Examines questions related to whether children with severe learning disabilities go through the same developmental stages as children without such problems, or whether they develop along different lines. Explores the "delay" versus "deviance" issue in relation to linguistic development in children with Down's syndrome. Looks…

Compares two indigenous minority groups--the Basques in Spain and the Druze in Israel--and the ways in which they differ in their emphasis on early childhood programs that attempt to retain cultural and linguistic or religious heritages. (BB)

Investigates the reliability and validity of tests that have been used to operationalize the concept of phonemic awareness. Indicates that a combination of two tests, one related to each factor, has greater predictive validity for the beginning steps in reading acquisition than does one test alone. (JK)

Contributors discuss (1) the role of teacher explanation, (2) packaged teaching programs, and (3) motivating children to write poetry. (FL)

Describes the efforts of the language arts staff of the Edmonton (Canada) Public Schools to develop statements of student outcomes that were generalizable across grade levels and tests of writing achievement based on those outcomes. (FL)

Reviews benefits of using cooperative learning strategies and computer assisted instruction (CAI) in classrooms with mainstreamed students; describes teacher's role in implementing cooperative learning; presents examples demonstrating potential of cooperative learning and CAI in language and social skills development; and outlines steps in…

Argues that if education for language development is to improve, the changes will have to take place in the classroom and that the change needed is to return control of classrooms to teachers. Also argues that for reform to endure, how systems respond to change must be understood. (SRT)

Explores the underlying knowledge that children have about the relationship between the structure of requests and the relative status of speakers and listeners. Shows that the three age groups (preschoolers, 5-year-olds, and 10-year-olds) could systematically differentiate the requests by means of syntactic directness or semantics. (HOD)

Outlines M. Halliday's theory of language production, which suggests that the form of oral and written language is determined by the context in which language is generated, and shows how it can be used as a basis for curriculum development. (Author/HOD)

Suggests that variations in the quality and type of infant care, in institutional and other settings in different cultures and social classes, can have influences on the long-term development of the child's rate, level, and type of cognitive development. (HOD)

This study elucidates specific contextual factors important to decentration. Verbal utterances of 24 dyads of children (aged 6) and adults while communicating in a standardized problem-solving situation were analyzed according to egocentric versus decentric language categories and compared to child-child dyads. (Author/BS)

Examines the effect of adult recasting in sign language on the acquisition of specific syntactic-semantic structures by deaf children aged 9 to 76 months. Results indicated that recasting triggered the acquisition of new syntactic-semantic structures in American Sign Language and English, evident in the spontaneous production of previously…

Describes how three schools applied "Writing to Read," a computerized writing and reading program, in kindergarten and first grade. (HOD)

Concludes that there may be differential effectiveness of method of reading instruction according to sex, with females finding letter training simpler than word training and males finding the reverse. (FL)

Emergent reading attempts of 24 children at the beginning of their kindergarten year are content analyzed in light of theoretical considerations about general and language development. In addition, the reading attempts of two-, three-, and four-year olds are examined. Comparison of data reveal a developmental progress across age-levels. (HOD)