1. Manchester Metropolitan University Seminar presented to the Professional Practice and Research Development Centre 5 th December 2006 Ann French a.french@mmu.ac.uk

2. SPEECH SKILLS IN YOUNG ADOLESCENTS: ARE THEY STILL DEVELOPING, AND HOW DO THEY AFFECT ACADEMIC PROGRESS?

3. Background Referrals of junior and secondary age children with language and communication impairments attending mainstream schools Referrals of junior and secondary age children with language and communication impairments attending mainstream schools Evidence that early language and communication problems may not resolve Evidence that early language and communication problems may not resolve Lack of secondary school SLT provision in UK Lack of secondary school SLT provision in UK Lack of knowledge about the nature and extent of difficulties secondary students may encounter Lack of knowledge about the nature and extent of difficulties secondary students may encounter Lack of suitable assessments Lack of suitable assessments

4. Speech skills Phonological knowledge/skills: How speech sounds (phones) are used to create contrasting meanings e.g. ‘cat’ v. ‘hat’ v ‘mat’ How speech sounds (phones) are used to create contrasting meanings e.g. ‘cat’ v. ‘hat’ v ‘mat’ Used in understanding speech, speaking, reading and spelling Used in understanding speech, speaking, reading and spelling Reliant on phonological memory: the ability to retain the spoken form of a stimulus Reliant on phonological memory: the ability to retain the spoken form of a stimulus

5. By 11 yrs most children appear to have well developed pronunciation and literacy skills, so is phonological development complete? Recent research suggests that during adolescence there is ongoing development of: Phonological perception (Wagner, Torgensen and Rashotte, 1999) Phonological perception (Wagner, Torgensen and Rashotte, 1999) Phonological production (Walsh and Smith, 2002) Phonological production (Walsh and Smith, 2002) Phonological awareness (Hazan and Barrett, 2002) Phonological awareness (Hazan and Barrett, 2002) and that Auditory cortex maturation continues into adolescence (McArthur and Bishop (2004) Auditory cortex maturation continues into adolescence (McArthur and Bishop (2004) Additionally, word learning and phonological memory demands continue throughout life.

6. Phonological skills required by the secondary curriculum Reading and spelling (moving into the orthographic stage of literacy e.g. using analogy: light/fight/might) Reading and spelling (moving into the orthographic stage of literacy e.g. using analogy: light/fight/might) Learning new English words (all subjects; social communication) Learning new English words (all subjects; social communication) Learning spoken/written words in new languages Learning spoken/written words in new languages Literary concepts e.g. alliteration and rhyme (English) Literary concepts e.g. alliteration and rhyme (English) Puns and other jokes (literacy, social communication) Puns and other jokes (literacy, social communication) Place of regional accents in communication (English, social communication) Place of regional accents in communication (English, social communication) New writing styles e.g. text messaging: = ‘before’ (social communication) New writing styles e.g. text messaging: = ‘before’ (social communication) Rote learning (many areas of the curriculum) Rote learning (many areas of the curriculum)

7. Baddeley’s model of Working Memory (WM) (2003) Central Executive Visuo-spatial Sketchpad Episodic Buffer Phonological Loop “Working memory is a temporary storage system that underpins our capacity for thinking…” (p.203)

8. The Phonological Loop (PL) (Baddeley 2003, based on Vallar & Papagno 2002) Visual Input Visual Analysis and ST Store Orthographical to PhonologicalEncoding Auditory Input Phonological Analysis Analysis Phonological ST Store Phonological Output Buffer Spoken Output RehearsalProcess

9. Speech Perception: Ventral and Dorsal (PL) Routes

10. Functional Working Memory Montgomery (2003) distinguishes Phonological Working Memory (PWM): c.f. Baddeley’s PL Phonological Working Memory (PWM): c.f. Baddeley’s PL Functional Working Memory (FWM): c.f. Baddeley’s Episodic Buffer Functional Working Memory (FWM): c.f. Baddeley’s Episodic Buffer

11. FWM/EB Temporarily combines information from 2+ sources Temporarily combines information from 2+ sources Facilitates complex processing/problem solving e.g. comprehension of spoken/written text, reasoning…. Facilitates complex processing/problem solving e.g. comprehension of spoken/written text, reasoning…. A limited capacity system: storage and computational demands compete: A limited capacity system: storage and computational demands compete:  content familiarity ↑ storage demand ↓ computational capacity ↑  content familiarity ↓ storage demand ↑ computational capacity ↓

