In a study of 50 normal children and 65 children with expressive language disorder (ELD), results showed no differences in the frequency, duration, or timing of episodes of otitis media. For children with ELD, there was a relationship between otitis media and expressive language improvement. (BC)

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)

Eighteen language disabled kindergarteners participated in a five-month intervention program emphasizing the development of expressive grammar. Ss made significant gains in expressive syntax, receptive morphology, expressive language, and one aspect of receptive language. Control Ss only made significant gains in one aspect of receptive language.…

The Test of Language Development was administered to a purposive sample of early elementary learning disabled students in an effort to analyze their language performance. Statistically significant differences were indexed between receptive and expressive language skills for this sample. (Author)

The study investigated the relationship among the grammatical distinctions produced by three language-delayed or language-disordered children on the expressive part of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test, the Carrow Elicited Language Inventory, and the Menyuk Sentences and those generated in a spontaneous language sample. (PHR)

The study found that mean length of utterance (MLU) and age were significantly correlated in both language impaired (N=24) and normal preschool children with rates of MLU change also similar for both groups of children. (DB)

The study evaluated the ability of six learning disabled adolescents with normal language ability and eight learning disabled adolescents with deficient language skills to appropriately mark ambiguous referents. Subjects were compared with control groups of normally achieving chronologically age matched adolescents and children matched with the…

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)

Performance of 15 language-impaired children (average age eight years) on a referential communication task requiring verbal encoding of novel referents was compared to performance of normally developing age-mates and language-mates. Subjects used known referent, graphic, and mixed strategies about equally with language-impaired children less…

Four 17- to 21-month-old normally developing, and four 32- to 35-month-old language impaired children, classified as "referential" speakers or "expressive" speakers, produced linguistic features in clusters, and manifested play behaviors that were consistent with the children's pattern of lexical distribution. (Author/MC)

Describes a follow-up study of 25 boys who had been diagnosed with Specific Expressive Language Delay (SELD) at 24 to 30 months of age. At three to four years, half of the boys continued to exhibit poor expressive language skills, suggesting that young children diagnosed with SELD are at considerable risk for continuing language problems. (33…

The study found that activities designed to improve the elaboration and/or retrieval of words with two language-impaired children (ages 9 and 10) showed definite effects with the greatest gains associated with activities focusing on both elaboration and retrieval. (Author/DB)

This study examined discourse cohesion in young normal (n=8), specifically language-impaired (n=8), or autistic (n=10) children (ages 3-7). Results showed all three groups used the same cohesion strategies with similar patterning. Significant group differences were found in the overall rate of correct use and in the use of individual cohesive…

A natural language sample of babble and words was obtained for 47 2-year-old children and compared with expressive language scores 5 months later. More than 50 percent of the variance in language outcome test scores was accounted for by rate of word use, rate of vowel babble, and behavior problems. (Author/DB)

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,…