Language Outcomes Research Articles

The real-time effects of parent speech on infants' multimodal attention and dyadic coordination.

Parental responsiveness to infant behaviors is a strong predictor of infants' language and cognitive outcomes. The mechanisms underlying this effect, however, are relatively unknown. We examined the effects of parent speech on infants' visual attention, manual actions, hand-eye coordination, and dyadic joint attention during parent-infant free play. We report on two studies that used head-mounted eye trackers in increasingly naturalistic laboratory environments. In Study 1, 12-to-24-month-old infants and their parents played on the floor of a seminaturalistic environment with 24 toys. In Study 2, a different sample of dyads played in a home-like laboratory with 10 toys and no restrictions on their movement. In both studies, we present evidence that responsive parent speech extends the duration of infants' multimodal attention. This social "boost" of parent speech impacts multiple behaviors that have been linked to later outcomes-visual attention, manual actions, hand-eye coordination, and joint attention. Further, the amount that parents talked during the interaction was negatively related to the effects of parent speech on infant attention. Together, these results provide evidence of a trade-off between quantity of speech and its effects, suggesting multiple pathways through which parents impact infants' multimodal attention to shape the moment-by-moment dynamics of an interaction.

Language Impairment in Autistic Adolescents and Young Adults.

Little is known about the specific nature of language abilities of autistic adolescents and young adults with language impairment (LI), limiting our knowledge of developmental trajectories and ability to develop efficacious speech/language supports. An important first step is establishing proof of concept of identification of LI in this population, with considerations for feasibility of assessment. This research note describes such a study in a sample of autistic adolescents and young adults with LI. Thirteen autistic adolescents and young adults completed an assessment protocol of age-referenced language and nonverbal cognitive assessments. Assessment took place once per year for 3 years; the first two assessments were conducted in person, and the final was conducted online due to the pandemic. All assessments included measures of overall language and morphosyntax; the third added measures of expressive and receptive vocabulary, verbal working memory, and nonverbal intelligence (NVIQ). Analysis included descriptives and comparison of individual performance with epidemiological criteria for LI. All participants qualified for LI, with overall receptive and expressive language scores persistently in the LI range. Other outcomes were variable. Some participants had nonword repetition and vocabulary abilities within age expectations, and some consistently showed adultlike morphosyntactic performance. NVIQ was variable, with no consistent associations with language outcomes. Our findings support the use of the current protocol, as implemented in person or online, to identify LI in autistic adolescents and young adults. This exploratory work is limited by a small sample and missing data. The findings contribute to our understanding of linguistic strengths and variability in the language skills of autistic young adults with LI.

P01.12.B Analysis of semi-spontaneous speech before, during and after awake craniotomy: a case study

