The study compared play among five groups of children (ages 3-7 years): normal children (N=41); those diagnosed with language delays (N=241), those with autism but normal intelligence (N=71), those with autism and mental retardation (N=97), and those with nonautistic mental deficiency (N=86). Each child was evaluated using a 25 minute structured…

This article discusses strategies for sampling communication and symbolic abilities in young children who are not yet talking or who are at early language stages, placing emphasis on caregiver involvement. The paper points out that profiling a young child's communication and symbolic abilities can contribute to the early identification of language…