Language Profiles and Narrative Skills in Subclinical Language Children: Implications for Early Screening

Children with language disorders are at risk for poor reading outcomes. However, less is known about "subclinical" children who, despite having standardized test scores within the typically developing range (e.g., scores above an 85), exhibit less developed language skills than their peers. This study examined language metrics obtained from oral narratives of first-grade subclinical children and compared them to those of children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Specifically, we examined the mean length of utterance in words (MLUw), total number of different words (TNDW), moving average Type-Token Ratio (MATTR), and percentage of grammatical utterances (PGU). Results indicated that subclinical children outperformed their DLD peers on MLUw, TNDW, and PGU. There was no significant group difference in MATTR. Additionally, there was a large amount of variability in the subclinical population. These results are the first steps in examining language performance of subclinical children and could provide important clinical information related to early screening measures for risk of later reading difficulties.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Kansas

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Cantrell, Riley

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bridges, Mindy

• Speech therapy
• Language
• Education
• Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
• Early screening
• Language disorders
• narratives
• Subclinical children

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

http://dissertations.umi.com/ku:19694

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/38029