Indicates features of Black dialect, or Black English vernacular, and discusses relationships between speaking Black English and learning to read and write. Suggestions for teaching speakers of Black English to write are offered. (RH)

Results indicated that the two treatment conditions (speech and speech-sign) did not differ significantly for either learning or generalization with 10 Down's Syndrome three-seven year olds. The data did, however, indicate that individual patterns of acquisition were evident among the children. Caution is advised concerning automatic adoption or…

Results of measures in the cognitive-social areas of communicative intent, tool use, imitation, and play and in language comprehension demonstrated uneven development for the autistic subjects. A functional analysis of communicative behaviors indicated a relatively homogeneous profile of communicative functions both quantitatively and…

Creative writing should be an integral part of any total language or English course of study at all levels of education, from primary school through higher education. Provided are specific examples of methods which teachers can use to help students develop their language skills and write creatively. (RM)

Confusion is cited regarding the meaning and nature of central auditory dysfunction, and types of tests composing a central auditory test battery are described. Tests focus on auditory closure, auditory figure-ground, and dichotic listening. (CL)

The paper presents a rationale for assessing and intervening with severely impaired preschoolers in the natural environment, identifies three prerequisites for language training (content and motivation, reinforcing social and physical environment, and a communicative repertoire), and examines two levels of intervention. (CL)

Six severely mentally retarded adolescents acquired and generalized semantically based utterances more quickly when they were trained in the active participation conditions with real objects and behaviors rather than in the pictorial representation condition in which pictures depicting semantic-grammatical rules were used. (CL)

A hearing impaired person describes ways in which listening to literature on tape while reading can help develop speech, increase auditory training, improve vocabulary and pronunciation, and lead to better understanding of contextual clues. (CL)

Author reports on one school's attempt to become its own teachers' centre. (Editor/RK)

This article discusses metalinguistic awareness (the ability to make language forms opaque and attend to them in and for themselves) its relation to literacy, its development in children from their play with language; and educational implications. (MS)

It is time educators examined their phonics teaching practices and materials. (Author)

Takes issue with the Bullock Report recommendation that the concept of home visiting must be expanded at the preschool level in England. (RB)

This article describes a set of protocol materials which illustrates concepts in language acquisition. (RC)