Word learning in children: normal development and language impairment

This is a current project.

Description

Many children with language impairments have difficulty learning new words, yet the cause of this deficit is poorly understood. Early word learning is critical because it may set the foundation for acquisition of reading decoding, reading comprehension, and academic success. Children who enter elementary school with vocabulary deficits have difficulty closing the gap with their peers. Thus, effective word learning instruction is critical in preventing reading and academic failure. Theoretically motivated diagnostic and treatment methods may minimize this risk.

The goal of this project is to determine the factors that influence how children learn the words of the language and use this evidence to develop a comprehensive model of word learning across normal and impaired language development. Ultimately, this model will be used to construct clinical diagnostic and treatment techniques to improve word learning, minimizing future deficits in language acquisition.

Project Administration

Holly Storkel, principal investigator

Project Contact

Holly L. Storkel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders
Dole Human Development Center room 3001
1000 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66045
hstorkel@ku.edu
(785) 864-0497 (phone)
(785) 864-3974 (fax)

This is a project of:

Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences & Disorder

Funded by:

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

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Lab

Word and Sound Learning Lab

Publications and Presentations

Storkel, H. L., Hoover, J R. (2010). An online calculator to compute phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on the basis of child corpora of spoken American English. Behavior Research Methods, 42(2), 497-506. Full-text link.

Storkel, H. L. (2009). Developmental differences in the effects of phonological lexical and semantic variables on word learning by infants. Journal of Child Language, 36(2), 291-321. Full-text link.

Storkel, H. L., Adlof, S. M. (2009). Adult and child semantic neighbors of the Kroll and Potter (1984) nonobjects. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 52(2), 289-305. Full-text link.

Storkel, H. L., Adlof, S. M. (2009). The effect of semantic set size on world learning by preschool children. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 52(2), 306-320. Full-text link.

Send corrections/comments/questions to lifespan@ku.edu


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