developing language skills. Maternal depression may affect social interaction by disrupting the temporal structure of turn-taking. In this study, we examine the temporal properties of dialogue extracted from video recordings of semi-structured play between mothers and preschool children enrolled in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Program (n = 110). Our preliminary analyses examine how higher levels of maternal depression (on the CES-D scale) are related to the number and duration of utterances, the number of conversational turns, and the latency and variability of responses for both the mother and the child. The primary goal of the study is understanding how depression impacts bidirectional processes in mother-child interaction, and the quality of children's early language experience.

Maternal Elaborative Language in Shared Emotion Talk with ODD Children: Relationship to Child Emotion Competencies.

While maternal elaborative reminiscing has been found to be positively connected to children's emotion competencies, little is known about how the quality of maternal talk during mother-child talk about shared emotion events relates to emotional competencies in children with disruptive behavioural disorders. In this study of 68 four to eight year-olds with oppositional defiant disorder and 34 children without a diagnosis there was no evidence of differences between mothers of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) children and mothers of non-ODD children in their use of emotion descriptors and open-ended questions when discussing emotion events with their child. After controlling for child age, gender, expressive verbal abilities and number of conversational turns, the more the mothers used these devices the poorer child's ability to generate causes for emotions and the lower the child's emotion regulation ability. The association for child emotion regulation was moderated by child's diagnostic status with a notable relationship for ODD mother-child dyads but not for the other group. The implications of the findings for the conceptualisation of mother-child talk and its relationship to the development of emotion competencies in children with disruptive behavioural problems are discussed.

Small Talk: A Community Research Collaboration to Increase Parental Provision of Language to Children

Early language input contributes to children’s healthy brain development and sets the stage for life-long achievement and wellness. Parents vary in their ability to offer rich language support within the home environment due to social and contextual factors. There is a lack of research on the effectiveness of a universal prevention approach to equip all parents to provide an enriching home language environment. A team including university researchers, a public library, and a community non-profit agency worked together to test the effectiveness of a universal, community-based intervention to increase parents’ child-directed speech, back-and-forth interactions with their child, and knowledge of child development. Over a period of 2 years, three cohorts of parents and caregivers completed the program (n = 153). Using translational research principles, a pre/post longitudinal repeated measures data analytic strategy examined the growth in parent talk (total number of adult words and conversational turns directed to the child) and parent knowledge of child development. This objective quantitative language data was collected automatically, with innovative wearable technology that was a part of the intervention and data collection. In each of the cycles of the intervention, a significant increase in the amount of child-directed speech and in the number of conversational turns between the caregiver and child was demonstrated. In addition, parents significantly increased their knowledge of child development. Conclusion: Universal programs delivered in the community have potential to help parents provide the type of enriching language environments that lead to optimal brain development for young children.

A year in words: The dynamics and consequences of language experiences in an intervention classroom.

Children from low SES backgrounds hear, on average, fewer words at home than those from high SES backgrounds. This word gap is associated with widening achievement differences in children’s language abilities and school readiness. However relatively little is known about adult and child speech in childcare settings, in which approximately 30% of American children are enrolled. We examined the influence of teacher and peer language input on children’s in-class language use and language development in an intervention classroom for low-SES, high-risk 2- to 3-year-olds. Over the course of a year, day-long recordings of the classroom were collected weekly with LENA recorders. Using LENA software algorithms, we found that language input from peers was positively related to children’s in-class language use, both in-the-moment and over the course of each day, as were the number of conversational turns in which children and teachers engaged Both peer input and conversational turns with teachers were also positively related to children’s language development rates, as indexed by increases in vocabulary size. Together these results indicate the importance of child-specific rates of classroom language input in the language development of high-risk, preschoolers.

