First language learners acquire vocabulary in the context of participation in discourse, and the quantity and richness of that discourse is the best predictor of their progress. Similarly, we argue, engagement in discourse, in particular debate and discussion, is an effective component of classroom instruction for second and foreign language…

The importance of language training for young handicapped children is stressed, and the speech and language component of a mainstream program is described. Language is defined as the interrelation of cognitive perceptual organization, non-linguistic experiences, and linguistic experiences. Outlined are the various language programs used in the…

Introducing Preschool Children to Reading through Parent Involvement is a project funded by a New York State Education Department mini-grant. The major activity of the project is to inform parents of preschool children of the research findings and theories concerning reading to young children. Three newsletters are mailed each year to families…

Described is a program for autistic children, and presented are educational case studies of 13 children (6-9 years old). The program is explained to provide individualized instruction based on assessment using the Peabody Individual Achievement Test, B. Ruttenberg and E. Wolf's Vocalization and Expressive Speech Development Scale, L. Lee's…

Students with the dual handicaps of hearing impairment and mental retardation display special problems in language acquisition. These problems do not appear to have been addressed by curricula that have been designed for either of the single handicap groups. Since specially designed curricula for this population are virtually nonexistent, a…

Operation Rewrite, a program developed for use in English instruction in Quebec (Canada), is a constructive teaching-learning method for increasing students' linguistic competency in written discourse. The program provides middle and secondary school students with structured exercises to study and rewrite, using the author's exact format but with…

The national Language Development Project in Australia, an undertaking concerned with informing teachers on matters to do with language, language development, and language and learning, is described in this report. The various sections of the report establish the project's purposes; offer discussions of developments in thinking and research of the…

Principles of language assessment and instruction for Spanish speaking preschoolers at St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson, Arizona, are presented. Basic definitions and program model (which looks at the child's communication skills based purely on semantic content contained in spontaneous language samples) are explained. The program's theoretical bases…

"Writing to Read" is a computer based program designed to teach students with learning handicaps to "write to read." The philosophy of the program is that students will learn to read more effectively and efficiently if they are taught to write--to encode their normal language as the initial process in learning to read. Through…

This paper describes an external evaluation study of the Responsive Environment Early Education Program (formerly known as the Responsive Environment Program for Spanish American Children), an educational intervention program for "high risk" (low birth weight) 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children in Clovis, New Mexico. Major goals of the…

The Mount Gravatt Language Development and Reading Program described in this paper is the result of a conviction that teachers of reading and writing should build on the impressive and highly functional oral language system which children bring to their formal education for literacy. The paper first presents the language research on which the…

The West Virginia University Child Development Laboratory has successfully used microcomputers as a complement to their language experience approach to teaching three- and four-year-old children. The computer acts as a motivational tool, and gives children the opportunity to produce perfectly typed pictures or letters. The first encounter a child…

The Carpinteria school district in California has developed a model preschool program to bring Spanish-dominant preschool children up to a level of readiness for school that compares favorably with that of English-speaking children in the same community. That goal is achieved by developing skills in four major areas: Spanish language, cognition,…

The paper describes components of the Cooperative Student Care public school program in which five Texas school districts have joined together to provide educational services in functional academics, vocational training, social skills training, life skills training, and related services for severely/profoundly handicapped students. Four facilities…

A discussion of language in preschool education reviews research findings on children's language acquisition and its relationship to their general development and examines issues to be considered in making decisions for each community and program. The first section summarizes basic knowledge about preschool language development, facilitating…