Abstract Background The standard treatment for patients with eloquent gliomas is awake craniotomy (AC) with direct electrical stimulation, which results in a larger extent of resection while maintaining language function. Intraoperative language monitoring includes different standardized tasks and spontaneous speech elicitation. Despite careful monitoring, it was found that spontaneous speech deteriorated long-term after surgery. However, intraoperative spontaneous speech has not been investigated before. Detailed analyses may reveal possible predictors for language outcome. For the first time, we present a case study in which we investigate and quantify semi-spontaneous speech before, during and after AC. Material and Methods A left-handed 50-year old male with a glioblastoma (WHO grade 4) in the left parietal lobe underwent AC. Semi-spontaneous speech was collected (audio/video recording) using the Sabadel story retelling task at: 1 day before (T1), during (T2), 2 days (T3) and 2 months (T4) after surgery. Recordings were manually transcribed and language errors were quantified. A preliminary acoustic analysis with simple automatic peak detection was performed. Comparisons between test moments were made. Results Manual transcription showed 1) notable changes in the number of paraphasias (T1: 1% - T2: 1% - T3: 9% - T4: 5%), interjections (T1: 9% - T2: 9% - T3: 15% - T4: 10%), minimal utterances (T1: 4% - T2: 4% - T3: 6% - T4: 1%), false starts (T1: 3% - T2: 5% - T3: 6% - T4: 8%), self-corrections (T1: 3% - T2: 2% - T3: 4% - T4: 7%) and 2) small changes in repetitions (T1: 1% - T2: 0% - T3: 2% - T4: 3%), hesitations (T1: 1% - T2: 0% - T3: 2% - T4: 0%), incomplete sentences (T1: 1% - T2: 0% - T3: 0% - T4: 1%), grammatical errors (T1: 2% - T2: 1% - T3: 2% - T4: 2%). The total number of words (T1: 273 - T2: 283 - T3: 249 - T4: 287) and utterances (T1: 39 - T2: 41 - T3: 36 - T4: 34) varied slightly. Acoustic analysis showed a slight increase in word length during and directly after surgery but it recovered to preoperative level on the long-term (T1: .66 s - T2: .75 s - T3: .87 s - T4: .69 s). Conclusion The semi-spontaneous speech task in this case study was sensitive to capture changes in perioperative language status. Paraphasias, interjections, minimal utterances, hesitations and word length increased directly after surgery followed by a decrease 2 months later. This is a frequently reported pattern of transient language deficits. However, other errors (false starts, repetitions, self-corrections, incomplete sentences) increased at 2 months after surgery, indicating longer term language deficits. Future exploration of both the acoustic analysis, which shows potential for real-time feedback, and the manual transcriptions, could possibly lead to a better understanding of intra- and postoperative language performance as a prognostic factor for long-term language outcome, with possible implications for language therapy.

P01.13.A The effect of musicality on language recovery after awake glioma surgery

Abstract Background Awake craniotomy is used to resect tumor while preserving language. However, differences between patients in post-operative speech/language outcome are observed despite careful intra-operative monitoring. Literature describes improved performance in language tasks during cognitive tests in musicians. Moreover increased white matter connectivity properties in the corpus callosum are described in musicians compared to non-musicians. We hypothesize better recovery of language in musical patients after awake glioma surgery, caused by higher connectivity properties from the corpus callosum. Material and Methods Adult patients undergoing resection for glioma with an awake resection procedure at two neurosurgical centers were prospectively included. Patients without standardized language tests at pre- and post-operative level, with a glioblastoma multiforme (WHO grade 4) or undergoing re-resection were excluded. Language was assessed with the Diagnostic Instrument for Mild Aphasia (DIMA) and corrected for age and education years from a healthy population. The patients’ musical skill was assessed through questionnaires, and divided in groups based on the Musical Expertise Criterion (MEC) which defines musicality based the duration and intensity of musical training. Volumetric measures of the corpus callosum, corrected for total brain volumes, was calculated of each included patient based on the pre-operative structural MRI. Results Forty-six patients, enrolled between June 2015 and September 2019, were followed-up (mean/SD; 240/174 days after craniotomy) and divided in: non-musician (41.3%, n = 19), amateur-musician (34.8%, n=16) and trained-musician (23.9%, n = 11). Overall a decrease in language was observed after craniotomy (mean/SD) of -0.361/0.771. Musical abilities correlated with less decrease in language (mean/SD) when comparing non-musicians (-0.543/0.683) to amateur (-0.272/0.910) and trained (-0.176/0.693) musicians. An increased but non-significant trend (p=0.28) between musicality and corpus callosum / brain ratio (mean/SD) was observed in non-musicians (0.763, 0.718;0.808), amateur musicians (0.792, 0.745;0.838) and trained musicians (0.835, 0.778;0.891). Conclusion Musicality seemed to improve language outcome after awake glioma surgery, possibly attributed due to a higher white matter connectivity in the corpus callosum. Future studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm our findings.

Complex speech-language therapy interventions for stroke-related aphasia: the RELEASE study incorporating a systematic review and individual participant data network meta-analysis

Complex speech-language therapy interventions for stroke-related aphasia: the RELEASE study incorporating a systematic review and individual participant data network meta-analysis

Specific parenting behaviors link maternal education to toddlers' language and social competence.

