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Background: Variations in parenting, more specifically less responsive and more directive parenting, contribute to language difficulties for children experiencing adversity. Further investigation of associations between specific responsive and directive behaviours and child language is required to understand how behaviours shape language over time within different populations. As language is dyadic, further exploration of how mother-child interactions moderate associations is also important. Aims: To investigate associations between specific responsive and directive maternal behaviours, the quality of mother-child interaction (fluency and connectedness) and child language in a cohort experiencing adversity. Methods & Procedures: Pregnant women experiencing adversity were recruited from maternity hospitals in Australia. At 12 months, videos of mother-infant free play were collected. Videos were coded for maternal behaviours and fluency and connectedness (n = 249). At 36 months, child language was measured using a standardized language test. Linear regression models were used to examine associations and the moderating role of fluency and connectedness was explored. Outcomes & Results: Responsive yes/no questions were positively associated with language scores. Unsuccessful redirectives were negatively associated with language scores. The moderation effect of fluency and connectedness was equivocal in the current data. Conclusions & Implications: Findings reproduce and extend previous research highlighting key features of mother-child interactions associated with child language trajectories. Findings also augment knowledge of risk and protective factors related to language for children experiencing adversity and highlight where targeted interventions might be successful.

Background: Parent-reported measures of early communication have limitations for use with infants experiencing adversity. Observational measures of early non-verbal and verbal communicative behaviours and mother-child turn-taking may provide a complementary method of capturing early communication skills for these children. Aims: To explore the predictive validity of verbal and non-verbal behaviours and mother-child conversational turn-taking (fluency and connectedness) at child age 12 months in relation to language measures at 24 and 36 months in a cohort of infants experiencing adversity. Methods & Procedures: Pregnant women experiencing adversity were recruited from maternity hospitals in Australia. At 12 months, 190 infants were videoed during mother-child free-play. Verbal and non-verbal communicative behaviours and fluency and connectedness were measured from the 12-month videos. Predictive validity of 12-month behaviours was calculated in relation to mean length of utterance and number of unique words at 24 months and Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Preschool--Second Edition (CELF-P2) Core Language scores at 36 months. Outcomes & Results: All 12-month behaviours had adequate specificity but poor sensitivity when compared with other predictive validity studies using published early language measures. However, in adjusted regression models, fluency and connectedness and verbal behaviours at 12 months predicted unique words at 24 months. Fluency and connectedness also predicted CELF-P2 scores at 36 months. Conclusions & Implications: Findings reconfirm the difficulty in early identification of children at risk of later language difficulties. All 12-month measures were more accurate at identifying those children who will have better language than those children who will not. As fluency and connectedness was the only measure to predict 24- and 36-month language in adjusted regression models, it may be an important factor to consider when measuring early language skills for infants experiencing adversity. Future research could combine observational measures of early communication and fluency and connectedness with other predictors of language to try to increase prediction accuracy.

We examined the lived experiences of twelve parents of low-progress readers. Parents were recruited from five state schools in Melbourne and each participated in individual interviews. Analyses revealed that most children received Reading Recovery which was the first and often only option. Parents were divided regarding satisfaction with their children's reading outcomes following this program. Sources of dissatisfaction included: a waiting list for commencement of intervention, the sudden cessation of Reading Recovery based on the 100-session limit, and Reading Recovery's theoretical orientation towards constructivist principles. Half the parents independently sought external reading intervention from conventional and non-conventional service providers. Moreover, many parents encountered a personal toll related to their children's reading difficulty. This study highlights the needs of parents who are important stakeholders in the management of low-progress readers. Our findings call for a more systematic, integrated and mindful approach between educators, policy makers and parents of low-progress readers.

