Parents of 40 Down's Syndrome babies were taught methods of communicative training with their children that involved either modeling techniques or written instructions. Results showed a significant difference in favor of the group taught modeling. (RJC)

This study investigated the effect of day care attendance on the receptive and expressive language development of nine 4-year-old children. Five children who had 2 years of day care experience comprised a day care group. A home-reared group was composed of four children who had 3 months of day care experience. Children's receptive language ability…

This research review sought to discover the forms of family verbal interaction that nurture language development in infants and toddlers, the function of different family members in this process, and the role of environmental factors in language development. Results indicate that speech to a child is significantly different from speech to an…

This study of final-consonant repetitions in the speech of a young child supports the notion that some speech disfluencies may result from parental attempts to accelerate phonological development. An analysis of 12 half-hour-long observations over a year is presented and discussed in terms of the home environment. (Author/KM)

To study the emergence of literacy during the preschool years, a handwritten diary, maintained on a day to day basis, focused on one child, David, from ages two and a half to four and a half. One facet of the study concentrated on his literary language--his incorporation of written texts (children's literature) into his language and background of…

Used observations and home visits to examine sex differences in language ability of 54 disadvantaged children at risk for poor language outcomes. Found that language difficulties increased over time, boys were at a constant disadvantage to girls in language development, and sex difference in language ability appeared even when families had similar…