Maternal sensitive parenting behavior has been shown to account, at least partially, for the relation between family background and children's language and behavioral outcomes. Yet, as previous studies often used a rather global or domain-general measure of maternal sensitivity, it remains an open question whether different domains of child development are influenced by the different facets of maternal sensitivity. Thus, this study investigated whether specific parenting behaviors differentially mediated the association between maternal education and children's language and social competence. Drawing on 2,478 mother-child dyads from the German National Educational Panel Study, we distinguished mothers' sensitive parenting behavior as cognitive-verbally stimulating and socioemotionally supportive parenting behaviors. These two observed specific parenting behaviors at 26 months were modeled as separate pathways linking maternal education and children's language outcomes at 26 months as well as children's social competence at 38 months. All analyses controlled for family net income, single parenthood, migration background, mother's depressive feelings, and child's negative affectivity. The results indicated that the mother's cognitive-verbally stimulating parenting behavior was specifically related to the children's language skills, whereas mother's socioemotionally supportive parenting behavior specifically predicted children's later social competence. Furthermore, these two separable parenting behaviors differentially mediated the association between maternal education and toddler's language and social competence. Most notably, children's language additionally mediated the relation between maternal education and children's social competence. The findings suggest that domain-specific intervention programs have the potential to promote early language and social development efficiently. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Cross-Modal Reorganization From Both Visual and Somatosensory Modalities in Cochlear Implanted Children and Its Relationship to Speech Perception.

We hypothesized that children with cochlear implants (CIs) who demonstrate cross-modal reorganization by vision also demonstrate cross-modal reorganization by somatosensation and that these processes are interrelated and impact speech perception. Cross-modal reorganization, which occurs when a deprived sensory modality's cortical resources are recruited by other intact modalities, has been proposed as a source of variability underlying speech perception in deaf children with CIs. Visual and somatosensory cross-modal reorganization of auditory cortex have been documented separately in CI children, but reorganization in these modalities has not been documented within the same subjects. Our goal was to examine the relationship between cross-modal reorganization from both visual and somatosensory modalities within a single group of CI children. We analyzed high-density electroencephalogram responses to visual and somatosensory stimuli and current density reconstruction of brain activity sources. Speech perception in noise testing was performed. Current density reconstruction patterns were analyzed within the entire subject group and across groups of CI children exhibiting good versus poor speech perception. Positive correlations between visual and somatosensory cross-modal reorganization suggested that neuroplasticity in different sensory systems may be interrelated. Furthermore, CI children with good speech perception did not show recruitment of frontal or auditory cortices during visual processing, unlike CI children with poor speech perception. Our results reflect changes in cortical resource allocation in pediatric CI users. Cross-modal recruitment of auditory and frontal cortices by vision, and cross-modal reorganization of auditory cortex by somatosensation, may underlie variability in speech and language outcomes in CI children.

Family language patterns in bilingual families and relationships with children’s language outcomes

AbstractPast research shows that family language patterns (i.e., which languages are spoken in the family and by whom) are associated with bilingual children’s language use. However, it is unclear how input properties such as input quantity, parental proficiency, and language mixing may differ across family language patterns. It is also unclear whether the effects of family language patterns on children’s language proficiency remain when differences in input properties are controlled. We investigated (i) which family language patterns occurred in bilingual families in the Netherlands (n = 136), (ii) whether input properties differed across patterns, and (iii) how patterns related to children’s proficiency, once input properties were controlled. Home language situations were assessed through a questionnaire, children’s proficiency in Dutch and the minority language through vocabulary tests and parent ratings. Three language patterns were found: one-parent-one-language, both parents mixed languages or used the minority language. The results showed differences in input properties across all patterns, as well as effects of these patterns on children’s proficiency in Dutch and the minority language that disappeared once input properties were controlled. These findings do not provide robust evidence that family language patterns predict children’s proficiency, but rather, that input quantity is crucial.

Brain age predicts long-term recovery in post-stroke aphasia.