The paper reports on a study designed to develop a risk model that can best predict single-word spelling in seven-year-old children when they were aged 4 and 5. Test measures, personal characteristics and environmental influences were all considered as variables from a community sample of 971 children. Strong concurrent correlations were found between single-word spelling and single-word reading while expressive language and, to a lesser extent, receptive language were less strongly correlated. Predictors of single-word spelling at ages 4 and 5 were dominated by child-related factors such as letter knowledge, a history of speech impairment and expressive language along with maternal word reading ability. Based on the strength of the predictive factors identified at both age 4 and 5, our results provide initial support for using a targeted model for screening pre-schoolers at risk of not mastering spelling in a timely manner.

Background: Language impairment (LI) in the preschool years is known to vary over time. Stability in the diagnosis of LI may be influenced by children's individual variability, the measurement error of commonly used assessment instruments and the cut-points used to define impairment. Aims: To investigate the agreement between two different age-based versions of a language assessment instrument and the stability of the classification of LI using the two measures over a 12-month period. Methods & Procedures: A total of 945 participants completed the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF-Preschool 2 or 4th Edn) at 4 and 5 years of age. Agreement and stability were analysed using Bland-Altman plots, correlation and odds ratios. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for two thresholds of the CELF-P2 using the diagnostic category on the child's subsequent CELF-4. Outcomes & Results: For all CELF scores, mean differences for the cohort between 4 and 5 years were within 1.5 scale score units. In contrast, at the individual level variability was found across the range of scores and was of a greater magnitude than previously reported. Stability in LI classification was low, with 36% of 5-year-olds with LI (defined as a standard score below -1.25) classified as typical at 4 years, even though odds ratios calculated from classifications at the two time points suggested that 4-year-olds with LI had 23 times greater odds than their typical peers to receive a diagnosis of LI at 5 years. The CELF-P2 did not demonstrate adequate levels of diagnostic accuracy for LI at 5 years: sensitivity of 64% and specificity of 92.9%. Conclusions: Substantial variability across the entire range of possible CELF scores was observed in this community cohort between the ages of 4 and 5 years. The stability of LI classification was lower than that reported in previous research conducted primarily on smaller clinical cohorts. The current study's results suggest that the variability observed in developmental language pathways is the result of a combination of limitations in measurement instruments, individual children's abilities and the arbitrary nature of the boundaries defining LI.

Following a biopsychosocial model, the study investigated the role of child factors (gender, IQ), maternal factors (psychological distress, maternal education and vocabulary, maternal distress) and environmental factors (SES) in the relationship between language impairment and behaviour problems in preschool children. Participants were drawn from the Early Language in Victoria Study (ELVS) a prospective, longitudinal study examining the epidemiology and natural history of language impairment. The study reports on 1257 participants from the ELVS who completed questionnaires at 2 and 4 years and also completed face-to-face assessments at 4 years of age. Information was collected on child language, non-verbal cognition and social-emotional development; maternal vocabulary, maternal psychological distress and parent--child interaction; and SES. This study showed that language impairment is specifically associated with hyperactivity and peer problems but not anxiety and conduct problems at the preschool stage. Children with language impairment were at a higher risk for clinical levels of 'abnormal' behaviour which could lead to a psychiatric diagnosis than typically developing children. An examination of biopsychosocial variables associated with language and behaviour revealed that although language ability was a predictor of behaviour at both 2 years and 4 years of age, maternal distress was a stronger predictor of behaviour, with the association stronger for boys than for girls. Early intervention directed to children, especially boys, with language impairment deserves further attention, especially during the preschool period, in order to ameliorate the impact of language impairment on peer relationships and disruptive behaviour in later school years.

