Describes an exercise designed to introduce basic concepts and techniques for a course in qualitative research methods. Discusses differences in the meaning of phrases on a student evaluation of teaching form. Suggests that the exercise will show how differences in meaning are connected to real social and political problems. (DK)

This discussion first reviews efficacy studies and models for word finding remediation in children and adolescents, and then offers principles and objectives of a threefold intervention model which addresses word finding remediation, self-advocacy instruction, and compensatory programing. (DB)

Lack of gestalt imagery (the ability to create imaged wholes) can contribute to language comprehension disorder characterized by weak reading comprehension, weak oral language comprehension, weak oral language expression, weak written language expression, difficulty following directions, and a weak sense of humor. Sequential stimulation using an…

This paper reviews basic social validity assessment techniques, discusses the constructs underlying direct magnitude estimation (DME), illustrates the use of DME for performing social validity evaluations of spontaneous language samples (with 3 brain-injured children, ages 10-15, and 3 controls), and discusses the relationship between subjective…

This paper describes the expressive communication and language of seven hearing mothers and their infants with deafness. Mothers who signed most frequently reported that other family members and friends were also learning and using signs. Frequency of infants' sign production at 18 months correlated with frequency of mothers' sign production when…

Examination of the impact of English Natural Form Instruction (ENFI) Project activities on deaf students' performance on an English placement test revealed that ENFI students performed better than non-ENFI students in expressive English skills and that ENFI activities seemed to benefit most those students with higher receptive language skills and…

Describes how teamwork, consistency, and use of sign language helped a child with Down Syndrome and deafness to increase her vocabulary from less than 20 words at the beginning of kindergarten to 228 words by the end of first grade. Six specific teaching strategies are outlined. (DB)

This study compared the development (at 40 months) of 40 deaf and hard-of-hearing infants whose hearing loss was identified either before 6 months or after 18 months. Infants whose hearing loss was identified earlier scored significantly on tests of expressive language and comprehension/concepts. Results support early hearing screening for…

A study compared the expressive language abilities of 22 preschool children whose stuttering persisted and 62 who recovered over a four-year period. Findings revealed similarity in the abilities of children whose stuttering persisted as opposed to abated at all ages. All stutterers displayed abilities near or above developmental expectations. (CR)

This study compared spoken and written narratives of school-age children (N=20) with language learning disabilities (LLD) with chronological age (CA) and language-age (LA) peers. For the spoken summary, productivity measures and grammatical complexity were significantly lower for children with LLD than for CA children. Expository writing was…

Incorporated motivational procedures to teach question-asking to three children (ages three and five). All children learned to use questions in relation to items they had previously been unable to label and demonstrated generalization of spontaneous question-asking to new items and to their home environments with their mothers, with concomitant…

Semistructured interviews with 10 deaf and 10 hearing young adults found that instrumental writing occurred as frequently between deaf children and hearing parents as between deaf children and deaf parents. Deaf respondents did less personal or expressive writing than hearing peers. Implications for literacy instruction and further research are…

Computer-based and standardized administration of the Test of Word Knowledge were compared for 30 adolescent subjects with learning disabilities. The total, receptive, and expressive composites were higher for the standard administration. Results indicated the need for independent norms for computer-based adaptations of standardized language…

An instructional prereading using American Sign Language (ASL) was effective in improving the ability of 7 prelingually deaf children (ages 11 and 12) to understand and retell a story after reading it in print. A six-step procedure for using the ASL technique is explained. Other applications of the technique and its appropriateness for public…

Thirty-six children identified with small expressive vocabularies at age 20-34 months were followed up yearly and tested for expressive language skills in second grade. Of 10 possible predictor variables, only socioeconomic status and early expressive language skills predicted expressive language outcome in second grade with a slight contribution…