New Test For Speech Disorders

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone!

A very Safe and Happy New Year to you and your families! I came

across the following and was wondering if any of you are familiar

with the following test. My 5 year old son Tanner (who was diagnosed

with oral and verbal apraxia/ mild SI and mild hypotonia, even though

you would not know it much now after over 2 years of EFAs and

therapy) still drops the " little " words many times, and I've noticed

that so do most apraxic children. Like they say in the following

article -I describe it as sounding like baby talk, which is

understandable-and I'm happy about that-but I keep getting assured

(and believe me I ask again and again) there is not much more we can

do for Tanner he's coming along so well-and just give it time. I've

told people I felt that because Tanner's doing better faster than

most apraxic children due to the 2 years of EFAs that so obviously

work wonders for him -maybe most can't answer my questions, you know,

kind of like I hit a paradigm shift with my own son and now what?

Wait for others to be in the same stage with all the other up and

coming apraxic children now on EFAs and then because of future demand

more research will be done as to what is best for this " stage " ? That

would take too long! Then I found this article. For that reason, I

thought some of you may find this of interest too-especially those of

you who have apraxic children coming along really well with speech -

but there is still " something " . It's frustrating to wait till they

speak-then sometimes it's still frustrating (but not as bad) when

they start to speak-but it's just not quite there, yet.

November 16, 2001

KU researcher develops test to diagnose language disability

LAWRENCE -- " Yesterday she walk to my house. " In a 5-year-old child,

failure to use the past tense is one indication of a condition called

Specific Language Impairment, or SLI, a disability that likely would

go undiagnosed by traditional language testing.

But now a University of Kansas faculty member is one of two

scientists who developed the first diagnostic test designed

specifically for the significant learning and communication

disability.

Mabel Rice, director of the Child Language Doctoral Program and

distinguished professor of speech-language-hearing at KU, and

Wexler, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have developed the Rice/Wexler

Test of Early Grammatical Impairment. The test is designed to

diagnose children ages 3 through 8 and can be administered by

clinicians within an hour using books and toys.

Based on years of research supported by the National Institutes of

Health, the test identifies disabilities that are often overlooked

but that pose barriers to learning and communication through

adulthood. Specific Language Impairment affects approximately 7.6

percent of 5-year-olds.

" In the early years, it is easy to dismiss the condition as baby

talk, but in kindergarten, a child with SLI clearly does not have

mastery of language, " Rice said.

Even then, a child may not be referred for extra help because

traditional tests are not designed with this unique impairment in

mind.

It is difficult to pinpoint SLI. In many ways, the child speaks

accurately and does not fall neatly into the category of a late

talker, according to Rice. " Certain patterns in her grammar mark the

impairment, " Rice explained.

For example, a child will frequently drop " do " and " be " from verb

phrases. Instead of asking " Does he like me? " she will ask " He like

me? " The past tense of verbs also may be dropped, especially " -ed. "

" Waiting for children to outgrow this pattern is not helpful because

it involves more than just a delay in their development, " Rice

said. " In fact, it may have a genetic cause. "

Rice looks for a genetic link in SLI through studies of twins and

families.

SLI is a disorder that scientists are just beginning to understand,

with the first significant research emerging in the 1980s.

Children with SLI have normal intelligence and do not suffer from

hearing loss, emotional problems or neurological impairments. Only a

small number of children have difficulty with articulation. But an

altered sense of language can hinder learning and reading as the

child grows. Rice also believes that SLI results in low-level

language performance in adulthood.

" Early diagnosis and treatment are critical for future success, " she

said.

Rice has one of the broadest experiences with children and language

disorders in the United States. Her team of researchers has been

traveling across Kansas for nine years interviewing children as they

reach age 3 and returning periodically to test the children's

progress through their 8th year. This research will be extended to

track the same children to age 13, making it one of only two SLI

projects in the nation that can draw upon years of data from the same

population. The broad scope of this study has allowed researchers to

decode the sentence structures of children affected by SLI.

The test is available through the Psychological Corp. in San ,

Texas. For more information, see

www.psychcorp.com/catalogs/sla/slaf011atpc.htm.

The Child Language Doctoral Program is one of more than 100 programs

in KU's Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, which serves

rural and urban Kansans through research-based solutions to the

problems of human development and disability.

http://www.ur.ku.edu/News/01N/NovNews/Nov16/sli.html

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Here's to more good news in the new year! (The apraxia 1/2 hour TV

special with professionals, parents and children from CHERAB is being

filmed January 10th and airing January 14th -stay tuned!!)