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Levels
IQ
% of Retarded Population
Mild
50-55 to 70
85
Moderate
35-40 to 50-55
10
Severe
20-25 to 35-40
3.5
Profound
20-25
1.5
Here I have taken into consideration about the language of the moderate level of the so called
differently abled.
The following table outlines five stages of language development based on MLU.
Table 9
Browns stages of development
Approximate Age
Stage
MLU
(In Months)
1.0-2.0
12-26
II
2.0-2.5
27-30
III
2.5-3.0
31-34
IV
3.0-3.75
35-40
3.75-4.5
41-46
V+
4.5+
47+
Method
i.
ii.
moderate level.
To calculate the Mean Length of utterance and approximate age of this
iii.
population.
To see the morphological development of the population
SI.No
Criteria
Feature selected
Age
Between 12-16
Severity of Retardation
Type of family
Nuclear
Behaviour problem
Yes
Verbal or nonverbal
Verbal
Place of residence
Rural
Family Background
Low class
Moderate
Mode of Institutionalization
Day scholars
Table 5
Age and IQ range of the cases
Case
Age
IQ
Case 1A
14
36
Case 2 B
14
36
Case 3 C
14
38
Case 4 D
15
36
Case 5E
14
40
Their communication skills are elicited by observing them in natural settings, interacting
with them directly, and by interviewing them in an informal way with the help of the Language
Assessment Tool. The data is elicited with the use of some pictures, toys and with the help of an
imitation task, especially for action words. Communication skills are assessed separately on each
child.
Mean Length of Utterances (MLU) analysis
The recorded data is transcribed and analysed in SALT Sotware for getting MLU and
Grammatical categories. SALT, the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts, is a computer
program designed to help to analyze and interpret language samples during a communicative
interaction. Once transcribed the data can be coded and can be analysed in SALT software.
MLU analysis discovers the quantity of morphemes and words pronounced by the child. It gives
the count of morphemes and words per total utterances produced by the child. If the Mean
Length of Utterances value is high the child is able to produce more complex sentences and if the
value is less it means that the child produces only simple utterances.
The mean length of utterances pronounced by each case is given below. The mean length
of utterances in words and morphemes are given along with the Browns stages of development.
Stages are determined by the childs Mean Length of Utterances with reference to Browns chart
(Brown, 1973).
Table 23
MLU Count of the cases
Case
MLU in words
MLU in
Approximate
Browns
morphemes
age range in
stages
Months
A
1.42
1.94
18-31
Late I
1.07
1.09
16-26
Early I
1.04
1.68
18-31
Late I
1.83
1.94
18-31
Late I
1.69
2.06
21-35
II
The case B reaches the stage early I and the cases A, C, and D reaches the Browns stage of Late
I. Only the case E reaches the stage II. and The following is the graphical representation of the
MLU in words and morphemes of each case. It shows that the Mean Length of Utterances
produced by the cases are very less. Brown stages of development shows V+ stages. Here the
cases didnt reach beyond the second stage. Stage I is characterized by single word utterances
and the Stage II is characterized by the appearance of grammatical morphemes.
By stage III, the child produces simple sentence forms such as yes/no sentences, wh
question forms, imperatives and negatives. Stage IV is marked by the beginnings of embedding
of phrases and clauses within another sentence. Finally stage V is characterized by conjoining or
by compound sentences. So no cases has attained these syntactic features.
The grammatical categories in the speech of these children are as follows,
CaseMarkers
8
7
6
AccM
GenM
LocM
DatM
InstM
2
1
0
A
A
AccM
GenM
LocM
DatM
InstM
The use of Locative case marker is more compared to other case markers. Then the dative,
accusative and genitive markers respectively. The cases do not use instrumental case markers.
Tense Markers
8
7
6
5
Present
Past
Future
3
2
1
0
A
Present
Past
Future
Among case markers, future tense markers are used more . Use of past tense markers seemed less
and complicated.
Other Grammatical Categories
40
35
30
Noun
Verb
25
Pronoun
20
Con.M
Neg.M
15
Num
10
Adj
5
0
A
A
Noun
Verb
Pronoun
Con.M
Neg.M
Num
Adj
The grammatical categories seen the speech of the cases are Noun, verb, pronoun, connective
markers, negative markers, Numerals and adjectives. They mostly use noun and verbs. So it is
clear that they use grammatical categories very less in number except noun and verb. It is very
difficult for them to use pronoun, connective markers, negative and other question forms,
adjectives, adverbs etc.
To summarize the results, It has been seen from the study that they are in the Browns stage of II
even in their adolescent age of 15 where as normal children attains the developmental stage of
V+ by this age. There is significant difference in the use of grammatical categories by the
normals and the differently abled population even in moderate level.
Further studies could be carried out in this field including more cases and data since it is an
initial attempt in this regard. A larger group of children can be taken for the task with different
levels of language proficiency.