It is well known that mental state verbs are difficult to acquire, but little is known about the acquisition of mental state language encoded through intonation. Puerto Rican Spanish (PRS) has at least three intonation contours available for marking polar questions (PQs): ¡H*L% marks an utterance as a PQ; H+L*L%, in addition to doing the former,…

This study investigated the extent to which preschool teachers and children (ages 4-6) used literal and inferential language within the context of whole-group instruction in four kindergarten classrooms in Hong Kong. A total of 20 sessions of videotaped classroom observations of linguistic interactions between teachers and children were…

The role of language as a tool to support the self-regulation has been widely studied, yet there is little evidence on the role of prelinguistic communication in the early development of self-regulation. To address this gap, we developed behavioural indicators of preverbal cognitive self-regulation, and described how can parents support it through…

The current study evaluated the play behaviors of children with disabilities (e.g., developmental delays, specific language impairment) who participated in a social communication intervention targeting skills such as initiations, responses, name use, proximity, and turn-taking. Three children who were enrolled in an inclusive classroom met the…

Two different video-based procedures for presenting the passage of time (how long a step lasts) were examined. The two procedures were presented within the framework of video prompting to promote independent multi-step task completion across four young adults with moderate intellectual disability. The two procedures demonstrating passage of the…

Conversational repairs are an important pragmatic language skill. We identified types of responses to requests for clarification and their frequencies in typically developing 4;0-6;0-year-old Jordanian children. This study was motivated by the fact that there are no Arabic data regarding this issue and by the limited range of forms of requests for…

Research Findings: The objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of Incredible Years Basic Parent Training (IYPT Basic) in a community clinic setting in Hong Kong. IYPT Basic is a Western program developed to promote children's academic, social, and emotional regulation skills and to reduce conduct problems among typically…

Thirty infants at 1;1 and their mothers were videotaped while playing for 18 minutes. Experimental stimuli were presented in three communicative intent contexts--proto-declarative, proto-imperative, and ambiguous--to elicit infant communicative bids that did and did not contain gestures. Mothers' responses were analyzed, and their verbal responses…

People with intellectual disabilities and their families are increasingly being asked to provide input into the services they receive. Under the aegis of the United Nation Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, support plans crucially depend on a participant's articulation of his or her preferences and life goals. Yet, research…

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of personalized books on parents' and children's engagement during shared book reading. Seven native English parents and their children aged between 12 and 33 months were observed at home when sharing a book made specifically for the child (i.e. a personalized book), a comparable book with no…

The purpose of this study is twofold: to determine the instructional variables of the inclusive classrooms in Turkey and to investigate to what extent the student behaviors change according to eco-behavioral characteristics of inclusive classrooms. The study group consisted of 44 students between the ages of six and 12 with mild disabilities who…

Implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) for children with autism is challenging for teachers because these practices are often complex, requiring significant training and resources that are not available in most school settings. This brief investigation was designed to identify areas of strength and difficulty for teachers implementing one…

The correlation between the communicative intent of parents, in terms of their expectation of a response and the response patterns of young children aged 23-25 months during parent-child interactions, was investigated. An Observational Framework was used to code these parameters in interactions between 36 children and their mothers. The children…