Specific learning disability (SLD) identification and eligibility practices are evolving and sometimes contentious. This article describes the historical context and current status of the SLD definition, legislation, regulation, and case law related to the identification of students eligible for special education services. The first part traces…

The purpose of this cohort sequential study was to extend previously reported latent transition analyses conducted by Swanson, Kudo, and Guzman-Orth (2016) by determining the role of cognitive measures in identifying English learners (EL) at risk for late emerging reading disabilities (LERD). To this end, EL students (N = 450) in Grades 1, 2, and…

The use of response-to-intervention (RTI) to identify children and youth with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) is described with multiple illustrations. Essential components of the RTI process are specified at multiple tiers of intervention, each essential to valid SLD identification. The RTI goals are prevention in general education, early…

Learning disabilities (LDs) have long been presumed to be a neurological disorder resulting from a deficit in 1 or more cognitive processes. Although the emphasis on cognitive processing disorders has been included in the definition since the term was coined, and although it arguably represents the key distinguishing characteristic of LDs, it also…

Aim: The cognitive-linguistic abilities of 2 subgroups of children with speech impairment were compared to better understand underlying deficits that might influence effective intervention. Methods: Two groups of 23 children, aged 3;3 to 5;6, performed executive function tasks assessing cognitive flexibility and nonverbal rule abstraction.…

The team of the Unit of Phoniatrics and Logopedics of the Ain Shams University Clinic in Cairo, Egypt, has worked for three and half decades to spread awareness of child language disorders. This involved publications to inform the public, as well as health care professionals, about the needs of children with delayed language, through description…

Purpose: We explored the prevalence of a positive family history of speech and language impairment in African American children as a function of their socioeconomic status (SES), receipt of speech-language services, and diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Data were collected in 2 phases. Phase 1 included family questionnaires…

As the number of international adoptions has increased over the past 2 decades, so has awareness and understanding of the risks associated with the conditions to which these children have been exposed. Prenatal alcohol and/or drug exposure, infectious diseases, malnutrition, and psychosocial deprivation all contribute to the profound growth and…

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…

Pragmatic language skills are important for developing relationships with others, and for communicating with a range of interlocutors in a variety of contexts, including preschool and elementary school classrooms. Pragmatic language difficulties frequently are a primary area of disability for children diagnosed with autism, Asperger's syndrome,…

The differentiation of childhood apraxia of speech from severe phonological disorder is a common clinical problem. This article reports on an attempt to describe speech errors in children with childhood apraxia of speech on the basis of gesture use and acoustic analyses of articulatory gestures. The focus was on the movement of articulators and…

The author reviews methods of studying individuals in context (ecological, phenomenological, and system approaches) and offers suggestions for implementing these approaches in identification, assessment, and intervention procedures for language-disordered children. (CL)