Background: Narrative assessment is sensitive to the communication impairments of children with specific language impairment and those with autistic spectrum disorders. Although both groups of children tend to show deficits in narrative, it is unclear whether these deficits are qualitatively different and how language and pragmatic ability may…

As most special educators endure the periodic legal changes in education and special education, related service providers face the same challenges. These challenges include Inclusion, IDEA 04 regulations, NCLB and curricular related services. This paper presents these challenges and discusses a variety of solutions providing the most appropriate…

Purpose: This study examined (a) the extent of genetic and environmental influences on children's articulation and language difficulties and (b) the phenotypic associations between such difficulties and direct assessments of reading-related skills during early school-age years. Method: Behavioral genetic analyses focused on parent-report data…

This digest discusses the difficulty of assessing the speech and language of culturally and linguistically diverse students and recommends strategies for identifying communication disorders. It begins by reviewing what qualifies as a communication disorder, discussing the limitations of speech and language tests, and outlining test considerations.…

School systems, as never before, are attempting to provide for physically handicapped children. Much has been accomplished, but an even larger task is still before us. Thousands of such children are not yet able to take advantage of their birthright--the opportunity for education. There are numerous reasons for this, one of which is lack of…

This bulletin is about the inspiring opportunities for rewarding service to be found in meeting the urgent educational needs of children with impaired speech and hearing. If these children are not to carry serious economic and social disadvantages into their adult years, more remedial speech and hearing teachers must be trained to serve them.…

Describes how focus groups comprised of speech-language professionals, paraprofessionals, general and special education teachers, and parents in Iowa were used to conduct a needs assessment of issues in staff development and use of paraprofessional personnel and to design job-relevant personnel development programs. An attached chart lists themes…

Describes the role of mental health and educational consultants working with a five-year-old selectively mute child in Head Start. Describes strategies implemented in the interdisciplinary work with the teachers, parent, speech therapist, and child. Suggests that the more flexible and adaptive the consultant, the more accepted he or she will be…

Interviews with 9 Southeast Asian families, 10 children, and 4 Head Start staffers found both families and staff were unaware of differences in their beliefs and values in the area of education, parenting, child learning, and disability, which led to confusion and misunderstanding. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Reports on research to develop a descriptive framework capable of revealing relevant linguistic features of aphasic speech. Spontaneous speech samples collected from aphasic and normal speakers in dyadic conversational settings and from monologic picture descriptions are transcribed; lexical, phrasal and causal elements are coded and quantified.…

This article reviews ethical and legal issues regarding school-based integration and application of technologies, particularly when used by speech-language pathologists and audiologists. Four issues are addressed: (1) software copyright and licensed use; (2) information access and the right to privacy; (3) computer-assisted or…

Discussion of the changing role of the speech-language pathologist in the schools notes trends toward collaborative service-delivery models in place of traditional "pull-out" approaches. A case example illustrates how speech-language services can be implemented within a collaborative framework. (Author/DB)

In this paper, different means of assessing cognitive development in children with severe impairments in "both" their expressive language and their motor skills are reviewed. A range of techniques are considered, including traditional cognitive tests and behavioral and physiological measures, but these techniques are generally impractical and…

This paper describes what occurred during a senior political science seminar when taught by two faculty members, one with and one without disabilities. Such team teaching in political science had not been done before. The study explored the issues raised during the instruction of the course when one instructor was in a wheelchair and had impaired…

This study discusses the development of a qualitative assessment to profile prosodic skills of Cantonese-speaking children with speech defects, and correlates it with a quantiative assessment of productive skills. The study entails the use of the Visi-pitch to provide objective data for assessment. The aim is to devise a comprehensive description…