This longitudinal assessment concentrated on the relation between the home literacy environment (HLE) and early language acquisition during infancy and toddlerhood. In study 1, after controlling for socio-economic status, a broadly defined HLE predicted language comprehension in 50 infants. In study 2, 27 children returned for further analyses.…

Background: Little is known about trajectories of cognitive functioning as individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) move though adulthood. Method: The present study investigated cognitive, linguistic and adaptive functioning in adults with WS aged 19-55 years, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches. Results: Data from the…

Academic language is a vital part of content-area instruction and is one of the most pressing needs faced by English Language Learners (ELLs). The fundamental challenge ELLs in all-English instruction face is learning academic content while simultaneously becoming proficient in English. Because of this challenge, the authors, as educators, do not…

A large body of evidence shows that many of the academic difficulties Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) children have may be related to their problems in executive control. However, the particular case of expressive writing has not been deeply explored. The present study examines the typical school exercise of writing a letter.…

This paper presents evidence that supports the valid use of scores from fully automatic tests of spoken language ability to indicate a person's effectiveness in spoken communication. The paper reviews the constructs, scoring, and the concurrent validity evidence of "facility-in-L2" tests, a family of automated spoken language tests in Spanish,…

Objective: This study tested the effectiveness of an expressive writing intervention for gay men on outcomes related to psychosocial functioning. Method: Seventy-seven gay male college students (mean age = 20.19 years, SD = 1.99) were randomly assigned to write for 20 min a day for 3 consecutive days about either (a) the most stressful or…

In this article, we will describe the development of an assessment instrument for Sign Language of the Netherlands (SLN) for deaf children in bilingual education programs. The assessment instrument consists of nine computerized tests in which the receptive and expressive language skills of deaf children at different linguistic levels (phonology,…

This study explored the effectiveness of a speech and language intervention that was designed to be culturally responsive and adapted to provide explicit language instruction. Participants included all 774 kindergarten students from a mid-sized rural school district in British Columbia. Seventy-seven students screened as at risk received the…

"The Condition of Education" is a congressionally mandated report that provides an annual portrait of education in the United States. This document includes information from "The Condition of Education 2009" about knowledge and skills of young children. A smaller percentage of children born in 2001 who were in poverty…

This study examined gender differences in self-regulation in the fall and spring of kindergarten and their connection to gender differences in 5 areas of early achievement: applied problems (math), general knowledge, letter-word identification, expressive vocabulary, and sound awareness. Behavioral self-regulation was measured using both an…

On average, language and communication characteristics of individuals with Down syndrome (the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability) follow a consistent profile. Despite considerable individual variability, receptive language is typically stronger than expressive language, with particular challenges in phonology and syntax. We…

Velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) is a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion of chromosome 22q11.2. Although there is some variability, VCFS is associated with a characteristic physical, behavioral, and cognitive phenotype. This review article focuses on aspects of language and literacy development in VCFS, describing what is known and…

This study investigated the effectiveness of an expressive writing intervention in a sample of Italian early adolescents on internalizing and post-traumatic stress symptoms and coping strategies. Participants were 153 Italian adolescents (48% male), attending 7th grade (M = 12.24 yrs, SD = 0.47). Youth were randomly assigned either to write about…

Children with primary or "specific" language impairment (PLI) demonstrate subtle deficits in non-linguistic cognitive processing skills that may play a causal or contributing role in PLI. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility that short-term treatment of non-linguistic cognitive processing skills improves language abilities…

This study is an investigation of children's communication skills and socialization by the types of their early education experiences (e.g., child care centers, private schools, public schools, home, or other). A total of 244 children (average age: 61 months) and their parents participated in this study. According to the results of this study,…