The purpose of this study was to describe the level of language maturity and the effect of a preschool language program on the language development of urban, Southern 4-year-olds. The 147 subjects (57 lower status blacks, 40 lower status whites, and 50 upper status whites) all participated in five-day per week prekindergarten programs. Dependent…

Results of ESEA/Title I programs designed to prepare educationally disadvantaged children for school in eight New York state school districts are contained in the 3-year report on a total population of 1,805 children. Standardized intelligence and readiness tests given at the beginning and end of prekindergarten were used to determine the…

A quasi-static learning model was proposed to describe the interaction of factors believed to be involved in the development of reading comprehension abilities. Reading comprehension was viewed as an extension of general language learning and subject to many of the same factors and complexities as is the development of language. There are five…

Theories of language acquisition which emphasize the role of imitation, reinforcement, inheritance, and the active involvement of the child himself in the language acquisition process are discussed in this paper. The three major theories are: (1) the behavioristic theory which asserts that children learn their language through imitation of…

This report presents an analysis of data used to evaluate Project CHILD (Curriculum to Heighten Intellectual and Language Development). The curriculum was designed for use with disadvantaged preschool children and was field tested in two schools in central Harlem, New York City. The objectives and methods of the curriculum, as well as background…

The purpose of the study was to begin the development of a test of comparative language which would have potential usefulness as an evaluation instrument for early childhood education programs. The study provides preliminary information concerning reliability, validity, and practicality of two parallel forms of the test. Included in each form are…

To demonstrate that the child learning language constructs his theory of language on the basis of the linguistic data available to him, this study investigated 21 linguistic parameters that Down's Syndrome and normal children are exposed to in their maternal linguistic environment. It was found that mothers produced certain levels of linguistic…

This paper advances answers to two questions: (1) Where do we stand now in terms of the contributions of physiology to the study of language? The answer to the first question is provided in the form of twelve propositions which review the contributions of physiology to the species specificity of language question, the neurological components of…

This study investigates the relative importance of intonational versus syntactic features in children's comprehension of language. The research employed a methodology in which a sentence was presented orally just prior to a tachistoscopic presentation of a picture in which various components were misrepresented. Subjects were 30 children at each…

A series of studies on young children's use of the terms "same" and "different" are reported. The work began from the observation that young children could respond correctly to instructions involving "same" but were often incorrect in response to "different". This finding was replicated under a variety of experimental conditions and found to be…

Language development in preschool children was studied using pairs of pictures with three types of verbal elaboration formed for each pair. After a training trial thirty children listened to one of three types of elaboration (simple sentence, compound or complex sentence, and paragraph). They were asked to name the corresponding response item.…

Presented is a collection of 16 papers on speech development, handicaps, teaching methods, and educational trends for the aurally handicapped child. Arthur Boothroyd relates acoustic phonetics to speech teaching, and Jean Utley Lehman investigates a scheme of linguistic organization. Differences in speech production by deaf and normal hearing…

This guide is a compilation of teaching and behavioral objectives for lessons and activities of the Peabody Language Development Kit--Level P (PLDK-P). An accompanying checklist for each lesson provides space to record responses and reinforcement given each child. The purpose of the guide is to provide means for teachers to evaluate the…

This guide is a compilation of teaching and behavioral objectives for lessons and activities of the Peabody Language Development Kit--Level P (PLDK-P). An accompanying checklist for each lesson provides space to record responses and reinforcement given each child. The purpose of the guide is to provide means for teachers to evaluate the…

The chapters by various specialists presenting information on the aurally handicapped child and his clinical and educational management are divided into three sections. The brief introductory section presents an overview of the work to follow, defines the hard of hearing child, describes his prevalence, and traces the locus of educational programs…