Administration of verbal and nonverbal measures to 20 normal language and 20 specifically language-impaired children (ages 4-5) indicated that a "qualitative-differences" model of specific language impairment better accounts for the co-occurrence of poor verbal and poor nonverbal cognitive skills in subjects than a "low-normal"…

This observational study of three preschool children with profound disabilities in an integrated setting revealed frequent opportunities for peer social interactions and indicated that subjects engage in interactions of comparable length to those of nondisabled peers. The importance of helping young nondisabled children understand and respond to…

Ten preschool subjects exhibiting more disfluencies than 50 other subjects with language disorders were found to be older and score higher on vocabulary. Findings suggest some children with language disorders are at risk for fluency breakdown because of dysynchronies in development of lexical and syntactic aspects of language or as a result of…

Two studies with 50 students (ages 1 to 21) with severe, profound, and multiply handicapping conditions examined similarities and differences in behavior state conditions. Among findings were that profile groups could be identified by behavior state patterns and that students spent an average of 42 percent of classroom time in state conditions not…

This paper analyzes Piagetian theory on the relative development of cognition and language, the local homology model which claims there are specific language-cognition relationships at specific points in time, normal development and local homology, and development in language-impaired children. Implications for clinical decision making are…

Reports the influence of piano harmonic accompaniment on singing ability of 203 kindergarten students during 1 year of instruction. Finds that no significant differences in singing ability occurred in the groups. Suggests that musical aptitude develops gradually and extensive musical exposure and instruction may be necessary to improve singing…

This paper addresses the conceptual issues of combining qualitative and quantitative methods in early intervention research by illustrating how two analytic approaches were used for different mixed-method purposes in the study of preschool inclusion. It describes practical strategies for conducting mixed-method data analysis in terms of data…

Two studies, one within subjects and the other across subjects, evaluated the efficacy of teaching sounds in developmental sequence to nine young children (ages three to five). Treatment of later-acquired phonemes led to systemwide changes in untreated sound classes, whereas treatment of early-acquired phonemes did not. Findings suggest…

This study compared the skills performance of 60 children, ages 3 to 5, with speech and language delays on the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS) with that of national norms on the PDMS. It found that the children with speech and language delays performed the PDMS gross motor skills significantly lower than the norm at each age level. The…

This study examined the effect of various intervention contexts on the ability of young children (ages 3 and 4 years) with language impairments to effectively direct communications to a partner and to vary communicative intentions. The six children in the study were either nonverbal or in the early stages of developing verbal communication and all…

This manual presents an instrument (the Dakota Parent Satisfaction Survey) and procedures for evaluating parent satisfaction with early intervention programs. The survey procedures have been used to evaluate seven early intervention programs each year since 1985. Development of the Survey is discussed, including the identification of program…

A study investigated developments in reasoning and memory as reflected by the discovery strategies of children taking part in a manipulative categorization and recall task. A total of 40 children (8 each of 18, 24, 30, 36, and 42 months of age) participated. Stimulus materials consisting of blocks, toy plates, discs, and plastic trees were…

In September of 1981, the Fatherhood Project at Bank Street College in New York City began field research investigating the ways in which America's major social institutions were responding to the call for greater male involvement in childrearing. The research effort attempted to identify innovations in five major institutional sectors: the law,…

Age, specific emotion, and linguistic modality (verbal vs. non-verbal) were predicted to affect knowledge of emotion in young preschoolers (N = 45, mean age = 40.7 mos). Prosocial response to emotion and knowledge of emotion were also predicted to be related, given naturalistic observation and the use of contextually valid emotion knowledge…

During the 1982-83 school year the Austin Independent School District implemented a successful bilingual preschool project. However, class A was more successful than class B in terms of results on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. To understand what factors may have led to greater effectiveness, data were gathered from the two classes…