Two linguistic microstructures (propositions and cohesive devices) were analyzed in story recalls by 11 primary and intermediate level hearing-impaired students. When stories were very simple, students generated mostly complete propositions, however as complexity increased, semantic errors resulted in fewer complete propositions. (Author/DB)

Analysis of characteristics of 53 children with specific language impairment (SLI), ages 4 to 9, suggested that family history is related to pattern of language performance. Children with deficits in only expressive language had a higher proportion of affected family members than did children with both expressive and receptive language deficits.…

This study evaluated an Extended Optional Infinitive theory of specific language impairment (SLI) in children, which suggests that SLI children omit finiteness markers longer than do normally developing children. Comparison of 18 SLI 5-year olds with 2 normally developing groups (ages 5 and 3) found that SLI subjects omitted finiteness markers…

The syntactic development of preschoolers (n=22) who later became disabled readers was compared to that of similar children who became normal readers. Expressive and receptive syntactic abilities were examined from age 30 to 60 months. The dyslexic group was poorer on all measures until age five, when both groups exhibited similar syntactic…

This study assessed the family history of speech, language, and school problems in 62 young children (mean age 28 months) with developmental expressive language delay (ELD). Comparison with normally developing children indicated no strong familial component of ELD. (Author/DB)

This study compared the relative effectiveness of imitative intervention and conversational recast language intervention applied to grammatical morpheme and complex sentences in 21 children with specific language impairment. The conversational procedure was found to require fewer presentations to first spontaneous use and to produce more…

This study, with 53 Mexican-American infants, found that five predictors accounted for approximately 35 percent of the variance in receptive language at 12 and 22 months with average parental generation from Mexico (acculturation) and infant visual recognition memory accounting for 14 and 15 percent of the variance, respectively. No predictors…

Early vocal development, consonant production, and spoken vocabulary were examined in a deaf toddler whose multichannel cochlear implant was activated at 20 months. The child understood almost 240 words and spoke approximately 90 words after one year of implant experience. The combination of early cochlear implantation, family support, and regular…

In this investigation, a case study approach was used with two preschool children with language delays to determine whether videotaped self-modeling (VSM) intervention would influence their expressive language development. Language samples of both children were videotaped and then edited to leave only the best examples of the target language…

Sampling spontaneous expressive language through video narration is offered as a means of reducing variability among language samples over time or from different speakers. Advantages include content stability, high interest value, and high processing demands. Disadvantages include brevity of the samples, lack of information on dyadic communication…

The Cognitive Levels Test (CLT) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) were administered to 30 freshman college students at a small state college in the mid-Atlantic region. Significant correlations indicate that the PPVT-R measures a component of the CLT. Mean PPVT-R scores were significantly higher than CLT means. (Author/PB)

Results of a study with four autistic students (ages five-nine) showed that a picture training procedure was effective in teaching a generalized response to questions for which the relevant cue was visible, whereas specific generalization programing was required for situations in which the relevant cue was not visible. (Author/DB)

This longitudinal case study follows the development of a woman with autism from mutism at age 10 to acquisition of a range of spoken and written language skills by age 26. Results support hypotheses that both spoken and written language may become feasible forms of communication in such cases, although some skills may plateau or decline.…

This follow-up to a longitudinal speech and educational outcome study compared 24 adults (and their children) with history of moderate phonological-language disorder and 28 adults (and their children) with normal articulation as children. Children of the proband subjects performed significantly more poorly on all tests of articulation and…

The maladaptive behaviors, personality, and language skills of a male whose chromosome analysis showed evidence of mosaicism with karyotype 49,XXXXY and 48,XXXY are described. Research on severity of mental handicap with extra chromosomes, delayed speech development, and discrepancy between verbal and performance intelligence is examined. (JDD)