Role of early cognition/language in later language ability during childhood - A longitudinal comparison study.

Background: Many factors may influence early language development, but the precise impact of cognitive development remains unclear.

Aims: This study aims to explore how cognitive development contributes to language ability and to compare the explanatory value of early cognitive and language ability at 2;0 (years;months) on the language ability at 3;6 and at 5;0.

Methods: Sixty-one typically developing children were followed up.

What kind of information do early parental report instruments provide on language ability at 3;6 when used at 2;0? A longitudinal comparison study.

Introduction: Various parental report instruments are available for assessing children's language skills at the end of the second year. However, comparison studies on their usability are lacking, and it is also open to question what kind of information the instruments provide when used in a parallel manner. This longitudinal study investigated which of the available three parental report instruments, when used at 2;0 (year;month), provides the most representative information on language development at 3;6.

Phonological development of Finnish speaking children at 3;6 and associations to previous and simultaneous lexical ability.

Previous studies of Finnish children's phonological development focus mainly on children under 2;0. Earlier findings have suggested that phonological and lexical development are strongly associated at an early age. However, less is known about the longitudinal association.

Phonological mean length of utterance in specific language impairment: a multi-case study of children acquiring Finnish.

This study assesses the phonological development of four Finnish-speaking children (ages 4;8, 4;9, 4;9 and 5;5) with specific language impairment (SLI) and dyspractic features in speech. The analysis is performed using the phonological mean length of utterance (pMLU) method. Moreover, the children's phonological abilities are evaluated qualitatively in relation to segments, phonotactics and word structure.

Measuring phonological development: a follow-up study of five children acquiring Finnish.

This study applies the Phonological Mean Length of Utterance measurement (PMLU; Ingram & Ingram, 2001; Ingram, 2002) to the data of five children acquiring Finnish and evaluates their phonological development longitudinally at four different age points: 2;0, 2;6, 3;0, and 3;6. The children's results on PMLU and related measures are discussed together with remarks on individual differences regarding the acquisition of consonants, consonant clusters and word length. During the period analyzed the children's phonetic inventories increase and they gradually overcome the constraints against long words and consonant sequences.

The Phonological Mean Length of Utterance: methodological challenges from a crosslinguistic perspective.

The present study assesses the phonological development of 17 children acquiring Finnish at the developmental point of 25 words (ages 1; 2-2;0). The analysis is made using the PHONOLOGICAL MEAN LENGTH OF UTTERANCE (PMLU) method (Ingram & Ingram, 2001; Ingram, 2002), which focuses on the children's whole-word productions. Two separate analyses are carried out: the first analysis concentrates on consonants and follows the procedure devised by Ingram and Ingram (2001), and the second analysis also scores the correctness of vowels.