The association between age and language recovery in stroke remains unclear. Here, we used neuroimaging data to estimate brain age, a measure of structural integrity, and examined the extent to which brain age at stroke onset is associated with (i) cross-sectional language performance, and (ii) longitudinal recovery of language function, beyond chronological age alone. A total of 49 participants (age: 65.2 ± 12.2 years, 25 female) underwent routine clinical neuroimaging (T1) and a bedside evaluation of language performance (Bedside Evaluation Screening Test-2) at onset of left hemisphere stroke. Brain age was estimated from enantiomorphically reconstructed brain scans using a machine learning algorithm trained on a large sample of healthy adults. A subsample of 30 participants returned for follow-up language assessments at least 2 years after stroke onset. To account for variability in age at stroke, we calculated proportional brain age difference, i.e. the proportional difference between brain age and chronological age. Multiple regression models were constructed to test the effects of proportional brain age difference on language outcomes. Lesion volume and chronological age were included as covariates in all models. Accelerated brain age compared with age was associated with worse overall aphasia severity (F(1, 48) = 5.65, P = 0.022), naming (F(1, 48) = 5.13, P = 0.028), and speech repetition (F(1, 48) = 8.49, P = 0.006) at stroke onset. Follow-up assessments were carried out ≥2 years after onset; decelerated brain age relative to age was significantly associated with reduced overall aphasia severity (F(1, 26) = 5.45, P = 0.028) and marginally failed to reach statistical significance for auditory comprehension (F(1, 26) = 2.87, P = 0.103). Proportional brain age difference was not found to be associated with changes in naming (F(1, 26) = 0.23, P = 0.880) and speech repetition (F(1, 26) = 0.00, P = 0.978). Chronological age was only associated with naming performance at stroke onset (F(1, 48) = 4.18, P = 0.047). These results indicate that brain age as estimated based on routine clinical brain scans may be a strong biomarker for language function and recovery after stroke.

Value added: Digital modeling of dialogic questioning promotes positive parenting during shared reading.

American parents describe bonding with their child as a primary reason for engaging in shared picture book reading. One prominent reading intervention (dialogic reading) reliably increases language outcomes, but until recently, has not been evaluated for how well it promotes warm parent-child interactions. In this study, a digital application designed to promote parent-child conversation by modeling dialogic questioning also increased mutuality, positivity, and on-task behaviors. Three- and 4-year-old American children (n = 73) and their parents were randomly assigned to read 10 times at home either: (a) an eBook with a character who modeled dialogic questioning (experimental); (b) a version of the same eBook without modeling (control); or (c) to choose between versions for each reading (choice). An adaption of the PARCHISY coding scheme was used to evaluate parent, child, and dyadic behaviors during in-lab readings at the beginning and end of the 2-week home reading period. At the final visit, experimental group families showed significant growth in mutuality (i.e., responsiveness, reciprocity, and cooperation), on-task behaviors, and parent and child positivity, and displayed more of these behaviors than families not exposed to modeling. Some increases in mutuality and positivity also emerged in families in the choice condition, but fewer than in families who only read the eBook with modeling. Parents and children exhibited no significant changes in negativity in any condition. This study suggests that carefully designed digital technology has the potential to foster positive shared reading interactions between parents and young children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing Shared Reading in Families at Risk: Does Quantity Predict Quality?

Quantity and quality of early at-home reading shape literacy outcomes. At-home reading frequency is a common outcome measure in interventions. This single measure may not fully capture the quality of early reading interactions, such as parent and child references to print, an important contributor to language and literacy outcomes. This study aims to evaluate if and how reported reading frequency and duration are associated with parent and child print referencing, controlling for perceived parenting self-efficacy, developmental knowledge, and child sex. This study is a secondary analysis of baseline data from a treatment study with parents (N = 30) and children (1;1-2;3 [years;months]) from underresourced households. Parents reported weekly reading episode frequency and duration (in minutes). We coded parent-child book-sharing interactions to quantify use of print references. Negative binomial regression modeling suggested that parents who reported more weekly reading episodes tended to use more print references during interactions. However, reported reading time in minutes was not significantly associated with parents' print referencing. Parents' print references were also associated with perceived self-efficacy, developmental knowledge, and child sex. In our sample, parents used more print references with male children. Neither reading frequency nor reading time was associated with increased print referencing from children. Duration of reading did not positively predict children's use of print references. However, weekly reading frequency positively predicted parents' use of print references. Parent perceived self-efficacy and knowledge may predict early interaction quality similarly to quantity of reading. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.20669094.

