In the UK there is much concern about the educational progress of children from areas of significant social disadvantage entering primary school with impoverished language skills. These children are not routinely referred to speech and language therapy services and therefore education practitioners in schools deliver intervention to facilitate…

Common problems in using and scoring the Developmental Sentence Scoring procedure to quantify young children's grammatic structure expressive language are reviewed. Scoring examples are provided to help clinicians learn the DDS procedure. (Author/CL)

The article reviews the development of action words in the language of young children, provides a rationale and basis for the choice of action forms to include in an early vocabulary, and suggests strategies for facilitating action-word development in language impaired and normal children. (DB)

Twelve boys (24-30 months old) with specific expressive language delay (SELD) and with normal development in every other sphere were identified for longitudinal study. Children were videotaped while playing. Analysis using an ordinal play coding scheme revealed strikingly poor pretend play skills. They appeared deficient in either the ability or…

Pacing boards can assist in the transition from single word to multiword utterances by children with language impairments. The pacing board provides visual and motor cues to help young children imitate and spontaneously produce multiword utterances as well as increase metalinguistic awareness of speech units. Instructions for making pacing boards…

Writing is now being viewed in its larger context of communication. Research suggests that young children use the more familiar communication systems like speech, drawing, music, and drama to add depth and meaning to their writing. Teachers must redefine their ideas about writing and children's communication knowledge. Cites six references. (MLH)

This article identifies speech and language goals to improve the safety of school-age deaf children. These include vocalizing or clearly communicating "no!"; communicating a general physical description of another person; communicating their own first and last name, address, and telephone number to a hearing person; and communicating about…

The project evaluated the effectiveness of using Total Communication (simultaneous use of sign language and speech) with six infants with Down syndrome as a means of fostering communication while verbal skills and articulatory proficiency develop. Each child was seen within the home environment every second week through 24 months of age and once a…

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on language learning and the young child is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a…