nicole kotras masters thesis

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verbal cues. Thus, the crystallization of concepts, the structuring of thought and the communication of ideas are promoted by language. Moore (1968) proposed that the child who learns to use this valuable instrument early, would have a permanent intellectual advantage over one who learns it late. The concern with language is of importance for clinicians working with the assessment and remediation of a child's language ability and disability (Harris, 1990). In order to understand the language acquisition and the language development of a person, it is necessary to consider the person as a biological, psychological, social and cultural-intellectual being. Within the field of language development, numerous theories have been put forward, some more prominent than others. Griffiths (1954) stated that when assessing the speech of infants and young children, one must be aware of the child's reaction time. This suggests that there is a time-lag that can be observed between what the child hears and what he later attempts to produce or reproduce. It is likely that it is this gap between what is understood (passive speech) and what can be expressed (active speech), that becomes part of the complex stimulus to progress that is present in all normal subjects from infancy onwards. The theories and assessment measures pertaining specifically to language development and language acquisition have been discussed in Chapter 3. A comprehensive assessment of a child's overall development should include a number of tests that would measure ability without penalty. This implies that a child's ability to perform tasks involving cognitive and associative responses should be measured. Since most language tests are by nature culturally bound, any attempts to measure a child's expressive and receptive language should be culture specific (McElroy, 1972). PROBLEM STATEMENT AND AIM OF THE STUDY Since the arrival of the Griffiths Scales in South Africa, some 20 years ago, several studies have been conducted at both national and international levels. The findings of these studies have been reviewed and evidence presented regarding the 20 small pictures and the large picture of the Hearing and Speech Scale of the Griffiths Scales, clearly indicated that the users of the Scale find these items to be culturally biased and non-contemporaneous, and thus in need of revision. 13
14 Hence, this study was aimed at providing a continuation of the research process existing in South Africa, which involved adapting a section of the Hearing and Speech Scale. The aims of the present study were two fold. Aim 1: To revise the 20 small pictures and the large picture of the Hearing and Speech Scale of the Griffiths Scales of Mental Development, making them more culturally relevant for the children of our contemporary world, especially in South Africa. Aim 2: To describe the performance of South African children, between 60 and 83 months of age, utilizing the revised pictures. The reason for selecting this age group is that many children are tested in their sixth year (from 72 months), for evaluating their school-readiness and hence their school-placement. As the present study is exploratory in nature, no specific hypotheses were generated. Instead the aims stated above guide the methodological approach used in the study, as described in Chapter 4, as well as the manner in which the findings are reported in Chapter 5. CHAPTERS OF STUDY Chapter 2 highlights the psychological assessment instruments, used for infants and young children. Special emphasis is given to the Griffiths Scales. Furthermore, the chapter describes the construction of the Griffiths Scales, and reviews both normative and clinical research completed on the Scale. In addition, recent research completed in South Africa is presented. Chapter 3 expands the theories of language acquisition. Furthermore, standardized tests specifically pertaining to childrens' language are addressed. The administration of the Hearing and Speech Scale and responses to the 20 small pictures and large picture are reviewed. Chapter 4 includes the methodology employed in conducting the study as well as, the analysis of the results. Chapter 5 provides the results and a discussion of the results. A critical evaluation of the study is presented in Chapter 6.
Page 1 and 2: A REVISION OF A SECTION OF THE HEAR
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS ii Page ACKNOWLED
Page 5 and 6: CHAPTER FOUR METHODOLOGY Problem fo
Page 7 and 8: LIST OF FIGURES vi Page Figure 1 Po
Page 9 and 10: Table 24 The responses given to the
Page 11 and 12: The major findings of the present s
Page 13 and 14: Die hoof bevindinge van die huidige
Page 15 and 16: Holt (1979) has comprehensively sum
Page 17 and 18: Figure 1 Population of South Africa
Page 19 and 20: of disabled people increases slowly
Page 21 and 22: second language or culture. Hamblet
Page 23 and 24: ange from birth to three years of a
Page 25: Africa cannot be separated from the
Page 29 and 30: highly verbal in nature which is li
Page 31 and 32: perceptual-performance, quantitativ
Page 33 and 34: acquisition of this complex ability
Page 35 and 36: assessment of young children in Sou
Page 37 and 38: Table 1 Griffiths (1960) scoring cr
Page 39 and 40: that the two scales produced signif
Page 41 and 42: 28 (GQ) and in their performance on
Page 43 and 44: 30 British counterparts with respec
Page 45 and 46: 32 concluded that the Griffiths Sca
Page 47 and 48: 34 languages are usually successful
Page 49 and 50: individual been assessed. Hence, wh
Page 51 and 52: Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of exper
Page 53 and 54: ecome evident. Questions include th
Page 55 and 56: Plays language games (pat-a-cake, p
Page 57 and 58: 36-54 months. Grammar developmental
Page 59 and 60: understands, and, if the child appe
Page 61 and 62: 48 the child's performance on each
Page 63 and 64: 50 manipulate simple toys according
Page 65 and 66: children's verbal responses. The re
Page 67 and 68: CHAPTER FOUR METHODOLOGY PROBLEM FO
Page 69 and 70: Bailey (1987) lists several advanta
Page 71 and 72: espondents, many mailed questionnai
Page 73 and 74: he studied the 2 Griffiths manuals
Page 75 and 76: 62 written responses of the complet
Page 77 and 78:
Stage 5 The most frequently suggest
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66 The subjects in the present stud
Page 81 and 82:
Table 6 Demographic data for Sample
Page 83 and 84:
In the present study, parents were
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Stage 6 Stage 7 For the large revis
Page 87 and 88:
number of stimuli from the revised
Page 89 and 90:
Table 10 The responses given to the
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Page 93 and 94:
80 Table 13 indicates the responses
Page 95 and 96:
Table 15 Frequency and percentages
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highest and lowest mean numbers of
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
88 Table 21 indicates the frequency
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65 months elicited the highest mean
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Table 26 Means and Standard deviati
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
impacted on the spread of obtained
Page 113 and 114:
CHAPTER SIX CRITICAL EVALUATION AND
Page 115 and 116:
proposed criteria. Regarding Griffi
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include: LIMITATIONS The limitation
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e included into the Hearing and Spe
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Aldridge-Smith, J., Bi
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110 Development Bank of South Afric
Page 125 and 126:
112 Scale scores of 3-5 year old bo
Page 127 and 128:
University Press. Lister, C. (1981)
Page 129 and 130:
Kegan Paul. Kegan Paul. Kegan Paul.
Page 131 and 132:
Minnesota Press. Thomas, H. (1970).
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APPENDIX A Letters and questionnair
Page 135 and 136:
Questionnaire attached to above let
Page 137 and 138:
APPENDIX C Letter to parents for th
Page 139 and 140:
Biographical questionnaire for pare
Page 141 and 142:
APPENDIX E Riordan (1978). The valu
Page 143:
130
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