Analyzed diagnostic problem-solving behavior of expert practitioners in learning disabilities field. Performed log sequence analysis on thinking-aloud protocols of reading experts (N=17) assessing two randomly assigned pupils with reading and spelling problems. Found: (1) information gathering by experts not guided by theory; (2) much information…

Two studies addressing the clinical validity of discrepancy criteria for identification of children with developmental language disorders (DLD) are reported: one with 256 preschoolers clinically defined as DLD, and one with 363 8-year-old controls. Factors contributing to underidentification in Study 1 and overidentification in Study 2 are…

Investigated the concurrent validity of the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) with speech and language disordered preschool children. Used the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), Preschool Language Scale-Revised (PLS-R), and Arizona Articulation Proficiency Scale-Revised (AAPS-R). Significant correlations were found for…

The performance of language impaired children (four to eight years old) on auditory identification and sequencing tasks which employed different stimuli was studied in two experiments. Results indicated that some children performed significantly better when words rather than tones were used as stimuli.(Author/SEW)

Administration of verbal and nonverbal measures to 20 normal language and 20 specifically language-impaired children (ages 4-5) indicated that a "qualitative-differences" model of specific language impairment better accounts for the co-occurrence of poor verbal and poor nonverbal cognitive skills in subjects than a "low-normal"…

Neuropsychological theorizing has led to applied learning disability screening beyond the present knowledge of neurodevelopment of the five-year-old child. A study was undertaken to evaluate the stability and prediction of a language/general intelligence discrepancy at an early age (4.5) to a language/learning disability at a later age (7.8).…

This study evaluated 9 computer-generated measures of children's language production, based on 24 children with specific language impairment and 24 normally developing children, ages 24-50 months. Three measures possessed desirable developmental and diagnostic characteristics: mean syntactic length, total number of words, and number of different…

Analysis of spontaneous language samples of 10 children (ages 8-9) with specific language impairments found that interviews were a reliable, valid, and efficient assessment context, eliciting the same profile of behaviors as a freeplay context without altering diagnostic classifications. (Author/JDD)

Texas educators, charged with developing a pragmatic service for language handicapped (LH) children in public school settings, produced this handbook on the operation of programs for LH children. Initial program development is reported to involve such activities as defining the target population, assessing needs and district resources, formulating…

Sixty bilingual Mexican American children (20 language disorderd, 20 not qualifying for placement, 20 comparison) between the ages of 7-10 from 2 school districts in southern New Mexico participated in the study to develop and validate an assessment procedure to determine language disorders in Spanish/English bilingual children. An ex post facto…

Assessment of 67 elementary-aged subjects with behavioral/emotional disturbances admitted to a school and day treatment program within a psychoeducational center found that 54 percent exhibited some kind of speech and/or language disorder. Implications for diagnosis and treatment are discussed. (JDD)

This study investigated the diagnostic effectiveness of the Language Assessment Tasks (LAT) in differentiating language disordered students from nonhandicapped students. LAT was administered individually to two groups of subjects (experimental and control) matched for sex, race, and birthdate (ages 9-14 years). The performances of each group of…

Characteristics of Hispanic students referred for special education services during 1983-84 in several large urban school districts with large minority populations were examined. Also examined was the predictive ability of various statistical models with respect to the eventual diagnostic outcomes of the students. File data were collected for…

Three bilingual Mexican-American children labeled language disordered were observed at home and school. Linguistic, discourse, and social competencies differed between the two children not judged language disordered by their parents and the one child who was, suggesting that only the latter was truly language disordered. (21 references) (SV)

Projects in the Philadelphia School System funded under the Education of the Handicapped Act, Title VI-B, during 1975-76 included two major components: the Model Services for Handicapped Infants Program, designed to provide education and training, within the home environment, to handicapped children (0-3 years) and their parents; and the Preschool…