This article examines the language and cognitive skills of bidialectal and bilingual children, focusing on African American English bidialectal speakers and Spanish-English bilingual speakers. It contributes to the discussion by considering two themes in the extant literature: (1) linguistic and cognitive strengths can be found in speaking two…

This review article starts with an overview of changing education paradigms and the literature on cognitive and linguistic relationships in imaginative play related to comprehension of oral and written texts. Strategies for developing the cognitive and linguistic foundations for text comprehension through play are described. A review of current…

This article elucidates the unfolding of 3 phases of cognitive development through which typical children move during the first 2 years of life to illuminate the interrelationships among early cognition, communicative intention, and word-learning strategies. The resulting theoretical framework makes clear the developmental prerequisites for social…

Symbolic play is a powerful vehicle for supporting emotional development and communication. It embraces all developmental capacities. This article describes how symbols are formed and how emotional themes are symbolized whereby children reveal their understanding of the world, their feelings and relationships, and how they see themselves in the…

Theory of Mind (ToM) is a foundational skill related to understanding the thoughts, beliefs, and desires of oneself and others. There are child factors that play an important role in the development of ToM (e.g., language and vocabulary) as well as environmental factors (e.g., conversations among family members and socioeconomic status). In this…

The double-deficit hypothesis (DDH) of developmental dyslexia was investigated in seven to twelve year old Spanish children. It was observed that the double deficit (DD) group had the greatest difficulty with reading.

The comprehension of humor is described as a developmental ability related to children's cognitive, linguistic, and metalinguistic development. Examples illustrate the content and structure of riddles and jokes, as well as developmental changes in children's understanding. Ways to assess and develop humor comprehension are also discussed.…

High quality children's literature should be used to facilitate language-learning-disabled children's narrative abilities in the areas of structure, content, values, and aesthetic appreciation. Using the macrostructure of the story can lead to the exploration of feelings and values in real or imagined situations. (DB)

The acquisition of spatial terms in the language development of young children is examined. Two primary theories of word meaning and concept acquisition are reviewed, followed by a summary of current developmental research on spatial terms and factors influencing acquisition. Finally, guidelines for the assessment and teaching of spatial terms are…

The literature on how children begin understanding subjectivity and point of view in fictional stories is considered. Examination of the oral stories of a five-year-old child indicated the ability to depict the beliefs, intentions, feelings, and perceptions of the story characters. Implications for assessment and interventions to help children…