The research investigated the hypothesis that teachers' ratings of kindergarten children's receptive and expressive language ability would be related to children's social competence. Teachers' ratings of social competence were obtained for a sample of 116 kindergarten children. Social competence was measured using the California Preschool Social…

This study tested the hypotheses that (a) persistent language difficulties during childhood would predict lower school readiness and (b) language difficulties present just prior to school entry would predict lower school readiness beyond any effects of persistence. The study involved examining indicators of school readiness collected at…

The aim of this longitudinal study was to obtain information on the early lexical development and its predictive value to language skills in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) children. The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory was used to collect data of the early receptive and expressive lexicon of the 32 VLBW children. This information was…

This qualitative inquiry explored the personal reading interests of 42 10th-grade students as they selected and began reading a novel. The study's goal was to inform those interested in supporting students' reading interests of what students from one rural school could and could not verbalize about their personal reading interests. The…

Studies indicate thoughtfully planned chants integrated with shared book reading help young children remember concepts and vocabulary they hear in literature, capture children's imagination, develop their rhyming acuity, and background knowledge, and increase their sense of story structure, understanding of story sequence, phonological awareness,…

The pace at which new words are acquired is influenced by the degree of engagement with them on the part of the learner. Insights from cognitive linguistics into the non-arbitrary aspects of vocabulary can be turned into stimuli for such engagement. The majority of Cognitive Linguists' proposals for vocabulary teaching aim at helping learners…

In this article Carolyn Blackburn who is currently project officer for the Training and Development Agency for Schools and Teresa Whitehurst who is a research and development officer at Sunfield School in Worcestershire discuss how educationalists are being required to support an increasing number of children with new and emerging disabilities…

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (1996) estimated that 10% of the United States population has a disorder of speech, language, or hearing, with proportional distribution among members of racially and ethnically diverse groups. Individuals of Hispanic origin are the fastest-growing minority group in the country. Current national…

This study examined the effects of an expressive writing intervention on male, juvenile offenders' (n=25) psychological and emotional well being. Using a quasi-experimental design, participants were assigned to one of three writing conditions and were instructed to write for 15 minutes for five consecutive days about one of the following topics:…

This longitudinal assessment concentrated on the relation between the home literacy environment (HLE) and early language acquisition during infancy and toddlerhood. In study 1, after controlling for socio-economic status, a broadly defined HLE predicted language comprehension in 50 infants. In study 2, 27 children returned for further analyses.…

"The Condition of Education" is a congressionally mandated report that provides an annual portrait of education in the United States. This document includes information from "The Condition of Education 2009" about knowledge and skills of young children. A smaller percentage of children born in 2001 who were in poverty…

This study examined gender differences in self-regulation in the fall and spring of kindergarten and their connection to gender differences in 5 areas of early achievement: applied problems (math), general knowledge, letter-word identification, expressive vocabulary, and sound awareness. Behavioral self-regulation was measured using both an…

On average, language and communication characteristics of individuals with Down syndrome (the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability) follow a consistent profile. Despite considerable individual variability, receptive language is typically stronger than expressive language, with particular challenges in phonology and syntax. We…

Velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) is a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion of chromosome 22q11.2. Although there is some variability, VCFS is associated with a characteristic physical, behavioral, and cognitive phenotype. This review article focuses on aspects of language and literacy development in VCFS, describing what is known and…

This study investigated the effectiveness of an expressive writing intervention in a sample of Italian early adolescents on internalizing and post-traumatic stress symptoms and coping strategies. Participants were 153 Italian adolescents (48% male), attending 7th grade (M = 12.24 yrs, SD = 0.47). Youth were randomly assigned either to write about…