Thirty 4- and 5-year-olds with specific language impairment (SLI) and 30 normally developing peers participated in a discrimination learning-shift paradigm. Both groups were equally successful in extracting regularities from recurring nonverbal stimuli and in making shifts. Findings failed to provide evidence that children with SLI are less able…

This article explores the effect of augmentative and alternative communication systems on literacy acquisition by young children with severe speech and physical impairments. The possibility of a relationship between the type of graphic symbols used for communication as a preschooler and the child's early reading competency is considered. (DB)