THE NECESSITY OF FOSTERING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF ONLINE LEARNING

The article analyzes the online and offline education of students of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Languages of the National University of Ostroh Academy during the Covid-19 pandemic and Russian military aggression against Ukraine through the prism of the development of emotional intelligence. The article provides an analysis of the influence of the emotional state, and feelings of the participants in the education process on the perception of the material, learning a foreign language and learning outcomes. The paper emphasizes that in the process of language learning, thinking and reproduction of the learned material are as important as the conditions of learning material that involve taking into account the feelings and emotions of students. In addition, the authors point out that since emotions and thinking are interdependent, teachers of foreign languages can get better results when they pay attention to the peculiarities of the development of students’ emotional intelligence during the formation of their reading, listening, and writing and speaking skills. The influence of the development of emotional intelligence on the process of learning a foreign language has become of particular importance in connection with the mass transfer to online education, which was caused by the Covide-19 quarantine back in 2020 and intensified with the start of the war of Russia against Ukraine. Moreover, online learning in institutions of higher education during this period has changed not only in terms of methods and approaches to teaching a foreign language but also prompted teachers to take the emotional state of students into account more seriously. Positive learning outcomes are often directly related to the general emotional states of students, which depends on factors such as recognition of their achievements, encouragement, motivation and engagement in learning. This article presents the results of a survey on motivation to learn and the general mood of students during online and offline learning. The survey was conducted among first-year and fourth-year students of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Languages of the National University of Ostroh Academy. The survey showed that students are more motivated to learn when they learn offline. So, there is an urgent need to study the impact of students’ emotional intelligence on the process of teaching a foreign language.

Younger Age at Cochlear Implant Activation Results in Improved Auditory Skill Development for Children With Congenital Deafness.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration indications for cochlear implantation in children is currently 9 months of age and older for children with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Studies have shown that earlier activation of a cochlear implant (CI) can lead to better spoken language outcomes. As auditory skills are a precursor to the development of spoken language, this study was developed to investigate the influence of age at CI activation on auditory skill acquisition in young children. A secondary aim was to describe the auditory skills of children implanted prior to 9 months of age as compared to children with older ages of activation. Functional Listening Index (FLI) scores obtained during routine clinical visits were reviewed for 78 pediatric CI recipients with congenital bilateral profound hearing loss who were activated before 2 years of age. A linear mixed-effects model assessed the effect of age at CI activation on cumulative FLI scores over time. There was a significant interaction between age at activation and chronological age at the time of evaluation, indicating that children with earlier access to sound achieved a greater number of auditory skills than those with later CI activations when measured at the same chronological age. Children activated before the age of 9 months approximated scores expected of children with typical hearing, whereas children activated between 9 and 24 months of age did not. Younger age at CI activation is associated with increased auditory skills over time. Children who undergo cochlear implantation and CI activation before 9 months achieve more auditory skills by 4 years of age than children who are activated at later ages. These data suggest that reducing the approved age at cochlear implantation for children with congenital bilateral profound SNHL may support optimal auditory skill acquisition.

The Utilities of Online Formative Assessment in Indonesian EFL Learning Contexts during Covid-19 Era

Amid COVID-19 pandemic, online formative assessment has grown in English Language Teaching. Previous researchers strongly contended that the accurate usage of online formative assessment could remarkably substantiate EFL learners’ target language learning motivation, achievements, and outcomes. This present qualitative study was conducted in support of a document analysis approach to generate varied insightful perspectives for Indonesian EFL teachers and learners to begin valuing the potential rewarding merits as a result of online formative assessment implementations in distant learning situations. Twenty relevant online formative assessment studies from 2020 until 2022 year were selectively chosen to produce more up-to-date and rewarding research findings worth applicable in nowadays Indonesian EFL teaching-learning enterprises. Based on the in-depth document analysis, two major pivotal research results strongly encouraged Indonesian EFL teachers to make use of online formative assessment in daily-based online learning activities namely: (1) online formative assessment progressively promotes holistic second language learning rewards for learners and (2) online formative assessment fully creates a more convenient EFL teaching-learning atmosphere for learners. These above-depicted research results opened a broader perspective for future researchers to replicate this research theme in the light of potential online formative assessment shortcomings and a greater number of relevant investigation sources.

