Stability of the Early Screening Profiles (ESP), developed by P. Harrison, was examined with a sample of 23 non-handicapped preschool children (14 females and 9 males) ranging in age from 3 years 0 months to 6 years 0 months at the time of initial testing. The sample was drawn from a rural/suburban community in the midwest with a predominantly…

The physical and neurobehavioral findings at 3 years of age for 39 children born to mothers on methadone- maintenance and 23 children born to drug-free comparison mothers are reported. The methadone children had a higher incidence of head circumferences less than the third percentile, nystagmus/strabismus, and otitis media. No differences were…

Discourse and conversational analysis methods were used in a qualitative reconstruction of one aspect of the regularities in the way 61 children "do" personal reference. Of particular interest was the development of two reference forms: minimization--preference for simple (one word) forms, or recipient design--reference forms indicating…

The research literature suggests that the processes involved in language and cognitive development are similar in nature, especially during the early years. Both require some method for assimilation and accommodation of incoming stimuli, both appear to be continuous and hierarchical in nature, and both require the development and refinement of a…

In a primary school in Dade County, Florida, disadvantaged kindergarten children were entering first grade without the receptive language and listening skills necessary to succeed academically. A practicum attempted to remedy this problem by stimulating kindergarten children's receptive language skills in vocabulary and listening comprehension.…

This article discusses the assessment of language and cognitive development as reflected in preschool activities and describes the Preschool Language-Cognitive Assessment for Curriculum Entry (PLACE). Five task-skill areas associated with common preschool activities (building with blocks, completing puzzles, pounding pegs, etc) are identified. How…

To investigate cross-sectionally and longitudinally the development of children's early verbal behavior, 10 normal first-born Japanese infants from middle-class families were observed monthly and examined from when they were 6 to 24 months of age. Audio- and video-taped language data were obtained in a laboratory playroom setting during 15-minute…

This review of the literature on self-speech, a subset of a communicative speech (speech not intended for nor effectively adapted for communication with others), focuses on the concept of self-control through language. The theories of six major researchers in the area of self-speech--J. Piaget, L. Vygotsky, A. Luria, H. Reese, J. Flavell, and L.…

Data are presented from one subject (J) that show a gradual development of the complexity of words in terms of syllable structure and degree of phonetic similarity of co-occurring consonants. During the age range of 1;9 to 2;6, J's data show a highly systematic progression of stages, each characterized by fewer restrictions on the number, order,…

Anaphora, a linguistic structure that refers to previously mentioned or implied text, has been implicated as a possible cause of reading comprehension difficulty among children. Reading research has focused on the surface structures of anaphora (pronouns and noun demonstratives, for example) and has viewed comprehension of anaphora as a language…

The research reported here was carried out to help establish the normal course of fricative acquisition as a basis for comparisons with abnormal development. Three questions concerning phonological processes were investigated as part of a larger study of fricative acquisition: (1) the phonological processes that underlie children's fricative…

Sound play is important to child language development in that it contributes to the phonetic substrate, it is a factor in phonological development, and it is something to be learned as part of the socially acceptable use of language. Sound play progresses in three stages: (1) babbling, in which a gradual acquisition of phonetic units is built up…

Four problems in children's paired-associate memory were addressed: (1) reappraisal of the presumed developmental trend in presentation mode effect during grade-school years, (2) identification of the locus of this developmental effect, (3) evaluation of the influence of combined presentation (verbal plus pictorial) relative to pictorial…

This study investigated preschool children's understanding of the words "know" and "guess." Subjects for the study were 48 male and female preschool children ranging in age from 3.6 to 6.6 years. The children were divided into three age groups representing one year intervals. The task for the study involved a "guessing" game in which a colored…

This study examined the patterns of ongoing play manifested over a year's time by 141 three- and four-year-old boys and girls at nursery schools and daycare centers. The relationships between such play and concurrent language usage and the child's patterns of television viewing at home were examined during this period. Parents of the children were…