Described is an eclectic program for teaching language and prevocational skills to severely developmentally delayed children. Included are an introduction, a language flow chart, and sections providing behavioral objectives in the following areas: developmental receptive language objectives, developmental expressive language objectives, an…

Developmental behaviors are listed for children from birth to 6 years for gross motor, fine motor, self help, expressive and receptive language, psycho/social, and cognitive skills. Skills are broken down into 6-month intervals for the first year, and 1-year intervals from age 1 to 6. (CL)

This bibliography contains references to materials relating to language learning and development in the young child, specifically, speaking and understanding language. Receptive, communicative and expressive language as well as particular facets of language imitation and production are topics included. Reference materials are listed in four major…

Presented is the third year interim report of a 4-year longitudinal study comparing effectiveness of seven preschool programs which serve approximately 69 deaf children. Schools are seen to emphasize either an oral-aural, Rochester (oral-aural plus fingerspelling), or total communication approach to language development. Reported are the following…

Analyzes in detail some of the incorrect responses made by subjects (culturally disadvantaged Israeli children) performing on cloze tests and suggests what may be inferred about the cognitive processing employed by the subjects that leads them to make such responses. Results indicate the need for further detailed linguistic analysis of responses…

The article describes a language and communication program for severely disabled children that focuses on establishing a balanced and matched communicative relationship between the child and his or her natural teachers. Four developmental areas are discussed in relation to the establishment of social-communication habits: social play,…

Investigates in two longitudinal, observational studies among 3-year-old children the extent to which early experience, caregiver intervention and language mastery activities are more predictive of IQ and other measures of intellectual competence than are child-initiated activities and nonlanguage-oriented experiences. (Author/RH)

A study of very low birth weight babies with (n=89) and without (n=71) bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and term controls was conducted at age 8. The BPD group demonstrated reduced articulation, receptive language skills, performance IQ, and gross and fine motor skills, and almost half were enrolled in speech-language therapy. (Contains…

Explores how several kinds of metadiscourse that convey interpersonal meanings affect readers. Describes results of an immediate recall test given on two informative paragraphs which contained some modality markers. Discusses possible roles of modality markers in discourse processes. (KEH)

Compares the effects of two visual advance organizers on comprehension and retention of a written passage in a FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary School) Program: (1) "Video" and (2) "Pictures + Teacher Narrative". Investigators randomly assigned 62 students to 1 one of 2 conditions. "Video" was the more effective organizer of the two. (23…

Seventeen students (ages 10-15) with moderate mental retardation were assessed on their ability to analyze orally presented sentences into words and words into syllables and phonemes. Subjects receiving code-emphasis reading instruction performed significantly better on more difficult phoneme manipulation tasks than did subjects receiving…

Discusses evidence that social understanding informs word learning in infants. Asks: (1) Is genuine social understanding necessary for word learning?; (2) Are social clues criterial for infants' learning?; (3) Can word learning proceed without aid of social understanding?; and (4) Is social clue processing too difficult for everyday word learning?…

College English teaching in China aims at developing students' communicative competence, in which vocabulary size plays an important role. According to Basic Requirements in the College English Syllabus (1999), Chinese university students' vocabulary size should be 4,200 words. From investigation and a study of the research literature, the author…

The Consensus Validation Conference on Augmentative and Alternative Communication Intervention brought together researchers, educators, parents, clinicians, and persons who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems to arrive at consensus on best practices and benefits of AAC. Questions addressed include: definition of AAC and…

The book summarizes the current state of knowledge concerning language development in children with Down Syndrome (DS). The first chapter reviews language development in normal children, noting such stages as gestures, first sounds, development of understanding, first spoken words, and the two-word stage. The next chapter examines language skills…