A natural language sample of babble and words was obtained for 47 2-year-old children and compared with expressive language scores 5 months later. More than 50 percent of the variance in language outcome test scores was accounted for by rate of word use, rate of vowel babble, and behavior problems. (Author/DB)

Naming speed skills of 45 dyslexic children (mean ages=8, 13, and 17) and slow learning children (mean age=10) were compared with those of normally achieving children. Results indicated that children with dyslexia and slow learners have persistent and severe problems in naming speed for all stimuli, regardless of whether the stimulus requires…

Twenty-one apparently normal children (ages 18 to 34 months) with slow expressive language acquisition were evaluated initially and again at age 3. The late talkers also scored significantly lower in receptive communication and socialization. Followup showed nearly half the group remained delayed in expressive communication and socialization,…

Discusses methods of assessing language comprehension in apes. Considers the possible effect of brain physiology on the differences between productive and receptive language skills. Examines the possibility that differences between synaptic transmission and volume transmission, or transmission across extracellular spaces, of neurological impulses…

Comparison of the narratives of 16 children with word-finding problems and 16 normal children (grades 1-6) found that children with word-finding disorders did not differ in language productivity but manifested significantly more word-finding characteristics in their narratives. Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed. (Author/DB)

Stories were elicited from 20 closed-head-injured children (ages 100 to 194 months) and matched nonneurologically impaired accident victims. No significant differences were found between the groups on any of the measures of narrative ability (story grammar and intersentential cohesion). (Author/DB)

Grammatical deficits (e.g., missing feature, surface account, and missing agreement) reported for children with specific language impairment (SLI) were evaluated in spontaneous language transcripts from 108 preschool children. Results indicated that children with SLI do control number marking but find number agreement across clausal boundaries…

This report presents a three-year case study of oral-language skill development in a child with Floating-Harbor syndrome, a rare condition characterized by short stature, expressive language delay, and triangular facies. It discusses initial presenting speech and language characteristics, the naturalistic language intervention used, and long-term…

This article first reviews the research establishing the need to sample text-level discourse in assessment of language abilities and identifies issues for clinicians constructing their own language sampling protocols. It then describes two protocols for use in school- and clinic-based settings, with examples of how these protocols have been…

Reviews the literature on late talkers, children producing fewer than 50 words and/or limited word combinations by 24 months of age. Notes that a substantial number of these children will continue to have difficulties with expressive language acquisition. Clinical implications for speech language pathologists working with these children are…

Conversational and narrative language samples from 47 subjects with Down syndrome (ages 5 to 20) were compared with those from 47 control subjects matched for nonverbal mental age. Down syndrome children differed from controls in number of different words, in total words, in mean length of utterance, and in total utterance attempts per minute.…

A qualitative study documents the emergence, in the context of typed expression, of increasingly useful and reliable speech for an adolescent labeled with autism. The process of speech development is described and the three categories of supports that he and his family experienced that supported his emergent speech are discussed. (Contains…

This article explores 46 deaf college students' knowledge of English wh-question formation in the context of government-binding theory and an associated learnability theory. Results of two learnability tasks revealed that, despite years of exposure to English language input, many deaf learners had not internalized the positive evidence required to…

Describes a classroom experience in which the curriculum, committed to helping students use language to criticize and change their social world, gained validity and vitality because of the allegedly racist social climate on campus. Argues against those, such as Susan Miller, who essentialize expressivist pedagogies that are grounded in…

Psychometric data are presented for 223 children and adults with autism, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDDNOS), or nonspectrum diagnoses who took the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic. Within each module, diagnostic groups were equivalent on expressive language levels. Results indicate substantial…