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This chapter reviews assessments that examine pragmatic behaviors and skills in children, as well as intervention procedures that can be used to facilitate change in pragmatic abilities. Several formal and informal assessment tools exist... more
This chapter reviews assessments that examine pragmatic behaviors and skills in children, as well as intervention procedures that can be used to facilitate change in pragmatic abilities. Several formal and informal assessment tools exist but very few address more than one pragmatic component. A review of intervention procedures reveals that most of the procedures reported in the literature have the capacity to effect change in pragmatic behaviors. However, many of the intervention studies have been conducted with small numbers of participants, and have a low level of evidence or controls. The chapter concludes with suggested future research topics.
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This prologue introduces an important topic for multiple disciplines involved with children and their families. This introduction includes a review of some of the current literature on the effects of maltreatment and prenatal alcohol... more
This prologue introduces an important topic for multiple disciplines involved with children and their families. This introduction includes a review of some of the current literature on the effects of maltreatment and prenatal alcohol exposure on child development, an explanation of why this topic is essential learning for communication professionals, prevalence figures for the occurrence of these effects, and a summarization of the articles that have been contributed by a cross section of researchers from various disciplines.
Research Interests: Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Medicine, Pregnancy, Humans, and 15 moreChild, Child Abuse, United States, Female, Infant, Developmental disabilities, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Clinical Sciences, Newborn Infant, Prologue, Prenatal Alcohol Exposure, Patient Care Team, Cooperative Behavior, Child preschool, and Prenatal Exposure
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In 2013, issue editors Yvette D. Hyter and Kenyatta O. Rivers, along with two other colleagues, gave an invited lecture at the National Black Association of Speech-Language-Hearing focused on speech act behaviors produced by young African... more
In 2013, issue editors Yvette D. Hyter and Kenyatta O. Rivers, along with two other colleagues, gave an invited lecture at the National Black Association of Speech-Language-Hearing focused on speech act behaviors produced by young African American children (DeJarnette, Hyter, Rivers, & Wyatt, 2013). During the discussion that followed this invited presentation, one of our esteemed mentors and colleagues, Dr. Ida Stockman, called for more published information on the diverse and rich range of pragmatic language behaviors produced by African American children and adolescents. This issue of Topics in Language Disorders (TLD) is in response to that call. We are indebted to Dr. Stockman’s leadership in the area of African American child language and dedicate this issue to her. Much of the literature on the language of African American children and adolescents has focused on the morphosyntactic aspects of African American English (AAE). Less of the extant literature has addressed pragmatic aspects of language, defined generally as the use of language
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ABSTRACT Pragmatic language skills are important for developing relationships with others, and for communicating with a range of interlocutors in a variety of contexts, including preschool and elementary school classrooms. Pragmatic... more
ABSTRACT Pragmatic language skills are important for developing relationships with others, and for communicating with a range of interlocutors in a variety of contexts, including preschool and elementary school classrooms. Pragmatic language difficulties frequently are a primary area of disability for children diagnosed with autism, Asperger's syndrome, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, or with a history of maltreatment, but difficulty in this area also can occur for children who do not have specific developmental disabilities. Assessment is made more complex because pragmatic language skills are manifestations of social and cultural practices learned within historical process of economic, political, and cultural relations. Therefore, it is important for communication professionals to have access to user-friendly tools that can be used efficiently to produce accurate data about many areas of pragmatic language skills. This article provides the conceptual basis and analysis of a new pragmatic language assessment tool being developed for diverse populations in the preschool and early elementary school years.
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Research Interests: Psychology and Anais
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Purpose The purpose of this article is to explain pragmatics from the cultural perspective of African American English speakers by reviewing current research and providing examples of a variety of ...
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The consequences of globalization include advances in technology and greater interactions among nations, as well as unpredictable world events and high levels of voluntary and involuntary movement ...
