Discusses how the child, the classroom teacher, and the language specialist can work together in the context of the classroom to help children with significant identified expressive language difficulties. Discusses developing metacommunicative awareness in whole-class lessons, small group discussions, and individual conferences. (SR)

Describes a classroom experience in which the curriculum, committed to helping students use language to criticize and change their social world, gained validity and vitality because of the allegedly racist social climate on campus. Argues against those, such as Susan Miller, who essentialize expressivist pedagogies that are grounded in…

The teacher of elementary level gifted students discusses successful creative writing activities. Among the reasons for students to learn writing early in the educational program are that written expression complements oral communication, heightens awareness of ordinary experiences, and helps students become more appreciative of language.…

The article describes development in Illinois of the Department of Rehabilitation Services Sign Language Assessment Tool. The instrument is designed to evaluate the level of receptive and expressive sign language proficiency of rehabilitation personnel serving the deaf. (DB)

The historical study of words, and particularly of the changes in their meanings, has two benefits. First, it can bring to light our recent and culture-bound perspective on the nature of language, and, secondly, the approach to language needs to be made with a perspective on the future rather than the past. (JN)

Evidence based and comprehensive, this important work offers a new approach to understanding and intervening with students with learning disabilities. The authors--leading experts in neuropsychology and special education--present a unique model of learning disabilities that integrates the cognitive, neural, genetic, and contextual factors…

This bibliographic review aims to present a single comprehensive source of references to facilitate clinical application of data obtained on the vocal activity of normal infants and to facilitate continued research on prelinguistic vocal output. The bibliography cites the published observational, empirical, and theoretical reports that examine the…

Discusses how speech-language pathologists can use photography to encourage more active language expression in children with language and learning disabilities, and describes seven categories for photography use in language learning environments. Each photo project includes suggested language objectives, applications, and advantages. (Author/CR)

This paper concerns an approach to raising literacy standards which is rather different from the prevailing orthodoxy the Rhyme and Ritual project. The project is run by the Hamilton Reading Project, which comprises a series of initiatives funded by the Hamilton Trust, an educational charity, and implemented in fifteen primary schools in a large…

Expressiveness in language is necessary for effective communication in every field. Prose should be effective not only in literature but also in science, business, law, and other specialized fields. Writing institutes across the country specialize in a new pedagogy for teaching expository prose, and one of the chief instruments for clarifying this…

The subject of this case report is a two-year, seven-month-old girl with de Lange syndrome, normal intelligence, and age-appropriate language skills. She demonstrated initial delays in gross motor skills and in receptive and expressive language but responded well to intensive speech and language intervention, as well as to physical therapy.…

Little effort has been made to combine the "writing-to-oneself" process with an exercise in creative thinking as an effective way to teach any subject or to learn a given subject. A program to combine writing and a creativity exercise to foster learning for students studying basic economics is described. (MLW)

Suggests what blackboard graffiti reveals about bright students. (MM)

A special education teacher describes how she used dialogue journals both to communicate with her emotionally disturbed students and improve the students' writing skills. An inset summarizes the research on dialogue journals. An analysis of topics written about by students including requests, feelings, hopes, family, school, peers, and wishes is…

This paper reports on a 15-year follow-up of the linguistic and cognitive profile of a woman with standard trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). The follow-up found recent rapid deterioration in receptive and productive language skills. However, basic phonological and morphosyntactic skills are preserved. Her changing profile mirrors that found in aging…