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)

Referential communication skills of moderately mentally retarded adolescents (20 speaker/listener dyads with a mean age of 15.75 years) were investigated. In Study 1, S performance on referential communication activities (divided into three skill levels) was examined. Degree of idiosyncratic messages communicated was investigated in Study 2.…

Normal and neurologically handicapped six year olds were administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Form A, the Riley Preschool Developmental Screening Inventory-Designs, the Riley Make-a-Boy, and the McCarthy Scales of Children's Ability Designs. Significant differences were found between the two groups on all instruments. (Author/SJL)

This study compared 41 students with severe behavioral disorders (attending either day or residential programs) on language measures. No significant differences were found between groups; both groups showed receptive and expressive language deficits. However, teachers rated students in the day program higher on conversational skills. Also,…

This paper reviews the literature on grammatical knowledge in language comprehension in the preschool years from the perspective of sensitivity to structural contrasts. Studies of both direct and indirect evidence of sensitivity to structural contrasts were evaluated and showed that there may be a developmental sequence of increasing sensitivity…

Attempts to demonstrate that a complete description of elliptical coordinations can be obtained only if the uses of elliptical and nonelliptical coordinations are investigated also. Future research on elliptical coordinations should be directed towards more full-scale analyses of the genres discussed here and other genres. (31 references) (CK)

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…

A study investigated whether two speech measures (peak intraoral air pressure (IOP) and IOP duration) obtained during production of intervocalic stops would be altered by the presence or absence of a cochlear implant in five children (ages 7-10). The auditory condition affected peak IOP more than IOP duration. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Four developmentally delayed preschoolers were taught action-object responses in receptive and expressive language modalities, using matrix-training procedures. Acquisition of a word combination rule was facilitated by the use of familiar lexical items, whereas subsequent acquisition of new lexical knowledge was enhanced by couching training in a…

Two five-year-old children with profound hearing impairments were involved in a conditional discrimination task. They were taught to relate manual signs, pictures, and printed words in a nominal matching-to-sample task in such a way that equivalent stimuli resulted. Results showed that the establishment of equivalence relations can promote…

The study investigated two neurophysiologic components of event-related brain potential during auditory and visual target detection tasks with 11 non-retarded autistic children, 9 retarded autistic children, and 16 normal subjects, aged 15-19. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that non-retarded autism involves abnormal attentional and…

Analysis of English-as-a-second-language reading students' (N=68) reading and listening test scores revealed that these two receptive language sub-skills were similar, although listening was the more integrated skill. The sub-skills tended to cumulatively contribute to holistic comprehension of messages. (Author/CB)

Evaluation of 16 college students with dyslexia found no significant differences between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. Comparison of the 16 dyslexic students with 16 nondyslexic students revealed significant differences on reading achievement and reading time but not on untimed reading comprehension. (JDD)

Tested English and Spanish receptive vocabulary of 396 Hispanic preschoolers in Miami. English scores were more than one-and-a-half standard deviations below the mean. The mean score in Spanish was 95 compared to a mean of 100 for the Spanish norming population. Factors other than vocabulary knowledge that might account for the lower scores were…