Evans Leo, Lund Emily A, Werfel Krystal L
Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE.
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.
Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2025 Apr 10;56(2):252-266. doi: 10.1044/2024_LSHSS-24-00046. Epub 2025 Feb 12.
Vocabulary skills in children are typically measured with norm-referenced assessments of receptive and expressive vocabulary. Language sample analysis is an alternative method of examining vocabulary actually produced in communicative events and may be better suited to exposing subtle vocabulary weaknesses. Here, we examine the relationship between norm-referenced vocabulary testing and language sample analysis in preschool children, both children with typical hearing (CTH) and children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH).
Expressive and receptive vocabulary and spontaneous language samples were collected. Language samples were analyzed for complexity (mean length of utterance in words [MLUw]) and variability (number of different noun and verb types produced).
CTH had significantly higher scores on both expressive and receptive norm-referenced tests and produced sentences with greater syntactic complexity and semantic variability. Relationships between expressive test scores and MLUw were seen in both groups; the number of noun/verb types produced was related for children who are DHH only. Receptive vocabulary was not related to spontaneous spoken language for CTH. Receptive vocabulary was significantly related to MLUw and noun/verb types for children who are DHH. However, when the DHH group was subdivided into performance above and performance below the 50th percentile, relationships held only for the group with below-average performance.
Results suggest that single-word vocabulary, norm-referenced measures indicating performance above the 50th percentile may not be sufficient to capture nuanced difficulties with vocabulary in children who are DHH. For children who are DHH, performance in the "range of normal" on a norm-referenced test may not capture ways in which their language performance differs from that of peers with typical hearing.
儿童的词汇技能通常通过接受性和表达性词汇的常模参照评估来衡量。语言样本分析是一种检查在交际活动中实际产生的词汇的替代方法，可能更适合揭示细微的词汇弱点。在这里，我们研究了常模参照词汇测试与学龄前儿童（包括听力正常儿童[CTH]和失聪或听力障碍儿童[DHH]）的语言样本分析之间的关系。
收集表达性和接受性词汇以及自发语言样本。对语言样本进行复杂性（以单词计的平均话语长度[MLUw]）和变异性（产生的不同名词和动词类型的数量）分析。
CTH在表达性和接受性常模参照测试中得分显著更高，并且产出的句子具有更高的句法复杂性和语义变异性。两组中均观察到表达性测试分数与MLUw之间的关系；仅DHH儿童产生的名词/动词类型数量相关。对于CTH，接受性词汇与自发口语无关。对于DHH儿童，接受性词汇与MLUw和名词/动词类型显著相关。然而，当将DHH组细分为第50百分位数以上和以下的表现时，这种关系仅适用于表现低于平均水平的组。
结果表明，单字词汇、常模参照测量中高于第50百分位数的表现可能不足以捕捉DHH儿童在词汇方面细微的困难。对于DHH儿童，常模参照测试中“正常范围”的表现可能无法捕捉到他们的语言表现与听力正常同龄人不同的方式。
