Children--Language

The development of child language within the framework of the family has received increased interest in the past decade. One recent premise is that the use of specific types of language by adults in parent-child dyads affects development. These types of adult language, labeled as directives , are verbal behaviors that communicate to the child that he or she should do, say, or attend to something, and are considered to be related to episodes of joint attention. Posited by this model is that episodes of joint attention lead to greater language development. One type of directive, follow-in, is hypothesized to lead to increased joint attention; while two others, redirectives and introductions , are seen to save either a negative or no role in joint attention, thus making them non-significant or negative in the development of language. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of these specifically defined directives by primary caregivers in adult-toddler dyads and to determine the role each played in episodes of joint attention. Additionally, child engagement outside joint attention episodes was examined with regard to adult directive use. Twenty primary caregiver-toddler dyads participated in the study, with two groups of ten dyads each (at-risk and no risk conditions). Dyads were videotaped at home for one 15-minute session, of which the last 10 minutes were coded for joint attention and child engagement using partial-interval recording. Additionally, each specific directive was tallied and the total number calculated. Results indicated one statistically significant result in the relationship between use of a specific directive (introduction) and number of intervals of child engagement. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the hypothesized model was significantly accurate with regard to the relationship between child engagement and follow-in and introductory directives; however, prediction of intervals of joint attention by type of directive was not significant (p = .487). Additionally, no significance was found in the correlation between directives and joint attention, contradicting the postulated relationship in the model studied. The results of this research suggest that, for use in measuring joint attention, the proposed narrow definitions of directives are not adequate.

Typicality judgments refer to the extent to which items are thought to be typical of their language categories. For example, an apple is a typical fruit, whereas a kiwi is an atypical one. Typicality judgments help reveal a person's level of word knowledge and concept development. The theory of category prototypes (Posner, 1969) gave rise to the assessment of the typicality judgments of children and adults. The two main purposes of this study were to provide typicality norms for learning disabled (LD) children, and to clarify the nature of the differences between learning disabled and nondisabled (NLD) students regarding their word knowledge and categorization skills. A total of 210 subjects participated in the study; 180 were public school children (grades 2, 4, 6) from Palm Beach County, Florida. Half of these students attended part-time classes for the learning disabled while the other half were enrolled in regular classrooms. All children had achieved IQs in the average range of intelligence. The remainder of the subjects (30) were adult college students at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. All subjects were asked to determine whether each of 125 words were category members, and if they were, how well each one exemplified the particular category in question. Categories included birds, clothing, vegetables, fruit, and four-footed animals. Results revealed that the LD children knew the meanings of fewer category items, included fewer appropriate words as category items, and were less adultlike in their rankings of words that were included as category members. Although both LD and NLD children's word rankings became more adultlike with age, the LD children's pattern of progression differed. For LD children, typicality ratings became significantly more adultlike between grades four and six, whereas the NLD subjects demonstrated significantly improved ratings between grades two and four. This different pattern illustrated a developmental lag in word knowledge for the LD children.