12. Transfer from WM to LTM PWM ⇨ LTM: rehearsal e.g. times tables PWM ⇨ LTM: rehearsal e.g. times tables FWM ⇨ LTM: uses a complex of phonological, semantic and grammatical skills; heavily dependent on knowledge already stored FWM ⇨ LTM: uses a complex of phonological, semantic and grammatical skills; heavily dependent on knowledge already stored Both processes controlled by Central Executive: Both processes controlled by Central Executive:  Selects what to attend to  Sustains attention to chosen stimulus  Switches between stimuli when necessary

13. Development of WM Gathercole et al, (2004 a ): All components (PL, VSSP, CE) are in place by 6 yrs. All increase linearly from 5-14 yrs. With increasing age there is a closer correlation between PL and CE scores than between VSSP and CE scores

14. PL Nonword repetition (assessing PL function) correlates with:  Digit span (Gathercole et al 1999)  Vocabulary size (Adams and  Expressive grammar Gathercole  Utterance length 1995)  Language comprehension (Sahlen et al 1999)  SAT scores at ages 7 and 14 (Gathercole et al, 2004 b )

15. PL capacity Often measured as digit span Often measured as digit span Miller (1956) suggested capacity of 7 items +/- 2 for adult humans Miller (1956) suggested capacity of 7 items +/- 2 for adult humans BUT PL span is not fixed: Chunking changes the upper limit Chunking changes the upper limit Span is affected by: Span is affected by: o Rate of stimulus presentation o Stimuli used (e.g. word length, word familiarity, inter- stimulus similarity) o Opportunity for rehearsal

16. Good PWM facilitates vocabulary learning (LTM) Good PWM facilitates vocabulary learning (LTM) Growth in vocabulary prompts lexical restructuring (to separate stored words) Growth in vocabulary prompts lexical restructuring (to separate stored words) This leads to development of phonological awareness, which This leads to development of phonological awareness, which Improves nonword (new word) repetition Improves nonword (new word) repetition Good FWM supports comprehension Good FWM supports comprehension FWM interacts with semantic knowledge FWM interacts with semantic knowledge With greater topic knowledge, FWM is less crucial With greater topic knowledge, FWM is less crucial Baddeley (2003), Metsala (1999)

17. Methodology A correlational design Hypothesis 1 Performance on phonological tasks will correlate with: (i) Receptive word knowledge (Garlock et al, 2001) (ii) Available phonological working memory (PWM) and functional working memory (FWM) space (Gathercole et al 2004 a ) (iii) Attention control ( Manly et al, 1999)

18. Hypothesis 2 Performance on phonological tasks will be predicted by (i) Early hearing, speech and literacy development (Nittrouer and Burton, 2005) (ii) Family history of speech/literacy difficulty (Snowling, Bishop and Stothard, 2000) (iii) SES (Locke and Ginsborg, 2003) Hypothesis 3 Performance on phonological tasks will correlate with academic ability/achievement scores (Gathercole et al, 2004 b )

19. Method: Participants Year 7 students, aged 11;6-12;0 (+) randomly selected from a mainstream comprehensive school Year 7 students, aged 11;6-12;0 (+) randomly selected from a mainstream comprehensive school Pilot study: 11 students (2006) Pilot study: 11 students (2006) Main study: 2 cohorts of 45-50 students (Phase I 2005-6; Phase II 2006-7) Main study: 2 cohorts of 45-50 students (Phase I 2005-6; Phase II 2006-7)

20. Method: Procedures 1. Questionnaires completed by parents/guardians : Student’s early hearing, language and literacy development Student’s early hearing, language and literacy development Family incidence of language and/or literacy impairments Family incidence of language and/or literacy impairments SES indicators (parent employment/education) SES indicators (parent employment/education)

21. 2. Assessment tasks: (i) New tests developed during pilot  Receptive semantic/phonological word knowledge*  Phonological awareness: Rhyme judgement* Spoonerism production* {A = Low FWM load {B = High FWM load  Word production: Real word repetition* Nonword repetition* Tongue twisters * Controlled for word length and AoA

