Progressive time delay is presented as a nonintrusive method of teaching receptive vocabulary to a 5-year-old girl with severe mental retardation. The girl was trained in pointing to photographs of various unfamiliar objects when the object was named by the teacher. Results indicate that the presentation of a time delay procedure resulted in a…

The article describes a series of 10 games designed to improve the communication skills of pupils with severe learning difficulties. The games encourage attention development, initiating comments, and giving and receiving instructions. (DB)

Landau-Kleffner syndrome is characterized by difficulty in receptive or expressive language, abnormal electroencephalograms, and seizures. This article describes the primary and secondary characteristics of children with this syndrome and offers educators a framework for intervention techniques. These include using predictable language, creating…

The curriculum outlines objectives, materials, and activities for preschoolers with speech/language delay. The curriculum is intended for classroom use within a normal instructional schedule. The curriculum emphasizes building of receptive and expressive language. Activities address such developmental skills as socialization, family living,…

Attempts to identify deficits in object knowledge specific to the autistic syndrome. Examines the correspondence between sensorimotor and play behaviors and language in mentally retarded and normal children. Determines whether these correspondences are different for autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children.(Author/AS)

An alternating treatments design was used to evaluate and compare the instructional effectiveness of six treatment packages in teaching receptive picture vocabulary to 12 mildly handicapped children (ages 3-6 years). Independent variables in the treatment packages included: least-to-most prompting, correction, group instruction, and individual…

Five hearing impaired children (2 to 4 years old) were followed longitudinally while using a single channel, vibrotactile aid as a supplement to hearing aids. Standardized language tests (including the Scales of Early Communication Skills for Hearing Impaired Children, the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language, and the Test for Auditory…

This research is testing the suggestion that acquisition and representation of formal language knowledge of dysphasic children is qualitatively different from the normal language acquisition/representation processes. In a cohort-sequential design, aspects of language and cognitive development of 120 dysphasic children aged 6-14 are being analyzed…

The study compared results of the Preschool Language Scale, administered to 214 rural and 214 suburban children in Nebraska. Both groups scored above age level, but a higher percentage of rural children failed a wide range of verbal ability and auditory comprehension items. The scale did not meet criteria for nonbiased, ecologically valid…

This book is the second of a three-volume series on conflict resolution for educational administrators. Following the introduction, the first three chapters discuss the following communication skills critical to communication--building rapport, listening and pacing, and chunking and problem solving. Chapter 4 provides a generic problem-solving…

This manual presents an assessment instrument designed to help teachers, educational specialists, speech-language therapists, psychologists, and other service providers evaluate the communication skills of children, adolescents, and young adults who have multiple disabilities, including severe or profound mental retardation and deafblindness. It…

The importance of competence in both receptive and expressive language, selective perception, and a rich experiential background for reading readiness skills of hearing impaired children is empahsized. (CL)

Thirty-five students (age 5-21) with mental retardation completed a 10-lesson curriculum on verbal and signed vocabulary acquisition. Therapist only and therapist plus video methods resulted in higher spoken and manual sign production of targeted items compared to the video only method. Receptive vocabulary was not improved. (Author/JDD)

Stories were read daily at school and home to 32 children, aged 3-10, with severe learning difficulties. After eight months, almost all of the children showed improvements in verbal comprehension greater than gains of a comparison group, and the older children showed improvements in verbal expression. (Author/JDD)

This study evaluated ease of learning 5 visual symbol sets (photopictorial, rebus, Blissymbolics, orthography, and Premack-type tokens) with 4 autistic students (ages 7-13). A second article describes the development of instructional procedures for the students, noting the contribution of behavioral, cognitive developmental, and information…