The study examined whether differences existed between experimental and control groups in maternal language and children's receptive language five years after a home-based intervention program. Mothers were interviewed and asked to tell stories to their children. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was administered to the children, with the…

Efficacy of individualized training using a distinctive feature model of therapy was evaluated with 75 hearing-impaired postsecondary students. Significant improvements in vowel, word and sentence production, and word and sentence perception were observed. (Author/DB)

Two experiments showed that: 5- and 6-year-old listeners have difficulties with spatial reference if it includes "left" and "right"; and 7-year-olds understand this limitation on the comprehension skill of younger children and make appropriate allowances by using more landmarks instead. (CB)

Considers the nature of receptive language proficiency, the nature of performance on language tests, and possible improvements in receptive language testing. Emphasizes how testing of reading comprehension and testing of listening comprehension raise similar concerns which should be addressed in the design of receptive language tests. (SED)

Responds to Michael Canale's paper, "Considerations in the Testing of Reading and Listening Proficiency." Approaches Canale's three points of discussion from a textual point of view. Discusses the kinds of language materials likely to be encountered in texts at selected proficiency levels and how this material may be tested. (SED)

Argues that reading is a system of recoding, not decoding, progressing from a graphic code to an oral code. Maintains that the important aspect of reading lies in obtaining meaning, not in the recoding process. (RW)

Nine infants with Down's syndrome, seven nonhandicapped infants, and one severely handicapped infant were given the choice of listening to familiar nursery rhymes or to the same rhymes with each word reversed so that the rhythms, intonation and stress patterns were kept intact but the words became nonsense. (RH)

The role of the administrator as helper is discussed in terms of two processes involved in a helpful supervisory relationship--individual goal-setting conferences, and positive communication. (JMF)

A study involving seven adults with sensorineural hearing loss and seven controls investigated perceptual weight given format transition and relative amplitude information for labeling fricative place of articulation perception and integration of relative amplitude and formant transition cues. Subjects had lower interaction terms for F2 transition…

This study compared the receptive language of adolescents and young adults with either Down syndrome (n=25), fragile X syndrome (n=19), or mental age matched typically developing children (n=24). Individuals with the syndromes differed in relative achievements across the domains of receptive vocabulary, receptive syntax, nonverbal cognition, and…

A study examined how 20 adults with postlingual deafness with cochlear implants combined visual information from lip reading with auditory cues in an open-set word recognition task. Word recognition performance was highest for audiovisual presentation followed by auditory-only and then visual-only stimulus presentation, and for single-talker…

This study compared 34 adults who had shown early delays in language (high functioning autism) with 42 similar individuals with no such delays (Asperger Syndrome). No significant differences were found between groups on the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), their social outcome ratings or ADI-R scores based on current functioning, or on…