Growth of Complex Syntax: Coordinate and Subordinate Clause Use in Elementary School-Aged Children.

Purpose: Production of complex syntax is a hallmark of later language development; however, most of the research examining age-related changes has focused on adolescents or analyzed narrative language samples. Research documenting age-related changes in the production of complex syntax in elementary school-aged children in conversational language samples is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine age-related changes in the production of coordinate and subordinate clauses in children between 5 and 10 years of age obtained from 50-utterance conversational language samples.

Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised (SUGAR): Quantitative Values for Language Sample Analysis Measures in 7- to 11-Year-Old Children.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to document whether mean length of utterance (MLU), total number of words (TNW), clauses per sentence (CPS), and/or words per sentence (WPS) demonstrated age-related changes in children with typically developing language, aged 7;0-10;11 (years;months). Method Participants were 132 typically developing children (aged 7;0-10;11), with a final sample size of 112 participants (57 boys and 55 girls). Fifty utterance conversational language samples were collected using a language sampling protocol.

Revisiting Reliability: Using Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised (SUGAR) to Compare 25- and 50-Utterance Language Samples.

Purpose The goal of this study was to determine whether the results obtained from a 25-utterance conversational language sample were as reliable as those obtained from a 50-utterance sample. Method Robust conversational language samples from 220 children with typically developing language (106 boys, 114 girls) ranging in age from 3;2 to 7;10 (years;months) were collected. The language samples were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a 25-utterance condition and a 50-utterance condition.

SUGAR (Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised): Breaking Tradition.

Purpose In this letter, the authors respond to Guo, Eisenberg, Ratner, and MacWhinney's (2018) letter to the editor, which expressed concerns regarding the clinical applicability of the Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised (SUGAR; Pavelko & Owens, 2017 ) language sample analysis (LSA) method. Method The authors respond to concerns regarding transcription and morpheme segmentation and language sample elicitation contexts. The results of two published research studies are described, which detail the impact of this new LSA method.

Diagnostic Accuracy of the Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised (SUGAR) Measures for Identifying Children With Language Impairment.

Purpose The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the four Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised (SUGAR) metrics, including total number of words, mean length of utterance, words per sentence, and clauses per sentence in differentiating children with language impairment (LI) from those with typical language development, and (b) to compare the average time to collect, transcribe, and analyze 50-utterance language samples for children with LI to those with typical language development. Method Participants were 306 children (LI, 36; typical language development, 270) who ranged in age from 3;0 (years;months) to 7;11. Fifty-utterance conversational language samples were obtained using a conversational protocol.

Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised (SUGAR): New Normative Values for Language Sample Analysis Measures.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to document whether mean length of utterance (MLUS), total number of words (TNW), clauses per sentence (CPS), and/or words per sentence (WPS) demonstrated age-related changes in children with typical language and to document the average time to collect, transcribe, and analyze conversational language samples.

Method: Participants were 385 typically developing children (ages 3;0-7;11 [years;months]), with a final sample size of 270 participants (133 males and 137 females). Fifty-utterance conversational language samples were collected using a language sampling protocol.

Use of Language Sample Analysis by School-Based SLPs: Results of a Nationwide Survey.

Purpose: This article examines use of language sample analysis (LSA) by school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs), including characteristics of language samples, methods of transcription and analysis, barriers to LSA use, and factors affecting LSA use, such as American Speech-Language-Hearing Association certification, number of years' experience, and caseload characteristics.

Method: School-based SLPs responded to an invitation to complete an electronic survey related to LSA.

Results: One third of respondents indicated they did not use LSA during the 2012-2013 school year.

Adaptability of myopic children to progressive addition lenses with a modified fitting protocol in the Correction of Myopia Evaluation Trial (COMET).

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adaptability of myopic children participating in the Correction of Myopia Evaluation Trial (COMET) to the use of progressive addition lenses (PALs) with a modified fitting protocol of setting the distance fitting cross 4 mm above the pupil center.

Methods: COMET was a multicenter, randomized clinical trial to evaluate whether PALs vs. single-vision lenses (SVLs) slowed the rate of progression in children with juvenile-onset myopia over 3 years.