It is well established that deictic gestures, especially pointing, play an important role in children's language development. However, recent evidence suggests that other types of deictic gestures, specifically show and give gestures, emerge before pointing and are associated with later pointing. In the present study, we examined the development…

Purpose: Understanding variability sources in early language interaction is critical to identifying children whose development is at risk and designing interventions. Variability across socioeconomic status (SES) groups has been extensively explored. However, SES is a limited individual clinical indicator. For example, it is not generally directly…

This article examines similarities and differences in Chilean teachers' competences, which were organized into profiles, and the associations of these profiles with children's language development. Teacher-child interactions were assessed when the children were 12 (n=99) and 30 months old (n=73), using the Adult Sensitivity Scale, the Evaluation…

Background: Because of their difficulties in language development, various studies have focussed on the precursors of linguistic skills in children with Down syndrome. However, data on the predictive role of joint attention on language development in this population are inconsistent. The present study aimed to analyse attention behaviours in a…

Research has found that, on average, deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students graduate from high school reading at the fourth grade level (Allen, 1986). Additionally, DHH children of deaf parents (Charrow & Fletcher, 1974) and those with strong American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency (Strong & Prinz, 1997) tend to outperform DHH students…

This longitudinal study examined (a) the second-grade reading outcomes of 368 children who participated in either experimental or school-designed supplemental intervention in kindergarten, and (b) the influence and interactions of learner variables and type of intervention on reading achievement. Descriptive findings indicated that percentages of…

To determine maternal stress and child variables predicting maternal stress, 104 mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) completed the Dutch version of the Parental Stress Index (PSI; De Brock, Vermulst, Gerris, & Abidin, 1992) every six months over a period of two years. The level of maternal…

Purpose: This study examined the effects of expressive and receptive language levels on initiated and repaired communication acts by prelinguistic children with developmental disabilities. Method: In this descriptive study, participants were 45 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years who had severe delays in expressive communication. Some…