Reports an interview with two teachers who provide instruction in sign language to 3- to 6-year-old children attending the Otter Creek School in Vermont. Children at the school use sign language while singing and to converse at snack times. (Author/RH)

Examines the linguistic experimentation of children in three different age groups by means of their use of word games. (HTH)

Research is reviewed on stimulus overselectivity in autistic children, and educational implications are discussed in terms of language acquisition, social behavior, observational learning, generalization, and prompting and prompt fading. Approaches to circumvent the problem of overselectivity are also described. (CL)

The relationship between language comprehension and production was examined with two severely language-deficient retarded subjects who were taught the plural form. Their mode-independence contrasted with interdependence displayed by normal children in an earlier study using similar procedures. (Author/SJL)

Discusses how Wesker conveys his central intuition about the limitations of language by employing verbal and visual games and rituals in his plays. Games take the form of playfulness to indicate emotional solidarity of everyday rituals with archetypal or religious undertones, or of games about the acquisition of language itself. (JMF)

Results showed that LD Ss scored significantly lower than normal Ss on most written expression abilities, expecially in the mechanical tasks of spelling, punctuation, and word usage. For related information see EC 132 758-768. (Author)

The results are discussed as support for the proposition that use of direct instruction procedures is a successful means of overcoming the learning difficulties of children considered LD. For related information see EC 132 758-768. (Author)

Twelve nonverbal, hearing, retarded children (4 to 8 years old) were matched and then randomly assigned to sign language training, speech training, and placebo groups. The findings were interpreted as indicating that some nonverbal retarded children will benefit more from sign language than speech training. (Author)

The lack of significant differences in the number and kind of attributes ascried by blind and sighted Ss seemed to contradict the notion that tactually based information yields only partial, fragmented, or nonintegrated information. (Author)

Analysis (using semantic scoring criteria) indicated that: (1) self-action yielded higher scores on recall; and (2) girls scored significantly higher than boys. When absolute and syntactic criteria were used, self-action, puppet-action, and color, paste, and cut actions were equally facilitative. (Author)

Judgments of utterance appropriateness were examined in three, four, five, and six year olds to examine bases for these judgments in a variety of social contexts. The judgments of the six year olds more closely resembled those of a group of adults, but their judgments were not yet free of some of the factors operative for the younger children.…

The current state of research on language learning processes is reviewed, and the implications of that research for language arts teachers are discussed. (HTH)

Discusses theoretical developments in the nature of language and language acouistion as well as possible applications of those theoretical principles to teaching. (Author/RH)

The speech of 26 mothers to their infants at an early age was compared with their speech to them 2 years later. Results show that speech to infants was different from so-called "baby-talk," and that speech to them was shorter, more limited, and more repetitive than speech to language-learning children. (PJM)

Provides a framework for understanding how children's intentions in learning interact with varying learning contexts as children make the transition from speech to writing and develop control over the written medium. (DD)