Although language samples are child-friendly and well-suited for obtaining global measures of language production, structured protocols have the potential to elicit many different exemplars of language structures in a shorter amount of time. We created a structured elicitation protocol, the Sentence Diversity Priming Task (SDPT), to efficiently…

Approximately 20,000 children are adopted from foreign countries each year. Of these children, approximately 46% are adopted before they are 12 months old and 43% are adopted between 1 and 4 years of age. The development of children adopted from abroad before or by 2 years of age is the focus of this article. Given the impoverished language input…

This article reviews recent research on phonological development and characteristics associated with different forms of delay. Language-delayed students are considered categorizable at 24 months as either "late talkers" with no major deviations from patterns of normal acquisition or disordered students whose developmental patterns are markedly…

Outlines the stages of prosodic development that children follow from the beginning of word acquisition through the end of the second year of life. How these stages can be used to provide a model for treatment when working with children who display delayed phonological development is addressed. (Author/CR)

Discusses the "communication hypothesis" of problem behavior and describes methods for determining the communicative functions served by problem behavior. Reports on application of functional assessment and functional communication training with toddlers. (DB)

This article describes available models for structuring language intervention with toddlers who demonstrate a primary deficit in language acquisition. It examines ways in which intervention can change behaviors through facilitation, induction, and maintenance; how to select a service delivery system; effective teaching strategies; and clinical…

A portrait is presented of the toddler with slow expressive language development (SELD), based on research examining the health history; cognitive, communicative, and adaptive skills; behavior; and phonology of 30 toddlers with SELD and 30 nondisabled toddlers. The paper offers a review of research on the outcomes of SELD, and explores…

This paper analyzes Piagetian theory on the relative development of cognition and language, the local homology model which claims there are specific language-cognition relationships at specific points in time, normal development and local homology, and development in language-impaired children. Implications for clinical decision making are…

Discussion of communication intervention with very young children who have cochlear implants examines: (1) the developmental appropriateness of materials and procedures; (2) behavior and compliance issues; (3) the need for less didactic instruction and more incidental learning emphasis; and (4) recognition of the home as the primary venue for…

This article considers how information regarding processing limitations in children with specific language impairment (SLI) might be extended to assist in early identification of toddlers at risk for language disorder. Preliminary findings from an investigation of early lexical processing of 15 late talking toddlers and 15 controls are presented.…

This article reviews data on problems in communicative development of maltreated children and discusses their implications for practitioners concerned with communicative development. The influence of social class and cultural factors is examined, and the impact of child maltreatment on communicative development from infancy up to school age is…

This paper presents data on contextual assessment issues, particularly in the area of communicative intent, that affect clinicians working with young children. Variables often overlooked in assessment are discussed, including task characteristics, opportunities available to the child, event context, maintaining joint attention, and responsivity.…

Two parent report inventories geared at assessing language skills in toddlers are examined, in terms of reliability, validity, and application. The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Toddlers and the Language Development Survey are compared and their combined use in handicap identification is discussed. (PB)

Twenty-seven toddlers identified as showing specific expressive language delay (ELD) were studied and followed through the preschool period. Findings indicated that home-based intervention accelerated vocabulary skills, but did not decrease the likelihood of later phonological problems. ELD was also seen as a self-correcting condition. (PB)