This study examined keyword signing (KWS), a communication approach used with nonspeaking individuals. Acoustic measures and judgments of 20 adult listeners were used to evaluate KWS and Spoken-Only narratives. KWS narratives were produced with a slower articulation rate, because of increased pause and speech segment duration and increased pause…

Conversation analysis was used to investigate a conversational partner's strategies when assisting with the word searches of an aphasic person. Analysis of 38 authentic videotaped conversation sequences identified four conversation strategies systematically and collaboratively used: guessing, alternative guessing, completion, and closing…

This study examined differences in literate language use in spoken narratives of 104 children with and 52 children without language impairment across four age levels (6-10). Group membership main effects were statistically significant for conjunctions and elaborated noun phrases with effect sizes ranging from small to moderate. No statistically…

Three children with developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) identified syllables in words, judged intrasyllabic sound positions, and constructed syllable shapes within monosyllabic frames. Results suggest that DAS children demonstrate an apparent breakdown in the ability to perceive "syllableness" and to access and compare syllable…

Noncomprehension signaling by 16 school-age children with mild mental retardation was compared with performance of 16 typically developing children matched for nonverbal mental age. Message type and speaker were manipulated in a direction-following task. Message type, not speaker, influenced noncomprehension signaling, with no intergroup…

Sixteen students (ages 11-17) with profound hearing impairment, assessed as having either good or poor speech intelligibility, were asked to describe pictures and to respond to a series of clarification requests. Significant differences emerged in repair strategies used by the two groups and in comparison with normal hearing peers despite similar…

The study found that activities designed to improve the elaboration and/or retrieval of words with two language-impaired children (ages 9 and 10) showed definite effects with the greatest gains associated with activities focusing on both elaboration and retrieval. (Author/DB)

This study, with 19 young children (36-76 months old) with developmental delays, in the first stage of language learning, found that the children used more frequent language and more diverse vocabulary in routine than in nonroutine situations. The protocol for parent identification of routines is appended. (DB)

Communication repair behaviors of 10 children with mental retardation (ages 11-13) and 10 mental age-matched children without mental retardation were examined. The children with mental retardation did not respond as often and rarely used details to expand their utterances. Results have implications for the development of conversational skills in…

This study examined discourse cohesion in young normal (n=8), specifically language-impaired (n=8), or autistic (n=10) children (ages 3-7). Results showed all three groups used the same cohesion strategies with similar patterning. Significant group differences were found in the overall rate of correct use and in the use of individual cohesive…

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,…

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)