Since the 1950's there has been a tremendous shift in the way language and language behavior is viewed. The shift is characterized as a general movement away from surface observation and analysis to attempts at the description and analysis of underlying linguistic forms. The interest in underlying linguistic forms has, in a rather natural way, led investigators to confront once again the seemingly awesome relationship between language and cognition. In the area of child language, there have been some interesting attempts to describe cognitive precursors to language and the cognitive relations expressed in semantic intention. These cognitive aspects of language development have important implications in instruction and program development for the linguistically deviant child. (Author)