In the UK there is much concern about the educational progress of children from areas of significant social disadvantage entering primary school with impoverished language skills. These children are not routinely referred to speech and language therapy services and therefore education practitioners in schools deliver intervention to facilitate…

The article discusses several linguistic and nonlinguistic teaching strategies to foster language acquisition and increase spontaneous language in preschool children with language delays. Techniques include having the child complete unfinished sentences and intentionally violating an expected routine to elicit the child's language. (DB)

The article reviews the development of action words in the language of young children, provides a rationale and basis for the choice of action forms to include in an early vocabulary, and suggests strategies for facilitating action-word development in language impaired and normal children. (DB)

In families with two working parents, fathers make important contributions to children's early language skills. Results from a new study by FPG Child Development Institute show that children whose fathers' vocabulary was more varied when they were two, had greater language skills at age three. Mother's vocabulary was not found to have a…

Twenty-one apparently normal children (ages 18 to 34 months) with slow expressive language acquisition were evaluated initially and again at age 3. The late talkers also scored significantly lower in receptive communication and socialization. Followup showed nearly half the group remained delayed in expressive communication and socialization,…

The effects of expressive modeling experiences on the observational learning of generative language by children with severe mental retardation was investigated. All six children (aged six-nine) demonstrated observational learning of responses modeled by their peers. Organizing the modeling experiences according to matrix-training principles…

Designed to measure children's receptive and expressive language competence, this 57-item instrument inventories children's performance in the following eight language subareas: motor functions, memory functions, visual functions, tactile-kinesthetic functions, vocal functions, auditory functions, following directions, and language concepts. (This…

Ways in which creative dialogue fosters the development of creativity through expressive language and motor movements are described. Procedures are outlined for generating creative dialogue with children ages 3-5 through the observation component (observing, interviewing, transcribing), and with children ages 6-8 through the language development…

Argues that reading and sharing poetry fosters richness in languages and encourages understanding of ideas presented through a beautiful form of expression. Offers a poetry guide for encouraging basic language skills. (FL)

This article discusses the use of sign language to facilitate language development of children with developmental disabilities mainstreamed into the early childhood setting. It discusses the benefits of using sign language, presents a rationale for its use, and provides instructional guidelines and resources. (JDD)

The article examines the child's ability to produce complex sentences with sections on a structural framework for complex language (clausal and nonclausal complexity), a developmental perspective (coordination of clauses, subordination of nominal, adverbial, and relative clauses), and applied considerations (evaluating and teaching complex…

Four developmentally delayed preschoolers were taught action-object responses in receptive and expressive language modalities, using matrix-training procedures. Acquisition of a word combination rule was facilitated by the use of familiar lexical items, whereas subsequent acquisition of new lexical knowledge was enhanced by couching training in a…

When assessed for speech/language development, 31 children (age 1-12) fitted with endotracheal tubes for more than 3 months beginning by age 13 months showed overall language functioning within normal limits and commensurate with cognitive ability. However, a pattern of expressive language disability was noted in the oldest group. (Author/JDD)

Pacing boards can assist in the transition from single word to multiword utterances by children with language impairments. The pacing board provides visual and motor cues to help young children imitate and spontaneously produce multiword utterances as well as increase metalinguistic awareness of speech units. Instructions for making pacing boards…

This study evaluated the "missing-item" language intervention with two moderately to severely retarded students (ages five and six) in a special class setting. The missing-item format produced effects in requests for targeted snack items and, after generalization training, a requesting repertoire that was durable and generalized across…