Clinical Question: Do children with complex communication needs show greater improvement in requesting behaviors with the Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®) versus a speech-generating device (SGD)? Method: Systematic Review. Sources: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Education Resources Information…

Objective: The aim of the study was to conduct a meta-analysis of research examining the early speech and language functioning of young children, birth to age 8;11 (years;months), with nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate (NSCL/P) compared to their peers without NSCL/P. Method: We conducted a random-effects metaregression using 241 effect sizes…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the literature on predictors of outcomes among late talkers using systematic review and meta-analysis methods. We sought to answer the question: What factors predict preschool-age expressive-language outcomes among late-talking toddlers? Method: We entered carefully selected search terms into the…

A review of communication models and research reveals four areas of communications skill: listening, empathy, non-verbal communication, and expressive abilities. Models of listening behavior suggest that, rather than being a passive activity, listening involves sorting stimuli and encoding messages, analyzing listener needs, and assessing speaker…

Examines young children's developing ability to talk about emotions, considers evidence concerning the ability to talk about emotions in the conduct of interpersonal interaction, and offers ideas about future directions for research, emphasizing the functionalist approach to the analysis of emotion-denoting terms. (HOD)

This article provides information on elective mutism, a persistent refusal to talk despite the ability to speak and comprehend spoken language. It covers the history, characteristics, classification, differential diagnosis, and treatment of elective mutism. Treatments covered include psychodynamic, family intervention, behavior modification, drug…

This review of research on language development of hearing children of deaf parents identified three areas of focus: (1) oral language development; (2) sign language development; and (3) mode of communication--oral and/or manual. Areas of future study are suggested. (Author/DB)

This edited volume investigates the connections between the earliest human sounds and subsequent language development. With special attention to tracheostomies, Downs syndrome, deafness, and speech-motor impairments, the interaction between speech and language is examined in typical development as well as the effect that the interaction has on…

In addressing selected aspects of the language arts from the context of an integrative language paradigm, this paper focuses on the results of three studies recently completed in Manitoba, which help to shed some light on three modes of expression--dictation, independent writing, and retelling--in the primary grades. The first part of the paper…