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Research Interests: Psychology and Sentence
Due to globalization, more opportunities exist for U.S.–based speech-language pathologists and audiologists to provide services to clients from a variety of cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. These opportunities can be a... more
Due to globalization, more opportunities exist for U.S.–based speech-language pathologists and audiologists to provide services to clients from a variety of cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. These opportunities can be a consequence of increasing groups of diverse people migrating to the United States, as well as the availability of more possibilities for members of the communication sciences and disorders professions to travel and provide services in other countries. This article focuses on a study abroad component of a transdisciplinary, transnational curriculum development program designed to explain the effects of global economic and cultural processes on health care, education, language and literacy practices, migration, and food systems in West Africa and in the U.S. Midwest.
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Research Interests: Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Forecasting, Speech Disorders, Language Therapy, and 14 moreMedicine, Comorbidity, Pregnancy, Humans, Child, Child Abuse, Female, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Clinical Sciences, Prenatal Alcohol Exposure, Speech Therapy, Prenatal Exposure, Child behavior disorders, and Language Development Disorders
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Children diagnosed with emotional/behavioral disorders experience expressive and pragmatic language disorders that can negatively affect educational success. This article describes a classroom-based pragmatic language intervention program... more
Children diagnosed with emotional/behavioral disorders experience expressive and pragmatic language disorders that can negatively affect educational success. This article describes a classroom-based pragmatic language intervention program that was conducted with children diagnosed as having an emotional/ behavioral disorder. Results of the program suggested that the classroom-based pragmatic language intervention may have positively influenced the ability of the participants to employ pragmatic skills, such as providing sufficient and detailed information, stating opinions, and using verbal language to negotiate with others.
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This case focuses on the effects of trauma on the language and social pragmatic communication of a 10-year-old girl who was one of the many children separated from familial caregivers between 2016 and 2019 when she and her parents came to... more
This case focuses on the effects of trauma on the language and social pragmatic communication of a 10-year-old girl who was one of the many children separated from familial caregivers between 2016 and 2019 when she and her parents came to the U.S. from Central America seeking asylum due to gang violence and economic reasons. The child spent 8 months in the detention center without her parents and then was transferred to a foster home where she suffered neglect as well as physical and psychological abuse. This case study focuses on the long-term effects of structural violence and maltreatment on child development, and specifically on language and social pragmatic communication.
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This chapter focuses on typical and impaired pragmatic language in African American children and adolescents who speak a language variety called African American English (AAE). Examining the pragmatic aspects of AAE allows us to inspect... more
This chapter focuses on typical and impaired pragmatic language in African American children and adolescents who speak a language variety called African American English (AAE). Examining the pragmatic aspects of AAE allows us to inspect the development and divergence of resilient cultural linguistic traits shaped by historic social, political and economic forces. We will discuss the relationship between pragmatics and culture, then discuss four domains of social pragmatic communication (theory of mind, speech acts, use of prosody and voice, and discourse) as they are manifested in the language of African American children and adolescents. We make a case for approaching social pragmatic language from an emic perspective, not solely an etic perspective, and provide examples of how pragmatic language disorders may be exhibited in speakers of AAE in each of the aforementioned domains.
