Purpose: Children with a cleft palate (± cleft lip; CP±L) can have difficulties communicating and participating in daily life, yet speech-language pathologists typically focus on speech production during routine assessments. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY; World Health…

Purpose: This clinical exchange reviews two independent phonological assessment measures: mean babbling level (MBL) and syllable structure level (SSL). Both measures summarize phonetic inventory and syllable shape in a calculated average and have been used in research to describe the phonological abilities of children ages 9 to 36 months. An…

Purpose: This study was designed to identify types of complex-sentence meanings (i.e., "content") produced in selected elicitation contexts by typically developing children within 3 different age groups. The research was motivated by the need for additional evidence-based assessments and interventions for children with language disorders. Method:…

Purpose: An ongoing concern with the evaluation of auditory processing disorders is the extent that assessment instruments are influenced by higher order cognitive functions. This study examined the relationship between verbal working memory and performance on the Test for Auditory Processing Disorders in Children-Revised (SCAN-C; Keith, 2000b) in…

Purpose: This article describes the development of a measure, called First Mentions (FM), that can be used to evaluate the referring expressions that children use to introduce characters and objects when telling a story. Method: Participants were 377 children ages 4 to 9 years (300 with typical development, 77 with language impairment) who told…

Purpose: This study explored the type and adequacy of cohesive devices that are produced by school-age children who use African American English (AAE). Method: The language samples of 33 African American children, ages 7, 9, and 11 years, were transcribed, analyzed, and coded for AAE use and cohesive adequacy (e.g., personal reference,…

This article presents key ideas from Lev S. Vygotsky's social-interactionist zones of proximal development theory and applications of this theory to assessment and intervention with children having language impairments. A case study illustrates the steps in coordinating assessment and intervention. (Author/DB)

This article introduces a clinical forum that considers a variety of theoretical and analytical frameworks that have been applied to developing systems in phonological theory and treatment. It explains phonological theory, in which sound properties that are marked in language are those sounds that are most complex. (Contains references.)…

This article introduces a whole-word approach to phonological analysis and demonstrates the approach by conducting an analysis and outlining treatment recommendations for a child with phonological disability. Rationale for using a whole-word approach and also for defining phonological typologies are presented, along with four components of a…

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)

A case study of a 3-year-old with a phonological disorder is used to demonstrate the application of optimality theory to the assessment and treatment. A tutorial of the theory is provided and then several prototypical error patterns evident in the child's productions are analyzed within the framework. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

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 article compares different claims that have been made concerning acquisition by transitional rule-based derivation theories and by optimality theory. Case studies of children with phonological delays are examined. Error patterns are argued to be implicationally related and optimality theory is shown to offer a principled explanation.…

The construct of complexity has been advanced as a variable in the efficacy of treatment for children with functional phonological disorders. This article focuses on clinical complexity as it influences selection of target sounds, with three clinical factors reviewed: consistency of error, normative age of acquisition, and number of errors.…