Longitudinal word learning studies which control for experience can advance understanding of language learning and potential intra- and inter-language relationships in developing bilinguals. We examined novel word learning in both the first (L1) and the second (L2) languages of bilingual children. The rate and shape of change as well as the role…

Objectives: To compare differences in autism between Hispanic and non-Hispanics. We also examined the relationship between multiple language exposure and language function and scores of children. Methods: The Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study is an ongoing population-based case-control study with children…

Within discourses of language endangerment, life stages such as child language acquisition, adolescent language shift, and the death of community elders figure prominently, but what of the role of other, intermediate life stages during adulthood and professional life in the course of language obsolescence or revitalization? Drawing from long-term…

This article supports the claim that there are strong interactive links between children's language development, cognitive reasoning and their success in school achievement. These links are best facilitated within a social learning framework where children's language and talk is encouraged, accepted and respected. This talk is the most authentic…

Early intervention programs are developed on the premise that parents or primary caregivers generalize treatment strategies within naturalistic environments. The diverse characteristics of children within early language intervention reinforce the urgency for services that consider the needs of each child within his or her broader social, cultural,…

This longitudinal study explored the rate of language growth of children in an early intervention program providing auditory-verbal therapy. A retrospective investigation, the study applied a linear growth model to estimate a mean growth curve and the extent of individual variation in language performance on the Preschool Language Scale, 4th ed.…

Although coaching is a popular approach for enhancing the quality of Tier 1 instruction, limited research has addressed observational measures specifically designed to focus coaching on evidence-based practices. This study explains the development of the prekindergarten (pre-k) Classroom Observation Tool (COT) designed for use in a data-based…

With the increasing number of preschool-age children of Latino heritage entering U.S. schools comes a growing need to accurately determine children's individual needs and identify potential disabilities, beginning with the screening process. Unfortunately, teachers face many challenges when screening English language learners. Often, parents have…

Though the concept of noticing has been extensively addressed in the SLA literature, few studies suggest promoting noticing through collaborative feedback tasks (CFTs) in an EFL college writing classroom. To fill this gap, this paper attempts to provide a framework for promoting noticing through CFTs using three sequenced and interrelated CFTs:…

Early deafness is thought to affect low-level sensorimotor processing such as selective attention, whereas bilingualism is thought to be strongly associated with higher order cognitive processing such as attention switching under cognitive load. This study explores the effects of bimodal-bilingualism (in American Sign Language and written English)…

The literature suggests children with autism use communication primarily for requests and protests, and almost never for information-seeking. This study investigated whether teaching "Where" questions using intrinsic reinforcement procedures would produce the generalized use of the question, and whether concomitant improvements in…

This paper presents findings from a study on the use of sign supported Norwegian (SSN) in two individuals with Cri du chat syndrome (CCS). The study gives a first account of some selected aspects of production and intelligibility of SSN in CCS. Possible deviance in manual parameters, in particular inter- and/or intra-subject variation in the use…

Many approaches to word learning argue for the importance of joint attention and other social-pragmatic abilities. This study explored word learning in children with autism (CWA), by examining it in ostensive and non-ostensive contexts, tested through both comprehension and elicited production. Novel nouns were taught to 17 CWA and 13 children…

In the 1950s, the assessment and management of children with language impairments emphasized their auditory and visual processing deficits and relied heavily on classifications of adult language disorders. Many compelling theoretical insights were offered, but research in language acquisition was in its infancy. It was not until the 1960s and…

The process of word segmentation is flexible, with many strategies potentially available to learners. This experiment explores how segmentation cues interact, and whether successful resolution of cue competition is related to general executive functioning. Participants listened to artificial speech streams that contained both statistical and…