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This article describes the inter-relatedness and interdependency of social and academic processes and problems in the schooling of black children. Using data collected by the authors, this article demonstrates the usefulness and... more
This article describes the inter-relatedness and interdependency of social and academic processes and problems in the schooling of black children. Using data collected by the authors, this article demonstrates the usefulness and challenges of researching and ameliorating social and academic problems in a low-income, urban community that is in the throes of local, regional, and national economic influx. Implications address
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Purpose Maltreatment is a threat to child health and well-being and negatively influences all aspects of development, including language. Less seems to be known about the consequences that maltreatment has on social pragmatic... more
Purpose Maltreatment is a threat to child health and well-being and negatively influences all aspects of development, including language. Less seems to be known about the consequences that maltreatment has on social pragmatic communication. A systematic review of the literature was performed to summarize existing empirical research on complex trauma (the impact of maltreatment, including abuse and neglect, in the caregiving system) on social pragmatic communication of children and youth. The goal of this review article was to review the empirical evidence of the association between maltreatment and social pragmatic communication profiles of children. Method Research articles published between 1974, when the first comprehensive law of child protection was enacted, and 2020 were reviewed. Seven electronic databases were used to conduct the search for literature using several combined concepts related to social pragmatic communication and maltreatment. The inclusion criteria were that articles addressed any form of maltreatment, included participants aged 18 years or younger, and primarily focused on the impact of maltreatment on social pragmatic communication and that their method and findings were based on an experimental study. Studies were excluded if they were written in a language other than English, focused on adults, did not include the social pragmatic communication and maltreatment concepts, were a systematic review or meta-analysis, or were a theoretical rather than experimental study. A modified version of the Primary Research Appraisal Tool was used to determine key characteristics of each article. Results Thirty-eight articles met inclusion criteria for this study. Findings of these studies provide evidence that maltreatment has an impact on social pragmatic communication including social cognition, perspective taking, and belief attribution; executive functions including working memory; and pragmatic language including narrative discourse and the use of varied communicative functions. Conclusions The major findings have implications for knowledge and skills of speech-language and hearing professionals working with children and adolescents and for the type of assessment and intervention processes used to assess social pragmatic communication. Suggestions for future studies are provided.
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Complex trauma resulting from chronic maltreatment and prenatal alcohol exposure can significantly affect child development and academic outcomes. Children with histories of maltreatment and those with prenatal alcohol exposure exhibit... more
Complex trauma resulting from chronic maltreatment and prenatal alcohol exposure can significantly affect child development and academic outcomes. Children with histories of maltreatment and those with prenatal alcohol exposure exhibit remarkably similar central nervous system impairments. In this article, I will review the effects of each on the brain and discuss clinical implications for these populations of children.
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In 2013, issue editors Yvette D. Hyter and Kenyatta O. Rivers, along with two other colleagues, gave an invited lecture at the National Black Association of Speech-Language-Hearing focused on speech act behaviors produced by young African... more
In 2013, issue editors Yvette D. Hyter and Kenyatta O. Rivers, along with two other colleagues, gave an invited lecture at the National Black Association of Speech-Language-Hearing focused on speech act behaviors produced by young African American children (DeJarnette, Hyter, Rivers, & Wyatt, 2013). During the discussion that followed this invited presentation, one of our esteemed mentors and colleagues, Dr. Ida Stockman, called for more published information on the diverse and rich range of pragmatic language behaviors produced by African American children and adolescents. This issue of Topics in Language Disorders (TLD) is in response to that call. We are indebted to Dr. Stockman’s leadership in the area of African American child language and dedicate this issue to her. Much of the literature on the language of African American children and adolescents has focused on the morphosyntactic aspects of African American English (AAE). Less of the extant literature has addressed pragmatic aspects of language, defined generally as the use of language
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Forty-nine 3- to 5-year-old African American children enrolled in Head Start were assessed using the third edition of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Dunn & Dunn, 1997). Their mean score (86.84, SD = 10.96) was significantly lower... more
Forty-nine 3- to 5-year-old African American children enrolled in Head Start were assessed using the third edition of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Dunn & Dunn, 1997). Their mean score (86.84, SD = 10.96) was significantly lower than the mean for the normative sample, despite the fact that the test's normative sample included minority children. An item analysis revealed that few items were systematically missed by most children. Instead, performance seemed reflective of socioeconomic and/or ethnic patterns of vocabulary usage. Educational and clinical implications are discussed.
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Recently, speech, language, and hearing sciences (SLHS) programs became increasingly aware of structural racism, inequity, and injustice in the professions and world. Although a consistent experience for many people of color, this current... more
Recently, speech, language, and hearing sciences (SLHS) programs became increasingly aware of structural racism, inequity, and injustice in the professions and world. Although a consistent experience for many people of color, this current reality requires scholars and educators to interrogate concepts and employ more transformative concepts fitting for this new era. Concepts are the basis of thought, essential for communication, necessary for building knowledge, and the building blocks of theory. Critical theory was used to conduct a preliminary analysis of five concepts used in SLHS. The concepts were analyzed keeping in mind the historical, political, and cultural influences on how the concepts are used and understood in SLHS. The analysis revealed that these concepts were typically not defined in SLHS literature, and without collective critical reflection, the continued use of those concepts could lead to inequities and/or exclusion. Suggestions for more equitable concepts are provided.
