Notes the variability in child speech and language development. Explores the debate over whether and when to intervene with children whose speech is developing later than the norm. (HTH)

The present study investigated the validity of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for a group of toddlers 30 months of age. Study 1 examined the concurrent validity of the CDI for a group of 38 late talkers. Significant correlations were found between the CDI and direct measures of language abilities. Study 2 used…

Background: The incidence of children dually diagnosed with Down syndrome and autism is estimated to be as high as 11%. There is a paucity of research investigating linguistic treatment interventions for such children. This single-subject experiment examined a programme designed to increase the language production and verbal behaviour of a…

Neuropsychological functioning of 30 siblings of children with autism (AU-S), 28 siblings of children with mental retardation of (MR-S), and 30 siblings of children with developmental language delay (DLD-S) was compared. Two siblings, both AU-S, received diagnoses of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). More siblings with cognitive disabilities…

For several decades the intellectual abilities of deaf children and adolescents, as measured by performance IQ, have been reported as comparable with those of hearing children and adolescents. Differences have been reported, however, on measures of verbal IQ, with deaf children and adolescents typically obtaining verbal IQ scores within the low…

The correlation between the communicative intent of parents, in terms of their expectation of a response and the response patterns of young children aged 23-25 months during parent-child interactions, was investigated. An Observational Framework was used to code these parameters in interactions between 36 children and their mothers. The children…

Orphanage life places children at risk of developmental delay, particularly with regard to speech and language acquisition. The aim of this study was to evaluate opportunities for children in an orphanage in South Africa to acquire communicative competence, by examining adult-child and child-child interactions and by evaluating the structure and…

This study on sensitivity and attachment included 55 toddlers and their parents. Samples included children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), mental retardation, language delay, and typical development. Children were diagnosed at 4 years of age. Two years before diagnosis, attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation procedure, and…

Pragmatic function and level of linguistic stress in five speech delayed children (four to six years old) were studied as they relate to variability in phonological performance. Results indicated that both type of pragmatic function and level of linguistic stress were associated with reduction in the occurrence of natural phonological processes.…

Two studies examined the validity of parent report for measuring language in children with specific language delay using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories for comparison. Results suggest that parent report appears to be valid for measuring language production skills in this population. Validity was strongest for vocabulary…

This study estimated the incidence of speech delay based on a demographically representative sub-sample of 1,328 monolingual English-speaking 6-year-old children. Among six major findings were: (1) the prevalence of speech delay was 3.8 percent; (2) speech delay was 1.5 times more prevalent in boys than girls; and (3) comorbidity of speech delay…

This study compared the prelinguistic vocal development of 30 9- month-old babies with unrepaired cleft palate and age-matched peers (N=15). Fewer of the babies with cleft palate had reached the canonical babbling stage (57 percent versus 93 percent) and had smaller consonant inventories. However, syllable types and length and number of…

The use of four types of psychological state words (physiological, emotional, desire, and cognitive) during mother-child play sessions at ages 3, 4, and 5 years was examined in 30 children diagnosed with delayed expressive language at 24-31 months and 15 age-matched comparison children with typical development. The children's mean length of…

The aim of this study was to evaluate if a diagnostic work-up should be recommended for 2-year-old children with developmental language delay (LD), or if the widely chosen "wait and see" strategy is adequate. Children with LD were identified in paediatric practices during routine developmental check-ups using a German parent-report…