This case study examined prosodic use in a normally developing child between the ages of 20 and 46 months. Conversational repairs were elicited to examine prosodic stress. Fundamental frequency, intensity, and duration of syllables were measured. Although the subject could repair stress errors, a clear pattern of the development of acoustic cues…

The study examined two female children (ages two and five) with Williams Syndrome (characterized by moderate to severe mental retardation with verbal intelligence quotients significantly higher than performance intelligence quotients). Comparison with both normal and delayed children indicated an unusual cognitive profile. (DB)

An intervention for noncompliance, consisting of a series of requests promoting a high probability of compliance followed either 5 seconds or 20 seconds later by a request with a low probability of compliance, was implemented with a preschool child with autism. Results indicated that a shorter interprompt time resulted in higher rates of…

This paper presents two case studies of children who developed herpes virus infection in the intrauterine or early postnatal period and presented with features of autism around two years of age. Other research suggesting a link between herpes and autism is reviewed. (DB)

Reviews five previously published and one novel case history of children who suffered extreme deprivation in early childhood. Aspects of cognitive, emotional, and social development are critically appraised, and three issues central to theories about the origins of developmental disorders are addressed.(RH)

A six-year-old nonvocal girl with autism who had acquired a variety of signs and imitative responses consistently failed to acquire a tact (labeling) repertoire. When procedures to transfer stimulus control from verbal to nonverbal stimuli were implemented, the subject quickly learned to tact all 18 target stimuli. (Author/DB)

This case study of a severely hyperactive, moderately retarded 4-year-old boy evaluated the efficacy of methylphenidate, fenfluramine, and placebo over a 2.5-year period. Initially, methylphenidate was clinically effective in decreasing overactivity; however, it was later shown to exacerbate the child's symptoms. Fenfluramine was found to produce…

This case study of a seven-year-old Portuguese-speaking child examined hypotheses concerning systematic sound preference (where a group of sounds with the same manner of articulation is represented by one or two sounds in production). Word position and stress patterns were found to be important in the systematicity of sound preference. (Author/DB)

Two studies of a single case (a 5-year-old girl) considered variables in indirect stuttering treatment. In the first study, mother's speech rate was found to correlate with the child's stuttering; in the second study, different parent variables were found to relate to either primary (effortless) or secondary (tense) stuttering. (Author/DB)

Observations and interviews conducted in three different series over an 18-month period provided data about the operation of one family's home school. When combined with data from observations conducted in two other home schools, the information led to a number of conclusions concerning both potential strengths of home schools as learning…

A fading procedure was successfully used to maintain high levels of compliance obtained with presenting high-probability requests immediately antecedent to low-probability requests in both a 5-year-old boy with developmental disabilities and a 15-year-old girl with developmental disabilities (for whom rephrasing of "don't" requests to…

The primary purpose of this study was to describe the linguistic behavior exhibited by a female subject (age 2 years, 4 months) during naturally occurring social interaction with children of different ages. Verbal and nonverbal behavior were studied; of additional interest were variables influencing the emergence of linguistic behavior. Data were…

This article discusses the role of stimulability in the assessment and treatment of phonological disorders in Spanish-speaking children and applies principles of stimulability to the evaluation and treatment of a phonological disorder in a three-year-old Spanish-speaking child. The case study demonstrated that use of stimulability resulted in…

This case study of a 5-year-old boy diagnosed with a specific expressive language impairment with verbal apraxia reports on chromosomal, neurological, speech/language, cognitive, and play evaluations. Evaluation found a chromosomal translocation and a severe expressive speech-language deficit but good nonverbal cognitive and communicative skills.…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an innovative treatment sequence designed to facilitate semantic/pragmatic language development in a 5-year old with high-functioning autism. The independent variable was a treatment sequence emphasizing video vignettes and role plays. Dependent variables included efficient gaze, responding without delays,…