Language and Repetition Performance in Autism Spectrum Disorder Versus Developmental Language Disorder: Evidence From Turkish-Speaking Children

Kaçar Kütükçü, D., Karalı, F. S., & Çınar, N. (2026). Language and Repetition Performance in Autism Spectrum Disorder Versus Developmental Language Disorder: Evidence From Turkish-Speaking Children. Autism Research: Official Journal of the International Society for Autism Research, e70236. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70236

Many brain-based childhood conditions, also called neurodevelopmental conditions, involve difficulties with language. Although these language difficulties may present similarly, children often show differences in overall language profiles. The ability to repeat made up words or nonwords (nonword repetition) and sentences (sentence repetition) are tasks that can be used to assess skills related to the language’s sound system (phonology), meaning units (morphology), and the ability to hold information in mind (working memory). The linguistic profiles of children with autism, Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and other neurodevelopmental conditions have been compared in previous studies but results are often unclear and inconsistent.

Kütükçü and colleagues compared Turkish-speaking children with autism, Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), and typical development (TD) on language and repetition tasks. Overall, typically developing children scored significantly higher than both the DLD and autistic groups. The DLD and autistic groups did not significantly differ on the majority of measures (exception: DLD group scored higher than autistic group on a morpheme completion task).

Overall, the findings suggest that language profiles of autism and DLD are similar. Future work with larger sample sizes and across cultural and linguistic differences is needed to further explore the questions posed in this study. 

 
Blogger: Isabella Nucci is a combined MClSc/PhD student working under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Archibald.

A New Memory Perspective on the Sentence Comprehension Deficits of School-Age Children with Developmental Language Disorder: Implications for Theory, Assessment, and Intervention

Montgomery, J. W., Gillam, R. B., & Evans, J. L. (2021). A New Memory Perspective on the Sentence Comprehension Deficits of School-Age Children with Developmental Language Disorder: Implications for Theory, Assessment, and Intervention. Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 52(2), 449–466. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_lshss-20-00128 

Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) often struggle with understanding complex sentences, but this difficulty is not due to language alone. In this article, Montgomery, Gillam, and Evans propose a new way of understanding sentence comprehension by examining how multiple cognitive factors work together. Children with DLD tend to have weaknesses in vocabulary, grammar, memory, and attention, all of which can impact their ability to interpret sentences, especially those with more complex structures. The authors introduce a model that highlights four key contributors: working memory, language knowledge stored in long-term memory, controlled attention, and fluid reasoning. Importantly, the results show that working memory plays a central “conduit” role, meaning it is the system through which the other factors influence sentence comprehension. For typically developing children, language knowledge and reasoning indirectly support comprehension through working memory, whereas children with DLD rely more heavily on controlled attention to support their understanding. This suggests that children with DLD may use different strategies to process language. Overall, the study emphasizes that sentence comprehension difficulties are best understood as the result of interacting cognitive processes, with working memory at the center, and highlights the importance of focusing on strengthening language—through both implicit and explicit approaches—when supporting sentence comprehension.

Blogger: Diya Nair is a second year PhD student under the supervision of Dr Lisa Archibald.

A randomized controlled trial of an oral inferential comprehension intervention for young children with developmental language disorder

Dawes, E., Leitão, S., Claessen, M., & Kane, R. (2019). A randomized controlled trial of an oral inferential comprehension intervention for young children with developmental language disorder. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 35(1), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265659018815736

Inferential comprehension involves making connections between what you already know and new information to you. These connections allow you to draw conclusions or deepen understanding beyond just what is stated. Although inferencing is a skill that develops throughout childhood, children with a persistent language learning difficulty known as Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) tend to have weaker inferencing skills as compared to their peers. One way to help improve inferencing skills could be to work with stories, which require lots of inferencing.

In this study, 5-6 year old children with DLD either participated in a small group intervention based on retelling stories and making inferences (inferencing group) or participated in an intervention targeting phonemic awareness or the awareness of speech sounds in words (control group). Inferencing scores for the inferencing group improved significantly as compared to the control group. The improvements made by the inferencing group remained higher even after the intervention was completed (i.e., during the maintenance phase). Both groups displayed an increase in literal comprehension across the intervention, which was still seen at follow-up. To measure if children could apply skills developed in the intervention sessions to stories not included in the study, an additional story retell task was measured  after the intervention. Results revealed significantly better understanding of inferences for the inferencing group as compared to the control. 

These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of intervention for inferencing skills in children with DLD. The differences in skill-building between the inferential and literal comprehension suggests that both of these skills need to be specifically targeted in intervention. Inferencing skills are important for many social and academic contexts and their development should encouraged during early school-aged years.

 
Blogger: Isabella Nucci is a combined MClSc/PhD student working under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Archibald.

