This project examines the nature of the acoustic representations in the lexicons of typically developing (TD) children and children with Specific Language Impairments (SLI). Previous research has suggested that young TD children store words holistically, while older children and adults store words as sequences of phonemes. New evidence suggests, however, that TD children as young as 18 mos. are in fact sensitive to acoustic-phonetic detail in the speech stream. In light of these findings, that school-aged children with SLI may not be sensitive to the acoustic-phonetic details of novel words is even more striking. A series of studies are proposed to investigate sensitivity to acoustic-phonetic detail in TD children and children with SLI. Specifically, the proposed studies are designed to investigate children?s sensitivity to phonotactic frequency - the frequency of sound occurrences and co-occurrences; to examine phonotactic influences on lexical development in both TD and SLI children; and to explore the potential mechanisms implicated in the atypical lexical development of children with SLI. Findings from these studies will extend our understanding of lexical representations in TD children as well as elucidate nonword repetition and novel word learning difficulties seen in children with SLI.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
1F32DC005263-01
Application #
6445301
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDC1-SRB-J (11))
Program Officer
Sklare, Dan
Project Start
2001-09-01
Project End
Budget Start
2001-09-01
Budget End
2002-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$33,260
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Coady, Jeffry A; Mainela-Arnold, Elina; Evans, Julia L (2013) Phonological and lexical effects in verbal recall by children with specific language impairments. Int J Lang Commun Disord 48:144-59
Coady, Jeffry; Evans, Julia L; Kluender, Keith R (2010) Role of phonotactic frequency in nonword repetition by children with specific language impairments. Int J Lang Commun Disord 45:494-509
Coady, Jeffry A; Evans, Julia L; Kluender, Keith R (2010) The role of phonotactic frequency in sentence repetition by children with specific language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res 53:1401-15
Coady, Jeffry A; Evans, Julia L; Mainela-Arnold, Elina et al. (2007) Children with specific language impairments perceive speech most categorically when tokens are natural and meaningful. J Speech Lang Hear Res 50:41-57
Coady, Jeffry A; Kluender, Keith R; Evans, Julia L (2005) Categorical perception of speech by children with specific language impairments. J Speech Lang Hear Res 48:944-59