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Purpose: The graphic symbol is the foundation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for many preliterate individuals; however, research has focused primarily on static graphic symbol sequences despite mainstream commercial technologies such as animation. The goal of this study was to compare static and animated symbol sequences across receptive communication outcome measures and psycholinguistic features (e.g., word frequency). Method: A counterbalanced, 2 × 2 × 2 mixed design was used to investigate the effects of symbol format (animated and static), first condition (animated or static), and first experimental task (identification or labeling) on identification accuracy and labeling accuracy of graphic symbol sequences (five symbols) in 24 children with typical development ages 7 and 8 years old. Additionally, three 2 × 2 repeated-measures analyses of variance were conducted using symbol format (animated and static) and (a) word frequency (low, high), (b) imageability (low, high), and (c) concreteness (low, high). Results: In addition to superior identification and labeling accuracy of animated sequences, a significant interaction between symbol format and the first condition was observed for both experimental tasks. When the animation format was the first condition, then the children's performance improved in the subsequent static condition. Finally, word frequency, imageability, and concreteness ratings for all verbs and prepositions had significant effects on labeling accuracy of verbs and prepositions. Significant interactions between symbol format and psycholinguistic features were also found. For example, highly imageable, animated verbs were labeled with greater accuracy when compared with all other variables. Conclusions: Animation technology appears to alleviate some of the burden associated with word- and sentence-level outcomes in children with typical development. Moreover, animation appears to reduce the effects of psycholinguistic features such as word frequency and imageability by increasing the transparency of the symbol. Given the increase in research in this area, speech-language pathologists may consider adopting animated graphic symbols on a case-by-case basis as a tool to augment the learning of word classes in which movement is integral to comprehension.

The Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL) theory predicts that [coronal] is the language universal default place of articulation for phonemes. This assumption has been consistently supported with adult behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data; however, this underspecification claim has not been tested in developmental populations. The purpose of this study was to determine whether children demonstrate [coronal] underspecification patterns similar to those of adults. Two English consonants differing in place of articulation, [labial] /b/ and [coronal] /d/, were presented to 24 children (ages 4–6 years) characterized by either a typically developing phonological system (TD) or a phonological disorder (PD). Two syllables, /bɑ/ and /dɑ/, were presented in an ERP oddball paradigm where both syllables served as the standard and deviant stimulus in opposite stimulus sets. Underspecification was examined with three analyses: traditional mean amplitude measurements, cluster-based permutation tests, and single-trial general linear model (GLM) analyses of single-subject data. Contrary to previous adult findings, children with PD demonstrated a large positive mismatch response (PMR) to /bɑ/ while the children with TD exhibited a negative mismatch response (MMN); significant group differences were not observed in the /dɑ/ responses. Moreover, the /bɑ/ deviant ERP response was significantly larger in the TD children than in the children with PD. At the single-subject level, more children demonstrated mismatch responses to /dɑ/ than to /bɑ/, though some children had a /bɑ/ mismatch response and no /dɑ/ mismatch response. While both groups of children demonstrated similar responses to the underspecified /dɑ/, their neural responses to the more specified /bɑ/ varied. These findings are interpreted within a proposed developmental model of phonological underspecification, wherein children with PD are functioning at a developmentally less mature stage of phonological acquisition than their same-aged TD peers. Thus, phonological underspecification is a phenomenon that likely develops over time with experience and exposure to language.

Purpose Standardized norm-referenced tests are an important aspect of language assessment for school-age children. This study explored the language test selection practices of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with elementary school children suspected of having developmental language disorder. Specifically, we investigated which tests were most commonly selected as clinicians' first-choice and follow-up tests, which factors impacted their test selection decisions, and what sources of information they used to determine the psychometric quality of tests. Method School-based SLPs completed a web-based questionnaire regarding their use of norm-referenced language tests. A total of 370 elementary school SLPs completed the questionnaire. Results The vast majority of participants indicated that omnibus language tests are their first choice of test. For follow-up tests, participants selected semantics tests, especially single-word vocabulary tests, significantly more often than tests of pragmatics, processing skills, and morphology/syntax. Participants identified multiple factors as affecting test selection, including availability, familiarity, psychometric features, and others. Although more SLPs reported using data-based than subjective sources of information to judge the psychometric quality of tests, a substantial proportion reported that they relied on subjective sources. Conclusions Clinicians have a strong preference for using omnibus language tests. Follow-up test selection does not appear to align with the language difficulties most associated with developmental language disorder. The substantial use of subjective information about psychometric qualities of tests suggests that many SLPs may not attend to the technical meanings of terms such as validity, reliability, and diagnostic accuracy. These results indicate a need for improvement in evidence-based language assessment practices. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13022471

