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…

The second of two articles on play reviews the construct of play and its development in typically developing infants, toddlers, and young children. It considers developmental levels of play from early sensorimotor-exploratory to symbolic play involving the functional components of agent, instrument, and scheme. A developmentally based,…

A model of communicative development is described that includes seven progressively more complex levels of competence and a set of six criteria (communicative features) for individual assessment at particular developmental levels. Research evidence supporting the model is reviewed. Implications for assessment and intervention with communicatively…

It is proposed that the identification and description of students with communication problems requires assessments in four domains: (1) linguistic ability; (2) cognitive ability; (3) social skill; and (4) pragmatic competence. Evidence from research on individuals with mental retardation and other developmental disorders is presented. (SLD)

This document comprises two leaders' guides and two participants' guides to two inservice presentations on the speech/language professional's role in working with at-risk infants and toddlers. Videotapes are intended to accompany the materials. The needs assessment, field testing, content/design analyses, and validation studies conducted in the…