An assessment battery, measuring multiple aspects of language, was administered to 29 children between 4 and 5 years of age who had been born prematurely. The children, who weighed less than 2,500 grams at birth after less than 37 weeks of gestation, were recruited from a cohort of children originally admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit…

Eighteen people (with ages ranging from 7 to 22 years) who had been diagnosed as aphasic 10 years previously were assessed in terms of current functioning to test the hypothesis that, since the subjects had a specific language disorder, other areas of adaptive development should be relatively spared, and communication scores should be…

The objective of this study was to develop a highly reliable instrument for primary grade students which was relatively culture free and could accurately identify each child's dominant language. In addition, it should provide normative data regarding the child's fluency in his two most predominant languages. This test, known as the Test of…

Presented are 29 activities for teachers to use in helping young mentally retarded children increase language skills, and included is a language assessment chart. The goal for language development is given to be increase in effectiveness and accuracy in handling both receptive and expressive language. Activities are presented by name or purpose,…

This manual presents an assessment instrument designed to help teachers, educational specialists, speech-language therapists, psychologists, and other service providers evaluate the communication skills of children, adolescents, and young adults who have multiple disabilities, including severe or profound mental retardation and deafblindness. It…

The importance of competence in both receptive and expressive language, selective perception, and a rich experiential background for reading readiness skills of hearing impaired children is empahsized. (CL)

This article describes the EpiSLI diagnostic system for identifying specific language impairment in kindergarten children for the purpose of epidemiological research. The system employs five composite scores representing norm-referenced performance in three domains of language (vocabulary, grammar, and narration) and two modalities (comprehension…

Longitudinal change in syntax comprehension and production skill, measured over six years, was modeled in 31 individuals (ages 5-20) with Down syndrome. The best fitting Hierarchical Linear Modeling model of comprehension uses age and visual and auditory short-term memory as predictors of initial status, and age for growth trajectory. (Contains…

Thirty-five students (age 5-21) with mental retardation completed a 10-lesson curriculum on verbal and signed vocabulary acquisition. Therapist only and therapist plus video methods resulted in higher spoken and manual sign production of targeted items compared to the video only method. Receptive vocabulary was not improved. (Author/JDD)

Stories were read daily at school and home to 32 children, aged 3-10, with severe learning difficulties. After eight months, almost all of the children showed improvements in verbal comprehension greater than gains of a comparison group, and the older children showed improvements in verbal expression. (Author/JDD)

Comparison using paired t-tests of parent and teacher ratings for 16 preschool children on the Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale found no significant differences between parent and teacher ratings of expressive language, but a significant difference on the receptive language subscale. However, interrater reliability was relatively low…

This study evaluated ease of learning 5 visual symbol sets (photopictorial, rebus, Blissymbolics, orthography, and Premack-type tokens) with 4 autistic students (ages 7-13). A second article describes the development of instructional procedures for the students, noting the contribution of behavioral, cognitive developmental, and information…

Addresses the specific language expectations of early elementary school, describes common language problems, and recommends strategies for intervention in early childhood classrooms. Includes examples of real classroom conversations between teacher and students. Presents two tables summarizing expressive and receptive language intervention…

Discusses the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to enhance comprehension and expression of people with autism. A theoretical model for AAC assessment and intervention is presented and illustrated with a case study of a 6-year-old boy with autism and severe expressive and receptive language impairments. (Author/DB)