Although very young children seem to process ongoing language quickly and effortlessly, neuroimaging and behavioral studies reveal that children continue to mature in their language skills through adolescence. During this prolonged development, children likely engage the same basic cognitive processes and neural mechanisms to perform language tasks as adults, but in somewhat different ways. In this study we used time frequency analysis of EEG to identify developmental differences in the engagement of neural oscillations between children (ages 10-12) and adults while listening to naturally-paced sentences. Adults displayed consistent beta changes throughout the sentence compared to children, thought to be related to efficient syntactic integration, and children displayed more broadly distributed theta changes than adults, thought to be related to more effortful semantic integration. Few differences in alpha, related to verbal working memory, existed between groups. These findings shed new light on developmental changes in the neuronal processes underlying language comprehension.

Purpose The authors examine how adults use linguistic information from verbs, direct objects, and particles to interpret an event description as encoding a logical endpoint to the event described (in which case, it is telic) or not (in which case, it is atelic). Current models of aspectual composition predict that quantity-sensitive verbs combined with quantized objects produce telic predicates. Behavioral results from previous experiments have not unequivocally confirmed this prediction. The study presents a more fine-grained analysis that examines the influence of partitive verbs, resultative particles, and different determiner types on listeners' evaluations of verb phrases as telic or atelic. Method Forty-eight English-speaking adults participated in a truth-value judgment task to determine whether they interpreted verb phrases with different types of verbs and direct objects as telic or atelic. Participants viewed short videos and responded to a yes/no question after each one. Results The presence of partitive quantity-sensitive verbs and the presence of a definite determiner versus a cardinal number in quantized direct objects had a differential impact on listeners' interpretations of sentences as telic. Conclusion The results indicate that actual behavioral interpretations of telicity are meaningfully influenced by the presence of partitive verbs, resultative particles, and different types of determiners.

Semantic mastery includes quickly identifying object and action referents in the environment. Given the relational nature of action verbs compared to object nouns, how do these processes differ in children and adults? To address this question the Event Related Potentials (EPRs) of 8–9 year olds and adults were recorded as they performed a picture-matching task in which a noun (chair) or verb (sit) was followed by a picture of an object and action (a man sitting in a chair). Adults and children displayed similar central N400 congruency effects in response to objects and actions. Developmental differences were revealed in the N300. Adults displayed N300 differences between congruent and incongruent items for both objects and actions. Children, however, exhibited an N300 congruency effect only for objects, indicating that although object noun representations may be adult-like, action verb representations continue to solidify through middle childhood. Surprisingly, adults also exhibited a posterior congruency effect that was not found in children. This is similar to the late positive component (LPC) reported by other studies of semantic picture processing, but the lack of such a response in children raises important questions about the development of semantic integration.

Purpose Our understanding of test construction has improved since the now-classic review by McCauley and Swisher (1984). The current review article examines the psychometric characteristics of current single-word tests of speech sound production in an attempt to determine whether our tests have improved since then. It also provides a resource that clinicians may use to help them make test selection decisions for their particular client populations. Method Ten tests published since 1990 were reviewed to determine whether they met the 10 criteria set out by McCauley and Swisher (1984), as well as 7 additional criteria. Results All of the tests reviewed met at least 3 of McCauley and Swisher's (1984) original criteria, and 9 of 10 tests met at least 5 of them. Most of the tests met some of the additional criteria as well. Conclusions The state of the art for single-word tests of speech sound production in children appears to have improved in the last 30 years. There remains, however, room for improvement.