In this article, the breadth and depth of play as an integrating process for children with developmental challenges are explored. The fact that play is a source of developmental growth suggests that its role in intervention with children with language and communication disorders cannot be overstated. Several contemporary play-based intervention…

The child-caregiver relationship has long been recognized as crucial to social-emotional functioning and later development. Specifically, the consistency with which caregivers interact with young children in warm, supportive ways is related to optimal early development. This may be especially critical in the families formed by international…

Children adopted from abroad at older ages have unique speech and language-learning issues. At adoption, the impact of longer stays in orphanages with their associated lack of enrichment, nutrition, and healthcare is more pronounced. After adoption, the children begin school in a new language soon after arriving home. These children quickly lose…

Growing evidence suggests that, as a group, many internationally adopted children catch up to their peers in terms of their language development by the time they reach their school-age years. Although this appears to be particularly true for children adopted during the first few years of life, it is not true for all internationally adopted…

Approximately 20,000 children are adopted from foreign countries each year. Of these children, approximately 46% are adopted before they are 12 months old and 43% are adopted between 1 and 4 years of age. The development of children adopted from abroad before or by 2 years of age is the focus of this article. Given the impoverished language input…

Research on the language development of internationally adopted children has increased substantially in the past few years, with a variety of methods used to measure language abilities in this population, including parent and teacher reports, norm-referenced tests, conversational and narrative language samples, and other procedures. These…

Williams syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by deletion of approximately 25 genes on chromosome 7q11.23. Children with the syndrome evidence large individual differences in both broad language and reading abilities. Nevertheless, as a group, children with this syndrome show a consistent pattern characterized by relative…

This article presents a developmental perspective on language acquisition that can serve as a framework for understanding and treating the language and communication challenges faced by children with autism. Profiles of five children (ages 3-7) with autism spectrum disorders are discussed to illustrate the application of a Developmental…

This article explores the effect of augmentative and alternative communication systems on literacy acquisition by young children with severe speech and physical impairments. The possibility of a relationship between the type of graphic symbols used for communication as a preschooler and the child's early reading competency is considered. (DB)