Table 1 - uploaded by Maurice Y Mommaerts
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Source publication
For the early detection of children who are at risk of communication problems, we need appropriate assessment instruments. Two Dutch-language standardised screening instruments are available: the Dutch version of the Non Speech Test (NNST) and the Dutch version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (N-CDIs). These instruments gauge...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... list includes a total of 37 items that are divided between the four categories: (A) Communicative intentions (17 items in EPV1 and 18 items in EPV2), (B) Response to communication (8 items in EPV1 and 7 items in EPV2), (C) Interactions and conversations (6 items in EPV1 and 7 items in EPV2); and (D) Contextual vari- ations (6 items in EPV1 and 5 items in EPV2). Table 1 enumerates all the pragmatic skills that are evaluated by the EPV1 and/or EPV2. ...
Context 2
... this paper we only report the observed levels of significant correlations that provide the key evidence for concurrent validity of the EPVs, but all details and full tables are available from the authors. As table 11 shows, correlations for EPV1 were largely moderate to strong, indicating good concurrent valid- ity. Correlations were high (r = 0.70-0.80) ...
Context 3
... in on specific items of the EPV1, we see some interesting correlations, for example for item A8 (Giving meaning/naming something) and item 31 (In- terest in booklets) and the other instruments. Table 12 shows that the EPV1 item A8 correlates moderately (r = 0.46-0.69) to highly (r = 0.70-0.75) with all sub-scores for the N-CDI/W&G and NNST. ...
Context 4
... 10;00-16;00 months (n = 28) A8 specific items/components show closer relations, for ex- ample item A8 (Giving meaning/naming something). In table 15 we see moderate correlations (r = 0.47-0.63) between EPV2 item A8.7 (Giving mean- ing/naming something, by using existing words) and almost all components of the other two instruments. ...
Citations
... The estimated population of Social Communication Disorders in pre-school age children is 7.5% with a ratio of boys: girls (Swine-ford et al., 2014) whereas according to Cocquyt et al. (2015) Social Communication Disorders occur in 5-10% of children under 6 years of age. Miranda et al. (2019) re-ported as much as 7% with a ratio between men: women, with ratios ranging from 2.8: 1 to 4.8: 1. ...
... A recent meta-analysis of 23 studies focusing on maltreated (neglected and/or physically abused) children also confirmed that neglected children under the age of 12 had lower skill levels than their non-neglected peers in terms of language comprehension and expression (Sylvestre, Bussières, & Bouchard, 2016). This meta-analysis also indicated that maltreated children exhibited difficulties with pragmatic skills, that is, the way they used language in a social and communicative context (Cocquyt, Mommaerts, Dewart, & Zink, 2015). In their discussion, the authors of this meta-analysis mentioned that greater difficulties with pragmatic skills were expected for neglected children compared to abused children ( Sylvestre et al., 2016). ...
... Although definitions of pragmatics vary, most refer to the ability to use language appropriately in social interactions and real communication contexts with others (Bates, 1976;Cocquyt et al., 2015;O'Neill, 2007;Owens, 2012). This language component goes beyond understanding and expressing the more formal aspects of language (i.e., basic word meanings in correct grammatical forms) (Cocquyt et al., 2015;Turkstra et al., 2017). ...
... Although definitions of pragmatics vary, most refer to the ability to use language appropriately in social interactions and real communication contexts with others (Bates, 1976;Cocquyt et al., 2015;O'Neill, 2007;Owens, 2012). This language component goes beyond understanding and expressing the more formal aspects of language (i.e., basic word meanings in correct grammatical forms) (Cocquyt et al., 2015;Turkstra et al., 2017). Studies including an examination of the pragmatic skills of preschool-aged children typically focus on the children's ability to use language for different purposes or communicative intentions (e.g., asking, arguing, suggesting); change or adapt their language register to the listener or context; and conversational skills (e.g., balanced turn-taking and showing interest in others during conversations) (Ciccia, 2011;O'Neill, 2007;Turkstra et al., 2017). ...
