Test For Reception Of Grammar Research Articles

Clinical and neuroimaging investigations of language disturbance in frontotemporal dementia-motor neuron disease patients.

This study systematically investigated the neuropsychological profile of language disturbance in frontotemporal dementia-motor neuron disease (FTD-MND) using a data-driven approach. Neuroanatomical correlates of language profiles were also examined. Patients with FTD-MND (N = 26), pure motor neuron disease (N = 34), progressive non-fluent aphasia (N = 30), semantic dementia (N = 17), and controls (N = 31) underwent comprehensive language assessments. Clinical assessments were complemented with the Sydney Language Battery (SYDBAT), to assess semantic abilities, and the Test for Reception of Grammar (TROG), to assess syntactic comprehension. Two-step cluster analysis examined patterns of language impairment in FTD-MND and voxel-based morphometry investigated neuroanatomical differences between clusters. Almost all (88.5%) FTD-MND patients had language impairment, with anomia in 73.1% and impaired sentence comprehension in 56%. Cluster analysis revealed two main profiles of language impairment in FTD-MND; a mild mixed semantic and syntactic impairment (mild mixed subgroup) seen in 12 cases and a subgroup with more marked impairment particularly of syntactic comprehension (PNFA-like subgroup) seen in 7 cases. VBM revealed disproportionate atrophy of the caudate head and putamen bilaterally in the PNFA-like subgroup. In conclusion, language disturbances in FTD-MND are heterogeneous and more mixed than seen in FTD language phenotypes. Atrophy of the caudate and putamen was correlated with disproportionate impairment of syntactic comprehension. A pure semantic dementia like syndrome appears to be rare in FTD-MND.

Pre-reading language understanding and production in Croatian children with autism spectrum disorder

Language comprehension and production in the pre-reading years significantly influence the acquisition of reading skills. This study compared differences in pre-reading skills between 10 children showing typical development and 10 children with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger syndrome speaking Croatian, a morphologically rich language for which few studies on acquisition of pre-reading skills have been conducted. Children 5-7 years old were tested using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III-HR), Test for Reception of Grammar (TROG-2:HR), and the Teddy Test for Expression of Semantic Bonds and Morphological Closure. The two groups performed similarly on the PPVT-III-HR and TROG-2:HR tests, while typically developing children performed significantly better on the Teddy Test. This differential performance appears to be due, at least in part, to defects in expression of semantic connections, grammar difficulties, and other linguistic specificities documented in children with HFA or Asperger syndrome, such as idiosyncratic language use, neologisms and meticulous language.

An Item Analysis of the French Version of the Test for Reception of Grammar Among Children and Adolescents With Down Syndrome or Intellectual Disability of Undifferentiated Etiology.

An item analysis of Bishop's (1983) Test for Reception of Grammar (TROG) in its French version (F-TROG; Lecocq, 1996) was conducted to determine whether the difficulty of items is similar for participants with or without intellectual disability (ID). In Study 1, responses to the 92 F-TROG items by 55 participants with Down syndrome (DS), 55 with ID of undifferentiated etiology (UND), and 55 typical children (TYP) matched on their F-TROG total score were compared using the transformed item difficulties method, a statistical approach designed to detect differential item functioning (DIF) between groups. In Study 2, an additional comparison involving 526 TYP participants and 526 participants with UND was conducted to increase the statistical power of the analysis. The difficulty of items was highly similar whatever the sample size or clinical status of participants. Fewer than 3.5% of the items were flagged as showing DIF. Tests such as the TROG can be used with confidence in clinical practice as well as in research studies comparing participants with or without ID. Methods designed for investigating potential internal test bias-such as done here-should be more regularly employed in the developmental disability field to affirm the absence of DIF.