Purpose: The evidence of a deficit in working memory in specific language impairment (SLI) is of sufficient magnitude to suggest a primary role in developmental language disorder. However, little research has investigated memory in late talkers who recover from their early delay. Drawing on a longitudinal, community sample, this study compared the memory profiles of 3 groups of 5-year-olds: children with SLI who had been identified as late talkers, resolved late talkers (RLTs), and children with typical language development (TLD). Method: Participants were 25 children with SLI, 45 RLTs, and 32 children with TLD. Subtests from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children and the Children's Memory Scale plus recalling sentences and nonword repetition tasks were administered to test the components of Baddeley's working memory model. Results: The SLI group showed significantly poorer performance than the RLT and TLD groups on measures of the phonological loop and episodic buffer. The RLT and TLD groups scored similarly on all memory measures. Conclusions: The results support previous findings that sentence recall and nonword repetition are markers of SLI. Although residual effects of late-talking status may emerge over time, RLTs do not necessarily show memory deficits at 5 years of age despite delayed early vocabulary development.

Background: Parent report instruments are frequently used for the identification of both "at-risk" children and to support the diagnosis of communication delay. Whilst the evidence is strong for the accuracy of parent report of vocabulary between 2 and 3 years, there are fewer studies that have considered the ability of parents to report on early communication behaviours in 12-month-old infants. Aims: To investigate the validity of the underlying structure of the Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales-Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP) for each of the direct observation and parent reports of communication behaviour in infants at 12 months of age. Methods & Procedures: Participants were 1725 infants, already participating in a longitudinal study of language development, whose parents completed the Infant-Toddler Checklist from the CSBS-DP. Seven hundred and twenty-eight (728) of these infants also completed the Behaviour Sample from the CSBS-DP. The structure of the CSBS-DP was examined using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of the Behaviour Sample and the Infant-Toddler Checklist. Correlations between the Infant-Toddler Checklist and the Behaviour Sample on the total, composite, and subscale scores were also calculated. Outcomes & Results: Confirmatory factor analysis of the CSBS-DP Behaviour Sample replicated previous work conducted during the development of the instrument, but on a larger and younger cohort of Australian infants. The data provided support for at least three factors, broadly representing Social, Speech, and Symbolic communication skills, with some evidence that the speech factor could be further split into sub-factors representing Sounds and Words. There was support for a three-factor structure for the Infant-Toddler Checklist. Moderate correlations were found between results from the Behaviour Sample and the Infant-Toddler Checklist. Conclusions & Implications: As measures of early communication skill for young infants, the CSBS-DP Behaviour Sample and the Infant-Toddler Checklist are valid clinical tools for measuring constructs broadly representing Social, Speech, and Symbolic communication skills. The Speech composite in particular emerged as a strong factor under the Behaviour Sample. (Contains 1 figure, 8 tables, and 2 notes.)

Investigated the relationship between auditory temporal processing of nonspeech sounds and phonological awareness ability in 8- to 12-year-olds with a reading disability, placed in groups based on performance on Tallal's tone-order judgment task. Found that a tone-order deficit did not relate to performance on order processing of speech sounds, to poorer phonological awareness, or to more severe reading difficulties. (Author/KB)

Purpose: The evidence of a deficit in working memory in specific language impairment (SLI) is of sufficient magnitude to suggest a primary role in developmental language disorder. However, little research has investigated memory in late talkers who recover from their early delay. Drawing on a longitudinal, community sample, this study compared the memory profiles of 3 groups of 5-year-olds: children with SLI who had been identified as late talkers, resolved late talkers (RLTs), and children with typical language development (TLD). Method: Participants were 25 children with SLI, 45 RLTs, and 32 children with TLD. Subtests from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children and the Children's Memory Scale plus recalling sentences and nonword repetition tasks were administered to test the components of Baddeley's working memory model. Results: The SLI group showed significantly poorer performance than the RLT and TLD groups on measures of the phonological loop and episodic buffer. The RLT and TLD groups scored similarly on all memory measures. Conclusions: The results support previous findings that sentence recall and nonword repetition are markers of SLI. Although residual effects of late-talking status may emerge over time, RLTs do not necessarily show memory deficits at 5 years of age despite delayed early vocabulary development. Key Words: SLI, memory, late talkers, The developmental trajectory of late-talking children is of clinical significance to practitioners providing early identification and intervention services (Roos & Ellis Weismer, 2008). Children are typically identified as late talkers [...]

