This study examined verbal and non-verbal features of mother-infant shared book reading in Australia during the first year of life and explored the relationship between these features and infant cognition. Mother-infant dyads were observed in this cross-sectional study reading an unfamiliar book in a laboratory setting when infants were aged 6…

In recent years, the intersection of cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and neuroscience with regard to deaf individuals has received increasing attention from a variety of academic and educational audiences. Both research and pedagogy have addressed questions about whether deaf children learn in the same ways that hearing children…

Aim: The aim of this article was to explore the effect of duration of breastfeeding on neurocognitive development. Method: The long-term effect of breastfeeding on neurodevelopment was examined through a battery of neuropsychological tests in 1403 children (693 females, 710 males; mean age 11y 9mo [SD 6mo], range: 10y 3mo-12y 8mo) who were…

This article explores young infants' ability to learn new words in situations providing tightly controlled social and salience cues to their reference. Four experiments investigated whether, given two potential referents, 15-month-olds would attach novel labels to (a) an image toward which a digital recording of a face turned and gazed, (b) a…

Three experiments examined the relation between language acquisition and other symbolic abilities in 18- and 26-month old infants. Infants' ability to learn either words or symbolic gestures as names for object categories were compared across age groups. Findings indicated that infants at both ages learned novel words as symbols for object…

The transition from preverbal to verbal communication of 13 retarded and nonretarded children was explored in a prospective, longitudinal study. Mental development was tested at ages 13 months and at 2 and 3 years. Results seem to support the postulate of a skill-specific homology in the transition from preverbal to verbal communication.…

This study compared verbal comprehension, verbal production, and gesture production in 40 children (ages 10-49 months) with Down Syndrome (DS) and 40 normally developing children (ages 8-17 months). DS children showed a dissociation between verbal comprehension and production but synchronous development between vocal lexical comprehension and…

Examination of the speech of eight mothers and eight fathers to their one- to two-year-olds (N=8) indicated that, while paternal speech was not more diverse than maternal speech, paternal speech did show greater use of rare vocabulary and lower use of common vocabulary. (Author/CB)

Presents evidence to support theory that infants learn their language by first determining, independent of language, the meaning which a speaker intends to convey... and by then working out the relationship between the meaning and the expression they heard. (Author)

The relative effectiveness of three procedures for increasing vocal response to prompt in 15 preschool children with Down Syndrome was compared. Light-dimming and visual screening, when combined with positive reinforcement, were both found to be significantly more effective than positive reinforcement alone. (Author/JDD)

Intended for parents and others caring for young children, this viewer's guide and videotape leads adults along the path of child's language acquisition and demonstrates how to use a language-rich environment to communicate with infants, toddlers, and preschool children in ways to foster language development. The first half of the guide presents…

Early identification of hearing loss and provision of amplification as close to birth as possible can facilitate collaboration of the audiologist, therapist, and parents in providing the child with optimal use of aided residual hearing for the purpose of listening and processing language. The philosophy underlying the auditory-verbal intervention…

Background: The relationship between the age of reaching infant developmental milestones and later intellectual function within the normal population remains unresolved. We hypothesised that the age of learning to stand in infancy would be associated with adult executive function and that the association would be apparent throughout the range of…

This paper discusses why and how parents of children with hearing impairments participate in the auditory-verbal approach. The components of therapy sessions are outlined, and techniques are described for developing listening skills, speech production, language, and communication in infants and toddlers. Effective teaching strategies are reviewed…