Purpose: This commentary responds to the implications for child language intervention of Catts and Kamhi's (2017) call to move from viewing reading comprehension as a single ability to recognizing it as a complex constellation of reader, text, and activity. Method: Reading comprehension, as Catts and Kamhi explain, is very complicated. In this…

In this response to Spaulding et al.'s examination of state education agency (SEA) guidance on severity ratings, these authors contend that Spaulding et al. provided an incomplete view of current practices in public schools. These authors state that, ultimately, school speech-language pathologists (SLPs) must follow all state regulations and local…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to respond to A. G. Kamhi's (2007) challenge to consider two points of view on reading--the broad and the narrow. Each point of view includes a component of the reading process; namely, comprehension and word recognition. Taken separately, each point of view is insufficient for our understanding of the…

A model of language abilities in matrix form is described in which areas of language ability are defined in terms of the effects of receptive and expressive language processes on four linguistic levels: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. (Author)

Purpose: This commentary is a personal reaction to A. G. Kamhi's (2007) article on the "narrow view" of reading and his suggestion that this view be adopted as a way to address the reading problems of children and adolescents. Method: In this article, I consider the narrow view of reading from an adolescent literacy perspective and discuss the…

Purpose: This paper is a personal reaction to Gillam and Gillam's treatise on evidence-based decision making in schools. This evaluation focuses principally on the costs and benefits of clinicians' search for external evidence, potential problems associated with efforts to grade that evidence, and the integration of this evidence with "internal"…

In response to Leonard (EC 600 867), two aspects of language development are identified in which the discrepancies between domains of language and/or cognitive development often observed in specific language impairment children occur naturally as a consequence of individual variation in rate of development together with relative independence of…

This paper defines the whole language approach and identifies its strengths and weaknesses. An integrated instructional approach is recommended, balancing meaning and exposure to literature with skills instruction and practice. (Author/JDD)

This discussion of problems associated with deriving pragmatic norms for older children and adolescents presents a model for analyzing and comparing pragmatic performance across language tasks. The multilevel model involves the interrelationship of situational, discourse, and semantic contexts--knowing what, to whom, when, and how much to say. (DB)

This article concludes a forum that considered theoretical and analytical frameworks applied to developing systems in phonological theory and treatment. It discusses the role of complexity in target selection of children with language impairments: error pattern interaction and complexity; complexity, treatment, and constraint demotion; and…

This short essay encourages speech-language pathologists to consider cooperative learning as a useful tool for group therapy situations. (Author)

In response to Leonard (EC 600 867), the article suggests that Leonard's idea that many language-impaired children merely represent the low end of the normal distribution of language ability does not eliminate neuropathology as one possible primary cause of language impairment. (Author/DB)

Children's knowledge and control of a language pattern changes throughout the course of its acquisition. Language interventionists concerned about generalization may need to distinguish between activities that will promote rule learning and activities that will promote effortless rule utilization. (Author/DB)

Research is reviewed regarding cluttering (a speech language disorder typified by problems of fluency, articulation, receptive and expressive language, and perceptual motor skills), and the concept is advanced that cluttering is a syndrome of learning disability symptoms. (CL)

This article questions the idea that children diagnosed as "specifically language-impaired" suffer from a defect in a mechanism involved in language learning. An alternative view is offered, that many of these children are limited in language ability just as others are limited in musical, spatial, or kinesthetic abilities. Assessment and…