Analysis of language samples collected from 110 linguistically normal one- to four-year-olds indicated a direct relationship between chronological age, mean length of utterance, and percent of complex sentences. Analysis of the complex sentences in each sample indicated subcategories for each type of complexity with their own order of acquisition.…

The study examined question frequencies and types in language samples from 36 sighted and visually impaired children (4-10 years old). Results demonstrated significant differences between blind/sighted and low vision/sighted groups in the ratio of questions asked. Comparison of question types indicated some minor distinctions of type of usage by…

Examined the syntactic language skills of 48 sixth and ninth graders. Student narratives were analyzed for differences in syntax, T-unit length, clause length, and clause usage. Findings indicated statistically significant differences between groups in the words per T-unit and the words per clause used in the narratives. Differences were not found…

Studies two groups of autistic children--good versus poor verbal imitators--within the context of a receptive label acquisition task. Both groups acquired receptive signs. However, good imitators acquired receptive speech whereas poor imitators typically did not. (Author/AS)

Investigates the ability of 32 two-year-old children to use syntactic (i.e., form class) and semantic (i.e., type of referent) information to interpret the meaning of new nouns. Subjects were taught either a common noun or a proper noun for a block-like or animal-like object and then asked to select the named toy. (Author/CB)

Three language-delayed autistic children (6-11 years old) were taught expressive use of prepositions to describe the location of preferred edibles and toys. Traditional highly structured training and incidental teaching procedures were used in a classroom setting, and generalization was assessed during free-play sessions. Results clearly indicated…

Suggests that Bialystok and Ryan's theory, as outlined in this issue, may be too simplistic in terms of the categories created to define metalinguistic skills. Points out that the effort does promote examination of the term "metalinguistic skill" in light of developmental data and illustrates how theories of the development of these…

Explores in three experiments development of three linguistic aspects of "more" in children's speech. Experiment 1 examined nature of early semantic content of "more;" Experiment 2, the child's differentiation of mass "more" from count "more"; and Experiment 3, the child's use of "more" as a…

Reports outcomes of three experiments in which children were taught a sentence form that they did not as yet understand. Investigates whether (1) acquisition of word order relations for sentence form would be affected by pragmatic ordering principles and (2) whether referent animacy would be included in children's rules for word order. (Author/BE)

Introduces three papers (published in this issue) contrasting the development of gestures and sign language with spoken language in order to specify the nature of language plasticity (susceptibility to change) and robustness (invariance). Focuses on question of whether these are parallel systems or an integrated system with two forms of…

The gesture systems developed by 10 deaf children, each incapable of acquiring a conventional spoken language naturally and not exposed to a conventional manual language by their hearing parents, were compared and contrasted to both the speech and the gesture systems developed by three hearing children learning English. (Author/BE)

The paper presents a symptom approach for the intervention of childhood language disorders. Intervention guidelines are presented in the following areas of functioning: two-word utterances, auxiliaries, grammatical structures, auditory comprehension, discourse, and symbolic play. Behavioral analysis, rather than etiological classification, forms…

The study evaluated the metalinguistic awareness of words, syllables, and sounds of 15 language-disordered children (age three to six). Ss performed significantly poorer than controls (normally developing children) in dividing sentences and words. The language-disordered children also did not show the same level of responses to the word-awareness…

Compared with children at the same grade levels in reading, 50 incarcerated men performed better on some tasks but worse on those that required a knowledge of sound-spelling correspondences, on which they resembled children who are poor readers. The men were surprisingly uniform in lacking segmentation and decoding skills. (Author/CL)

The article briefly discusses language--its nature and development, highlighting some language problems frequently encountered in the school age hearing impaired population and offering explanations for their occurrence. The effects of language impairment on the acquisition of literacy are also discussed. (Author/CL)