Background: Five DNA markers (single-nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) have recently been found to be associated with general cognitive ability "g") in a sample of 7414 7-year-old twins. These children have also been studied at 2, 3, 4, and 7 years of age on measures of cognitive and language development and behaviour problems; family environment…

After providing a brief review of three other approaches to assessment of preschool children (DSM-IV diagnoses, "Zero to Three" diagnoses, and temperament scales), this paper focuses on the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA). The empirically based assessment paradigm provides user-friendly, cost-effective, reliable,…

This paper concerns the influence of age of acquisition (AoA) in word reading and other tasks, and attempts to develop a number of issues raised by Zevin and Seidenberg (2002). Analyses performed on both rated and objective measures of AoA show that the frequency trajectory of words is a reliable predictor of their order of acquisition, which…

A rationale for a novel approach to remedial reading for struggling readers, including students labeled with intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, attention deficit and behavior disorders, below average language development, and those described as reluctant or resistant readers is presented. It is suggested that struggling readers find…

Responsive Teaching is an early intervention curriculum designed to address the cognitive, language, and social emotional needs of young children with developmental problems. This innovative intervention model was derived from research conducted primarily with children with Down syndrome and their mothers. Results from these studies indicated that…

Background: English-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) perform more poorly than their typically developing peers in verbal working memory tasks where processing and storage are simultaneously required. Hungarian is a language with a relatively free word order and a rich agglutinative morphology. Aims: To examine the effect…

This source book is designed to give parents, teachers, and other caregivers of young children more than 200 sample activities for children that are fun, easy, and educationally sound. Chapter 1 introduces principles of early childhood programs, the "home-school connection," and tips on how to communicate with children. This chapter also gives an…

This document consists of the three second-year issues of a newsletter concerning people with deaf-blindness. These issues include the following major articles: "A Report on Deaf-Blind Technical Assistance Collaboration" (Paddi Henderson and Rich Mulholland); "Rabbits and Retards" (Joyce Ford), in which a parent describes an…

This paper reports on a 2-year research study at the University of Southampton (England) regarding teachers' and students' beliefs, understandings, and classroom practices with respect to explicit language awareness in three secondary schools. Specifically, the study sought to document the understandings of secondary English and foreign language…

Preparing language interventionists and special education teachers to work with colleagues and families on collaborative teams in public school settings, this book provides basic procedures for intervention for all children with language and communication difficulties, with hands-on activities to give students practice in applying the procedures.…

The context and processes of language acquisition in bilingual, bicultural British-Pakistani and British-Asian children (ages 2-19) attending a school for severe learning difficulties (SLD) were investigated. The first study compared 20 children with SLD who had a proficiency in speaking English and in their mother tongue (Urdu, Punjabi, Hindko,…

A study examined the effects of specific literacy-related activities in preschool on subsequent language and literacy-related knowledge. All of the subjects were eligible for Head Start or comparable programs, with half of the classrooms being Head Start classrooms. When the subjects were 3 years old, a total of 63 children were visited in 48…

Learning can occur in a natural way when parents serve as models to their child, demonstrating how to learn, facilitating the learning process, and guiding the learner. With a teacher's guidance, parents can improve their understanding of their child's learning. Teachers can encourage parents to share wordless picture books, books with predictable…

This book examines the growing epidemic of children born to mothers who use cocaine, particularly the highly addictive version known as "crack," focusing on the health and educational needs of such children. Nine chapters address: (1) the origins of cocaine use in the United States, as well as the chemical properties and physiological…

This study looks at natural syntactic processes in the development of verbal mood in first- and second-language acquisition, language change in progress, history, and creolization. Correspondences are examined in the development of the subjunctive vs. the indicative mood. The study presents an integrative perspective, taking into account seemingly…