Results of syntactic and semantic comparisons of 10 retarded children (mean age nine years), 10 normal, and 10 language impaired children matched for MA indicated that retarded children's language abilities were essentially comparable to the normal children without the same linguistic deficiencies as the language impaired children. (Author/CL)

The paper focuses on the modal auxiliary system in English as it pertains to language development in language-impaired and normal children. The syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic functions of modals are described. Assessment and intervention guidelines are offered. (Author/DB)

Past studies of autistic children's memory for linguistic materials have shown that autistics have a special linguistic coding difficulty. Because the autistic deficit stems from a failure to use semantic and syntactic knowledge or from a failure to acquire such forms, future research should explore the mechanics underlying this deficit. (PJM)

Six autistic children and seven children with relatively specific language impairment were asked to act out a series of sentences. Both groups made little use of a semantically based probable event strategy but were more likely to use a syntactically based word order strategy, similar to normals matched for receptive language age. (Author/DB)

Four mothers and their language handicapped children (2-4 years old) were compared with four mothers and their normal language children. Mother-child interactions were tape recorded and analyzed for semantic, syntactic, and morphologic complexity. The normal language group had more sophisticated semantic, syntactic, and morphologic abilities than…

Describes experiments involving responses of language disordered children to sentences that can carry directive import. Results indicate that language disordered children are qualitatively like normal children with regard to early response behavior. These children do have more difficulty in generating informing responses and utilizing information…

The article proposes a reeducation program for conduction aphasics with reproductive difficulties. Program characteristics include analysis and manipulation of visual stimuli (written words and syllables), suppression of the compensation effect of the spared lexical-semantic system; and progressive increase in length and complexity of phonological…

Investigated the hypotheses that language-impaired children produce fewer logical propositions per utterance and evidence less control of formal syntactic markers. Matched for mean length of utterance, language samples from 10 language-impaired children approximately five years of age and 10 normal children about three years of age were analyzed.…

Comprehension and strategy use of 18 autistic children was compared with that of normal 3- and 4-year olds. Subjects were asked to act out certain syntactic and semantic patterns in two experiments. Autistic children performed below the levels of the normal subjects, suggesting that autism is a semantic/cognitive deficit. (PJM)

The FG syndrome is characterized by unusual facies; sudden infant death; developmental delay; and abnormalities of the cardiac, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems. Serial evaluations of one case with isolated agenesis of the corpus callosum found consistent patterns over time in specific language impairments in syntactic and…

Agrammatism, the disruption of the grammatical structure of speech, is studied in its accompaniment to aphasia. Since it occurs with all studied forms of aphasia, it is considered here a symptom typical to aphasia. It is also examined in relation to different kinds of aphasics. (SCC)

The article discusses language structures of three hierarchical levels of event descriptions: (1) single-action events (semantic relations, aspectual meaning and lexical verbs or verb phrases, (2) event relations (tense markers, conjunctions, adverbs, perfect tense); (3) event schemas (lexical terms and phrases marking beginnings and endings). A…

Research is reviewed on language growth between 10-14 years in children with language-learning disabilities. Delays are discussed in semantic development, concept formation, syntactic development, memory, and pragmatics. A strategies-based intervention focus is described along with the need for counseling and for developing adaptive coping and…

The study, with 15 language-learning-disabled and 15 normally achieving children (ages 6-8), found a significant positive correlation between the severity of the language disability and accuracy on 2 of 3 imagery tasks. Performance on one imagery task was significantly related to reading achievement, and imagery ability was related more strongly…

A study investigating the independence of linguistic abilities from each other, specifically the separability of syntax and semantics and the autonomy of syntactic abilities, is described. In the study, 30 individuals with Alzheimer's disease produced spontaneous conversations, completed sentences eliciting 16 grammatical forms, and when possible,…