Critiques an earlier article by M. Frauenglass and R. Diaz reporting their study on the interaction between private speech and cognition. Argues that their interpretation fails to regard how private speech is seen to regulate cognitive activity within Vygotskian psycholinguistic theory. (HOD)

Responds to W. Frawley's and J. Lantolf's comments on the Frauenglass and Diaz study concerning the interaction between private speech and cognition. Argues that Vygotsky's theory predicts a positive effect on children's problem solving activity. (HOD)

Forty-two right-handed preschool children listened to dichotic presentations of digit names and were told to report only the digit arriving at the designated ear. A significant right-ear superiority was found, demonstrating a left lateralization of verbal processing in children as young as three years of age. (Author/JMB)

Two studies investigated linguistic representations underlying English-speaking 2.5-year-olds' production of transitive utterances. Findings indicated that children trained with pronouns and nouns could produce a transitive utterance creatively with a novel verb. Results suggest that English-speaking children build many of their early linguistic…

Twelve 21/2-year-old children received adult verbal intervention selectively directed toward acquisition of either question forms or verb forms. Findings showed that children who received verb intervention acquired new verb structures while children who received question intervention acquired new forms of questions. (Author/JMB)

Examined relationships among word comprehension, word production, and enactive and gestural naming by 136 infants of 12-16 months. Results indicate that infants can use adult speech as an aid in the reproduction of modeled gestures. (RJC)

Assessed the intellectual development and academic achievement of 87 diabetic children during the first 6 years of their illness. At the initial diagnosis, intellectual performance and school grades were in the average range. Over time, verbal intellectual performance and school grades declined, whereas nonverbal intellectual performance improved…

Two experiments used the preferential looking task to assess early word comprehension in 12- to 24-month olds. Results indicated that when target stimuli were named, 12-month olds displayed an increase in target looking for typical--but not atypical--targets, whereas 18- and 24-month olds displayed increases for both. (Author/KB)

Word comprehension tests were given to 24 infants at 2-month intervals. Parents of 18 of the infants kept a diary of the children's verbal production. Comprehension scores revealed a vocabulary spurt for some children. The presence of a comprehension spurt was associated with a word production spurt. (BC)

Dynamic aspects of maternal language instruction and first language learning were explored by observing one- to five-year-old middle-class children with their mothers. (CM)

Examined phonological short-term memory and new word learning in 5-year olds. Found that learning sound structures of new words was significantly, and to some degree independently, associated with aspects of phonological memory skill and vocabulary knowledge. Learning of familiar word pairs was linked with current vocabulary knowledge, not with…

Coping behavior was assessed for 74 children, at 2-1/2 years of age in an experimental barrier situation and at 7-1/2 years of age a novel play situation. Analyses indicate relationships between effective coping behaviors and other measures of child development in the preschool and early school-age periods. (SDH)

Investigated the premise that differences in developmental patterns as recorded on a scored biodata form are related to differences in verbal behavior as evidenced in six protocols derived from responses to the Kent-Rosanoff Word Association Test. Subjects were 110 female college students. (SDH)