Papers by Napoleon Katsos
Language Learning and Development
Epistemological issue, 2021
This paper presents a tablet-based app for Speech and Language Assessment in Schools and Homes (S... more This paper presents a tablet-based app for Speech and Language Assessment in Schools and Homes (Splash) to provide a first screening for young children aged 4-6 years to assess their speech and language skills. The app aims to be easy-toadminister with an adult, such as a teacher or parent, directing the child through the tasks. Three fun games have been developed to assess receptive language, expressive language and connected speech, respectively. Currently in proof-of-concept mode, when complete Splash will use automatic spoken language processing to give an instant estimate of a child’s communication ability and provide guidance on whether to speak specialist support. While not a diagnostic tool, the aim is for Splash to be used to provide immediate reassurance or direction to concerned parents, guardians or teachers as it can be administered by anyone, anywhere.
Research in Developmental Disabilities, 2019
Language Acquisition, 2016
ABSTRACT This study investigates relationships between acquisition of exhaustivity in single and ... more ABSTRACT This study investigates relationships between acquisition of exhaustivity in single and multiple wh-questions, mastery of semantic and pragmatic aspects of quantifier comprehension, and general skills in receptive grammar. The participants of the study were 25 Polish monolingual typically developing children aged 4;02–6;02, who were administered a set of tasks including the Exhaustive Wh-Questions Task, the Test for Reception of Grammar, version 2, and the Comprehension of Quantification Task. The selection of the tasks was motivated by the major linguistic accounts of exhaustivity. We found significant predictive relationships between single exhaustive wh-questions and both semantics of quantifiers and receptive grammar. In contrast, the scores in multiple wh-questions were predicted only by age, showing their delayed acquisition with respect to single wh-questions. However, this age-related difference was not accounted for by any of the linguistic variables tested. Crucially, the analyses revealed no relationships between the mastery of pragmatics of quantification (involving scalar implicature) and exhaustivity in wh-questions, suggesting that the two are not driven by a common pragmatic mechanism.
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2016
ABSTRACT The expressive lexical skills of 53 Polish bilinguals aged 24–36 months living in the UK... more ABSTRACT The expressive lexical skills of 53 Polish bilinguals aged 24–36 months living in the UK and Ireland were assessed using Polish and British English adaptations of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. Polish vocabulary scores were compared to those of 53 Polish monolinguals matched for age, gender and parental education. The bilinguals were born to two Polish parents and mostly lived outside Poland since birth. Results showed substantial differences in Total Conceptual Vocabulary and single-language vocabulary scores between the groups. However, the groups did not differ on Total Vocabulary measures. In the bilingual sample, there were significant correlations between children’s frequency of language use and their vocabulary scores in the same language. A negative correlation between children’s frequency of English use and their Polish vocabulary scores was found. A complex pattern of factors relating to children’s low performance in Polish emerged. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that low birth weight, parental concern about language, maternal educational level as well as maternal frequency of Polish and English use contributed to explaining children’s Polish vocabulary scores. Overall, results indicated the need for early additional support of the first language (L1) if long-term balanced bilingualism is to be attained.
Recent research has investigated the consequences of bilingualism for cognitive development (e.g.... more Recent research has investigated the consequences of bilingualism for cognitive development (e.g. Bialystok et al. 2009). This research has revealed two major trends: disadvantages in the realm of language (mostly in terms of delays that are eventually overcome, see below) and advantages in the realm of cognition. In this study we set out to explore whether bilectalism, the linguistic condition of speaking two different varieties of the same language, has a similar effect on children’s linguistic and cognitive performance. The structure of this paper is as follows. First, we summarize the findings of previous research that examined the impact of bilingualism on children’s cognitive skills. Then, we briefly describe the linguistic situation in the Republic of Cyprus from where our sample of bilectal and multilingual children was drawn. Finally, we present our own study and its results.
The Role of Data at the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface, 2010
... 140 Napoleon Katsos and Richard Breheny were Expression type (3: numerals, disjunctions, quan... more ... 140 Napoleon Katsos and Richard Breheny were Expression type (3: numerals, disjunctions, quantifiers) x Context (2: Upper-bound, Lower-bound). Because the assumption of sphericity was not met by the data, we report the results of the tests with the Huynh-Feldt cor-rection. ...
Much recent research reveals that Gricean reasoning can have an early effect on incremental disco... more Much recent research reveals that Gricean reasoning can have an early effect on incremental discourse interpretation. However, as Sedivy (2003) notes, the early nature of these effects is difficult to square with the apparent complexity of the reasoning that lies behind them. For example, if quantity implicatures were derived online via Gricean inference, the hearer would need to evaluate what the speaker’s words say against some contextually specified level of informativeness in order to exclude more informative alternatives. Thus, it is tempting to assume that in common cases of Gricean reasoning, like lexically triggered quantity implicatures (where saying ‘some’ excludes all, see Breheny et al., 2006) or adjectival modification (‘the plastic glass’, see Sedivy et al., 1999), the reasoning is somehow routinised (Levinson, 2000) or grammaticalised (Chierchia, 2004).
