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The Effects of Severe Global Deprivation on Language and Cognition

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The Effects of Severe Global Deprivation on Language and Cognition The Effects of Severe Global Deprivation on Language and Cognition Lisa J Brown Submitted for the degree of Ph.D Department of Human Communication Sciences University of Sheffield Submitted July 2004 Research Summary The Effects of Severe Global Deprivation on Language and Cognition Lisa J Brown The impetus for this research derives largely from the need to understand the course of human ontogenetic development in abnormal circumstances. The specific focus of the research is the emergence of language and cognition and social and communicative behaviour in children who have suffered extreme global deprivation at an early age. The crucial research issue, however, concerns the extent to which normal language acquisition is still possible given an initial environment that is largely language-less and lacking in social stimulation and interaction. In the early 1990s, thousands of cases of children brought up in the unprecedented neglect of Romanian childcare institutions were discovered. Many were internally adopted. This thesis describes an in-depth, exploratory investigation of a small number of these children, whose development after adoption was monitored for two years. A range of research methods was used including interviews, observation, standardized tests and detailed qualitative analyses. Some degree of developmental catch-up has been reported for previously institutionalised Romanian children who were adopted before the age of six months (Rutter et al., 1998). However, the children in this study were adopted around or after the age of 4 years, and it is suggested here that, even at this late age, developmental outcome is not fixed. The findings of this study are: 1.) extreme global deprivation appears to lead to global retardation, but, if the deprived environment is replaced by a stimulating one, then developmental gains can be achieved; 2.) the effects of extreme deprivation are neither permanent nor irreversible, and for example, the grammar of spontaneous speech and conversational ability develop apparently normally; 3.) the linguistic development of severely deprived children does not provide evidence of a critical period for first language acquisition; 4.) cases of severely deprived children do not provide evidence of a dissociation between language and non-verbal cognition. Table of Contents Table of Contents i List of Tables xii List of Figures xiv Summary 1 Chapter 1 The Effects of Severe Global Deprivation on Language and Cognition 2 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Extreme Isolation in Childhood 2 1.2.1 Feral Children 2 1.2.2 Children in Institutions 8 1.2.3 Extreme Isolation in Childhood: The Romanian Legacy 10 1.3 Is Human Language Learned or Innate? 12 1.3.1 Nativist Theories 13 1.3.2 Cognitive Functionalist and Social Interactive Theories 14 1.4 Dissociations Between Language and Cognition 15 1.4.1 The Cognition Hypothesis 16 1.4.2 Modularity 18 1.5 The Critical Period 20 1.5.1 Origins of the Critical Period 20 1.5.2 Animal Studies 20 1.5.3 Critical Periods Applied to Human Behaviour 22 1.6 Language Critical Period Research 23 1.6.1 Theoretical Contributions 23 1.6.2 Empirical Studies 25 Neurobiological Studies 25 Studies Focussing on Single Areas of Language 26 Studies Concerned with the First Acquisition of Sign Language 26 1.6.3 Opposition to the Critical Period 29 1.7 Critical Period Model to be Critically Examined by the Present Study 31 1.7.1 Locke’s Developmental Neurolinguistic Theory (1994, 1997) 32 Overview of the Theory 32 Neurolinguistic Concept of the Critical Period 33 Support or Falsification of the Theory 35 1.8 Scope of the Present Study 37 1.8.1 Research Questions 37 1.8.2 Outline of Thesis 38 Chapter 2 Study Methodology 40 2.1 Research Aims 40 2.2 Value of the study 40 2.3 Participants 41 2.3.1 Background 41 2.3.2 Selection 42 2.3.3 Romanian Adoptees 43 Description of Romanian Adoptees’ Backgrounds and Developmental Histories 45 2.3.4 Control Subjects 48 2.4 Research Procedure 49 2.4.1 Précis 49 2.4.2 Step-by-step Procedure 51 Stage 1: Preparation 51 Stage 2: Data Collection 51 Stage 3: Analyses of Data 54 2.5 Assessments 54 2.5.1 Description of Tests and Rationale for Use 55 Language Assessment 55 Non-Verbal Cognitive Assessment 57 Social and Communicative Behaviour Assessment 58 2.5.2 Reliability 58 Chapter 3 Background and Developmental History 60 3.1 Descriptive Developmental Data 60 3.1.1 Primary Sources: Semi-Structured Interviews with Parents 60 3.1.2 Secondary Sources: Official Developmental Reports 61 3.2 The Early Years 61 3.3 What is the Exact Nature of the Environment From Which These Children Came? - The Romanian Orphanage Setting 62 3.3.1 Sariah 62 3.3.2 Georgina 63 3.3.3 Ingrid 65 3.3.4 Romanian Orphanage Setting: Further Evidence? 