Eight preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 30 nonimpaired children were selected on the basis of specified mean length of utterance (MLU) ranges and compared on word class production. The high-MLU and low-MLU groups of SLI children could not be empirically differentiated based on their word class profiles, whereas the…

Assessment of spontaneous language samples for word-finding characteristics of language-disordered (N=28) and non-disordered (N=28) 7- to 12-year-olds indicated that non-disordered subjects produced significantly more total verbalizations and a greater modified mean length of utterance score than the subjects with word-finding problems. (CB)

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 book presents a clinical procedure for presenting grammatical structure to children with language learning problems. The procedure is based on the developmental aspects of normal language learning and the natural, conversational setting in which children generally learn grammatical structure. Section 1 discusses the interactive language…

Attempts to demonstrate that specifically language-impaired (SLI) children can be viewed as normal learners faced with systematically altered input. By assuming SLI children are limited in their ability to perceive and hypothesize grammatical morphemes that are low in phonetic substance, many features of SLI children's language can be explained by…

Some new approaches to the assessment and treatment of language handicaps suggest the need to examine relationships between verbal creativity and language performance. Data were collected from 40 normally developing white fourth, fifth, and sixth grade children, drawn from both urban and rural communities and from a middle socioeconomic level.…

This comparison of 15 successful and 15 unsuccessful college foreign-language learners found significant intergroup differences in performance on the Modern Language Aptitude Test, tests of written and oral language in the syntactic and phonological domains, and math calculation. Results suggest that students with foreign language learning…

This paper presents the case of a child who at age 3;3 showed a marked schism between two branches of language functioning; he had control of language as a system for expressing syntactic-semantic relations but not as a system of interpersonal communication. (CFM)

Eleven selected language programs made available between 1967 and 1975 are described. The introduction explores the theoretical perspectives at work during the past 15 years and discusses the factors which should influence language program choice, how children acquire language skills, and techniques for evaluating the success of language…

Jean Piaget's ideas regarding symbolic function are expanded in this paper to provide a model to use in distinguishing between general symbolic versus specific linguistic deficits in language disordered children (whose disorders are not due primarily to intellectual, sensory, motor, or social-emotional deficits). In applying this model to the…

Thirteen subjects (aged 5:6 to 6:6) with language disorders were given elicited imitation and spontaneous language tasks, and their performance was compared among and within subjects. The two procedures produced significantly correlated results for some children but not for others. Analysis of specific syntactic forms also produced variable…

Comparison of language-impaired two- to three-year-olds (N=10) and normal one-year-olds (N=15) matched for expressive language revealed that the language-impaired subjects acquired a greater number of object concepts presented in a no-action condition than the normal children, although language-impaired subjects' extensions of the names to new…

This paper describes the value of the cloze procedure for teaching language and composition, classroom diagnosis of language difficulties, and research into the process of composition. Any aspect of language structure, including word order, form class words, connectives, inflectional endings, and function words, could be taught through use of the…

Discussed the difficulties of learning Japanese and the recognition that only certain goals are realizable in learning the language. (RK)

THE BASIC CONCEPTS USED IN DEVELOPING THE LANGUAGE AND READING EDUCATION PROGRAM WERE--(1) ALL HUMAN ORGANISMS ARE ESSENTIALLY ALIKE AND THEREFORE MAN'S BASIC NEEDS ARE THE SAME, (2) FUNDAMENTAL LIKENESSES EXIST IN ALL CULTURES, (3) CHILDREN FIRST INTRODUCED TO THE DIMENSIONS OF THEIR OWN CULTURE ARE READY TO MOVE TOWARD UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER…