The authors review research on attempts to promote speech acquisition in severely handicapped students. Studies on verbal imitation, syntactic forms, and semantics are summarized. Implications for instruction are noted, including careful selection of responses likely to occur in the child's normal environment and which have intrinsic reinforcing…

The article looks at syntactic deficiencies involving simple clause structures and grammatical morphology in young children. A framework for understanding the development of simple clause structures is presented followed by a discussion of the correlates of early syntactic development. Procedures to assess and remediate syntactic deficiencies are…

Obstacles confronting deaf students in language development are considered. American Sign Language is distinguished from English in terms of grammar, inflection and syntax, and context. The impact of deafness on language acquisition and cognitive development is examined. The importance of auditory feedback and verbal reinforcement is emphasized.…

The article examines the available means of determining the readability of written materials and reviews the empirical evidence that indicates consideration of syntactic complexity in determining readability. Problems with readability formulas are pointed out. Guidelines for using readability formulas that take syntactic complexity into account…

Assessment of writing skills must focus on the writing product to satisfy four educational functions: identifying unsuccessful writers, planning instruction, monitoring student progress, and providing feedback. Both qualitative and quantitative measures for five important aspects of the writing product are discussed: fluency, content, conventions,…

The paper describes methods of natural language enhancement which both teachers and parents can use with young children who have language delays. The importance of connecting language to meaningful, functional communication is stressed. The reinforcement for the child becomes the adult's natural and spontaneous response. Adults, then, must prove…

The syntactic distribution and behavior of five English and Persian "measure" nouns and their adjectives are compared. From this, errors attributable to transference and those due to inconsistencies in English are enumerated. A unified analytic model of Persian errors in learning English suggests useful teaching strategies. (PMJ)

Guidelines are offered for serving learning-disabled (LD) students in college writing labs. LD student characteristics identified by clinical observation and data-based research are reported for spelling, cohesion/coherence, and syntactic complexity/maturity. LD writers are distinguished from basic writers. Current practice in writing centers is…

This monograph supplement to "The Journal of the Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology" contains eight papers on issues and strategies for communication assessment of hearing-impaired children, not only in the area of interpersonal communication, but in classroom and print discourse as well. Titles and authors of the papers are as follows:…

This paper discusses five language roots of reading: phonology, syntax, semantics, short-term and long-term memory, and auditory segmenting. Teachers are urged to focus early school experiences toward development of these five skills to reduce the incidence of reading difficulties. Specific teaching suggestions are offered. (Author/DB)

The fourth of seven booklets on adults with learning disabilities, this manual examines the assessment and remediation of written language problems. Spelling assessment activities are described, including lists of questions designed to investigate auditory skills, tactile skills, and visual skills. Also considered is assessment of punctuation,…

This guide is intended to be a resource for teachers of the newly arrived Hispanic immigrant child. The number of children who enter U.S. schools without knowledge of English or whose first language is Spanish is growing and will continue to grow. Teachers will need to meet the challenge of educating students whose native language is not English…

Basic linguistic concepts are presented and their links with second language learning and teaching are examined. The book is intended as a guide for teachers and others interested in second language instruction. Chapters address the following concepts: the relationship of language and linguistics, including basic terminology of discussion about…

An intensive case study in learning a second foreign language, which is part of an applied linguistics course for teachers/teacher trainees offered at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) is described. Attention is directed to: case study rationale and objectives; student orientation and preparation; and areas of focus and the…

This book is intended to serve as a reference and guide for professionals developing Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and planning lessons for children with communication disorders. The guide has nine sections related to areas of communicative difficulty. Each section is organized into 2 to 19 yearly objectives, under which are lists of…