APA PsycNET Our Apologies! - The following features are not available with your current Browser c... more APA PsycNET Our Apologies! - The following features are not available with your current Browser configuration. - alerts user that their session is about to expire - display, print, save, export, and email selected records - get My ...
There is a developmental theory that views social interaction with others as essential for the de... more There is a developmental theory that views social interaction with others as essential for the development of independent cognitive and linguistic functioning-the theory of Vygotsky (1978, 1987). Vygotsky viewed the child as developing and functioning within a social context. For Vygotsky, ...
There are unanswered questions in the research literature about the long-term trajectories of lan... more There are unanswered questions in the research literature about the long-term trajectories of language disorders that are diagnosed in the preschool years but seem to resolve around kindergarten age. There is some evidence that children tend to maintain their gains in language abilities. On the other hand, there is also some evidence that language difficulties may resurface, suggesting that the initial recovery was illusory (Scarborough & Dobrich, 1990). In order to provide clinical context for future research on this topic, we conducted a survey of clinicians in Alberta about their practices and perspectives with regard to diagnosis of language disorders and predictions of future needs. The results revealed perspectives and experiences in line with and inconsistent with concerns about illusory recovery and highlighted challenges with diagnosis and prediction of outcomes within current service delivery contexts. Finally, the results highlighted differences between clinical diagnosti...
Diagnostic accuracy of the Dynamic Assessment and Intervention (DAI) tool (Miller, Gillam & Pena,... more Diagnostic accuracy of the Dynamic Assessment and Intervention (DAI) tool (Miller, Gillam & Pena, 2001) was examined with 17 Grade 3 children belonging to a First Nations community who were classifi ed either as normal language learners (NLL) or as having possible language learning diffi culties. The DAI was designed to provide a culturally sensitive evaluation of language learning abilities. Results showed that both groups benefi ted from direct teaching of specifi c targets, but children in the NLL category benefi ted to a greater extent and generalized more often to targets not directly addressed. A discriminant analysis resulted in high specifi city and sensitivity. These results suggest that DAI is a useful diagnostic tool for identifying children with language learning diffi culties in this population. Abrege
In this study we examined age- and task-related effects in story schema knowledge across an indep... more In this study we examined age- and task-related effects in story schema knowledge across an independent narrative task (story formulations) and a supported narrative task (answering questions). We also examined age-related changes to questions about the story as a whole. Participants were typically developing English-speaking children aged 4, 5, and 6 (50 per age group). Results showed more successful performance on all tasks as a function of age. In addition, all the children were more successful in the supported versus independent narrative context. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of oral narratives to social and educational milieus.
Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative contribution of socioeconomic stat... more Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative contribution of socioeconomic status (SES) on three grammatical measures-finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), percent grammatical utterances (PGU), and clausal density-in children between the ages of 4 and 9 years. Method Data for this study were from the normative sample in the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. For 359 children, hierarchical linear regression was performed to evaluate the amount of variance in FVMC, PGU, and clausal density that was uniquely explained by SES after accounting for child chronological age and language status (typical, impaired). Results After child age and language status were controlled, SES was a significant predictor of PGU and clausal density scores, but not of FVMC scores. SES uniquely accounted for 0.5% of variance in PGU scores and 0.8% of variance in clausal density scores. Conclusions Consistent with maturational accounts of children's development of tense markers, resu...
This paper describes the development of an instrument for collecting story samples and local norm... more This paper describes the development of an instrument for collecting story samples and local norms, the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI), and presents results of one measure of storytelling ability used with the ENNI data, story grammar units (SGU). The purpose of the present study was to examine the measure’s ability to detect developmental changes in story production and discriminate between children with and without language impairments. Participants were 377 children aged 4-9 (300 with typical development, 77 with language impairments). Each child told stories while looking at picture stimuli (with no oral model). The SGU measure revealed a significant age trend. The measure correctly classified children aged 4-8 into groups 80.8% of the time. Thus the ENNI shows promise as part of the speech-language pathologist’s battery of instruments.
