Caregiver Talk and Medical Risk as Predictors of Language Outcomes in Full Term and Preterm Toddlers

This study examined associations between caregiver talk and language skills in full term (FT) and preterm (PT) children (n = 97). All‐day recordings of caregiver–child interactions revealed striking similarities in amount of caregiver talk heard by FT and PT children. Children who heard more caregiver talk at 16 months demonstrated better knowledge‐ and processing‐based language skills at 18 months. The unique contributions of caregiver talk were tempered by medical risk in PT children, especially for processing speed. However, there was no evidence that birth status or medical risk moderated the effects of caregiver talk. These findings highlight the role of caregiver talk in shaping language outcomes in FT and PT children and offer insights into links between neurodevelopmental risk and caregiver–child engagement.     

评定复杂协调性项目运动员能力的理论依据和测试选择

专项运动员协调能力始终是竞技后备人才培养问题的焦点。为了确定协调能力与技/战术能力、调整能力发展水平、青少年运动员和成年运动员心理/生理功能发育之间的相互关系,评定复杂协调性项目运动员能力,利用测试作业对训练过程各个阶段中协调能力的发展动态进行跟踪,比较这些结果,同时对各个运动项目运动员的协调训练程度进行比较分析。测试结果有助于了解青少年运动员协调训练程度的基本概貌,编制针对具体基础性协调能力发展水平的分辨性评定的标尺,同时确定协调训练程度总的水平。结果显示:协调能力作为制约比赛活动效果的因素之一,其意义越来越重要,从而决定了开展针对研制诊断协调训练程度计划的研究的必要性。作为测试作业的基础应当是有科学依据的理论,它不仅使监督性测试具有心理/生理学含义,而且能揭示某一种协调能力发展中存在的个体差异的本质。     

Grammar and the lexicon: developmental ordering in language acquisition

Recent accounts of language acquisition propose that the knowledge structures that comprise language develop within a single, unified system that shares computational resources and representations. One implication of this approach is that developmental relations within the system become central to theorizing about language acquisition. Previous work suggested that lexical development preceded grammatical development, a developmental ordering with strong theoretical implications. One purpose of the current article is to test this developmental ordering hypothesis. Results showed that children (aged 16-30 months) developed lexicon and grammar synchronously. The second purpose is to demonstrate a recently developed method for testing developmental ordering, the nonlinear-mapping approach, and show how the method can be extended to capitalize on multiply determined developmental systems, such as language.     

Individual differences in lexical processing at 18 months predict vocabulary growth in typically developing and late-talking toddlers

Using online measures of familiar word recognition in the looking-while-listening procedure, this prospective longitudinal study revealed robust links between processing efficiency and vocabulary growth from 18 to 30 months in children classified as typically developing (n = 46) and as "late talkers" (n = 36) at 18 months. Those late talkers who were more efficient in word recognition at 18 months were also more likely to "bloom," showing more accelerated vocabulary growth over the following year, compared with late talkers less efficient in early speech processing. Such findings support the emerging view that early differences in processing efficiency evident in infancy have cascading consequences for later learning and may be continuous with individual differences in language proficiency observed in older children and adults.