We evaluated the long-term effects of a supplemental, small-group kindergarten vocabulary intervention in fall and spring of first grade and winter of second grade. Participants included students from two studies, an initial efficacy study and a subsequent replication study, identified as at risk for language and learning difficulties, who were…

Language skills have long been posited to be a factor contributing to developmental stuttering. The current study aimed to evaluate whether novel word recognition, a critical skill for language development, differentiated children who stutter from children who do not stutter. Twenty children who stutter and 18 children who do not stutter, aged 3-8…

Objective: Of current interest in aphasia research is the relevance of what we can learn from studying word learning ability in aphasia. In a preliminary study, we addressed 2 issues related to the novel word learning ability of individuals with aphasia. First, as word learning engages large-scale cognitive-linguistic systems (language skills,…

Purpose: We examined the effects of a text-processing reading comprehension intervention emphasizing listening comprehension and expressive language practices with middle school students with reading difficulties. Method: A total of 134 struggling readers in grades 6-8 were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 83) and control conditions (n = 51)…

This study investigated the response to class-wide phonological awareness and oral language teaching for 40 children who entered school with speech and language difficulties. A stepped wedge research design was adopted to compare the immediate impact of the 10-week teacher-led instruction. The progress of the children with speech and language…

This study provides qualitative and quantitative evidence of how an emotion explanation task can reflect African American preschoolers' pragmatic skills. We used an emotion explanation task to assess pragmatic skills among 19 children (aged 3-5 years) related to (1) engaging in conversational turn-taking, (2) answering "Wh-" questions,…

Purpose: There is general consensus that the ability to repeat nonsense words is related to vocabulary size in young children, but there is considerable debate about the nature of the relationship and the mechanisms that underlie it. Research with adults has proposed a shared neural substrate for nonword repetition (NWR) and language production,…

This study tests the extent to which giving credit for African American English (AAE) responses on a General American English sentence imitation test mitigates dialect effects. Forty-eight AAE-speaking second graders completed the Recalling Sentences subtest of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Third Edition (1995). A Bayesian…

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading inherited cause of intellectual disability. The syndrome is caused by a single gene mutation on the X chromosome. Although individual differences are large, most individuals with FXS display weaknesses across all language and literacy domains compared with peers of the same chronological age with typical…

On average, language and communication characteristics of individuals with Down syndrome (the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability) follow a consistent profile. Despite considerable individual variability, receptive language is typically stronger than expressive language, with particular challenges in phonology and syntax. We…

Velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) is a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion of chromosome 22q11.2. Although there is some variability, VCFS is associated with a characteristic physical, behavioral, and cognitive phenotype. This review article focuses on aspects of language and literacy development in VCFS, describing what is known and…

Oral reading and expressive language skills were examined in 2 cohorts of children aged 5-15 years, who had mild, moderate, or severe traumatic brain injury. Children recruited prospectively from time of injury were assessed on 5 occasions over 2 years in a longitudinal study of change in reading skills, using the Gray Oral Reading Test-3rd…

The article describes an approach to aphasia description and intervention based on analysis of speech pauses and hesitations. The concepts of pause, planning, and paraphasia (a language production error involving substitution or replacement) are distinguished. Three case studies illustrate application of the technique. (DB)

An approach to treating mild to moderately severe cases of the speech disturbance, apraxia, focuses on helping the patient establish a conscious knowledge of how an accurate response is produced through a five-phase training program. (DB)

Drawing as therapy for the expressively restricted aphasic adult is discussed with sections on: drawing and acquired brain damage, communication through drawing in aphasia, and training expressively restricted aphasic patients to draw communicatively by use of the Lyon/Sims Program. (DB)