The concurrent and predictive relations of sensorimotor behavior and play to language in the second year were assessed among 19 preterm and 20 full-term infants tested at 13 1/2 and 22 months of age. Numerous associations between play and language were identified; sensorimotor behavior and language in the same age period were relatively loosely…

The study demonstrated that 36 male children (ages 7-10) with learning problems were characterized not by a restricted vocabulary as such (i.e., the variance common to both receptive and productive vocabulary measures) but by a hampered production of words (i.e., the variance common to both speed-of-naming and productive vocabulary measures.…

This study found that a group of 20 children (ages 6-12) with autism and a group of 20 children with developmental receptive language disorder both manifested a relative sequential processing deficit. The groups did not differ significantly on overall sequential and simultaneous processing capabilities relative to their degree of language…

Examination of 23 4-year-old children classified otitis media negative or positive during their first year of life indicated that otitis positive children required a more advantageous signal-to-competition ratio for sentence intelligibility, compared to otitis-negative peers. No intergroup differences were found in receptive or expressive language…

Attempts to identify deficits in object knowledge specific to the autistic syndrome. Examines the correspondence between sensorimotor and play behaviors and language in mentally retarded and normal children. Determines whether these correspondences are different for autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children.(Author/AS)

The study compared results of the Preschool Language Scale, administered to 214 rural and 214 suburban children in Nebraska. Both groups scored above age level, but a higher percentage of rural children failed a wide range of verbal ability and auditory comprehension items. The scale did not meet criteria for nonbiased, ecologically valid…