We provide evidence that children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are impaired in pred... more We provide evidence that children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are impaired in predictive syntactic processing. In the current study, children listened passively to auditorily-presented sentences, where the critical condition included an unexpected “filled gap” in the direct object position of the relative clause verb. A filled gap is illustrated by the underlined phrase in “The zebra that the hippo kissed the camel on the nose…”, rather than the expected “the zebra that the hippo kissed [e] on the nose”, where [e] denotes the gap. Brain responses to the filled gap were compared to a control condition using adverb-relative clauses with identical substrings: “The weekend that the hippo kissed the camel on the nose [e]…”. Here, the same noun phrase is not unexpected because the adverb gap occurs later in the structure. We hypothesized that a filled gap would elicit a prediction error brain signal in the form of an early anterior negativity, as we have previously observed...
Several aspects of early language skills, including parent-report measures of vocabulary, phoneme... more Several aspects of early language skills, including parent-report measures of vocabulary, phoneme discrimination, speech segmentation, and speed of lexical access predict later childhood language outcomes. To date, no studies have examined the long-term predictive validity of novel word learning. We examined whether individual differences in novel word learning at 21 months predict later childhood receptive vocabulary outcomes rather than generalized cognitive abilities. Twenty-eight 21-month-olds were taught novel words using a modified version of the Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm. Seventeen children (range 7–10 years) returned to participate in a longitudinal follow-up. Novel word learning in infancy uniquely accounted for 22% of the variance in childhood receptive vocabulary but did not predict later childhood visuospatial ability or non-verbal IQ. These results suggest that the ability to associate novel sound patterns to novel objects, an index of the process of word...
ABSTRACT This prospective investigation examined the effects of otitis media with effusion (OME) ... more ABSTRACT This prospective investigation examined the effects of otitis media with effusion (OME) on early speech production. Two groups of infants, the otitis media positive (OME+; n=8), and the otitis media negative (OME-; n=8) were defined according to otitis media (OM) history during the first year of life. OM documentation was based on results from tympanometry, pneumatic otoscopy, and behavioural audiometry collected bimonthly beginning at age 2 months. Phonetic transcriptions were completed from infants' recorded babbling samples at 10, 12 and 14 months of age. No differences were found between the two groups on rate of vocalizations (i.e. consonants produced per minute). Differences between the two groups were seen in place and manner of articulation. OME infants produced more bilabial stops than OME- infants who, in turn, produced more alveolar stops and nasals than did their OME+ counterparts. Furthermore, within the OME+ group, children with poorer hearing thresholds showed preference for bilabial stops, whereas children with better hearing thresholds showed more diversity in their phonetic inventories.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2012
Purpose In this study, the authors examined the comprehension of sentences with predicates and re... more Purpose In this study, the authors examined the comprehension of sentences with predicates and reflexives that are linked to a nonadjacent noun as a test of the hierarchical ordering deficit (HOD) hypothesis. That hypothesis and more modern versions posit that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulty in establishing nonadjacent (hierarchical) relations among elements of a sentence. The authors also tested whether additional working memory demands in constructions containing reflexives affected the extent to which children with SLI incorrectly structure sentences as indicated by their picture-pointing comprehension responses. Method Sixteen Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children (8;4–10;6 [years;months]) with SLI and 16 children with typical language development (TLD) matched for age (±3 months), gender, and socioeconomic status participated in 2 experiments (predicate and reflexive interpretation). In the reflexive experiment, the authors also manipulated wor...
This study examined lexical retrieval processes as a possible underlying language mechanism respo... more This study examined lexical retrieval processes as a possible underlying language mechanism responsible for language deficits in some children with cochlear implants (CIs). Lexical retrieval processing was examined using phonological and semantic verbal fluency (VF) naming tasks. In the VF tasks, children were given one minute to generate as many words as they can that begin with a given sound (/t/, /l/, /f/) or that belong to a certain semantic category (animals, food). Twenty children with CIs and twenty age- and IQ-matched normal-hearing (NH) children aged 7-10 participated in this study. Children with CIs generated fewer words on the VF tasks. In addition, qualitative differences were found in the performance of the two groups on these tasks. Children with CI seem to process words at a slower rate compared to NH children. Children with CIs showed significance differences compared to NH children in the phonological VF task on measures of the number of switches and the number of w...
Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 1992
Historically, the behavioral theory of articulation that was applied to clinical assessment was c... more Historically, the behavioral theory of articulation that was applied to clinical assessment was consistent with the behavioral theory of developmental change that was applied to intervention. However, more recent applications of cognitively oriented linguistic theories have not been accompanied by novel intervention approaches. This article reviews some recent advances in phonological theories, including autosegmental, metrical, and lexical phonology, and their potential applications. A new theory of developmental change that also is cognitive in its orientation is presented, along with some preliminary suggestions for clinical applications.
The play behavior of 10 language-impaired children was observed. Their performances in play were ... more The play behavior of 10 language-impaired children was observed. Their performances in play were compared to those of 10 normal-language children matched for chronological age as well as to those of 10 normal-language children matched for mean length of utterance. The children were observed as they played spontaneously with a standard group of toys and as they played with objects that required object transformations for successful play. The chronological age-matched normal subjects showed a trend toward performance of more object transformations in play than either the language-impaired or younger normal-language children. Additionally, although object transformations were observed in both segments, all children performed more object transformations with objects than with toys.
