In the first experiment, the imitative skills of four-year-olds were assessed as a function of sentence comprehension and delayed imitation. The second experiment examined the relationship between the Carrow Elicited Language Inventory (CELI) and Developmental Sentence Scoring under three imitative conditions: zero-, three-, and five-second…

The efficacy of employing linguistic elements (verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc.) arranged in systematic combination matrices on the development of expressive verb-noun phrase usage was demonstrated when two of three moderately to severely handicapped six- and seven-year-old students showed gains in trained and novel responses. (CL)

Comparison of alpha amplitudes of 12 children with learning disabilities and 12 normally achieving controls in three task situations found no significant differences between groups in alpha amplitude but a significant task effect with the vigilance, story comprehension, and rehearsal conditions showing decreasing alpha amplitudes in both groups of…

The relation between physical identity and name identity encoding speed was assessed in 32 mentally retarded adults and nonretarded controls. A difference between retarded and nonretarded subjects in preparation time was apparent; however, this difference did not influence encoding speed. (Author/DB)

Twenty-one aphasic and seven nonaphasic adults participated in a referential communication task. Both aphasic and nonaphasic subjects successfully determined essential information to be communicated and communicated it to a listener. Nonaphasic and nonfluent aphasic subjects were more efficient in communicating information than mixed or anomic…

In a study of 50 normal children and 65 children with expressive language disorder (ELD), results showed no differences in the frequency, duration, or timing of episodes of otitis media. For children with ELD, there was a relationship between otitis media and expressive language improvement. (BC)

Investigation of the impact of speaking rate variations in the linguistic input provided to 32 school-age children (half with specific language impairment (SLI) found both SLI and typical children had similar recognition accuracy, but SLI children had significantly more difficulty with the production of novel words presented at a fast rate.…

The purpose of this cross-sectional study, conducted with a random sample of 166 students with emotional disturbance (ED), was to establish, with attention to age and gender differences, the extent to which students with ED served in public school settings experience language skill deficits. This study also examined particular types of problem…

Language impairment is a primary characteristic of children with autism; however, findings on the language deficits of these children have been inconclusive, and even less is known about the language profiles of Chinese-speaking children with autism. The present study examined the verbal expression-comprehension abilities of 46 Chinese children at…

Maternal education is a strong correlate of children's language, cognitive, and academic development. In most prior research, mothers' education has been treated as a fixed characteristic, yet many mothers, particularly economically and educationally disadvantaged mothers, attend school after the birth of their children. In the present study, we…

This study examined progress after 1 year of treatment for children with autism who received a mean of 36 hours per week one-to-one University of California at Los Angeles Applied Behavior Analysis (UCLA ABA) treatment. Two types of service provision were compared: an intensive clinic based treatment model with all treatment personnel (N = 23),…

Defines and evaluates the consequences brought about by the increase of Americanisms in the Spanish language. (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)

Analyzes the history and etymology of the Spanish idiom "al buen tuntun." (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)

The study compared the effectiveness of peer and adult models in teaching an expressive language task to four autistic boys (9-11 years old). Ss had well developed imitative repertoires and some spontaneous language. Using a BCBC design, counterbalanced across modeling conditions and replicated across Ss, autistic Ss were taught to respond to…

The study assessed the oral narrative abilities of 10 normal and 10 learning-disabled (LD) middle school children (11-12 years old). Narratives were assessed using A. Applebee's system for the development of story organization. The narratives were also examined for the specific components used within the stories themselves. Findings revealed…