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Purpose to assess the pragmatic and social communicative abilities of children with Typical Language Development (TLD), Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Methods Participants were 40 parents and 29... more
Purpose to assess the pragmatic and social communicative abilities of children with Typical Language Development (TLD), Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Methods Participants were 40 parents and 29 teachers of 40 children ages between 3 and 6 years. Ten children had DLD, ten had ASD and 20 had typical development. All participants answered to the questionnaire of the “Assessment of Pragmatic Language and Social Communication – APLSC – parent and professional reports – beta research version. Data were submitted to statistical analysis. Results The assessment tool was useful in identifying the difference in performance of children with different social communicative profiles. Conclusion Children with ASD presented social and pragmatic impairments that were more significant than those presented by children with DLD. However, both children with ASD and with DLD presented more social pragmatic difficulties than children with TLD.
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Purpose: In this commentary, we offer a critique of “A Viewpoint on Accent Services: Framing and Terminology Matter” (Grover et al., 2022). We argue that the authors' proposal to rename and reframe accent modification lacks... more
Purpose: In this commentary, we offer a critique of “A Viewpoint on Accent Services: Framing and Terminology Matter” (Grover et al., 2022). We argue that the authors' proposal to rename and reframe accent modification lacks criticality, which actually hinders—rather than advances—the movement toward equitable, culturally sustaining, and emancipatory practices. Method: We offer an analysis of the shortfall between the authors' calls for linguistic justice in “A Viewpoint on Accent Services” and the actual changes they proposed. We break down major gaps in criticality, reflexivity, practice, and vision and discuss their potential for undercutting meaningful progress as it relates to linguistic justice. Results: We found that the frameworks for the pursuit of equity, cultural sustenance, and emancipatory practices were misrepresented in the article in such a way that suggests that these goals could be achieved through superficial changes in terminology and attitudes. “A Viewpoi...
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Purpose Maltreatment is a threat to child health and well-being and negatively influences all aspects of development, including language. Less seems to be known about the consequences that maltreatment has on social pragmatic... more
Purpose Maltreatment is a threat to child health and well-being and negatively influences all aspects of development, including language. Less seems to be known about the consequences that maltreatment has on social pragmatic communication. A systematic review of the literature was performed to summarize existing empirical research on complex trauma (the impact of maltreatment, including abuse and neglect, in the caregiving system) on social pragmatic communication of children and youth. The goal of this review article was to review the empirical evidence of the association between maltreatment and social pragmatic communication profiles of children. Method Research articles published between 1974, when the first comprehensive law of child protection was enacted, and 2020 were reviewed. Seven electronic databases were used to conduct the search for literature using several combined concepts related to social pragmatic communication and maltreatment. The inclusion criteria were that ...
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Children diagnosed with emotional/behavioral disorders expe-rience expressive and pragmatic language disorders that can negatively affect educational success. This article describes a classroom-based pragmatic language intervention... more
Children diagnosed with emotional/behavioral disorders expe-rience expressive and pragmatic language disorders that can negatively affect educational success. This article describes a classroom-based pragmatic language intervention program that was conducted with children diagnosed as having an emotional/ behavioral disorder. Results of the program suggested that the classroom-based pragmatic language intervention may have positively influenced the ability of the participants to employ pragmatic skills, such as providing sufficient and detailed infor-mation, stating opinions, and using verbal language to negotiate with others. Over the past 20 years, considerable research has been completed suggesting that 50 % to 80 % of children with lan-guage disorders have co-occurring psychiatric or emotional/
Introduction In any given year, about 3.5 million children in the United States are suspected of having experienced maltreatment resulting in complex trauma involving the exposure to traumatic even...