Purpose: Speech sound disorder (SSD) is one of the major speech disorders in school-age children. Given the heterogeneity in terms of subtypes within SSD, there is a need to develop techniques for a quick identification of these subtypes. Furthermore, given the paucity of studies from children with SSD from Cantonese-speaking homes and a noted…

The poor academic performance and literacy level of deaf learners in Namibia are a major concern, and it is necessary to understand the center of the situation. Even though deaf learners can become proficient readers and writers, the challenge remains in finding an appropriate instructional approach to attain these results. This presents an even…

Music has been shown to improve social interaction and attention to verbal stimuli in autism. We report a feasibility randomised controlled trial of an online intervention using music-assisted programmes, compared with best-practice treatment (Social Communication Intervention for Pre-schoolers-Intensive) for language learning in preschool…

Background: Within cohorts of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) there is considerable variation in terms of language ability. In the past, it was believed that children with ASD either had delayed articulation and phonology skills or excelled in those areas compared to other language domains. Very little is known about speech sound…

The home language environment is a significant correlate of early childhood development outcomes; however, less is known about this mechanism in rural and peri-urban China where rates of developmental delay are as high as 52%. This study examines associations between the home language environment and child development in a sample of 158 children…

Purpose: The current investigation evaluated the extent to which early noun, verb, and adjective lexicon sizes predicted later grammatical outcomes in Mandarin-speaking children with and without late language emergence (LLE) using a parent report. Method: In Study 1, the parents of 24 Mandarin-speaking children with typical language filled out the…

Background: Oral language competence provides children with an essential foundation for academic achievement and emotional well-being, yet many children enter school with delayed language and those living in economically disadvantaged areas are at disproportionate risk of experiencing language difficulties. A tiered system, offering high-quality…

Background: The current literature suggests a link between dummy (or pacifier) use and a number of both positive and detrimental consequences. Positive consequences include soothing effect and protection from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), while negative ones include increased risk of otitis media and dental malformation. However, there is…

Purpose: While most of the children who are identified as late talkers at the age of 2 years catch up with their peers before school age, some continue to have language difficulties and will later be identified as having developmental language disorder. Our understanding of which children catch up and which do not is limited. The aim of the…

This study sought to assess the social validity of "It Takes Two to Talk (ITTT)"®--the Hanen Program for parents, delivered to families of children with language delays in Valencia, Spain. Social validity was assessed using a multi-method approach--questionnaires (filled out by the parents) and a focus group--at different times during…

Supportive parent-child interactions are critical for facilitating typically developing children's language and social skill development. For children who are late-to-talk, parent-child interactions may be particularly important to address as a means of supporting growth in children's early language abilities. Target Word is one parent-implemented…

This study examined the effectiveness of the "Thrive by Three" intervention for 1- to 3-year-old's language development. Data from 78 childcare centres, 187 toddler classrooms, and 1561 children (91.4% native Norwegian) were included. Results revealed that children in the intervention group had slightly steeper language development than…

Given the rich bound morphology of Spoken Arabic, an attempt was made here to construct a developmental measure corresponding to the mean length utterance (MLU) in English and to morpheme-per-utterance (MPU) in Hebrew. The adaptation to Arabic resulted in a new measurement termed Arabic-MPU, that was experimentally tested on a sample of 98…

Background: Difficulties in language development are related to social and emotional problems, lower academic outcomes, and lower quality of life from childhood to adolescence. These grave consequences might be significantly reduced by timely identification and professional support. The introduction of systematic screening for language delay (LD)…

Background: Speech-language pathology (SLP) in China, referred to as 'speech rehabilitation', addresses developmental and acquired communication disorders, including language delays, aphasia, and dysphagia. Despite the population exceeding 85 million individuals with communication disabilities, China faces a critical shortage of certified…