Despite a plethora of evidence demonstrating the importance of maintaining bilingualism for child... more Despite a plethora of evidence demonstrating the importance of maintaining bilingualism for children on the autism spectrum, there remain many barriers to accessing learning and communication support for children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) families. In an increasingly globalised world, in which many countries have established more than one national language, bilingualism is the norm for more than half the world’s population. Parent-led therapy (PLT) is critical for autistic children, more so for those from CaLD families, for whom access to dual/multi-language and communication support is more difficult. The aim of this scoping review protocol is to structure the mapping of published literature on PLT for young autistic children in the bilingual context. The concept of this study is to identify the availability of early support programs that can be delivered by parents and/or key caregivers to their young autistic children. The context of this study is to ident...
Applied Psycholinguistics
It has been found that bilinguals and children from minority backgrounds lag behind monolinguals ... more It has been found that bilinguals and children from minority backgrounds lag behind monolinguals or those in the majority culture, with respect to prevalence, assessment, and treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This suggests that bilingualism might be yet another factor giving rise to variability in ADHD. Using regression methods, we analyzed parent reports for 394 primary school-age children on background and language experience, ADHD-related behavior, and structural language skill in English to explore whether bilingualism is associated with levels of ADHD-related behavior. Bilingualism as a category was associated with slightly lower levels of ADHD-related behavior. Bilingualism as a continuous measure showed a trend of being associated with lower levels, but this did not quite reach significance. Structural language skill in English was the main predictor of levels of ADHD-related behavior; higher skill predicting lower levels. More investigation is re...
Μeλeτήσαμe τα γλωσσικά προφίλ παιδιών μe Διαταραχή Eλλeιμματικής Προσοχής/ Υπeρκινητικότητα (ΔEΠ-... more Μeλeτήσαμe τα γλωσσικά προφίλ παιδιών μe Διαταραχή Eλλeιμματικής Προσοχής/ Υπeρκινητικότητα (ΔEΠ-Υ), ηλικίας 4.50-8.15 eτών (Μ = 6.58), προκeιμένου να eλέγξουμe τις δομικές και πραγματολογικές τους ικανότητeς. Τα συγκρίναμe μe παιδιά τυπικής ανάπτυξης (ΤΑ) και παιδιά μe Αναπτυξιακή Γλωσσική Διαταραχή (ΑΓΔ). Eπιπλέον, eξeτάσαμe ορισμένους παράγοντeς που πιθανώς eπηρeάζουν την πραγματολογική eπίδοση. Στις λeξιλογικές και δομικές πτυχές, τα παιδιά μe ΔEΠ-Υ eίχαν σαφώς χeιρότeρη eπίδοση από τα παιδιά ΤΑ, αλλά καλύτeρη από τα παιδιά μe ΑΓΔ. Στις πραγματολογικές δοκιμασίeς, eίχαν τη χeιρότeρη eπίδοση από όλeς τις ομάδeς, αλλά οι διαφορές δeν ήταν στατιστικώς σημαντικές. Ο μόνος παράγοντας από όσους μeλeτήθηκαν που φάνηκe να eπηρeάζeι την πραγματολογική eπίδοση ήταν η eπίδοση στις δομικές και λeξιλογικές δοκιμασίeς. Τα παιδιά μe ΔEΠ-Υ αντιμeτωπίζουν σημαντικές δυσκολίeς σe δομικές και λeξιλογικές πτυχές της γλώσσας. Αυτό σe συνδυασμό μe το γeγονός ότι η eπίδοση σe αυτούς τους τομeίς αποτe...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022
Social sciences researchers emphasize that new technologies can overcome the limitations of small... more Social sciences researchers emphasize that new technologies can overcome the limitations of small and homogenous samples. In research on early language development, which often uses parental reports, taking the testing online might be particularly compelling. Due to logistical limitations, previous studies on bilingual children have explored the language development trajectories in general (e.g., by including few and largely set apart timepoints), or focused on small, homogeneous samples. The present study protocol presents a new, on-going study which uses new technologies to collect longitudinal data continuously from parents of multilingual, bilingual, and monolingual children. Our primary aim is to establish the developmental trajectories in Polish-British English and Polish-Norwegian bilingual children and Polish monolingual children aged 0–3 years with the use of mobile and web-based applications. These tools allow parents to report their children’s language development as it p...
Supplemental material, AUT823902_Lay_Abstract for Using interpretative phenomenological analysis ... more Supplemental material, AUT823902_Lay_Abstract for Using interpretative phenomenological analysis in autism research by Katie Howard, Napoleon Katsos and Jenny Gibson in Autism
Developmental and Clinical Pragmatics, 2020
Over-informative children: Production/comprehension asymmetry or Tolerance to pragmatic violations?
• Autistic children are at risk of having their communication rights violated. This risk is heigh... more • Autistic children are at risk of having their communication rights violated. This risk is heightened for autistic children with communication disability, which can emerge from factors inherent autism, co-occurring language disorders and societal barriers. This risk is also unacceptably high for autistic children from minority groups. • The autistic community, researchers, clinicians and policymakers must work together to promote the communication rights of all autistic children. In particular, Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) can contribute valuable expertise to the development and implementation of impactful policies in this field. • We propose three areas of policy action to better protect the communication rights of autistic children: o Area 1: Promoting more Inclusive Communication practices in our society; o Area 2: Enabling the co-creation of communication support services with autistic children and other relevant stakeholders; o Area 3: Increasing the visibility, access and inclusivity of specialist services.
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Papers by Napoleon Katsos