Response to dynamic language tasks among typically developing Latino preschool children with bilingual experience.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine whether typically developing preschool children with bilingual experience show evidence of learning within brief dynamic assessment language tasks administered in a graduated prompting framework. Dynamic assessment has shown promise for accurate identification of language impairment in bilingual children, and a graduated prompting approach may be well-suited to screening for language impairment.


METHODS
Three dynamic language tasks with graduated prompting were presented to 32 typically developing 4-year-olds in the language to which the child had the most exposure (16 Spanish, 16 English). The tasks were a novel word learning task, a semantic task, and a phonological awareness task.


RESULTS
Children's performance was significantly higher on the last 2 items compared with the first 2 items for the semantic and the novel word learning tasks among children who required a prompt on the 1st item. There was no significant difference between the 1st and last items on the phonological awareness task.


CONCLUSIONS
Within-task improvements in children's performance for some tasks administered within a brief, graduated prompting framework were observed. Thus, children's responses to graduated prompting may be an indicator of modifiability, depending on the task type and level of difficulty.
The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA. jpatters@unm.edu
Janet L
JL
Patterson
Barbara L
BL
Rodríguez
Philip S
PS
Dale
D002657:Child Development; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D019303:Multilingualism; D010700:Phonetics; D012016:Reference Values; D012660:Semantics; D014706:Verbal Learning