The purpose of this action research project was to improve the social skills of eight preschool students and four first grade and second grade students through the use of Social Stories and visual supports to create a more positive learning environment. The teacher researchers wanted to increase the social skills of students who had been diagnosed…

This paper reports on a pilot study designed to investigate how regulating group size or social density, in the form of peer-dyad intervention, may contribute to peer interaction in children who have severe language disorders. Subjects were five males and one female ranging in age from 42-48 months all of whom had a severe developmental delay in…

The paper reviews and critiques research on incidental language teaching, a method which refers to interactions between an adult and a child that arise naturally in an unstructured situation and that are used systematically by the adult to transmit new information or give the child practice in developing a communication skill. Studies of this…

Intended for teachers of children with speech difficulties, the booklet provides background information and suggestions for dealing with speech impaired students. Covered are the following topics: descriptions of speech problems, developmental sequences of language, delayed speech, articulation, stuttering, and hearing disorders. Classroom…

The linguistic home environments of 10 language-delayed children and 10 linguistically normal children were compared using audiorecordings of parent-child dyads. Significant differences were found between the linguistic interactions of parents with a language-disordered child and parents with a linguistically normal child in all areas studied.…

The receptive and expressive "wh" interrogative performance of 20 language-delayed children (4.3 to 6.4 years old) was compared to available normative data. These findings suggest that the delayed children develop the same order of acquisition and rules for questioning as normal children, but at a slower rate. (Author/SEW)

A conceptual framework for management of phonological disorders is proposed. The framework includes a 10-element system for describing the structure of management programs and invokes a diagnostic classification system for determining appropriate management content. Data from three serial studies of management structure describe four modes of…

Free play and elicited language samples were obtained monthly for 10 to 12 months from five late talking children. Analysis indicated that three of the children resolved their late onset of speech by 33 to 35 months of age. Both quantitative factors (e.g., limited phonetic inventory) and qualitative factors (e.g., atypical error patterns) were…

This study examined bias in intelligibility judgments based on judges' personal familiarity with subjects. Four speech-delayed children (ages four and seven) were audiotaped at intervals during therapy, and intelligibility was assessed by their parents and unfamiliar adults. Mothers were significantly better at identifying words being spoken. An…

Pacing boards can assist in the transition from single word to multiword utterances by children with language impairments. The pacing board provides visual and motor cues to help young children imitate and spontaneously produce multiword utterances as well as increase metalinguistic awareness of speech units. Instructions for making pacing boards…

This article addresses the continuity from early speech-language delays to later learning problems in school and recommends use of "language organization disorder" to describe the delay. Chronologies of the difficulties and methods for early detection are provided. A table summarizes 11 research studies on early language delays and later reading…

The effectiveness of two language treatment methods, modeling versus modeling plus evoked production, in promoting productive vocabulary in three late-talking toddlers was compared. Two subjects differed as to which particular treatment method was associated with better performance. Neither treatment method was effective for the third subject.…

Six preschoolers with moderate to severe disorders in both language and phonology received intervention that differentially focused on language, phonology, or both domains. Treatment that directly focused on phonology or treatment that involved a combination of a direct focus on phonology and an indirect focus on language resulted in the largest…

This study compared the speech of five children (ages 5 and 6) with Down syndrome across single word samples elicited from tests and connected speech samples elicited during play. Analysis indicated that connected speech samples provided fewer total words and word tokens and sometimes failed to target certain later developing phonemes. Clinical…

Two studies are reported demonstrating the reliability, validity, and clinical utility of the Language Development Survey (LDS) as a screening tool for the identification of expressive language delay in toddlers. The LDS test-retest reliability was .97. The LDS also correlated highly with other measures and the LDS identified at-risk group scored…