1. Objectifs

Intentions :
L’objectif général de cette thèse par articles «est d’étudier la relation entre le niveau de développement morphosyntaxique d’enfants négligés âgés de 4 ans et la qualité des interactions dans le groupe en SGÉ [services de garde éducatifs].» (p. 17) «[T]he general aim of [the first] study [is] to examine the level of morphosyntactic development of French-speaking neglected children at age 4.» (p. 24) «The global aim of [the second] study is to examine the relationship between the quality of interactions in the group in ECE [early childhood educations] setting attended by neglected children and the presence of MDs [morphosyntactic difficulties], as established by the MLUm [mean length of utterances, measured in morphemes].» (p. 52)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’échantillon de la première étude est composé de 136 enfants de quatre ans (44 enfants victimes de négligence et 92 enfants n’ayant pas expérimenté de négligence). L’échantillon de la seconde étude est composé de 104 enfants de quatre ans (18 enfants victimes de négligence et 86 enfants n’ayant pas expérimenté de négligence). Les participants ont été recrutés dans quatre Centres jeunesse et plusieurs Centres de la petite enfance situés dans les villes de Québec et Montréal.

Instruments :
Questionnaires (articles 1 et 2)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique (articles 1 et 2)

3. Résumé

Results of the first study show in particular that «[o]verall, the neglected children showed significantly lower morphosyntactic skills than their non-neglected peers for three of the four indicators studied […].» (p. 35) «The context of parental neglect hindering language development may explain this high prevalence. Indeed, given that neglected children are exposed to unhealthy interactions as well as language stimulation that is less well adapted to their developmental level and less complex syntactic structures compared to non-neglected children […], the morphosyntactic complexity of their utterances is likely to be less well developed than that of non-neglected children.» (p. 36) Results of the second study show that «[t]he prevalence of MD among neglected children (33.3%) is more than seven times higher than that of non-neglected children (4.7%), which is an alarming gap. It is recognized that when MLUm falls below developmental expectations between the ages of 4;6 and 5;11 years, there is a higher risk that a speech-language pathologist may conclude the presence of a developmental language disorder rather than a TD [typical development]. The context of parental neglect hindering language development may explain this high prevalence. Indeed, considering that neglected children are exposed to unhealthy interactions, less adjusted language stimulation in terms of their developmental level as well as less complex syntactic structures compared to non-neglected children […], the enrichment of their utterances regarding morphosyntactic complexity may be diminished compared to non-neglected children.» (p. 66)