Syntactic, semantic and pragmatic correlates of the acquisition of exhaustivity in Wh-questions: A study of Polish monolingual children

ABSTRACTThis study investigates relationships between acquisition of exhaustivity in single and multiple wh-questions, mastery of semantic and pragmatic aspects of quantifier comprehension, and general skills in receptive grammar. The participants of the study were 25 Polish monolingual typically developing children aged 4;02–6;02, who were administered a set of tasks including the Exhaustive Wh-Questions Task, the Test for Reception of Grammar, version 2, and the Comprehension of Quantification Task. The selection of the tasks was motivated by the major linguistic accounts of exhaustivity. We found significant predictive relationships between single exhaustive wh-questions and both semantics of quantifiers and receptive grammar. In contrast, the scores in multiple wh-questions were predicted only by age, showing their delayed acquisition with respect to single wh-questions. However, this age-related difference was not accounted for by any of the linguistic variables tested. Crucially, the analyses revealed no relationships between the mastery of pragmatics of quantification (involving scalar implicature) and exhaustivity in wh-questions, suggesting that the two are not driven by a common pragmatic mechanism.

Syntactic comprehension deficits across the FTD-ALS continuum

To establish the frequency, severity, relationship to bulbar symptoms, and neural correlates of syntactic comprehension deficits across the frontotemporal dementia–amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD-ALS) disease spectrum. In total, 85 participants were included in the study; 20 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), 15 FTD-ALS, 27 progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA), and 23 controls. Syntactic comprehension was evaluated in ALS, FTD-ALS, PNFA, and controls using the Test for Reception of Grammar. Voxel-based morphometry examined neuroanatomical correlates of performance. Syntactic comprehension deficits were detected in 25% of ALS (p = 0.011), 92.9% of FTD-ALS (p < 0.001), and 81.5% of PNFA (p < 0.001) patients. FTD-ALS was disproportionately impaired compared to PNFA. Impaired Test for Reception of Grammar performance was frequent in ALS with early bulbar involvement but did not correlate with bulbar impairment overall. Left peri-insular atrophy correlated with syntactic comprehension deficits. Syntactic comprehension deficits are frequent in FTD-ALS, more severe than in PNFA, and related to left peri-insular atrophy. A significant minority of ALS patients are impaired, but the relationship between bulbar symptoms and syntactic impairment is not understood.

Children's Subjective Ratings and Opinions of Typical and Dysphonic Voice After Performing a Language Comprehension Task in Background Noise

Previous studies suggest that dysphonic voices are perceived more negatively than typical voices, and it is possible that vocal perception influences academic achievement and comprehension. This study assessed children's subjective ratings and opinions of a typical and dysphonic voice after performing a language comprehension task in background noise. It also explored if subjective ratings were related to performance in the comprehension task. Ninety-three 8-year-old children participated and were randomly allocated to two groups. A digital version of the Test for Reception of Grammar, version 2 (TROG-2) was used. In TROG-2, the child listens to a sentence and then, out of four possible pictures, selects the picture that corresponds to the sentence content. Each sentence assesses a specific grammatical construction. Test instructions were recorded using one speaker with two different voice qualities (typical voice and provoked dysphonic voice). One group of children performed TROG-2 with the typical voice and the other with the dysphonic voice, both presented in a multitalker babble noise using earphones. All children rated their subjective perception of the voice. The dysphonic voice received poorer ratings than the typical voice. Children making more positive ratings of the voice performed better on earlier blocks in TROG-2, but only in the typical voice group. Children perceived the dysphonic voice more negatively even when listening to the same speaker. Performance is related to the perception of the voice, but only when the perceptual load of the task-relevant stimuli is sufficiently low.

Does the speaker's voice quality influence children's performance on a language comprehension test?

Purpose. A small number of studies have explored children's perception of speakers’ voice quality and its possible influence on language comprehension. The aim of this explorative study was to investigate the relationship between the examiner's voice quality, the child's performance on a digital version of a language comprehension test, the Test for Reception of Grammar (TROG-2), and two measures of cognitive functioning.Method. The participants were (n = 86) mainstreamed 8-year old children with typical language development. Two groups of children (n = 41/45) were presented with the TROG-2 through recordings of one female speaker: one group was presented with a typical voice and the other with a simulated dysphonic voice.Result. Significant associations were found between executive functioning and language comprehension. The results also showed that children listening to the dysphonic voice achieved significantly lower scores for more difficult sentences (“the man but not the horse jumps”) and used more self-corrections on simpler sentences (“the girl is sitting”).Conclusion. Findings suggest that a dysphonic speaker's voice may force the child to allocate capacity to the processing of the voice signal at the expense of comprehension. The findings have implications for clinical and research settings where standardized language tests are used.

