My 1st Warwick Journal blog........

Hey All ,

I'm back on form now so here are my notes from the Journal I chose to summarise.

This journal is based on cognitive theories and how they relate to a child's ability to learn speech. The author focuses on a child's memory and if it reflects on the child's language acquisition.

Historically the studies used to test the relationship between language and memory were based on visual memory. The findings have shown that the better the visual memory , the better the child's communication skills. There are also studies that children with impaired visual memory often have a family history of language difficulties.

Although there are lots of studies using visual memory and impaired Auditory processing , little is known about the effect that processing speed. There are also conflicting results when on tests using a child's gaze to test their attention.
Tests have also been carried out to compare children's Representing competence, using the changing of picture's and whether the hidden picture still exists-Similar to Piaget's experiment.

There are current studies using infants from 0-3yrs to greater understand the link between Cognitive development and it's effect on speech. This study is using Cognitive theory to predict each child's language development , and then compares the child's actual development.
The study uses children from the same ethnic and social background and gender. The only difference is that some of the babies are pre term and some are full term.
From what I understand , this is because pre term and full term babies have a significant difference in their cognitive memory development.

The results from this study have found that memory and Representation competence are related to speech , however , the language scores were similar for both groups of children.
I don't feel confident enough in my own knowledge to critique this study, although I think that the results seem to contradict each other.
The study also found that symbolic play had the greatest effect on the children's language.

I've got to say that I don't agree with some of the findings in this journal. I felt it was a little generalised.... Or maybe I'm just being a Little harsh ;-)

If anyone has happened to read this same journal I'd be really interested to hear you thoughts :-)


A Cognitive Approach to the Development of Early Language. By: Rose, Susan A.; Feldman, Judith F.; Jankowski, Jeffery J.. Child Development, Jan/Feb2009, Vol. 80 Issue 1, p134-150, 17p, 5 Charts