The way a young child uses language has an impact on their future life. Early language acquisition is a determinant in adult employment, mental health and relationships with others. At the same time there is a broad evidence base that play and learning in the natural environment is beneficial for young children's physical, emotional, social and…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify commonalities and differences between content components in stuttering treatment programs for preschool-age children. Method: In this document analysis, a thematic analysis of the content was conducted of handbooks and manuals describing Early Childhood Stuttering Therapy, the Lidcombe Program,…

Background: Speech and language acquisition can be a challenge for young children with Down syndrome (DS), and while early intervention is important, we do not know what early interventions exist and how effective they may be. Aims: To systematically review existing early speech, language and communication interventions for young children with DS…

Objective: The aim of the study was to conduct a meta-analysis of research examining the early speech and language functioning of young children, birth to age 8;11 (years;months), with nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate (NSCL/P) compared to their peers without NSCL/P. Method: We conducted a random-effects metaregression using 241 effect sizes…

Studies of normative ages of speech sound acquisition vary in speech sample and methods used. Review of studies which sample spontaneous speech indicates that these data have characteristics that make them difficult to use as norms. Desirable characteristics of normative investigations of speech and sound acquisition are proposed. (Author/CL)

The paper summarizes recent thinking on several aspects of early childhood stuttering, including the acquisition of fluency in young children and its relationship to language acquisition, the relationship of normal childhood nonfluencies to early stuttering, stuttering's relationship to language acquisition, and psycholinguistic influences on…

The authors review some current research on young children's writing drawn from their own unpublished observations as well as from published work and discuss the implications for classroom practice and educational policymaking. (CT)

A review of research leads to the proposal that infants' perception of "fragile" contrasts is lost due to their lack of exposure to particular sounds. Perception of "robust" contrasts is lost around the onset of formal language training due to children's lack of experience with phonologically irrelevant sounds. (Author/CB)