A comparison of visual scene and grid displays for people with chronic aphasia: a pilot study to improve communication using AAC

ABSTRACTBackground: People with aphasia are using technology-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices to support their communication. Typically, messages in AAC devices are organised using the following two interfaces: (a) grid displays that organise symbols into semantic categories (e.g., food) and (b) scene displays that organise photographs contextually. However, there is no published research comparing the influence of these displays across communicative outcome variables.Aims: The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of a grid display and a scene display across several communicative variables (e.g., conversational turns) during conversational interactions with a communication partner (CP). Additionally, we investigated generalisation to an untrained second conversation in one of the two participants.Methods & Procedures: Two experiments were conducted, and each included a different participant with chronic Broca’s aphasia. In Experiment 1, the participant watched an I Love Lucy episode and was trained to use the grid and scene displays for communicative purposes (e.g., formulating messages with the AAC device). After training, the participant engaged in conversations with a CP using either the grid display or the scene display. Experiment 2 followed the same procedures as Experiment 1; however, this participant watched a second I Love Lucy episode. She did not receive any grid display or scene display training for the second episode. The investigators examined (a) the total conversation time, (b) the number of conversational turns, instances of frustration, and navigational errors, (c) conceptual complexity of utterances, and (d) question response accuracy (measured as a percentage).Results: Descriptive analyses revealed that the participants’ communicative outcomes were superior in the scene display conditions. Specifically, a greater number of conversational turns were taken with fewer instances of frustration and navigational errors. The utterances in the scene display conditions were longer and more complex than utterances in the grid display conditions. Probe question response accuracy was greater in the scene display condition in comparison with grid display condition.Conclusion: The experiments represent a preliminary attempt to measure communicative competence in persons with aphasia (PWA) using different displays. The results suggest that scene displays facilitate a greater number of conversational turns for PWA than the grid displays. Additionally, utterance complexity was greater in the scene display condition. However, these results are limited to two individuals with aphasia, and systematic replication is warranted.

Speech perception and spoken word recognition in young children

Recent studies have found that expressive vocabulary size predicts spoken word recognition in young children. Children with larger vocabularies recognize even highly familiar words more efficiently than their peers with smaller vocabularies (Fernald et al., 2006). Furthermore, lexical processing efficiency at 18 months predicts future vocabulary size up to 8 years of age (Fernald et al., 2013; Marchman &amp; Fernald, 2008). However, these studies did not include any measures of speech/language development beyond vocabulary size. We discuss the results of several studies that included multiple measures of speech and language development as well as measures of the home linguistic environment (using LENA, Ford et al., 2008). One experimental task assessed children’s online responses to correct productions of familiar words, to mispronunciations of these words, and to nonwords using eye-tracking. We found that speech perception was a better predictor of lexical processing efficiency than expressive vocabulary size. Furthermore, the number of conversational turns between children and their caregivers also predicted how quickly children looked at unfamiliar objects when they heard nonwords. Implications of these results are discussed. [Research supported by NIDCD grant 02932.]

What Automated Vocal Analysis Reveals About the Vocal Production and Language Learning Environment of Young Children with Autism

The study compared the vocal production and language learning environments of 26 young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to 78 typically developing children using measures derived from automated vocal analysis. A digital language processor and audio-processing algorithms measured the amount of adult words to children and the amount of vocalizations they produced during 12-h recording periods in their natural environments. The results indicated significant differences between typically developing children and children with ASD in the characteristics of conversations, the number of conversational turns, and in child vocalizations that correlated with parent measures of various child characteristics. Automated measurement of the language learning environment of young children with ASD reveals important differences from the environments experienced by typically developing children.

Effect of Overheard Conversations on Bystander Productivity

Overheard cell phone conversations are often perceived as particularly annoying or disruptive. The effect on bystander productivity from overheard cell phone conversations for younger and older adults was investigated for two cognitive tasks, mental arithmetic and proofreading. Performance (accuracy and speeded response) was compared in the presence of overheard cell phone conversations, overheard face-to-face conversation, and in quiet. Subjective ratings of mental workload were also obtained in each condition. In general, overheard cell phone and face-to-face conversations had very similar detrimental effects on performance and were associated with greater ratings of frustration in the arithmetic task. When balanced for number of conversational turns and overall number of words, overheard cell phone conversations do not have a greater effect on bystander productivity than overheard face-to-face conversations.