The study found that mean length of utterance (MLU) and age were significantly correlated in both language impaired (N=24) and normal preschool children with rates of MLU change also similar for both groups of children. (DB)

Production of grammatical morphemes was examined in free speech samples from 34 4-year-olds with history of slow expressive language development (SELD) and control group. Both the SELD children who had caught up in mean length of utterance by age four and those who had not had acquired fewer grammatical morphemes than controls, though acquisition…

Gains made by a woman with Broca's aphasia as documented by traditional measures were paralleled by changes in conversation, including increased verbal output and efficiency, and changes in conversation-repair patterns. The progress documented with conversational discourse analysis was not observable from other test measures. (Author/DB)

Predictors of language production skills were evaluated in 48 children and adolescents with Down syndrome and compared to 48 children matched for nonverbal mental age and mother's years of education. Comparison of two models found the model that incorporated comprehension performance (as well group membership, chronological age, cognition,…

This study investigated the effects of contextualization on fluency in 35 school-age children with either stuttering, language impairment, or normal fluency. Analysis of the children's discourse samples, half of which were produced with contextual cues, found stutterers demonstrated a significant reduction in frequency of stuttering in the…

Fifty-seven children (ages 5-8) with and without specific language impairment (SLI) participated in judgment and elicitation tasks designed to evaluate their understanding of irregular verb forms. Differences between SLI and control children were observed in their productions and relative levels of sensitivity to infinitive errors in finite…

Touches on central arguments surrounding the debate over the expressive essay for composition instruction. Notes that a primary assumption about the expressive essay--that it is honest and truthful--remains unchallenged. Suggests that students themselves offer ways to address concerns of social constructivists while acknowledging what is valuable…

This study of rapid picture naming by 20 normally developing children (mean age 11 years) found significant differences between two-and three-dimensional pictures for higher level vocabulary items, but not for lower-level vocabulary items, suggesting that dimensionality may be a critical feature for rapid lexical access for higher-level picture…

Assessed representational abilities in hearing and deaf 2-year-old children of hearing and deaf mothers. Found group differences in expressive and receptive language based on maternal report and on experimenter assessment, but no differences emerged in child solitary symbolic play or in child- or mother-initiated child collaborative symbolic play.…

Examination of auditory short-term memory was evaluated with 21 adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) and mental-age-matched and language-production-matched subjects using a digit span task. DS subjects had shorter digit spans than MA controls. Language production level accounted for substantial variance in digit span in individuals with DS.…

Two studies investigated factors affecting children's (n=48) choice of pronouns as referring expressions. Findings indicate the children (ages 2-3) did not use pronouns differentially when the adult model them or they witnessed a target event, but did use pronouns differently depending on the immediately preceding discourse of the experimenter.…

This study explored the relationship between sentence disruptions and the length and complexity of sentences spoken by 26 typical children developing grammar. For most children, disrupted sentences tended to be longer and more complex than fluent sentences and the magnitude of the differences in length and complexity was positively correlated with…

Cocaine use during pregnancy is a high-risk indicator for adverse developmental outcomes. Three levels of intervention (center, home, and primary care) were compared in a full service, birth to age 3, early intervention program serving children exposed to cocaine prenatally. Data were collected on 130 children from urban, predominantly poor,…

Purpose: This study examined the empirical evidence for using the Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test: Third Edition (SPELT-3; Dawson, Stout, & Eyer, 2003) to diagnose language impairment in preschool children. The SPELT-3 is a revision of the SPELT-II (Werner & Kresheck, 1983), which has been proven in the past to have high levels of…

The goal of the present study was to explore the role of expressive vocabulary as a moderator in the relation between shyness and maladjustment in early childhood. Participants were 82 preschool children (39 males, 43 females). Mothers rated children's shyness at the start of the preschool year. Children were interviewed individually to assess…