The effect of retrieval practice on vocabulary learning for DHH children

Reimer, C.K., Grantham, H., & Butler, A.C. (2024). The effect of retrieval practice on vocabulary learning for DHH children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 29, 377-387. https;//doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enae005

Most children begin building their word knowledge or vocabulary in infancy, and this process continues into adulthood. Hearing children often learn vocabulary simply by overhearing it in use by those around them. This process is called incidental learning. Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children typically have smaller vocabularies than their hearing peers. Even if they have access to hearing technology, they are more likely to miss opportunities for incidental learning. DHH children learn words more slowly than their hearing peers. It can be challenging to find effective strategies to support word learning amongst DHH children who themselves differ in their word learning.

Reimer et al. (2024) present retrieval practice as a potential strategy for supporting vocabulary development in DHH children. Retrieval practice is the process of retrieving or recalling newly acquired information – in this case, vocabulary – from one’s memory, and has been shown to lead to better retention long term. While retrieval practice has been studied across various populations and various domains, including for vocabulary learning, its use for vocabulary learning with DHH children has not been explored. The authors set out to examine whether DHH children would retain more new words in one of two conditions:

1) if learned with retrieval practice (e.g., hearing the new words and being asked to recall them), or

2) if learned through exposure (e.g., hearing new words and repeating them immediately).

Following phases of acquisition (e.g., learning to correctly match new vocabulary to picture scenes) and practice (e.g., either retrieval practice or exposure), an assessment phase took place in which the child was asked to recall the new vocabulary words two days later.

Reimer et al. (2024) found that most DHH children recalled more words learned through retrieval practice than through exposure, and that they were twice as likely to be able to recall the new vocabulary word two days later if they had learned it through retrieval practice, compared to exposure. The authors also explored whether specific factors impacted a child’s ability to recall new vocabulary words. They found that DHH children who required additional practice rounds to accurately recall a vocabulary word were less likely to recall the word two days later, and that DHH children with additional diagnoses were less likely to recall new vocabulary words.

Implications of this study include the potential for retrieval practice to serve as one possible specific, direct strategy for supporting vocabulary learning in DHH children. Retrieval practice, however, may not be sufficient for all DHH children, who may need additional strategies and support beyond this.

Blogger: Rachel Benninger is a combined MClSc/PhD candidate working under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Archibald

Are narrative macrostructure skills shared in bilingual children’s two languages, and what predicts them?

Lipner, M., Armon-Lotem, S., Fichman, S., Walters, J., & Altman, C. (2026). Are narrative macrostructure skills shared in bilingual children’s two languages, and what predicts them? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 57, 277–291. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-25-00049

When we think about how to support bilingual children’s language development, we often assume that the best approach is to just increase their exposure to the school or societal language. However, a recent study offers a more encouraging and practical message for families and educators: reading at home may be one of the most powerful tools we have. In this study, researchers worked with 40 English–Hebrew bilingual preschoolers aged 5–6. The children were individually told short, picture-based stories in each language and were then asked to retell them. Their stories were carefully analyzed based on key story elements, such as introducing characters, describing a problem, expressing emotions, and including goals and outcomes. Parents also completed questionnaires about their child’s language background, including when the child was first exposed to Hebrew and how often they read books with their child in each language.

Overall, children told more detailed and well-organized stories in their home language, English, than in Hebrew. They were more likely to clearly introduce characters, describe emotions, and include important parts of a story. What stood out most, however, was that the strongest predictor of how well children told stories in Hebrew was not how early they were exposed to Hebrew, or even how strong their Hebrew vocabulary was. Instead, it was how often their parents read to them and even more surprising was that the parents read mostly in English. This suggests that shared book reading in the home language can help children develop an understanding of how stories work, and this knowledge can transfer across languages. In other words, learning story structure in one language supports storytelling in another. These findings send an important message to parents about the importance of simply reading together regularly—especially in the language parents feel most comfortable using. These experiences can play a meaningful role in strengthening bilingual children’s language and literacy skills in both languages.

Blogger: Diya Nair is a second year PhD student under the supervision of Dr Lisa Archibald.

Changes in production of complex syntax by elementary-aged school children

Pavelko, S.L., Owens, R.E., & Hahs-Vaughn, D.L. (2025). Changes in production of complex syntax by elementary-aged school children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56, 1002-1010. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-24-00141

As language skills develop, a child’s length of spoken utterance increases in length. There is an assumption that as utterance length increases, the sentences spoken also become more complex. Complex sentences include (1) compound (2 simple sentences joined by a conjunction like ‘and’), (2) complex (a sentence and a clause, which is not a full sentence), or (3) compound-complex (2 simple sentences joined with a conjunction and at least 1 clause). It’s reasonable to expect that the proportion of complex sentences spoken would change as children age, but past research has not found such a difference.

The present study examined children’s language samples for how age (5-10 years) predicted (1) the proportion of complex sentences with different types of clauses and (2) the proportion of compound sentences with different types of conjunctions. Findings revealed no age-related differences in the proportion of complex sentences across all clause types. An age-related difference in the proportion of compound sentences was found for the conjunctions but and so, but not and.

The modest age-related differences in complex and compound sentences reported in this study were surprising. The findings provide limited guidance for intervention. Further research is needed examining complex and compound sentence use by children with language difficulties such as Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).

Blogger: Lisa Archibald