Effects of verbal ability and fluid intelligence on children's emotion understanding

This study investigated the role of verbal ability and fluid intelligence on children's emotion understanding, testing the hypothesis that fluid intelligence predicts the development of emotion comprehension over and above age and verbal ability. One hundred and two children (48 girls) aged 3.6-6 years completed the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) that comprised external and mental components, the Coloured Progressive Matrices and the Test for Reception of Grammar. Regression analysis showed that fluid intelligence was not equally related to the external and mental components of the TEC (Pons & Harris, 2000). Specifically, the results indicated that the external component was related to age and verbal ability only, whereas recognition of mental emotional patterns required abstract reasoning skills more than age and verbal ability. It is concluded that the development of fluid intelligence has a significant role in the development of mental component of emotion comprehension.

The slower the better? Does the speaker's speech rate influence children's performance on a language comprehension test?

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of speech rate on children's performance on a widely used language comprehension test, the Test for Reception of Grammar, version 2 (TROG'2), and to explore how test performance interacts with task difficulty and with the child's working memory capacity. Participants were 102 typically-developing Swedish-speaking children randomly assigned to one of the three conditions; the TROG'2 sentences spoken by a speech-language pathologist with slow, normal or fast speech rate. Results showed that the fast speech rate had a negative effect on the TROG'2 scores and that slow rate was more beneficial in general. However, for more difficult tasks the beneficial effect of slow speech was only pronounced for children with better scores on a working memory task. The interpretation is that slow speech is particularly helpful when children do not yet fully master a task but are just about to grasp it. These results emphasize the necessity of careful considerations of the role dynamic aspects of examiner's speech might play in test administration and favour digitalized procedures in standardized language comprehension assessment.

Language Comprehension Profiles of Young Adolescents With Fragile X Syndrome

In this study, the authors sought to characterize the language phenotype of fragile X syndrome (FXS), focusing on the extent of impairment in receptive syntax, within-syndrome variability in those impairments in relation to gender, and the syndrome specificity of those impairments. The Test for Reception of Grammar, Version 2 ( Bishop, 2003), was used to examine the overall receptive syntactic skills of adolescents with FXS ( n = 35; 30 males, 5 females), adolescents with Down syndrome (DS; n = 28; 18 males, 10 females), and younger typically developing (TD) children ( n = 23; 14 males, 9 females) matched on nonverbal cognition. Performance on specific grammatical constructions and error types was examined for a subset of matched participants. Participants with FXS had overall receptive syntax scores that were lower than those of the TD participants but higher than those of the participants with DS; however, there was no difference in performance between the FXS and DS groups when females were excluded. Grammatical constructions that were especially difficult for participants with FXS and those with DS were identified, especially relative clause constructions and reversible constructions requiring attention to word order encoded by syntactic features. The current findings have implications for understanding the nature of the language learning difficulties of individuals with FXS and for language interventions.

Associations Between Key Language-Related Measures in Typically Developing School-Age Children

Associations Between Key Language-Related Measures in Typically Developing School-Age Children

Language and communication difficulties in juvenile offenders

Studies of the prison population suggest that the numbers of prisoners with language and communication disorders is higher than that of the overall population. However, the prison population is heterogeneous and it is important to focus on specific areas of the population. This study focuses on juvenile offenders. The study aimed to screen language and communication skills in half the population of an establishment for juvenile offenders aged 15-17 years. A total of 58 participants were selected at random and screened on the oral subtests of the Test of Adolescent and Adult Language, 3rd Edn (TOAL-3), the British Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS-II) and the Test for Reception of Grammar: Version 2 (TROG-2). Literacy and numeracy information was also obtained. The mean age of the group was 17 years; 19 were looked-after children; and 90% had ceased to attend school before age 16. On the TOAL-3 subtests, 66-90% of juvenile offenders in the sample had below average language skills, with 46-67% of these being in the poor or very poor group. None of the participants reached their age equivalence on the BPVS, but most of them reached the 12-year and above threshold on the TROG. A total of 62% of the sample had not achieved Level 1 in literacy. The findings suggest that these young people may not have the necessary skills to cope with verbally mediated interventions aimed at reducing re-offending. The results suggest that speech and language therapy assessment should be available to juvenile offenders with speech and language therapy intervention available to those found to have language and communication difficulties. There are also implications for speech and language therapy provision to young people who are not engaged within the education system. The TOAL-3 appears to be a useful screening instrument for this population, but a number of issues around the suitability of assessments for this population are discussed.