We provide evidence that children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are impaired in pred... more We provide evidence that children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are impaired in predictive syntactic processing. In the current study, children listened passively to auditorily-presented sentences, where the critical condition included an unexpected “filled gap” in the direct object position of the relative clause verb. A filled gap is illustrated by the underlined phrase in “The zebra that the hippo kissed the camel on the nose…”, rather than the expected “the zebra that the hippo kissed [e] on the nose”, where [e] denotes the gap. Brain responses to the filled gap were compared to a control condition using adverb-relative clauses with identical substrings: “The weekend that the hippo kissed the camel on the nose [e]…”. Here, the same noun phrase is not unexpected because the adverb gap occurs later in the structure. We hypothesized that a filled gap would elicit a prediction error brain signal in the form of an early anterior negativity, as we have previously observed...
Several aspects of early language skills, including parent-report measures of vocabulary, phoneme... more Several aspects of early language skills, including parent-report measures of vocabulary, phoneme discrimination, speech segmentation, and speed of lexical access predict later childhood language outcomes. To date, no studies have examined the long-term predictive validity of novel word learning. We examined whether individual differences in novel word learning at 21 months predict later childhood receptive vocabulary outcomes rather than generalized cognitive abilities. Twenty-eight 21-month-olds were taught novel words using a modified version of the Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm. Seventeen children (range 7–10 years) returned to participate in a longitudinal follow-up. Novel word learning in infancy uniquely accounted for 22% of the variance in childhood receptive vocabulary but did not predict later childhood visuospatial ability or non-verbal IQ. These results suggest that the ability to associate novel sound patterns to novel objects, an index of the process of word...
ABSTRACT This prospective investigation examined the effects of otitis media with effusion (OME) ... more ABSTRACT This prospective investigation examined the effects of otitis media with effusion (OME) on early speech production. Two groups of infants, the otitis media positive (OME+; n=8), and the otitis media negative (OME-; n=8) were defined according to otitis media (OM) history during the first year of life. OM documentation was based on results from tympanometry, pneumatic otoscopy, and behavioural audiometry collected bimonthly beginning at age 2 months. Phonetic transcriptions were completed from infants' recorded babbling samples at 10, 12 and 14 months of age. No differences were found between the two groups on rate of vocalizations (i.e. consonants produced per minute). Differences between the two groups were seen in place and manner of articulation. OME infants produced more bilabial stops than OME- infants who, in turn, produced more alveolar stops and nasals than did their OME+ counterparts. Furthermore, within the OME+ group, children with poorer hearing thresholds showed preference for bilabial stops, whereas children with better hearing thresholds showed more diversity in their phonetic inventories.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2012
Purpose In this study, the authors examined the comprehension of sentences with predicates and re... more Purpose In this study, the authors examined the comprehension of sentences with predicates and reflexives that are linked to a nonadjacent noun as a test of the hierarchical ordering deficit (HOD) hypothesis. That hypothesis and more modern versions posit that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulty in establishing nonadjacent (hierarchical) relations among elements of a sentence. The authors also tested whether additional working memory demands in constructions containing reflexives affected the extent to which children with SLI incorrectly structure sentences as indicated by their picture-pointing comprehension responses. Method Sixteen Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children (8;4–10;6 [years;months]) with SLI and 16 children with typical language development (TLD) matched for age (±3 months), gender, and socioeconomic status participated in 2 experiments (predicate and reflexive interpretation). In the reflexive experiment, the authors also manipulated wor...
This study examined lexical retrieval processes as a possible underlying language mechanism respo... more This study examined lexical retrieval processes as a possible underlying language mechanism responsible for language deficits in some children with cochlear implants (CIs). Lexical retrieval processing was examined using phonological and semantic verbal fluency (VF) naming tasks. In the VF tasks, children were given one minute to generate as many words as they can that begin with a given sound (/t/, /l/, /f/) or that belong to a certain semantic category (animals, food). Twenty children with CIs and twenty age- and IQ-matched normal-hearing (NH) children aged 7-10 participated in this study. Children with CIs generated fewer words on the VF tasks. In addition, qualitative differences were found in the performance of the two groups on these tasks. Children with CI seem to process words at a slower rate compared to NH children. Children with CIs showed significance differences compared to NH children in the phonological VF task on measures of the number of switches and the number of w...
Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 1992
Historically, the behavioral theory of articulation that was applied to clinical assessment was c... more Historically, the behavioral theory of articulation that was applied to clinical assessment was consistent with the behavioral theory of developmental change that was applied to intervention. However, more recent applications of cognitively oriented linguistic theories have not been accompanied by novel intervention approaches. This article reviews some recent advances in phonological theories, including autosegmental, metrical, and lexical phonology, and their potential applications. A new theory of developmental change that also is cognitive in its orientation is presented, along with some preliminary suggestions for clinical applications.
The play behavior of 10 language-impaired children was observed. Their performances in play were ... more The play behavior of 10 language-impaired children was observed. Their performances in play were compared to those of 10 normal-language children matched for chronological age as well as to those of 10 normal-language children matched for mean length of utterance. The children were observed as they played spontaneously with a standard group of toys and as they played with objects that required object transformations for successful play. The chronological age-matched normal subjects showed a trend toward performance of more object transformations in play than either the language-impaired or younger normal-language children. Additionally, although object transformations were observed in both segments, all children performed more object transformations with objects than with toys.
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Papers by Richard Schwartz