This study of 80 autistic (ages 6-18), mentally handicapped, and normal children found that more autistic subjects used neologisms and idiosyncratic language than age- and language-skill-matched control groups. More autistic children used words inappropriately that were neither phonologically nor conceptually related to intended English words than…

This monograph reports a longitudinal study of the language development of 211 pupils as they progressed from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Data include transcribed interviews, written compositions, reading and IQ scores, listening scores and ratings, teachers' ratings on specified language factors, and reports of books read. Results…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 23 titles deal with the following topics: sex appropriate and sex inappropriate language; lexical retrieval and perceptual errors; naming deficits in anomia and aphasia; developmental discourse; pragmatic information and…

Discusses nonstandard forms of English and asks teachers not to emphasize the propriety of standardized English but to extend the student's range of language types. (RL)

For several years in Switzerland it had been clear that adolescents with previous learning difficulties in their own country experienced even greater academic problems in Switzerland where they were expected to attend school with native speakers of French. Therefore, an experimental class was organized of Spanish and Italian-speaking children who…

A longitudinal study revealed that 14 normal and 29 specifically language impaired (SLI) four to eight year-olds developed skills in receptive and expressive language and speech articulation over the three to four years between evaluations. However, SLI subjects developed at a slower rate and the majority of them manifested reading impairment at…

The article clarifies the role of monolingual English specialists in the pre-referral process for culturally and linguistically different students. To help specialists assess language and learning disorders and plan intervention, a question-and-answer format which describes first language proficiency and relates it to learning English as a second…

The article presents a framework for understanding the pragmatic, semantic, syntactic, text, and phonological aspects of language that underlie both oral and written communication. It gives suggestions for ways speech-language pathologists can assess children's language skills that are essential for success in a whole language program. (Author/JDD)

A study was conducted to determine: (1) whether language-impaired children have deficient paraphrase capabilities; (2) whether these deficiencies are both qualitative and quantitative; and (3) whether these abnormal skills are deterimental to normal linguistic growth. Forty-eight children from grades 1,3,5, and 7, with language impairments for…

The oral foundations of narrative knowledge are examined as a linkage to literacy acquisition problems. Examined are kinds of narrative knowledge acquired, the nature of story organization, and developmental acquisitions in story recall and generation. The performance patterns of language learning-disabled children on oral story recall and…

This resource manual--proceedings of two task force meetings--is intended to assist Florida school districts, state agencies, and parents in the provision of special programs for students who exhibit disorders in oral or written language. As part of a continuing effort to improve services for exceptional students in Florida's public schools, the…

Use of reading and writing to enhance oral communication skills requires analysis of the individual's performance; understanding of the interaction among auditory, oral, and written language disorders; integration of speech-language and educational services; and attention to skills of phonemic discrimination, auditory verbal comprehension, word…

The presentation examines information on the issue of language-reading dependency and the roles that speech language pathologists (SLPs) can play to address both skills. The relationship of oral language and reading development is examined in terms of models (such as the Top-Down/Bottom-Up model) and hypotheses and research etiology. Studies on…

The paper examines factors in the differential diagnosis of language-based learning disabilities, reviews models of language processing, and lists frequently used measures of language form (syntax and morphology), content (semantics), usage (pragmatics), and processing. Case studies of three children with various degrees and types of language…

Approaches to the analysis of utterance disruptions are reviewed, and a system is proposed for analyzing disruptions in spontaneous language, with four disruption categories (pauses, repetitions, revisions, and orphans). Use of the system is illustrated using language samples from 10 traumatically brain-injured and 10 normally developing speakers…