The goals of this study were twofold: (1) to compare the pragmatic language skills (i.e., social communication skills) of 42-month-old neglected children with those of same-aged non-neglected children and (2) to measure the prevalence of pragmatic difficulties among the neglected children. The study sample was composed of 45 neglected and 95 non-neglected 42-month-old French-speaking children. The Language Use Inventory: French (LUI-French) was completed with all parents. This measure, comprised of 159 scored items divided into 10 subscales, was used to assess the children’s pragmatic skills. The 10th percentile on the LUI-French (95% confidence interval) was used to identify children with pragmatic difficulties. The neglected children had lower scores than the non-neglected children on all 10 dimensions of pragmatics evaluated (p <.01), as well as lower LUI-French Total Scores (p <.001). The effect sizes of these differences varied between 0.84 and 2.78. Forty-four percent of the neglected children presented significant pragmatic difficulties compared to 4.2% of their non-neglected peers (p <.001). It can be concluded that exposure to neglect significantly compromises children’s pragmatic skills. These results support the need for interventions geared toward neglected children and their families to support the early development of their pragmatic skills.
Objective:
An individual's articulation of pragmatic language development (PLD) signifies successful social interaction with others. Therefore, it is important to detect early pragmatic language impairment (PLI), whether as a primary disorder or as a symptom of other neurodevelopmental disorders. This study reports on validating the Arabic version of the Pragmatic Language Skills Inventory (A-PLSI).
Methods:
The PLSI was subjected to various validation stages before the A-PLSI was created. To assess PLD in preschoolers with and without psychiatric histories, 264 preschoolers were assessed in several cities in Saudi Arabia by their teachers and speech-language pathologists.
Results:
The results of this study included three key findings. First, the established psychometric features, including construct validity, criterion-related validity, and (confirmatory) factor analysis, all reported a high level of measurability to consider the A-PLSI a valid instrument for assessing PLD in school settings and diagnosing PLI in clinical settings. Second, the A-PLSI provided empirical evidence by identifying children with and without PLI, documenting their progress on pragmatic language ability, and distinguishing between preschool children in school and clinical settings. In addition, the A-PLSI approved the typical norm that the older the children, the higher their level of PLD: the data showed higher performance for children aged 6-7 compared to the lower PLD level of children aged 4-5.
Conclusion:
The present study contributes to the existing literature on PLD assessment in a school setting and PLI diagnosis in a clinical setting. More importantly, it adds a new validated tool to the few available instruments in Arabic to assess PLD and diagnose PLI in Arabian contexts.
Résumé CONTEXTE. La négligence, forme la plus fréquente de maltraitance manifestée envers les jeunes enfants, est fortement susceptible de compromettre le développement langagier de ces derniers. La pragmatique, qui est une composante langagière renvoyant aux aspects sociaux et relationnels du langage, est particulièrement sensible aux perturbations sévères de la relation parent-enfant qui caractérisent la négligence. Malgré leur rôle central dans le développement des autres composantes du langage, dans la participation sociale et dans leur réussite scolaire ultérieure des enfants, peu d'études ont porté sur les habiletés pragmatiques des enfants négligés. Aucune d'entre elles ne s'est intéressée aux comportements parentaux qui pourraient être associés à ces habiletés pragmatiques. OBJECTIFS. Cette thèse a pour objectif principal d'étudier la relation entre les comportements parentaux adoptés lors d'interactions parent-enfant et le niveau de développement des habiletés pragmatiques du langage chez des enfants négligés âgés de 42 mois. Quatre objectifs spécifiques en découlent, soit: 1-comparer le niveau de développement des habiletés pragmatiques chez des enfants négligés et non négligés âgés de 42 mois; 2-mesurer la prévalence des difficultés pragmatiques chez les enfants négligés à cet âge; 3-comparer les comportements de parents négligents et non négligents dans les quatre domaines de l'interaction parent-enfant qui sont associés au développement langagier des enfants (Réponse à l'enfant, Contrôle, Soutien aux apprentissages, Affect); et 4-étudier la relation entre ces comportements parentaux et le niveau de développement des habiletés pragmatiques chez des enfants négligés âgés de 42 mois. MÉTHODES. Pour répondre aux deux premiers objectifs de cette thèse, l'échantillon est composé de 45 enfants négligés et 95 enfants non négligés âgés de 42 mois. Le niveau de développement des habiletés pragmatiques des enfants a été mesuré à l'aide du Language Use Inventory : Français (Pesco et O'Neill, 2016), un questionnaire standardisé complété en entrevue avec les parents lors d'une rencontre à leur domicile. Pour répondre aux troisième et quatrième objectifs, seuls les enfants du premier échantillon vivant dans leur famille biologique (n = 21) ont été retenus. L'interaction parent-enfant a été filmée lors d'une période de jeu libre, lors de la même visite à domicile. Les comportements parentaux adoptés au sein de ces interactions