Universal trends and individual variations in the language development process of the child are described and their relationships to beginning reading instruction are discussed. Child language begins with single word utterances to name things or to express needs and feelings. With a two-word utterance, the child can describe relationships more…

Paralinguistic and kinesic expression begin at birth and are essential to the development of language. Rhythm, for example, a suprasegmental event, appears to be present at birth or prior to birth. The relationship of physiology to communication is evident in the observations of extra-linguistic aspects of communication, such as movement, the use…

A longitudinal study of three children examined the relation between object permanence and language development. (Author/NCR)

Language-impaired children (N=87) were assessed at the ages of 4, 4 1/2, and 5 1/2. In 37%, the language disorder resolved by 5 1/2 years (44% resolution in those with normal nonverbal ability). Outcome for individuals could be predicted with 90% accuracy at four years. (Author/KM)

The developmental model of communication growth is often the most appropriate framework for determining intervention goals with handicapped children. An integration of published literature describing the developmental progression of sensory, motor, and social abilities is provided as an intervention framework for developing communicative abilities…

The goals of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania school district's fourth- through sixth-grade Latin program are to extend the English verbal capabilities of children, broaden their cultural horizons, enable students to understand and speak Latin within an appropriate cultural context, and stimulate interest in the study of modern and classical foreign…

Examines elementary school-aged children's knowledge of directives. Presents findings of cross-sectional research which contrasted first-, third-, and fifth-grade students' comprehension, production of, and reasoning about directives varying in degree of explicitness. Indicates that children's knowledge of directives continues to develop during…

Explores the underlying knowledge that children have about the relationship between the structure of requests and the relative status of speakers and listeners. Shows that the three age groups (preschoolers, 5-year-olds, and 10-year-olds) could systematically differentiate the requests by means of syntactic directness or semantics. (HOD)

Explores the discourse and speech acts used by Black children between the ages of 5 and 10 in one Midwestern community. Examines the rhetorical devices of teasing, name-calling, riddles, and joke-stories and hypothesizes as to the functional significance of each in the cultural environment. (SA)

Summarizes progressions between 2 and 6 years of age in children's power of concentration, ability to express ideas, build logical relationships, structure spoken words, and play with the semantic, phonetic, syntactical, and morphological aspects of oral language. Notes that the progression depends on the educator's interaction with the child.…

This article discusses how the processing, form, and content requirements of written language pose challenges to professionals trying to design and implement regular or remedial educational programs. Differences between oral and written language; influences of culture, value systems, and world knowledge; and structure and content interactions are…

Stories were read daily at school and home to 32 children, aged 3-10, with severe learning difficulties. After eight months, almost all of the children showed improvements in verbal comprehension greater than gains of a comparison group, and the older children showed improvements in verbal expression. (Author/JDD)

This article describes the development of a Writers' Workshop to meet the needs of six highly verbal gifted middle school students. The class met for one hour a week and encouraged students to talk about writing and writers. Students shared their own writing and engaged in literary criticism. (Contains references.) (CR)

The paper examines the nominal lexicon in later language acquisition as a window on linguistic knowledge and usage across childhood and adolescence. The paper presents a psycholinguistically motivated and cognitively grounded analysis of the distribution of ten semantic noun categories (the Noun Scale) across development, modality, and genre.…

Based on research in infant sign language, this book teaches parents methods of communicating with their infants through the use of simple bodily movements that signify objects, events, and needs. Noting that communication between parent and child can flourish between 9 months and 30 months, when a baby's desire to communicate outstrips the…