A hallmark of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is difficulties with social communication, and some learners with ASD experience additional deficits in expressive and/or receptive language that impair their ability to interact with others. However, a strength observed in many learners with ASD is responding to visual cues and structure. The use of…

This report presents a revision of the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework (2000), renamed The Head Start Child Development and Learning Framework: Promoting Positive Outcomes in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children 3-5 Years Old. The Framework outlines the essential areas of development and learning that are to be used by Head Start programs…

One of 10 documents developed for preschool programs for handicapped children, the manual presents classroom directed home training activities. The activities are based on such principles as the effectiveness of home instruction by a parent and the need for a parent to feel responsibility for the child's learning. Intended to provide teachers of…

This article offers suggestions on enhancing emotional vocabulary in early childhood education settings. A schematic of children's emotional literacy is followed by ways to build emotional vocabulary by teaching directly, teaching incidentally, or utilizing special activities. Suggestions also address teaching children to recognize feelings in…

This guide was prepared to facilitate the practitioner's selection of formal tests for evaluating communicative behavior in clinical infant populations during the first year of life. Clinical instruments with particular emphasis on communication and emerging language and speech abilities were identified in terms of publishers' recommended…

Vocabulary development includes learning to recognize, comprehend, and produce alternative ways of communicating a word, an image, or a concept. Instruction in such language alternatives can increase the effectiveness of students' communication skills, making their vocabulary usage more appropriate, precise, descriptive, and interesting.…

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)

This second of three manuals providing a functional curriculum for students with disabilities focuses on the development of nonverbal and oral communication skills. An introductory chapter provides an overview of the curriculum and offers guidelines for developing instructional plans for the following two units of study. Unit 1 considers the…

Intended for use in Florida training programs for caregivers of infants and toddlers with disabilities, this guide presents an overview of the Model of Interdisciplinary Training for Children with Handicaps (MITCH); provides a user's guide to the series; and presents specific information for presenting Module 2, which focuses on speech and…

Intended for special educators and administrators, the paper addresses the educational implications of closed head injury in children. Characteristics of head injured students are noted, including previous successful experiences in social and academic settings, inconsistent performance patterns, and cognitive deficits which are present as in other…

The blockbuilding, painting, and oral expressions of young children provide evidence of a natural tendency to symbolize experience and to use the symbolic elements of expressiveness, creativeness, and living form. Up to the present time, educators have not fully grasped the fact that the need to symbolize is at the base of all education. They…

This text is designed not only as a teaching text but also as a reference source for students and professionals on the assessment of the cognitive development of children. Chapters address: (1) process challenges of assessing children; (2) context challenges in assessing children; (3) ethical, legal, and professional applications of assessment…

The article examines the child's ability to produce complex sentences with sections on a structural framework for complex language (clausal and nonclausal complexity), a developmental perspective (coordination of clauses, subordination of nominal, adverbial, and relative clauses), and applied considerations (evaluating and teaching complex…

This paper deals with the specific problems of the adolescent and adult hearing-impaired individual who wishes to improve and develop his or her expressive speech ability. Considered are issues critical to the learning process, intervention strategies for improving speech production, and speech production as one part of communication competency.…

This paper presents a model for teaching written language to hearing-impaired students, emphasizing a high degree of student involvement with planning, revising, and rewriting as well as transcribing. Recommendations are made regarding direct instruction in necessary writing skills, including fluency, syntax, vocabulary, content, and conventions.…