Interactive Effects of Temperament and Family-Related Environmental Confusion on Spoken Language in Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of caregivers' reports of family-related environmental confusion-which refers to the level of overstimulation in the family home environment due to auditory and nonauditory (i.e., visual and cognitive) noise-on the relation between child temperament and spoken language outcomes in children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) in comparison to age-matched children with typical hearing (TH). Two groups of families with children between 3 and 7 years of age (TH = 59, DHH = 58) were sequentially recruited from a larger longitudinal study on developmental outcomes in children who are DHH. Caregivers (all TH) completed questionnaires measuring three dimensions of child temperament (i.e., effortful control, negative affectivity, and surgency-extraversion) and family-related environmental confusion. A norm-referenced language measure was administered to children. Testing took place within the families' homes. For children who are DHH, effortful control was positively related to spoken language outcomes, but only when levels of family-related environmental confusion were low to moderate. Family-related environmental confusion did not interact with temperament to influence spoken language in children with TH. Homes with low-to-moderate levels of environmental confusion provide an environment that supports DHH children with better effortful control to harness their self-regulatory skills to achieve better spoken language comprehension than those with lower levels of effortful control. These findings suggest that efforts to minimize chaos and auditory noise in the home create an environment in which DHH children can utilize their self-regulatory skills to achieve optimal spoken language outcomes.

Changes in selective attention to articulating mouth across infancy: Sex differences and associations with language outcomes.

Infants' attention to the mouth is thought to support language acquisition, yet this relation has been scantly tested longitudinally. This study assessed attention to the mouth and the eyes at 5.5 (n=91; Polish, 49% females) and 11months, between time-point changes and their associations with language development in infancy (11months) and toddlerhood (24months). Sex differences were also explored. Results showed an age-related increase in looking to the mouth, and the magnitude of this change was associated with productive language, but only in toddlerhood. By contrast, looking to the eyes did not change and its duration at 5.5months correlated with language development at 2years. Exploratory analyses showed that in females but not males, reduced mouth-looking was related to better language outcomes in toddlerhood. Thus, looking to the mouth in infancy likely plays a long-term role in language acquisition and is potentially modulated by participant sex.

Unequal home literacy environments between preschool-age boys and girls predict unequal language and preliteracy outcomes

A favorable home literacy environment for preschool-aged children is related to higher language and preliteracy skills, which, in turn, predict later literacy skills and broader life outcomes. The quality of the home literacy environment is associated with socioeconomic indicators, but some previous research has indicated that also gender differences—favoring girls—exist in children's home literacy environments. The purpose of the present study was to examine gender differences on a range of aspects of home literacy environments provided to 8469 preschool-aged children in Denmark and to determine whether gender differences in home literacy environments mediate relations of gender to language and preliteracy outcomes. Home literacy environment data came from parent-completed questionnaires; child outcome data were obtained using a standardized assessment instrument. The results showed that the home literacy environment provided to boys is poorer on average than that provided to girls. Path models showed that the quality of the home literacy environment significantly mediated the relation of gender to language and preliteracy outcomes, but gender was still significantly directly related to outcomes. Moreover, relations of maternal education and language minority background to language and preliteracy outcomes were mediated by the quality of the home literacy environment. The results suggest that family and healthcare professionals should emphasize to parents the importance of a stimulating home literacy environment for boys and girls alike.

