Multiple Linguistic Influences on Literacy in Children with Language Impairment

描述(由申请人提供)：语言技能，如在记忆中形成、存储和获取完整的书面文字的心理图形表示的能力(初始正字法知识获取)，以及操纵和组合能够承载意义的最小语言单位的能力(形态意识)，可能对语言障碍儿童(LI)的早期识字成功做出显著而独特的贡献。这些技能已被证明对典型儿童的识字成功具有独特而显著的预测作用(Apel，Wolter，&Masterson；2006；Deacon&Kirby；Hamill，2004；Wolter，Wood，&D‘zatko，2009)。最近，初步的正字法知识习得被发现与学习障碍儿童的识字成功有关(Wolter&Apel，2010；Wolter，Self，&Apel，2011)，一项元分析的结果被证明对提高阅读、学习或语言障碍儿童的阅读能力非常重要(Goodwin&Ahn，2010)。本研究的具体目的是确定：1)幼儿园第二学期时，有无学习障碍儿童是否表现出拼写知识和/或形态意识的使用；2)学习障碍儿童和典型语言儿童在获得初始正字法知识和形态意识方面的潜在差异；3)学习障碍儿童和学习英语儿童在幼儿园和一年级的阅读和拼写能力是否受到初始正字法知识习得和形态意识的独特影响。100名幼儿园儿童将被招募参加这项拟议的研究(50名LI儿童，50名TL儿童)。LI将通过语言测试确认，TL儿童将按年级匹配。将执行由PI及其同事开发和发布的正字法知识测量(Wolter&Apel，2010)，以及由PI改编和发布的两个非标准化形态认知任务(例如，Wolter，Wood，D‘zatko，2009)。此外，还将评估语音意识、阅读、拼写和工作记忆技能。这些措施将首先在幼儿园第二学期实施，然后在随后的一年级学年再次实施。通过卡方检验、单因素方差分析、相关分析和回归分析，确定具有Li证据、正字法知识和/或形态意识的儿童在这些语言测量上的表现是否与TL儿童显著不同，以及这些语言技能是否对识字能力有独特的贡献。如果这些技能被认为在LI儿童中不那么强健，并且对识字成功具有独特的预测作用，那么这些发现可能会导致对LI儿童进行更全面的早期预测识字筛查。识字筛查有助于识别与LI相关的特定识字缺陷，可能有助于将儿童安置在适当的早期补救计划中，旨在最大限度地减少或消除识别出的缺陷的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The linguistic skills such as the ability to form, store, and access complete mental graphemic representations of written words in memory (initial orthographic knowledge acquisition) and the ability to manipulate and combine the smallest units of language capable of carrying meaning (morphological awareness) may significantly and uniquely contribute to early literacy success for children with language impairment (LI). These skills have been documented to be uniquely and significantly predictive of literacy success in typical children (Apel, Wolter, & Masterson; 2006; Deacon & Kirby; Hammill, 2004; Wolter, Wood, & D'zatko, 2009). Recently initial orthographic knowledge acquisition was found to be associated with literacy success in children with LI (Wolter & Apel, 2010; Wolter, Self, & Apel, 2011) and findings from a meta-analysis proved significantly important in improving the literacy abilities for children with impairments in reading, learning, or language (Goodwin & Ahn, 2010). The specific aims of this research are to determine: 1) whether or not children with and without LI, as early as second semester kindergarten, demonstrate the use of orthographic knowledge and/or morphological awareness; 2) potential differences between kindergarten children with LI and those with typical language (TL) for how they acquire initial orthographic knowledge and morphological awareness; and 3) whether initial orthographic knowledge acquisition and morphological awareness uniquely influence reading and spelling abilities in children with LI and those with TL in kindergarten and first grade. One hundred kindergarten children will be recruited for the proposed study (50 with LI, 50 with TL). LI status will be confirmed with language testing and TL children will be matched by grade. An orthographic knowledge measure developed and published by the PI and colleagues (Wolter & Apel, 2010), and two nonstandardized morphological awareness tasks adapted and published by the PI (e.g., Wolter, Wood, D'zatko, 2009) will be administered. In addition, phonological awareness, reading, spelling, and working memory skills will be assessed. These measures will be initially administered in the second semester of kindergarten and again in the subsequent first-grade school year. Chi Square, ANOVA, correlation, and regression analyses will be conducted to determine whether children with LI evidence orthographic knowledge and/or morphological awareness, perform significantly different on these linguistic measures than children with TL, and whether those linguistic skills contribute unique variance on literacy. If these skills are foud to be less robust in children with LI and uniquely predictive of literacy success, then these findings may lead to a more all-encompassing early predictive literacy screening measure for those children with LI. A literacy screening that helps to identify the specific literacy deficit associated with LI may help with placement of children in the appropriate early remedial programs designed to minimize or eliminate the effects of the identified deficit.