This brief paper summarizes warning signs of learning disabilities in preschool children, elementary school children, and secondary school children. It notes that learning disabilities are presumed to arise from dysfunctions in the brain resulting in significant difficulties in perceiving information, processing and/or remembering information,…

Written from a social interaction perspective, this digest provides an overview of children's language development in the first five years of life. Viewing language learning as both a social and a developmental process, the digest's three sections outline the process of language development in the first year, the second and third year, and in the…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest explores the nature of vocabulary and its implications for classroom instruction. After defining vocabulary and discussing some of the sources of English vocabulary, the digest examines how children's vocabularies develop. It then discusses the role of vocabulary…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest provides a rationale for an integrated language arts curriculum. The digest first defines integrating the language arts curriculum as providing natural learning situations in which reading, writing, speaking, and listening can be developed together for real purposes and…

Considerable evidence exists that high-quality early childhood education programs for children from birth to age 5 can have long-lasting, positive consequences for children's success in school and later in life, especially for children from low-income families. However, such programs are not available for all children who need them, nor are all…

Noting that speech is not simply basic communication, this digest discusses ways in which teachers can help children develop oral language proficiency. The digest holds that speech involves thinking, knowledge, and skills, and that it requires practice and training. After setting out three criteria for oral language competence--fluency, clarity,…

The promise of education reform is that all children will receive a quality education. However, there are enormous challenges to reform, including resource inequities, an aging teaching force, and public doubts about school effectiveness. Moreover, school reform policies place enormous strain on teachers and students. Teachers need to implement…