Relational knowledge of 21 derivational suffixes was investigated with 120 children (grades 3-8) and 40 adults. Results obtained from a nonsense-word model indicated that suffixes were comprehended with greater accuracy than they were produced, particularly by the children. Children and adults demonstrated greatest accuracy in comprehension and…

Describes how two teachers taught English Sign Language to 29 children (age 3) in a regular education preschool program which included 2 children with hearing impairments. When compared to 25 children who were not taught signing, the children who had been taught signing had significantly higher receptive vocabulary scores and were clearly superior…

This study compared the language skills of low-birth-weight premature infants (N=11), higher birth-weight premature infants (N=14), and full-term infants (N=12) at 22 months corrected chronological age. Results suggest that low-birth-weight premature infants are at greater risk than higher birth-weight premature infants for speech and language…

This study examined possible relationships between young children's prelinguistic communication behaviors and subsequent (12 months later) expressive and receptive language outcomes. Results indicated that rate of intentional nonverbal communication initially was a predictor of spontaneous word productions later. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

This study compared the abilities of children with specific language impairment (SLI; n=10) and typically developing (TD) children (n=13) to access and participate in an ongoing interaction between two unfamiliar peer partners. Results revealed that all children in the study accessed by either making an unprompted initiation toward their peers…

Fifty-five children and their mothers were studied longitudinally from 18 to 42 months to determine the effects of home literacy practices, children's interest in reading, and mothers' metalingual utterances during reading on children's expressive and receptive language development, letter knowledge, and knowledge of print concepts. At 27 months,…

This report presents a revision of the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework (2000), renamed The Head Start Child Development and Learning Framework: Promoting Positive Outcomes in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children 3-5 Years Old. The Framework outlines the essential areas of development and learning that are to be used by Head Start programs…

A study of children's recognitory comprehension, the rudimentary ability to begin decoding the content of language, at the end of the first year had as subjects 36 infants aged 10.5, 11.5, and 12.5 months. In an examination of monthly developmental change in their ability to comprehend newly introduced referential terms, the children were exposed…

A preference procedure which makes possible a wide range of fine grammatical contrasts is proposed as an alternative to the traditional comprehension testing procedure. (GW)

The study examined the performance of 19 pairs of autistic and nonautistic (but with a language delay of at least six months) children on the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language. Results indicated no significant differences between groups or between sexes within groups in receptive language skills. (Author/DB)

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.…

A longitudinal study revealed that 14 normal and 29 specifically language impaired (SLI) four to eight year-olds developed skills in receptive and expressive language and speech articulation over the three to four years between evaluations. However, SLI subjects developed at a slower rate and the majority of them manifested reading impairment at…

This brief paper presents a summary of a study which examined the developmental progression of categorization and its relationship to language development in 12 adults with severe to profound mental retardation and with less than 100 words of expressive language (including manual signs). Subjects were asked to sort physically eight miniature…

Tests of two coding processes and language measures were administered to 100 institutionalized moderately retarded adults (mean age 24). Results of correlational analyses showed association between use and understanding of language and successive processing, however, analysis of variance indicated both coding dimensions important for establishing…

The receptive and expressive "wh" interrogative performance of 20 language-delayed children (4.3 to 6.4 years old) was compared to available normative data. These findings suggest that the delayed children develop the same order of acquisition and rules for questioning as normal children, but at a slower rate. (Author/SEW)