Gestural cueing may be used successfully with children who do not require exposure to a sign or total communication approach. Emphasizing cueing in both the training and generalization phases of language learning, this article discusses specific learning activities, the effect of motor components on language, and procedures for using gestural…

Presents research showing that spelling is a complex developmental process and that once the stages of development are identified, teachers can help students to develop strategies for learning standard English spelling, and they can assess students' progress more accurately. (SRT)

Forty-three language intervention studies published during the 1970s were critically analyzed. Findings indicated that, in general, studies have not paralleled current psycholinguistic thinking. Only 34.8% of the studies were successful in increasing the communicative competence of their severely handicapped subjects. (Author/CL)

The components of the language-based approach to intervention with hearing impaired children which emphasizes the importance of conversational interaction in the preschool years are described. Implications for caregivers are noted. (CL)

The article reviews the sequence of comprehension and production development in young normal hearing and hearing impaired children and describes comprehension strategies for both populations. Assessment procedures are considered. (CL)

Forty-four language delayed preschoolers received either direct instruction or interactive instruction. After 8 months, children in both settings improved significantly and substantially on syntactic and semantic measures. There were no differences between the two groups at posttest nor any significant aptitude by treatment interactions for…

Studies of normative ages of speech sound acquisition vary in speech sample and methods used. Review of studies which sample spontaneous speech indicates that these data have characteristics that make them difficult to use as norms. Desirable characteristics of normative investigations of speech and sound acquisition are proposed. (Author/CL)

The linguistic abilities of three adult deaf-blind subjects who acquired language through the Tadoma method (involves monitoring a speaker's articulatory motions by placing a hand on his face) were examined. The subjects' English language abilities were excellent, suggesting that the tactile sense is adequate in highly trained Tadoma users in…

Language performance at syntactic, semantic, orthographic, and discourse levels was measured for 12 learning disabled third graders, 15 normally achieving third graders, and 11 normally achieving first graders. Results indicated significant overall differences between learning disabled and normally achieving Ss, but not between the learning…

Verbal training and verbal training plus gestures resulted in acquisition of noun-verb labeling responses in three severely retarded Ss (5-23 years old). The procedures did not differentially influence percentage of correct verbal labeling responses. The finding that gestural responses were shown across all conditions was discussed in terms of…

Strong evidence of overall effectiveness was found for a language intervention training program featuring parent training to facilitate early language acquisition in 11 developmentally delayed children (19-55 months old) in natural environmental settings. Gains were strongest at completion of the intervention period, but some children continued to…

The study attempted to determine whether children and adults perceive different amounts of translucency in signs drawn from early sign teaching lexicons and representing three different semantic classes. Results indicate that four- and seven-year-old children and adults perceive signs representing action as more translucent than signs representing…

Analysis of videotaped interaction of 20 hearing impaired preschoolers showed that Ss were acquiring language using the same semantic categories, syntactic forms, and functional uses as normally developing children but at later chronological ages. All of the hearing-impaired children were developing a rule system consistent with patterns of normal…

The nature and development of discourse topic skills in preschool children are examined and illustrated by observations of very young children. Possible social and cognitive components are explored with implications for language-disordered populations. (CL)

The discussion of older language disordered children's syntactic development focuses on an increase in T-units (minimal terminal units) and an expansion of types of cohesion (ways in which children tie their utterance structures together). Implications for assessment and treatment are drawn. (CL)