22. (ii) Published tests WMTB-C (Pickering and Gathercole 2001): WMTB-C (Pickering and Gathercole 2001): o Digit Recall (PWM) o Backwards Digits (FWM) TEA-CH (Manly et al, 1999): TEA-CH (Manly et al, 1999): o Skysearch: o Skysearch: Selective attention: searching and focusing on specific information, ignoring distractors o o Score: Sustained attention: focussing on repetitive tasks o o Opposite Worlds: Attentional switching between two or more tasks

23. 3. Academic data supplied by school: End of Year 6 Standard Achievement scores in English, Maths and Science End of Year 6 Standard Achievement scores in English, Maths and Science Early Year 7 Cognitive Abilities scores in Verbal, Nonverbal and Numerical Reasoning Early Year 7 Cognitive Abilities scores in Verbal, Nonverbal and Numerical Reasoning End of Year 7 subject marks for English, Maths, Science, and Modern Foreign Languages (MFLs) End of Year 7 subject marks for English, Maths, Science, and Modern Foreign Languages (MFLs)

24. Phase I Results Using Spearman’s rho as data may not be normally distributed Reporting only 0.01 level; 2-tailed Hypothesis 1 1. Significant correlations between phonological task performance and Receptive Word Knowledge: Rhyme B Rhyme B Spoonerism A & B Spoonerism A & B 2. Significant correlations between phonological task performance and PWM: Rhyme B Rhyme B Spoonerism A & B Spoonerism A & B

25. 3. Significant correlations between phonological task performance and FWM Rhyme B Rhyme B Spoonerism A & B Spoonerism A & B Receptive Word Knowledge Receptive Word Knowledge 4. Significant correlations between phonological task performance and attention control: Spoonerism A & B (with Selective Attention) Spoonerism A & B (with Selective Attention) Spoonerism B (with Sustained Attention) Spoonerism B (with Sustained Attention) Spoonerism B and Tongue Twisters (with Switched Attention) Spoonerism B and Tongue Twisters (with Switched Attention)

26. Hypothesis 2 1. Significant correlations between phonological task performance and early hearing, speech and literacy development: Rhyme B, Nonword Repetition, Spoonerism A & B, Receptive Word Knowledge (with Reading and Spelling) Rhyme B, Nonword Repetition, Spoonerism A & B, Receptive Word Knowledge (with Reading and Spelling) Nonword Repetition, Spoonerism B (with Talking) Nonword Repetition, Spoonerism B (with Talking) 2. Significant correlations between phonological task performance and family history of speech/literacy difficulty: None 3. Significant correlations between phonological task performance and SES: Rhyme A (with Parent Education) Rhyme A (with Parent Education) Rhyme B (with Parent Employment) Rhyme B (with Parent Employment)

27. Hypothesis 3 Significant correlations between phonological task performance and academic ability/achievement scores Spoonerism A & B (with all academic scores) Spoonerism A & B (with all academic scores) Rhyme B (with all scores except Year 7 Maths) Rhyme B (with all scores except Year 7 Maths) Nonword Repetition (with Year 6 & 7 English, Verbal Reasoning, Year 7 MFLs) Nonword Repetition (with Year 6 & 7 English, Verbal Reasoning, Year 7 MFLs) Tongue Twister (with Year 6 & 7 English, Year 7 MFLs) Tongue Twister (with Year 6 & 7 English, Year 7 MFLs) Receptive Word Knowledge (with all scores except Nonverbal reasoning, Year 7 English & Maths) Receptive Word Knowledge (with all scores except Nonverbal reasoning, Year 7 English & Maths)

28. Tentative conclusions from Phase I Performance on phonological awareness tasks (Rhyme B, Spoonerism A & B) correlates significantly with receptive word knowledge, PWM, FWM, attention, a history of reading and spelling difficulty, and with academic ability/achievement across the curriculum Performance on phonological awareness tasks (Rhyme B, Spoonerism A & B) correlates significantly with receptive word knowledge, PWM, FWM, attention, a history of reading and spelling difficulty, and with academic ability/achievement across the curriculum  This may reflect the memory/attention demands of these tasks, with improved performance supported by greater word knowledge and literacy

29. Performance on production tasks (Nonword Repetition, Spoonerism B, Tongue Twisters) correlates significantly with a history of talking difficulty and with scores in English and MFLs Performance on production tasks (Nonword Repetition, Spoonerism B, Tongue Twisters) correlates significantly with a history of talking difficulty and with scores in English and MFLs  This may reflect motor planning demands

