The Dynamics of Word Learning in Children with Developmental Language Impairment

在美国，有300多万儿童患有原发性发育性语言障碍，其中许多 他们在社会和学术上因词汇量小而肤浅而处于不利地位。目前，几乎没有 了解黎族人的单词学习过程是如何随着发展而变化的。这 知识库中的严重差距阻碍了词汇干预的设计 发育适中的。此类干预措施的设计是长期目标。海流 目的探讨黎族儿童词汇学习能力随发育时间的变化规律。这个 中心假设是不同年龄段的词汇学习挑战随着词汇学习的不同而不同 情境、要学习单词的成分和基础认知的发展 机械装置。该项目旨在检验这一假设，将患有李氏综合症的儿童与患有李氏综合症的同龄人进行比较 正常的语言发展，因为他们在一周的课程中学习和记住新单词 从六岁开始，每四年一次。这种方法是创新的，因为它脱离了 通过纵向考察学习的现状。该项目涉及两个具体目标：1)建立一个 词汇学习的发展轨迹决定了a)如何学习和 发展随学习情况的不同而不同；b)学习和发展随 要学习的单词的组成部分；以及2)具体说明其背后的认知机制 发展轨迹。预期的贡献是更加细致入微和全面的 理解与李有关的单词学习挑战以及这些挑战是如何变化的 在一个关键时期，也就是正规学校的第一年。这一贡献意义重大，因为它是 期望促进和扩大对单词学习和学习之间的动态交互作用的理解 认知发展。词汇干预目前并不是针对最关键的 由于无知而导致的客户在特定发展水平上的问题方面 关于什么是关键以及什么时候是关键。通过解决这一问题，该项目将提供新的可能性 根据儿童的发展需要量身定做预防和治疗措施。

Primary developmental language impairment (LI) affects over 3 million children in the U.S., many of whom are disadvantaged socially and academically by small and shallow vocabularies. Currently, little is known about how the word learning processes of people with LI changes over development. This critical gap in the knowledge base prevents the design of vocabulary interventions that are developmentally appropriate. The design of such interventions is the long-term goal. The current objective is to discover how the word learning of children with LI changes over developmental time. The central hypothesis is that the challenge of word learning at different ages varies with the word-learning situation, the component of the word to be learned, and the development of underlying cognitive mechanisms. The project designed to test this hypothesis compares children with LI to age-mates with normal language development as they learn and retain new words over the course of one week during each of four years beginning at age six. This approach is innovative because it departs from the status quo by examining learning longitudinally. The project involves two specific aims: 1) to establish a developmental trajectory of word learning associated with LI that determines a) how learning and development vary with the learning situation and b) how learning and development vary with the component of the word to be learned; and 2) to specify the cognitive mechanisms underlying this developmental trajectory. The expected contribution is a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the word learning challenges associated with LI and how these challenges change during a crucial period, the first years of formal schooling. This contribution is significant because it is expected to advance and expand understanding of the dynamic interaction between word learning and cognitive development. Vocabulary interventions are not currently tailored to focus on the most critical aspects of the problem at the given developmental level of the client with LI because of ignorance about what is critical and when. By addressing this issue, this project will offer new possibilities for tailoring preventive and therapeutic interventions in light of the child's developmental needs.