Speech and language development in a population of Swedish hearing-impaired pre-school children, a cross-sectional study

There is little information on speech and language development in pre-school children with mild, moderate or severe hearing impairment. The primary aim of the study is to establish a reference material for clinical use covering various aspects of speech and language functions and to relate test values to pure tone audiograms and parents' judgement of their children's hearing and language abilities. Nine speech and language tests were applied or modified, both classical tests and newly developed tests. Ninety-seven children with normal hearing and 156 with hearing impairment were tested. Hearing was 80 dB HL PTA or better in the best ear. Swedish was their strongest language. None had any additional diagnosed major handicaps. The children were 4-6 years of age. The material was divided into 10 categories of hearing impairment, 5 conductive and 5 sensorineural: unilateral; bilateral 0-20; 21-40; 41-60; 61-80 dB HL PTA. The tests, selected on the basis of a three component language model, are phoneme discrimination; rhyme matching; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III, word perception); Test for Reception of Grammar (TROG, grammar perception); prosodic phrase focus; rhyme construction; Word Finding Vocabulary Test (word production); Action Picture Test (grammar production); oral motor test. Only categories with sensorineural loss showed significant differences from normal. Word production showed the most marked delay for 21-40 dB HL: 5 and 6 years p<0.01; for 41-60 dB: 4 years p<0.01 and 6 years p<0.01 and 61-80 dB: 5 years p<0.05. Phoneme discrimination 21-40 dB HL: 6 years p<0.05; 41-60 dB: 4 years p<0.01; 61-80 dB: 4 years p<0.001, 5 years p<0.001. Rhyme matching: no significant difference as compared to normal data. Word perception: sensorineural 41-60 dB HL: 6 years p<0.05; 61-80 dB: 4 years p<0.05; 5 years p<0.01. Grammar perception: sensorineural 41-60 dB HL: 6 years p<0.05; 61-80 dB: 5 years p<0.05. Prosodic phrase focus: 41-60 dB HL: 5 years p<0.01. Rhyme construction: 41-60 dB HL: 4 years p<0.05. Grammar production: 61-80 dB HL: 5 years p<0.01. Oral motor function: no differences. The Word production test showed a 1.5-2 years delay for sensorineural impairment 41-80 dB HL through 4-6 years of age. There were no differences between hearing-impaired boys and girls. Extended data for the screening test [E. Borg, A. Risberg, B. McAllister, B.M. Undemar, G. Edquist, A.C. Reinholdsson, et al., Language development in hearing-impaired children. Establishment of a reference material for a "Language test for hearing-impaired children", Int. J. Pediatr. Otorhinolaryngol. 65 (2002) 15-26] are presented. Reference values for expected speech and language development are presented that cover nearly 60% of the studied population. The effect of the peripheral hearing impairment is compensated for in many children with hearing impairment up to 60 dB HL. Above that degree of impairment, language delay is more pronounced, probably due to a loss of acuity. The importance of central cognitive functions, speech reading and signing for compensation of peripheral limitations is pointed out.

Anwendung des „Sprachverständnistests für komplexe syntaktische Strukturen (nach D.V. Bishop)“ bei 6- bis 8-jährigen Grundschülern

Standardized tests for speech comprehension have been lacking for the diagnostic investigation of primary school children with problems in hearing and speech development. The informal speech comprehension test for complex syntactic structures ("Sprachverständnistest für komplexe syntaktische Strukturen", SKSS), a shortened and in Swiss German translated modification of the Test for Reception of Grammar of Bishop, was analyzed for its logical validity of content, difficulty indices, selectivity, reliability and standard values in percent. We conducted the SKSS on 64 primary school children (first grade, average age 6.9 years) and 84 primary school children (second grade, average age 8.2 years). Four test sentences were excluded because of their ambiguous nature. The remaining 26 test sentences most often indicated low difficulty. However, there was an obvious difference between the two groups in terms of difficulty as well reliability. Based on our results, the test proved to be useful for screening. It allows both quantitative and qualitative interpretations.