Background: Public health advocates have highlighted internalising problems as a leading cause of global burden of disease. Internalising problems (anxiety/depression) affect up to 20% of school‐age children and can impact peer relations, school engagement and later employment and mortality. This translational trial aimed to determine whether a selective/indicated parenting group programme to prevent internalising distress in shy/inhibited preschool children had sustained effects in middle childhood. Translational design aspects were a brief parent‐report screening tool for child inhibition offered universally across the population via preschools in the year before school, followed by an invitation to parents of all inhibited children to attend the parenting programme at venues in their local community. Methods: Design of the study was a randomised controlled trial. The setting was 307 preschool services across eight socioeconomically diverse government areas in Melbourne, Australia. Participants were 545 parents of inhibited four‐year‐old children of which 456 (84%) were retained during middle childhood (age of seven to 10 years). Early intervention was the Cool Little Kids parenting group programme, and control was 'usual care' access to available support services in the community. Primary outcomes were child anxiety and depression symptoms (parent and child report) and DSM‐IV anxiety disorders (assessor masked). Secondary outcomes were parenting practices and parent mental health. Results: There was no significant difference in anxiety disorders between the intervention and control group during the three annual follow‐ups of the cohort in middle childhood (2015 43% vs. 41%, 2016 40% vs. 36%, 2017 27% vs. 30%, respectively; p's >.05). There were also no significant differences in child anxiety or depression symptoms (by child or parent report), parenting practices or parent mental health, between the intervention and control group during middle childhood. However, a priori interaction tests suggested that for children with anxious parents, early intervention attenuated risk for middle childhood internalising problems. Conclusions: An issue for population translation is low levels of parent engagement in preventive interventions. Initial effects of the Cool Little Kids parenting group programme in reducing shy/inhibited preschool children's internalising distress at school entry dissipated over time, perhaps due to low engagement. Future translational research on early prevention of internalising problems could benefit from screening preschool children in the population at higher risk (combining temperamental inhibition and parent distress) and incorporating motivational techniques to facilitate family engagement. Trial registration ISRCTN30996662 http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN30996662. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim was to determine outcomes in the first year of school of a population‐delivered parenting program to prevent internalising problems in temperamentally inhibited preschool children and predictors of engagement in parenting groups. Method: Design: Randomised controlled trial. Setting: 307 preschool services across eight socio‐economically diverse government areas in Melbourne, Australia. Participants: 545 parents of inhibited 4‐year‐old children; 469 (86%) retained at two‐year follow‐up. Intervention: Cool Little Kids program. Primary outcomes were child internalising symptoms and anxiety disorders. Secondary outcomes were parenting, parent well‐being and engagement. Trial registration ISRCTN30996662 http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN30996662. Results: In the first year of school (M (SD) age 6.7 (0.4) years), child anxiety symptoms were reduced in the intervention versus control arm (PAS‐R M (SD): total 36.2 (17.2) versus 39.4 (18.5); adjusted difference −3.26, 95% CI −6.46 to −0.05, p =.047; specific fears 9.1 (6.2) versus 10.7 (6.8), adjusted difference −1.53; 95% CI −2.69 to −0.38, p =.009). However, there was little difference in broader child internalising (CMFWQ M (SD): 2.2 (0.5) versus 2.3 (0.6); adjusted difference −0.03, 95% CI −0.13 to 0.06, p =.489) or anxiety disorders (37.6% vs. 42.6%; adjusted OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.53 to 1.18, p =.242). Lower income, younger mothers, less educated and more culturally diverse fathers engaged less with the intervention. Continued skills practice was less frequent for parents of girls and in advantaged neighbourhoods. Conclusions: There were population effects of Cool Little Kids in the first year of school for anxiety symptoms but not disorders. Considering motivation techniques to engage subgroups of families would be helpful in translation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]