66 Indirect Evidence 66 Direct Evidence 72 3.3.5 Summary: Romanian Orphanage Setting 74 3.4 What Were the Children Like When First Adopted? - Stage of Development Shortly Before And Shortly After the Adoption Process 74 3.4.1 Sariah 75 3.4.2 Georgina 77 3.4.3 Ingrid 78 3.4.4 Summary: Stage of Development Shortly Before And After the Adoption Process 80 3.5 Did the Children Show any Signs of Progress? – Rate of Improvement After Adoption 81 3.5.1 Sariah 82 S.’s Language Development 82 S.’s Non-Verbal Cognitive Development 86 S.’s Physical and Motor Development 89 S.’s Socio-Emotional and Communicative Development 90 Summary: Sariah’s Rate of Progress 94 3.5.2 Georgina 94 G.’s Language Development 94 G.’s Non-Verbal Cognitive Development 99 G.’s Physical and Motor Development 101 G.’s Socio-Emotional and Communicative Development 102 Summary: Georgina’s Rate of Progress 104 3.5.3 Ingrid 105 I.’s Language Development 105 I.’s Non-Verbal Cognitive Development 110 I.’s Physical and Motor Development 111 I.’s Socio-Emotional and Communicative Development 113 Summary: Ingrid’s Rate of Progress 115 3.6 Improvement After Adoption: Common Characteristics Concerning Progress 115 3.6.1 Language Development 116 3.6.2 Non-Verbal Cognitive Development 117 3.6.3 Physical and Motor Development 118 3.6.4 Socio-Emotional and Communicative Development 119 3.7 Conclusion: The Effects of Extreme Deprivation on General Development According To Parents’ Personal Accounts and Developmental Reports 121 Chapter 4 Social and Communicative Behaviour 123 4.1 Introduction 124 4.2 Conversation Analysis 126 4.3 Method 128 4.4 Social and Communicative Behaviour 129 4.4.1 Turn-Taking: Topic Initiation and Maintenance 129 Questions (Production) 129 Question Style: Similarities and Differences 134 Atypical Production of Questions 138 Questions: Comprehension 138 Atypical Comprehension of Questions 140 Statements 143 4.4.2 Repair and Clarification 147 Repair Through Request for Clarification 147 Repair Through Completion of Conversational Partner’s Previous Unfinished Turn 151 Repair Of Conversational Misunderstandings Through Questioning And Cross-Checking 152 Other Initiated Self-Repair (Whitworth, Perkins and Lesser, 1997) 154 4.4.3 Social Routines 156 Politeness (e.g. use of “please” and “thank you”) 156 Greeting and Leave-taking Adjacency Pairs 159 4.4.4 Adaptability 162 Georgina 162 Sariah 166 Ingrid 170 4.5 Summary: S., G. and I.’s Social and Communicative Behaviour as Analysed by an Adaptation of Conversation Analysis 174 Chapter 5 Language Development 176 5.1. Standardized Tests 176 5.1.1 Behaviour During Testing. 177 5.2. Performances On Global Language Measures 179 5.2.1 CELF-Preschool 179 5.2.2 CELF-3 180 Brief Description of CELF-3 181 Results: Performances on CELF-3 for 1999 and 2000 181 Scores on Individual Subtests 181 Receptive Language, Expressive Language and Total Language Scores 184 5.2.3 Romanian Adoptees Compared With Younger Control Children 186 Expressive Vocabulary 186 Syntax 188 Morphology 189 5.2.4 Performances on Global Language Measures: Summary 189 5.3 Performances on Battery of Individual Measures 190 5.4 Semantics 191 5.4.1 Receptive Vocabulary 191 British Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS) 191 5.4.2 Expressive Vocabulary 192 Word Finding Vocabulary Scale (WFVS) 192 5.4.3 Conceptual Awareness 193 The Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC) 193 5.4 Grammar 194 5.5.1 Receptive Grammar 195 Test for Reception of Grammar (TROG) 195 5.5.2 Expressive Grammar 197 Action Picture Test 197 5.6 Other Measures 198 5.6.1 Narrative Ability 198 Bus Story Test of Continuous Speech 198 5.6.2 Reading 200 Salford Sentence Reading Test 200 5.6.3 Auditory Memory 201 Recall of Digits Forward (BAS-II) 203 Recalling Sentences (CELF-3) 203 The Children’s Test of Nonword Repetition (CNRep) 204 5.7 Performances on Individual Tests Compared: Dissociation Between Grammar And Vocabulary? 206 5.8 Performances on Individual Measures: Summary 210 5.9 General Language Learning Difficulties: Innate or Environmental Factors? 211 5.9.1 Catch-up and Developmental Progress 211 5.10 Performances On Global and Individual Language Measures: General Conclusion 214 Chapter 6 Non-Verbal Cognition 216 6.1 Introduction 217 6.2 Non-verbal Cognitive Ability 218 6.2.3 Visio-spatial skill (spatial cognition) 218 The Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Third Edition, UK (WISC-III) 218 S., G. and I.’s Responses on the Block Design Compared With Those of Williams Syndrome Children 221 6.2.4 Perceptual Awareness 225 Ravens Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) 225 6.2.5 Visual Representation 226 Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test 226 6.2.6 Non-Verbal Cognitive Ability: Summary 233 6.3 Similarities To Younger Children? 233 6.3.1 Comparisons Between Romanian Adoptees And Controls.
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