Working memory is necessary for a wide variety of cognitive abilities. Developmental work has shown that as working memory capacities increase, so does the ability to successfully perform other cognitive tasks, including language processing. The present work demonstrates the effects of working memory availability on children's language production.…

Purpose: Brain imaging has provided puzzle pieces in the understanding of language. In neurologically healthy populations, the structure of certain brain regions is associated with particular language functions (e.g., semantics, phonology). In studies on focal brain damage, certain brain regions or connections are considered sufficient or…

The study presents research results in the level of phonemic awareness, particularly phonemic analysis and synthesis at children of preschool age in connection with the level of chosen cognitive functions. The study focuses more on the cognitive function of speech, namely active vocabulary and we identify whether the active vocabulary of a…

Purpose: Working memory capacity and language ability modulate speech reception; however, the respective roles of peripheral and cognitive processing are unclear. The contribution of individual differences in these abilities to utilization of spatial cues when separating speech from informational and energetic masking backgrounds in children has…

Many young people with autism spectrum disorder display 'challenging behaviours', characterised by externalising behaviour and self-injurious behaviours. These behaviours can have a negative impact on a young person's well-being, family environment and educational achievement. However, the development of effective interventions requires greater…

Purpose: Data from standardized caregiver questionnaires indicate that children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) frequently exhibit atypical auditory behaviors, including reduced responsivity to spoken stimuli. Another body of evidence suggests that prenatal alcohol exposure may result in auditory dysfunction involving loss of…

Purpose: The purpose of this review article is to describe characteristics of auditory processing disorders (APD) by evaluating the literature in which children with suspected or diagnosed APD were compared with typically developing children and to determine whether APD must be regarded as a deficit specific to the auditory modality or as a…

This paper provides a synthesis of research on the relationship between music and language, drawing on evidence from neuroscience, psychology, sociology and education. It sets out why it has become necessary to justify the role of music in the school curriculum and summarizes the different methodologies adopted by researchers in the field. It…

Background: Research on retelling ability and cognition is limited in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and speech impairment. Aims: To explore the impact of expressive and receptive language, narrative discourse dimensions (Narrative Assessment Profile measures), auditory and visual memory, theory of mind (ToM) and non-verbal cognition on the…

The Woodcock-Johnson-Fourth edition (WJ IV; Schrank, McGrew, & Mather, 2014a) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth edition (WISC-V; Wechsler, 2014) are two of the major tests of cognitive abilities used in school psychology. The complete WJ IV battery includes the Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities (Schrank,…

Children with primary or "specific" language impairment (PLI) demonstrate subtle deficits in non-linguistic cognitive processing skills that may play a causal or contributing role in PLI. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility that short-term treatment of non-linguistic cognitive processing skills improves language abilities…

To what extent does language acquisition recruit domain-general processing mechanisms? In this dissertation, evidence concerning this question is garnered from the study of individual differences in infant speech perception and their predictive value with respect to language development in early childhood. In the first experiment, variation in the…

Down syndrome is the most prevalent cause of intellectual impairment associated with a genetic anomaly, in this case, trisomy of chromosome 21. It affects both physical and cognitive development and produces a characteristic phenotype, although affected individuals vary considerably with respect to severity of specific impairments. Studies…

A model of speech perception and production is suggested here which attempts to account for different rates of acquisition of perceptual and productive skill in the second language without assuming the existence of two separate second language grammars. (Author/KM)

Because listening is a vital part of language learning, listening skills should be developed as a learning mode. Pre-listening skills should be taught just as pre-reading skills are taught. Children in command of the auditory perceptual abilities which contribute most to listening will transfer these abilities to increasingly difficult listening…