Examined associations between income-to-needs change and child outcomes at 36 months for NICHD Study of Early Child Care participants. Found that for children in poverty, income-to-needs decreases related to worse outcomes and increases related to better outcomes. When income-to-needs increases were at least one standard deviation above mean…

A study investigated the efficacy of sound-field amplifications for four children (ages 5-7) with Down syndrome. Measures of speech perception were taken with and without the sound-field system and found that the children perceived significantly more speech in all conditions where the sound-field system was used. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This study examined developmental changes in lexical comprehension in 100 bilingual individuals at five age levels, all of whom had learned Spanish as a first language and English beginning at age 5. Although skills improved in both languages over time, by middle childhood performance was better in English, with this transition occurring earlier…

The study examined scaffolding interactions between deaf children and hearing mothers in which story reading was used as a tool to aid in the development of narrative comprehension and linguistic reasoning. The dyadic interactions were examined from the perspective of the theoretical works of Vygotsky (1934/1962, 1978, 1929/1981, 1960/1981). The…

Picture naming and picture identification tasks were used to investigate lexical-semantic skills in young children learning Hmong as a first language (L1) and English as a second language (L2). A total of 19 children, ages 3; 4 (years; months)-5; 2, participated in this study. Performance on lexical tasks was analyzed as a function of development…

In light of the correlation between musical and linguistic skills, a program of musical activities was designed to promote discrimination of rhythmic and melodic elements and the association of auditory stimuli with visual stimuli and motor activities. The effects of the program on the vocabulary of preschool children were evaluated and compared…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal predictive relationships among variables that may contribute to poor phonological awareness skills in preschool-age children with speech-sound disorders. Method: Forty-seven children with speech-sound disorders were assessed during the spring of their prekindergarten year and again…

This document consists of three separately published fact sheets (for parents and teachers of children who are deaf-blind) combined here because of the close relationship of their subject matter: (1) "Communication Interactions: It Takes Two," by Kathleen Stremel; (2) "Expressive Communication: How Children Send Their Messages to You," by Kathleen…

This case study reports on the language development of a child with severe speech and multiple handicaps resulting from "severe epileptic encephalopathy" who is, however, able to competently read, write, and comprehend two languages (English and Cantonese) but does not initiate conversations. Data were gathered as a result of weekly home visits…

This paper describes an instrument used to assess the receptive language of children. The bilingual child is tested first in the non-dominant language. When the ceiling is reached in the non-dominant language, the tester switches to the dominant language. (The ideal situation would be to give the test in one language one day, then repeat the test…

A language training approach employing a multimodality receptive language program was used with eight retarded preschool children to increase receptive language development and to stimulate verbal (expressive) language behavior. Day activity center teachers worked with the Ss three times weekly for 7 months using the Minnesota Early Language…

This speech explores the gap between curriculum theory and curriculum practice. It begins with a discussion of Joseph Schwab's pursuit of "the practical" in curriculum theory and then searches for a basis for "the practical." Schwab's theory involves two parts: "deliberation" as the process of dealing with a problem before taking action and "the…

Advanced (N=45) and intermediate (N=53) English as a second language (ESL) students' recall of a speaker's orally presented material indicated that student proficiency level, speaker gender, perceived expertness of speaker, and passage condition affected students' recall ability. (Author/CB)

This report examines the teacher-reported early literacy behaviors of 2,759 preschool children who participated in a state-supported, early intervention preschool program. Preschool teachers (N = 240) completed the Literacy Competence Checklist for all children in their classes. Teachers reported growth in childrens literacy behaviors from Fall to…

This guide is designed to help the speech language pathologist teach families language facilitation techniques and to teach basic receptive and expressive skills to preschool children who are nonverbal or have little expressive language. The program's goal is to improve language skills through social interaction including conversations, turn…