This dissertation portfolio is comprised of three first-authored pieces of writing that investigate the oral language and emergent literacy development of Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI). Each piece features a unique but complementary aim. The first study investigates group differences on a battery of emergent literacy skills between 15 preschool-aged children with SLI in Mexico and a control group of 15 typically developing children matched for age and socio-economic status. The second study explores aspects of the home literacy environment, including parents' explicit teaching of literacy and children's print interest, which may explain some of the variance in children's emergent literacy ability that was observed in the previous study. The third piece of writing is a grant proposal that describes a parent-child book reading intervention seeking to improve children's emergent literacy skills. Collectively, the studies provide a normative reference for the early literacy development of children with SLI in Spanish. Results showed that, as a group, children with SLI performed significantly worse than their peers on tasks of print knowledge and phonological awareness. Although no significant group differences were uncovered on classic home literacy variables, an interaction was observed between children's language ability and their print interest, with implications for print knowledge. Implications for a Spanish language intervention that addresses these findings--both with respect to their emergent literacy skills, as well as their home literacy environment--are discussed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]