The oral referential communication skills of hearing-impaired children

AbstractThis paper focuses on the oral referential communication skills of hearing-impaired (HI) children. A task based on that used with language impaired children by Leinonen and Letts (1997) was used to assess the speaking and listening skills of 20 HI children (mean age=10;2 years; mean better ear average hearing loss=88.85 dBHL). Their performance was then compared to that of a group of younger normally hearing (NH) children (mean age=6;9 years). The findings were suggestive of a developmental lag in speaking and listening skills in some of the HI group. In addition, significant negative correlations were found between measures of listener performance and scores on the Test for Reception of Grammar (Bishop, 1989), which suggested that the detection and evaluation stages of Ackerman's (1983) model of message disambiguation might be related to linguistic competence. Differential performances within the HI group, and between the HI and NH groups, and the utility of the referential communication task for...

The oral referential communication skills of hearing-impaired children

This paper focuses on the oral referential communication skills of hearing-impaired (HI) children. A task based on that used with language impaired children by Leinonen and Letts (1997) was used to assess the speaking and listening skills of 20 HI children (mean age=10;2 years; mean better ear average hearing loss=88.85 dBHL). Their performance was then compared to that of a group of younger normally hearing (NH) children (mean age=6;9 years). The findings were suggestive of a developmental lag in speaking and listening skills in some of the HI group. In addition, significant negative correlations were found between measures of listener performance and scores on the Test for Reception of Grammar (Bishop, 1989), which suggested that the detection and evaluation stages of Ackerman's (1983) model of message disambiguation might be related to linguistic competence. Differential performances within the HI group, and between the HI and NH groups, and the utility of the referential communication task for teachers, clinicians and researchers are discussed.

Comprehension of Spatial Language Terms in Williams Syndrome: Evidence for an Interaction Between Domains of Strength and Weakness

Individuals with Williams syndrome show an unusual neuropsychological profile, with relatively strong language abilities and impoverished visual and spatial abilities. Two studies are reported that examine the interaction between these two domains in Williams syndrome by assessing individuals' comprehension of spoken language with a spatial component. In a first study, the Test for Reception of Grammar (Bishop, 1983) was given to 32 individuals with Williams syndrome and to controls matched individually for total number of errors on the task. Individuals with Williams syndrome had particular problems when asked to comprehend sentences containing spatial prepositions, making significantly more errors on these items than control groups. A second study examined in more detail comprehension of sentences with spatial and non-spatial components, comparing the performance of 15 individuals with Williams syndrome and control groups matched for vocabulary ability. Individuals with Williams syndrome again showed impaired comprehension of spoken spatial terms. In contrast, they were unimpaired in comprehending utterances without a spatial component, with the exception of descriptions testing comprehension of non-spatial comparatives (lighter than and darker than). These results suggest that the spatial difficulties experienced by individuals with Williams syndrome may constrain language comprehension in certain circumstances. They also shed light on the ways in which spatial cognition may interact with language comprehension more generally.

Chronological age, receptive vocabulary, and syntax comprehension in children and adolescents with mental retardation.

This study was designed to examine the association of CA with syntax and vocabulary comprehension in children and adolescents with mental retardation. It was conducted using the PPVT-R and the Test for Reception of Grammar. The cognitive level of participants was estimated by means of three nonverbal intelligence tests. Results indicated that scores on intelligence tests account for 55% and 29% of the variability of syntax and vocabulary scores, respectively. For the vocabulary, the introduction of CA into the regression equation produced a significant increment of the variance explained (17%). However, its contribution to the variance of the syntax test was not significant. This finding suggests that CA-related experience is linked to on the receptive vocabulary of children and adolescents with mental retardation.