There are a number of views of the relationship between language and thinking. Two prominent figu... more There are a number of views of the relationship between language and thinking. Two prominent figures in developmental psychology, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, proposed theories of language and thinking which also involve the notion of "communication." For Piaget, thinking develops first, and language comes along as an expression of thought. For Vygotsky, language and thinking are initially separate but come to have mutual effects on one another. Vygotsky's perspective is the most affective at linking language and thinking with communication. Language is seen as first a means of communicating with others, and later as an aid to thinking, which becomes more powerful as "inner speech" tnan it was earlier. (An appendix contains two transcripts of mother-child puzzle solving interactions.) (SR) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *
Purpose We examined four measures of lexical diversity in the narratives of children with typical... more Purpose We examined four measures of lexical diversity in the narratives of children with typical language development (TLD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) that comprised the normative sample of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (Schneider et al., 2005). The purpose was to document the properties of each measure with respect to variations in utterance and sample length, developmental trends, and group differences. Method The sample consisted of 377 picture-elicited, story generation transcripts from children with TLD ( n = 300) and DLD ( n = 77) aged 4–9 years. We extracted the moving-average type–token ratio (MATTR) and the number of different words from the full sample, from samples equated for the number of utterances, and from samples equated for the total number of words. Results MATTR was the only measure to show no relationships to utterance or sample length. All measures showed significant positive growth with age and significant groupwise differences betwee...
Purpose The purpose of this study was to provide reference data and evaluate the psychometric pro... more Purpose The purpose of this study was to provide reference data and evaluate the psychometric properties for the finite verb morphology composite (FVMC) measure in children between 4 and 9 years of age from the database of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI; Schneider, Dubé, & Hayward, 2005 ). Method Participants included 377 children between age 4 and age 9, including 300 children with typical language and 77 children with language impairment (LI). Narrative samples were collected using a story generation task. FVMC scores were computed from the samples. Split-half reliability, concurrent criterion validity, and diagnostic accuracy for FVMC were further evaluated. Results Children's performance on FVMC increased significantly between age 4 and age 9 in the typical language and LI groups. Moreover, the correlation coefficients for the split-half reliability and concurrent criterion validity of FVMC were medium to large ( r s ≥ .429, p s < .001) at each age level. T...
APA PsycNET Our Apologies! - The following features are not available with your current Browser c... more APA PsycNET Our Apologies! - The following features are not available with your current Browser configuration. - alerts user that their session is about to expire - display, print, save, export, and email selected records - get My ...
There is a developmental theory that views social interaction with others as essential for the de... more There is a developmental theory that views social interaction with others as essential for the development of independent cognitive and linguistic functioning-the theory of Vygotsky (1978, 1987). Vygotsky viewed the child as developing and functioning within a social context. For Vygotsky, ...
There are unanswered questions in the research literature about the long-term trajectories of lan... more There are unanswered questions in the research literature about the long-term trajectories of language disorders that are diagnosed in the preschool years but seem to resolve around kindergarten age. There is some evidence that children tend to maintain their gains in language abilities. On the other hand, there is also some evidence that language difficulties may resurface, suggesting that the initial recovery was illusory (Scarborough & Dobrich, 1990). In order to provide clinical context for future research on this topic, we conducted a survey of clinicians in Alberta about their practices and perspectives with regard to diagnosis of language disorders and predictions of future needs. The results revealed perspectives and experiences in line with and inconsistent with concerns about illusory recovery and highlighted challenges with diagnosis and prediction of outcomes within current service delivery contexts. Finally, the results highlighted differences between clinical diagnosti...
Diagnostic accuracy of the Dynamic Assessment and Intervention (DAI) tool (Miller, Gillam & Pena,... more Diagnostic accuracy of the Dynamic Assessment and Intervention (DAI) tool (Miller, Gillam & Pena, 2001) was examined with 17 Grade 3 children belonging to a First Nations community who were classifi ed either as normal language learners (NLL) or as having possible language learning diffi culties. The DAI was designed to provide a culturally sensitive evaluation of language learning abilities. Results showed that both groups benefi ted from direct teaching of specifi c targets, but children in the NLL category benefi ted to a greater extent and generalized more often to targets not directly addressed. A discriminant analysis resulted in high specifi city and sensitivity. These results suggest that DAI is a useful diagnostic tool for identifying children with language learning diffi culties in this population. Abrege
In this study we examined age- and task-related effects in story schema knowledge across an indep... more In this study we examined age- and task-related effects in story schema knowledge across an independent narrative task (story formulations) and a supported narrative task (answering questions). We also examined age-related changes to questions about the story as a whole. Participants were typically developing English-speaking children aged 4, 5, and 6 (50 per age group). Results showed more successful performance on all tasks as a function of age. In addition, all the children were more successful in the supported versus independent narrative context. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of oral narratives to social and educational milieus.
Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative contribution of socioeconomic stat... more Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative contribution of socioeconomic status (SES) on three grammatical measures-finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), percent grammatical utterances (PGU), and clausal density-in children between the ages of 4 and 9 years. Method Data for this study were from the normative sample in the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. For 359 children, hierarchical linear regression was performed to evaluate the amount of variance in FVMC, PGU, and clausal density that was uniquely explained by SES after accounting for child chronological age and language status (typical, impaired). Results After child age and language status were controlled, SES was a significant predictor of PGU and clausal density scores, but not of FVMC scores. SES uniquely accounted for 0.5% of variance in PGU scores and 0.8% of variance in clausal density scores. Conclusions Consistent with maturational accounts of children's development of tense markers, resu...
This paper describes the development of an instrument for collecting story samples and local norm... more This paper describes the development of an instrument for collecting story samples and local norms, the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI), and presents results of one measure of storytelling ability used with the ENNI data, story grammar units (SGU). The purpose of the present study was to examine the measure’s ability to detect developmental changes in story production and discriminate between children with and without language impairments. Participants were 377 children aged 4-9 (300 with typical development, 77 with language impairments). Each child told stories while looking at picture stimuli (with no oral model). The SGU measure revealed a significant age trend. The measure correctly classified children aged 4-8 into groups 80.8% of the time. Thus the ENNI shows promise as part of the speech-language pathologist’s battery of instruments.
There are a number of views of the relationship between language and thinking. Two prominent figu... more There are a number of views of the relationship between language and thinking. Two prominent figures in developmental psychology, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, proposed theories of language and thinking which also involve the notion of "communication." For Piaget, thinking develops first, and language comes along as an expression of thought. For Vygotsky, language and thinking are initially separate but come to have mutual effects on one another. Vygotsky's perspective is the most affective at linking language and thinking with communication. Language is seen as first a means of communicating with others, and later as an aid to thinking, which becomes more powerful as "inner speech" tnan it was earlier. (An appendix contains two transcripts of mother-child puzzle solving interactions.) (SR) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *
Purpose We examined four measures of lexical diversity in the narratives of children with typical... more Purpose We examined four measures of lexical diversity in the narratives of children with typical language development (TLD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) that comprised the normative sample of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (Schneider et al., 2005). The purpose was to document the properties of each measure with respect to variations in utterance and sample length, developmental trends, and group differences. Method The sample consisted of 377 picture-elicited, story generation transcripts from children with TLD ( n = 300) and DLD ( n = 77) aged 4–9 years. We extracted the moving-average type–token ratio (MATTR) and the number of different words from the full sample, from samples equated for the number of utterances, and from samples equated for the total number of words. Results MATTR was the only measure to show no relationships to utterance or sample length. All measures showed significant positive growth with age and significant groupwise differences betwee...
Purpose The purpose of this study was to provide reference data and evaluate the psychometric pro... more Purpose The purpose of this study was to provide reference data and evaluate the psychometric properties for the finite verb morphology composite (FVMC) measure in children between 4 and 9 years of age from the database of the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI; Schneider, Dubé, & Hayward, 2005 ). Method Participants included 377 children between age 4 and age 9, including 300 children with typical language and 77 children with language impairment (LI). Narrative samples were collected using a story generation task. FVMC scores were computed from the samples. Split-half reliability, concurrent criterion validity, and diagnostic accuracy for FVMC were further evaluated. Results Children's performance on FVMC increased significantly between age 4 and age 9 in the typical language and LI groups. Moreover, the correlation coefficients for the split-half reliability and concurrent criterion validity of FVMC were medium to large ( r s ≥ .429, p s < .001) at each age level. T...
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Papers by Phyllis Schneider