To evaluate the school psychologist's role in the management of children with hearing, language or speech impairments the executive director of the National Association of School Psychologists and 22 public school psychologists were interviewed. (LS)

The Pediatric Language Clinic Program in Blount County, Tennessee, serving 36 to 54 communicatvely handicapped children (0 to 5 years old) is described. The program stresses intensive habilitation with groups of two to five parents and children in one hour sessions one to four times a week. The program encourages maximum parental involvement; is…

An assessment instrument to evaluate the competency of speech language pathologists, developed by the Special Education Competencies for Teachers Project, is presented. The instrument was developed by a committee of concerned educators, and a survey of Georgia special education directors, speech language pathologists, and a 10% sampling of…

A core reference list presents 199 citations of journal articles, books, papers, and other publications dealing with various aspects of augmentative and alternative communication, covering various disabled and nondisabled populations, child to adult age ranges, and topics such as assessment, longitudinal development/acquisition,…

The role of theory and science for communication disorders is discussed. It is argued that communication disorders form a unique discipline within behavioral science. Ways in which the discipline can use theory for research and therapy are suggested. (Author/KM)

The intelligibility of two voice-output communication aids ("Personal Communicator" and "SpeechPAC'") was evaluated by presenting synthesized words and sentences to 20 listeners. Analysis of listener transcriptions revealed significantly higher intelligibility scores for the "Personal Communicator" compared to the…

Survey results indicate that (1) older adults have limited knowledge about the impact of aging on interpersonal communication and communication disorders and (2) they show little interest in the topics. Implications for communications educators are discussed. (PD)

Describes a group therapy program for nursing home residents suffering from senile dementia which concentrates on techniques that help individuals with impaired communication to interrelate successfully. Principles of ego-supportive group therapy sessions are discussed. A case study is included. (NRB)

This brief paper presents a summary of a study which examined the developmental progression of categorization and its relationship to language development in 12 adults with severe to profound mental retardation and with less than 100 words of expressive language (including manual signs). Subjects were asked to sort physically eight miniature…

This report describes how augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) automated language activity monitoring can provide clinicians with the tools they need to collect and analyze language samples from the natural environment of children with disabilities for clinical intervention and outcomes measurements. The Language Activity Monitor (LAM)…

Past findings were reviewed with psychometric results and clinical observations of seven children with unusually precocious word-recognition skills and otherwise multiple significant developmental deviations. Implications concerning the syndrome of hyperlexia and how the behavior pattern may disrupt the acquisition of appropriate modalities of…

The most critical problem for deaf children is the lack of communication and its effect on social development. Play and physical education activities provide deaf children with opportunities for socialization and motor growth. Sixteen movement activities are offered that can be implemented in homogeneous or mainstreaming situations. (JN)

California's legislation mandating free telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDDs) to hearing and/or speech impaired persons is discussed, as are approaches used in San Diego to distribute them. The TDD's capabilities of communicating with other computer systems are described and an example of an electronic mail system is given. (CL)

The mothers and fathers of 11 preschool autistic children were taught operant procedures used in teaching speech to nonverbal children. At posttreatment, the children showed significant gains in pre-speech and speech skills as measured by a 21-step hierarchy of speech behaviors. (Author)

The relationship of bilingualism to learning disabilities and the incidence of bilingual children referred for medical evaluation of developmental problems is discussed. (JMF)