Some studies from the fields of adult literacy and English as a Second Language (ESL) are summarized that provide a personal look at literacy learning. (Contains 17 references.) (LB)

Preschoolers learned a novel adjective or count noun for an object and chose between two objects that shared an object kind or a material kind property with the target object. Found that, in interpreting adjectives, four-year-olds were more likely to choose the object sharing material kind with the target if the target was familiar than if it was…

Examined knowledge of mothers with children from 6 to 58 months regarding which item in play and language pairs was more advanced developmentally. Found that mothers' orderings matched those established in developmental literature and were stable over two weeks. Language knowledge was stronger than, and unrelated to, play knowledge. Accuracy was…

This study investigated two aspects of non-symbolic phonological knowledge (knowledge of the acoustic/perceptual space and of the articulatory/production space) in six preschool-age children with phonological disorders and six typically developing age peers. Results suggest that phonological knowledge is multifaceted, and that seemingly…

Suggests placing phonological awareness in the context of the problems of reading and the symptoms of reading disability. Considers how reading builds on the foundations of the child's development of primary language. Contains eight assertions about the development of reading and its difficulties. (SC)

This study examined the relationship between prelinquistic vocalization and expressive vocabulary one year later in 58 toddlers (ages 17- to 34-months old). Rate of vocalizations, rate of vocalizations with consonants, and rate of vocalizations used interactively were all positively related to later expressive vocabulary. (Author/DB)

This study examined the speech production and phonological skills of six children (ages, 2:8 to 6:8) who had undergone tracheostomy before age 8 months. The study found slow development of sound acquisition, vowel production, and the distinction between voiced and voiceless stops for some of the children. Excessive use of inappropriate…

Evaluation of the grammatical morphology used by 50 preschool children with specific language impairment as a function of their lexical diversity found their use of finite-verb morphology (based on number of different verbs used) and noun-related morphology lagged behind expectations in comparison to a group of normally developing preschoolers.…

Argues for the use of American Sign Language (ASL), rather than spoken English or Manual English, with deaf children in to build language and thinking skills and thereby mediate the meaning of English in print and facilitate literacy development. (DB)

Vocabulary growth from age 2 to 3 years was studied in 28 late talkers, using expressive vocabulary inventories reported bimonthly on the Language Development Survey (LDS). (Author/VWL)

Presents an account of developmental data regarding the acquisition of syllable types. Data come from a longitudinal corpus of phonetically transcribed speech of 12 children acquiring Dutch as their first language. (Author/VWL)

Examined effects of training six parents to use Enhanced Milieu Teaching with their preschoolers with autism/pervasive developmental disabilities. Found that parents learned strategies during 24 individual training sessions, generalized strategies to home interactions, and maintained procedure use at 6 months follow-up. Most children's complexity…

Reports on the results of a two-year longitudinal study of mother-infant dyads (N=23) observed during a free-play session when infants were six and eight months of age. Children were assessed for language and intellectual outcomes during the second and third years of life. This information may help school professionals design effective strategies…

This study interviewed 39 mothers of young children with autism of whom 19 reported their children had experienced developmental regression, especially in verbal and non-verbal communication and social skills. Mean age of regression was 24 months. There was little difference between children who regressed and those who did not in maternal…

Analyzes the negative utterances made by German-speaking children in transcripts of spontaneous speech. Results indicate that German-speaking children distinguish between "nicht" and "nein," using "nicht" in sentence-medial position for sentential negation and "nein" in sentence-initial position for anaphoric negation. (Author/VWL)