Reports a study in which Late Stage 1 Down's syndrome children's responses were examined for their pragmatic and semantic relationships to four types of requests used by mothers. Findings indicate the responses used by retarded children and normal children are the same at this linguistic stage. (SED)

This brief paper presents a summary of a study which examined the developmental progression of categorization and its relationship to language development in 12 adults with severe to profound mental retardation and with less than 100 words of expressive language (including manual signs). Subjects were asked to sort physically eight miniature…

Study reports a technique for analyzing and categorizing certain gross features of the receptive language environment which constitute the primary source material for all of a baby's language learning. (Authors/MB)

Tests of two coding processes and language measures were administered to 100 institutionalized moderately retarded adults (mean age 24). Results of correlational analyses showed association between use and understanding of language and successive processing, however, analysis of variance indicated both coding dimensions important for establishing…

The receptive and expressive "wh" interrogative performance of 20 language-delayed children (4.3 to 6.4 years old) was compared to available normative data. These findings suggest that the delayed children develop the same order of acquisition and rules for questioning as normal children, but at a slower rate. (Author/SEW)

Referential communication skills of moderately mentally retarded adolescents (20 speaker/listener dyads with a mean age of 15.75 years) were investigated. In Study 1, S performance on referential communication activities (divided into three skill levels) was examined. Degree of idiosyncratic messages communicated was investigated in Study 2.…

Normal and neurologically handicapped six year olds were administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Form A, the Riley Preschool Developmental Screening Inventory-Designs, the Riley Make-a-Boy, and the McCarthy Scales of Children's Ability Designs. Significant differences were found between the two groups on all instruments. (Author/SJL)

This study compared 41 students with severe behavioral disorders (attending either day or residential programs) on language measures. No significant differences were found between groups; both groups showed receptive and expressive language deficits. However, teachers rated students in the day program higher on conversational skills. Also,…

This paper reviews the literature on grammatical knowledge in language comprehension in the preschool years from the perspective of sensitivity to structural contrasts. Studies of both direct and indirect evidence of sensitivity to structural contrasts were evaluated and showed that there may be a developmental sequence of increasing sensitivity…

Attempts to demonstrate that a complete description of elliptical coordinations can be obtained only if the uses of elliptical and nonelliptical coordinations are investigated also. Future research on elliptical coordinations should be directed towards more full-scale analyses of the genres discussed here and other genres. (31 references) (CK)

This paper reports on a 15-year follow-up of the linguistic and cognitive profile of a woman with standard trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). The follow-up found recent rapid deterioration in receptive and productive language skills. However, basic phonological and morphosyntactic skills are preserved. Her changing profile mirrors that found in aging…

A study investigated whether two speech measures (peak intraoral air pressure (IOP) and IOP duration) obtained during production of intervocalic stops would be altered by the presence or absence of a cochlear implant in five children (ages 7-10). The auditory condition affected peak IOP more than IOP duration. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)