Planning intervention for narrative comprehension deficits requires a thorough understanding of a child's skill in all component domains. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of three methods of measuring pre-readers' event knowledge, an important predictor of story comprehension. Thirty-eight typically developing children (12…

Oral narrative assessments are important for diagnosis of language disorders in school-age children so scoring needs to be reliable and consistent. This study explored the impact of training on the variability of story grammar scores in children's oral narrative assessments scored by multiple raters. Fifty-one speech pathologists and 19 final-year…

Language abilities in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are variable and can be challenging to ascertain with confidence. This study aimed to compare and evaluate different forms of language assessment: standardized language testing, narrative analysis and parent/teacher reports. 14 adolescents with ASD and 14 typically developing…

Dynamic assessments (DA) of language have been shown to be a useful addition to the battery of tests used to diagnose language impairments in children, and to evaluate their skills. The current article explores the value of the information gained from a DA in planning intervention for a child with language impairment. A single case study was used…

Broadly speaking, the teaching of spoken language in Spanish schools has not been approached in a systematic way. Changes in school practices are needed in order to allow all children to become competent speakers and to understand and construct oral texts that are appropriate in different contexts and for different audiences both inside and…

Mean length of utterance (MLU) is a frequently used measure of the expressive language of young children. The suggested conventional, contemporary, clinical practice is to calculate it from a language sample of a minimum of 50 to 100 contiguous intelligible utterances. This practice places considerable strain on professionals working with young…

When imitation skills are not present in young children, speech and language skills typically fail to emerge. There is little information on practices that foster the emergence of imitation skills in general and verbal imitation skills in particular. The present study attempted to add to our limited evidence base regarding accelerating the…

In recent years, there has been growing recognition of a need for a general, non-language-specific assessment tool that could be used to evaluate general speech and language abilities in children, especially to assist in identifying atypical development in bilingual children who speak a language unfamiliar to the assessor. It has been suggested…

The Bercow Report (Bercow, 2008) commissioned by the UK government provided a high status impetus to improve services for children and young people with the full range of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). A research study commissioned to provide evidence to Bercow (2008) identified both limitations and potential benefits regarding…

The underlying nature and diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) still requires clarification. However, the label "CAS" or "suspected CAS" continues to be assigned to a group of children with speech problems, and speech and language therapists need to be aware of effective treatment for these children. The aim of this study was to assess…

Language delay is a common developmental difficulty. Research indicates that it is influenced by environmental factors, particularly social deprivation, but that a parent's interaction protects children's language development against these factors. It is hypothesized that by supporting parents' interaction, language development may be facilitated.…

This article describes the construction of a procedure for dynamic assessment of the expressive grammar of children already identified with language impairments. Few instruments exist for the dynamic assessment of language, and those that have been developed have been largely used to successfully differentiate language impaired from culturally…

The majority of children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are educated in mainstream classrooms where they can have difficulties with the language needed for learning. Although visual support in the classroom can help to scaffold children's learning and socialization, many teachers feel ill equipped to use this. They do not…

This study investigated the effectiveness of an integrated phonological awareness approach for children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Change in speech, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, word decoding, and spelling skills were examined. A controlled multiple single-subject design was employed. Twelve children aged 4-7 years with…

Children who have sensory, cognitive or oromotor deficits, or come from a bilingual-speaking background are currently excluded from the diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI). Emerging evidence, however, suggests that at least 7% of all children have language learning difficulties, irrespective of other diagnoses or language learning…