ont ensuite été observés et codés à l'aide de l'outil iii Comportements observés du parent en interaction avec l'enfant (COPI: Sylvestre, Di Sante, Brassart et Leblond, 2019). RÉSULTATS. La proportion d'enfants négligés présentant des difficultés pragmatiques à l'âge de 42 mois est largement plus élevée que celle chez leurs pairs non négligés du même âge. Les parents négligents se distinguent des parents non négligents sur la majorité des comportements associés au développement langagier des enfants, en particulier ceux relatifs à la Réponse à l'enfant. Des relations significatives sont identifiées entre la réciprocité parentale et le niveau de développement des habiletés pragmatiques des enfants négligés. Certains autres comportements parentaux, notamment la stimulation des apprentissages et le plaisir manifesté par le parent dans le cadre de l'interaction avec l'enfant, entretiennent également des relations marginalement significatives avec le niveau de développement pragmatique présenté par ce sous-groupe d'enfants. CONCLUSION. Les résultats de cette thèse confirment l'importance de la prévalence des difficultés pragmatiques manifestées par les enfants négligés pendant la période de la petite enfance. Ils permettent une meilleure compréhension des liens entre les comportements parentaux adoptés dans l'interaction parent-enfant en contexte de négligence et la présence de difficultés pragmatiques. Ces résultats appuient l'importance d'intervenir de façon précoce en agissant directement sur le développement des habiletés pragmatiques des enfants négligés et en favorisant l'adoption de certains comportements parentaux qui y sont associés. De telles interventions pourraient favoriser la capacité des enfants à utiliser le langage socialement, laquelle est centrale à leur développement et leur bien-être.
Resumen
El objetivo de este trabajo se centra en la traducción al castellano, y la adaptación para su uso como cuestionario, de la escala para la evaluación del desarrollo pragmático The Pragmatic Profile (Dewart y Summers, 1995), así como el análisis de sus propiedades psicométricas. La escala se administró a 185 niños/as de edades comprendidas entre los seis y 48 meses. Los resultados del Análisis Discriminante y el Análisis Factorial realizado muestran una alta fiabilidad de la prueba, una gran capacidad para clasificar a los niños/as de diferentes grupos de edad y una estructura prácticamente unifactorial. Se proporcionan baremos por edades y se discute acerca de la falta de correspondencia entre el modelo teórico original de tres ejes y el prácticamente unifactorial que se deriva del Análisis Factorial.
Background and aims:
Very young children have a relatively high prevalence of morbidity and mortality. Health care and supportive technology has improved but may require difficult choices and decisions regarding the allocation of these resources in this age group. Cost-effective analysis (CEA) can inform these decisions and thus measurement of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is becoming increasingly important. However, the components of HRQoL are likely to be specific to infants and young children. This study aimed to develop a bank of items to inform the possible development of a new proxy report instrument.
Methods:
A review of the literature was done to define the concepts, generate items and identify measures that might be an appropriate starting point of reference. The items generated from the cognitive interviews and systematic review were subsequently pruned by experts in the field of HRQoL and paediatrics over two rounds of a Delphi study.
Results:
Based on the input from the different sources, the greatest need for a new HRQoL measure was in the 0-3-year age group. The item pool identified from the literature consisted of 36 items which was increased to 53 items after the cognitive interviews. The ranking of items from the first round of the Delphi study pruned this pool to 28 items for consideration. The experts further reduced this pool to 15 items for consideration in the second round. The experts also recommended that items could be merged due to their similar nature or construct. This process allowed for further reduction of items to 11 items which showed content validity and no redundancy.
Conclusion:
The need for an instrument to measure appropriate aspects of HRQoL in infants and young children became apparent as items included in existing measures did not cover the required spectrum. The identification of the final items was based on a sound conceptual model, acceptability to stakeholders and consideration of the observability of the item selected. The pruned item bank of 11 items needs to be subject to further testing with the target population to ensure validity and reliability before a new measure can be developed.
The study was designed to investigate pragmatic development and the ability to make comments/questions on social and non-social topics in Italian-speaking children aged 18–47 months. Parents of 190 children completed an adaptation of the Language Use Inventory into Italian. Overall, the children’s performance on the subscales of the LUI-Italian investigating verbal communication increased, while the score on gestural subscales, with both an imperative and a declarative function, decreased with age. Specific analyses of comments and questions about things, self and other people showed specific age-related differences. No main gender effect was found, but an interaction of gender × age group is discussed. The article concludes with limitations and guidelines for future research.
