Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are all language activities. The human capacity for speaking and listening has a biological foundation: wherever there are people, there is spoken language. Acquiring spoken language is an unconscious activity, and, barring any physical deformity or language learning disability, like severe autism, all…

Four age levels of 80 learning disabled (LD) students (7.5-8.11, 9.0-10.5, 10.6-11.11, and 12.0-13.5 years) participated in an examination of syntactic maturity and vocabulary richness in their oral language. Ss were shown two films without the sound turned on, and were then tape recorded as they told the story of the film in their own words.…

Eighty college students with learning disabilities were evaluated via intelligence tests and auditory language tests. In the 63 students with auditory language problems, persistent problems were discovered in discrimination, comprehension, memory, retrieval, sequencing, syntax, formulation, and articulation. The major area of language problems was…

Presented are 11 papers given at a study institute on oral language skills antecedent to reading for educators of the speech, hearing, and learning disabled. Doris Johnson, in a paper entitled "Interrelationships Between Auditory Disorders and Higher Levels of Learning", stresses the importance of auditory comprehension for language development. A…

This study compared spoken and written narratives of school-age children (N=20) with language learning disabilities (LLD) with chronological age (CA) and language-age (LA) peers. For the spoken summary, productivity measures and grammatical complexity were significantly lower for children with LLD than for CA children. Expository writing was…

This discussion of speech and language development in individuals with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) reviews NLD assets, deficits, and dynamics; the white matter model; manifestations of NLD in neurological dysfunction; psycholinguistic dimensions of NLD in terms of language content, form, and use; developmental considerations in NLD; and…

Syntactic development in the oral language of learning disabled and normal students at two intermediate and two secondary-school age levels was compared using two indices, the T-unit and the Syntactic Density Score. It was concluded that no single, sensitive, numerical index exists to quantify syntactic development. (SW)

The report describes a special 2-year early oral language intervention program designed by a Wisconsin public school system to develop life-oriented, auditory-vocal language skills in language delayed children. Explained are administrative aspects of the program including evolution of the speech and language disabilities department (1940-74), and…

"The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education, Volume 2," is an updated edition of the landmark original volume. A range of international experts present a comprehensive overview of the field of deaf studies, language, and education. This area has grown dramatically over the past forty years. From work on the linguistics…

This report describes the evaluation of the 1973-1974 Distar I and Distar II programs, which were used as Title I programs for first and second graders. Distar I was used with two first grade classes; Distar II was used with two second grade classes. Children who had completed two years of Distar instruction received traditional instruction in…