Effectiveness of cloud-based rehabilitation in children with developmental language disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic: A prospective cohort study.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, we considered the case of a child with developmental language disorder (DLD) who could not go to the hospital on time to receive timely rehabilitation treatment due to disrupted hospital operations. The application of cloud-based rehabilitation platforms has provided significant advantages and convenience for children with DLD in-home remote rehabilitation. Among them, the JingYun Rehab Cloud Platform is the most widely used in mainland China. It is an interactive telerehabilitation system developed by Weixin Huang that delivers personalized home rehabilitation for special education children. In this study, we used the JingYun Rehab Cloud Platform to investigate the extent to which cloud-based rehabilitation is effective for children with DLD in terms of language and cognitive outcomes. This was a prospective cohort study including all children who were evaluated and diagnosed with DLD through Sign-Significant Relations and were followed up at the rehabilitation clinic of our institute. We followed 162 children with DLD for 3 months, including 84 children with DLD who participated in remote cloud-based rehabilitation on the JingYun Rehab Cloud Platform and 78 children with DLD as the control group who underwent home-based rehabilitation. Language abilities of both groups were assessed using the Chinese version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. Several measures of training performance (language, memory, and cognition tasks) were assessed before and after cloud-based rehabilitation in the remote cloud-based rehabilitation group. Children with DLD in the cloud-based rehabilitation group performed significantly better in language abilities, as assessed by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, than children with DLD in the control group. Furthermore, for children who participated in remote cloud-based rehabilitation, the frequency of training sessions was proportional to their performance on language, memory, and cognition tasks. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of cloud-based rehabilitation on the JingYun Rehab Cloud Platform in treating children with DLD.

Timing of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with speech and language therapy (SLT) for aphasia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundStudies suggest that language recovery in aphasia may be improved by pairing speech-language therapy with transcranial direct current stimulation. However, results from many studies have been inconclusive regarding the impact transcranial direct current stimulation may have on language recovery in individuals with aphasia. An important factor that may impact the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation is its timing relative to speech-language therapy. Namely, online transcranial direct current stimulation (paired with speech-language therapy) and offline transcranial direct current stimulation (prior to or following speech-language therapy) may have differential effects on language recovery in post-stroke aphasia. Transcranial direct current stimulation provided immediately before speech-language therapy may prime the language system whereas stimulation provided immediately after speech-language therapy may aid in memory consolidation. The main aim of this study is to investigate the differential effects of offline and online transcranial direct stimulation on language recovery (i.e., conversation) in post-stroke aphasia.Methods/designThe study is a randomized, parallel-assignment, double-blind treatment study. Participants will be randomized to one of four treatment conditions and will participate in 15 treatment sessions. All groups receive speech-language therapy in the form of computer-based script practice. Three groups will receive transcranial direct current stimulation: prior to speech-language therapy, concurrent with speech-language therapy, or following speech-language therapy. One group will receive sham stimulation (speech-language therapy only). We aim to include 12 participants per group (48 total). We will use fMRI-guided neuronavigation to determine placement of transcranial direct stimulation electrodes on participants’ left angular gyrus. Participants will be assessed blindly at baseline, immediately post-treatment, and at 4 weeks and 8 weeks following treatment. The primary outcome measure is change in the rate and accuracy of the trained conversation script from baseline to post-treatment.DiscussionResults from this study will aid in determining the optimum timing to combine transcranial direct current stimulation with speech-language therapy to facilitate better language outcomes for individuals with aphasia. In addition, effect sizes derived from this study may also inform larger clinical trials investigating the impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on functional communication in individuals with aphasia.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03773406. December 12, 2018.

Parental Imitations and Expansions of Child Language Predict Later Language Outcomes of Autistic Preschoolers.

Both the amount and responsiveness of adult language input contribute to the language development of autistic and non-autistic children. From parent–child interaction footage, we measured the amount of adult language input, overall parent responsiveness, and six discrete parent responsive behaviours (imitations, expansions, open-ended questions, yes/no questions, comments and acknowledgements) to explore which types of responsiveness predicted autistic preschoolers’ language five months later, after controlling for adult language input. We found expansions and particularly imitations to be more important for later language than overall responsiveness. This study emphasises the need to capture what exactly about parent language input influences child language acquisition, and adds to the evidence that imitating and expanding early language might be particularly beneficial for autistic preschoolers.