I agree that this is a very interesting study. I am somewhat less surprised by the findings and I think the reduced emotional expression could be a result of an abused child 'dissociating'. This dissociation is a survival mechanism, to protect the psyche from the extreme emotional trauma (during the time of abuse). So when discussing the abusive events, the child may virtually see the event as though it happened to somebody else.
If discourse analysis could be used to reliably identify patterns of behaviour that differ between abused / non-abused children it could be very useful for offering clues for health professionals to look out for, when dealing with children.
A massive change of behaviour could be expected when an abuser enters the room that the child is in, which may help to raise suspicions amongst staff caring for children (in hospital for example). Im not sure if further study in these areas would change practice however
