Purpose: In this epilogue, I respond to each of the five commentaries, discussing in some depth a central issue raised in each commentary. In the final section, I discuss how my thinking about certainty and uncertainty in clinical practice has evolved since I wrote the initial article. Method: Topics addressed include the similarities/differences…

The article demonstrates how professional and theoretical perspectives (including psycholinguistics, behaviorist, and information processing perspectives) significantly influence the manner in which central auditory processing is viewed, assessed, and remediated. (Author/CL)

Performance of 30 children (retarded, nonretarded, and language impaired) on nonlinguistic symbolic and conceptual cognitive tasks was measured. The performance of the retarded and nonretarded groups was essentially similar, while both of these groups generally performed at higher stage levels than did the language impaired group. (Author/CL)

The classification, diagnosis, and treatment of children with language disorders should reflect hypotheses about the different levels of cause-effect relationships that exist among the structures, processes, and behaviors involved in language. Clinical examples are presented to illustrate the way in which classification, diagnosis, and treatment…

This response to Fey (EC 604 058) argues against the application of simplistic phonological definitions and models to the assessment and treatment of children with speech delays. Clinicians are encouraged to embrace broad-based models that have explanatory value and are consistent with comprehensive assessment procedures and treatment, focusing on…

This article presents a review of current conceptualizations of clinical expertise in speech-language pathology; reviews claims about the impact that factors like belief, enthusiasm, and innovation can have on learning; and concludes with suggestions for the research needed to develop a theory of clinical expertise in speech-language pathology.…