The home environment of a hearing impaired child should be viewed in terms of six variables: academic aspirations and expectations, language use and development, stimulation to explore and discuss ideas and events, academic guidance and support, family's work habits, and parental integration of the hearing impairment into the home. (CL)

Examines periods of mutual gaze and visual coorientation between mothers and their two- to four-month-old infants as contexts for the utilization of maternal verbal control techniques. Additional questions involve the impact of infant sex and maternal sensitivity upon the utilization of these techniques. (Author/MP)

The final stage of a study of language and communication problems in severely mentally retarded children was conducted by teachers to the effect of expectation on performance. Factors influential in shaping attitudes were examined. Teachers and parents were surveyed and the children were observed and videotaped. (CL)

Data are reviewed on young deaf-blind persons evaluated at the Siegel Institute over a seven-year period. Information is presented on age; presence of neurological handicaps such as abnormal head size, abnormal electroencephalogram, neuromuscular disorders; degree of hearing impairment; degree of vision disability; and level of language and…

Examines children's errors in interpreting 'ask' as 'tell' in the framework of pragmatic development. Results indicate that if the children do not know the information, they relay the question, i.e., 'ask.' If they do know the answer, they supply it, i.e., 'tell.' (EKN)

Existing data on metalinguistic skills are reviewed and then grouped according to the cognitive strategies children appear to employ in resolving metalinguistic tasks. (Author/MP)

Offers guidelines for helping children produce their own alphabet books. (FL)

The simple sentence dictation activity--in which the teacher combines spelling words, review words, and sight vocabulary into meaningful sentences which are dictated to the students--is useful for reinforcing spelling and other written language skills in special as well as regular education classrooms at all grade levels. (SW)

Presents comparative study of patterns of language use related to books in three literate communities in southeastern United States, focusing on bedtime story reading. Results show inadequacy of prevalent dichotomy between oral and literate traditions and of unilinear models of child language development and dichotomies between types of cognitive…

Through the process of manipulating language through speech play, young children learn the rules of their linguistic system. Metalinguistic awareness implies access to the rule system of language and the ability to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable language usage. (JN)

Follow-up information is presented on a severely dyslexic young woman who describes her difficulties in learning how to read and write and in adjusting to the demands of a two-year college course. The author cites passages from correspondence with her to point out her progress. (CL)

Evidence from the study indicated that the hearing impaired develop syntactic patterns, constructions, and processing abilities for language that differ from those used by the hearing but that semantic patterns and processing abilities of the hearing impaired are similar to those of the hearing. (Author/SB)

Research results show that it may be possible, within limitations, to facilitate discrimination by infants of inappropriate from appropriate verbal descriptions of a visual event, by emphasizing the agent component in a simple sentence. (Author/JB)

Research with young Hebrew-speaking children revealed a development in linguistic control of the system of verb-pattern alternation from nonalternation to near mastery, with the concepts of causativity and distinctions in transitivity being lexicalized earlier than others. (Author)

Obstacles confronting deaf students in language development are considered. American Sign Language is distinguished from English in terms of grammar, inflection and syntax, and context. The impact of deafness on language acquisition and cognitive development is examined. The importance of auditory feedback and verbal reinforcement is emphasized.…