30. Performance on phonological tasks does not correlate significantly with a history of ear infections/hearing loss, family history of speech or literacy difficulty, or SES Performance on phonological tasks does not correlate significantly with a history of ear infections/hearing loss, family history of speech or literacy difficulty, or SES  By age 11 these factors appear to be less significant for phonological ability

31. And so… Phonology is a key element of word learning Phonology is a key element of word learning Word learning underpins verbal memory performance Word learning underpins verbal memory performance Verbal memory is crucial to academic learning Verbal memory is crucial to academic learning Facilitating phonological learning may increase academic achievement for many students Facilitating phonological learning may increase academic achievement for many students Some students may benefit from additional practice in acquiring spoken forms for new words Some students may benefit from additional practice in acquiring spoken forms for new words

32. References Adams, A-M and Gathercole, S.E. (1995). Phonological working memory and speech production in preschool children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 403-414. Baddeley, A. (2003). Working memory and language: An overview. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36, 189- 208. Garlock, V.M., Walley, A.C. and Metsala, J.L. (2001). Age-of acquisition, word frequency, and neighbourhood density effects on spoken word recognition by children and adults. Journal of Memory and Language, 45, 468- 492. Gathercole, S.E., Service, E., Hitch, G.J., Adams, A-M. and Martin, A.J. (1999). Phonological short-term memory and vocabulary development: Further evidence on the nature of the relationship. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 13, 65-77. Gathercole, S.E., Pickering, S.J., Ambridge, B. and Wearing, H. (2004 a ). The structure of working memory from 4 to 15 years of age. Developmental Psychology, 40, 2, 177-190. Gathercole, S.E., Pickering, S.J., Knight, C. and Stegmann, Z. (2004 b ). Working memory skills and educational attainment: Evidence from National Curriculum Assessments at age 7 and 14 years of age. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18, 1-16. Hazan, V. and Barrett, S. (2002). The development of phonemic categorisation in children aged 6-12. Journal of Phonetics, 28, 377-396. Locke, A. and Ginsborg, J. (2003). Spoken language in the early years: the cognitive and linguistic development of three- to five-year-old children from socio-economically deprived backgrounds. Educational and Child Psychology, 20, 4, 68-79 McArthur, G.M. and Bishop, D.V.M. (2004). Which people with specific language impairment have auditory processing deficits? Cognitive Neuropsychology, 21, 1, 79-94. Manly, T., Robertson, H., Anderson, V. and Nimmo-Smith, I. (1999). The Test of Everyday Attention for Children. Bury St Edmunds, England: Thames Valley Test Company Limited.

33. Miller, G.A. (1956). The magical number seven plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97. Metsala, J.L. (1999). Young children’s phonological awareness and nonword repetition as a function of vocabulary development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 3-19. Montgomery, J.W. (2003). Working memory and comprehension in children with specific language impairment: what we know so far. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36, 221-231. Nittrouer, S. and Burton, L.T. (2005). The role of early phonological experience in the development of speech perception and phonological processing abilities: Evidence from 5-year olds with histories of otitis media with effusion and low socio-economic status. Journal of Communication Disorders, 38, 29-63. Pickering, S.J. and Gathercole, S.E. (2001). Working Memory Test Battery for Children. London: Psychological Corporation Sahlen,B., Wagner, C.R. and Nettelbladt, U. (1999). Language comprehension and non-word repetition in children with language impairment. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics., 13, 5, 369-380. Snowling, M., Bishop, D.V.M. and Stothard, S.E. (2000). Is preschool language impairment a risk factor for dyslexia in adolescence? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 5, 587-600. Vallar, G. and Papagno, C. (2002). Neuropsychological impairments of short-term memory. In A..D. Baddeley, M. D. Kopelman and B.A. Wilson (Eds). Handbook of Memory Disorders. 2nd Ed. Chichester: Wiley. Pp 249-270. Walsh, B. and Smith,A. (2002). Articulatory movement in adolescents: evidence for protracted development of speech motor control processes. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 45, 1119- 1133. Wagner, R.K., Torgensen, J.K. and Rashotte, C.A. (1999). The Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing. Austin, Texas: Pro-Ed.