Examines structural consequences of intensive language contact on simultaneous first language (L1) and second language (L2) child language development in an L2-dominant environment. Based on the assumption that structural processes in language contact are operating at and determined by abstract lexical structure, various structural configurations…

Psychometric properties of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) were examined. Findings suggested that the CDI reflects the progress of language development within the age range 10 to 27 months. Findings support caution in using results to identify individuals at risk for language deficits, to compare groups with different…

Examined how quality of center-based child care related to early cognitive and language development from 6 to 36 months among 89 African American children. Found that higher quality care was related to higher measures of cognitive, language, and communication development, even after adjusting for selected child and family characteristics.…

A case study of a 38-year-old "feral child" was conducted to learn more about the speech and language development of children who received limited simulation in early development. Language training results indicated an increase in communicative attempts and nonverbal communication acts but limited increases in verbalizations. (Author/CR)

Examines the relationship and predictive power of the Early Language Milestone Scale-2 (ELM-2)and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II (BSID-II). Both scales were administered to 90 infants at risk for developmental delay due to prematurity and low birth weight. Results of the ELM-2 correlated with BSID-II scores of infants 12 months of age.…

Examined how Hebrew-speaking children acquired Hebrew-derived nominals (HDNs) of two types (action nominals and deverbal nouns). Child and adult native Hebrew speakers were tested on comprehension and production of HDNs. Acquisition of HDNs began at age 8 and was not complete by age 15. Task type, binyan patterns, and morphological regularity all…

A home-based interventionist effectively taught four mothers to embed the mand-model procedure in daily activities to teach expressive language skills to their young children with speech delays. During the intervention phase, parents were provided with feedback along with specific encouragement to use the individualized instructional program…

This article discusses the importance of learning to define a word. It provides a brief background on the contribution of the definitional skills to communication and school success, information on children's development of definitions, and teacher and family strategies for enhancing young children's definitions in relation to other skills.…

Two Japanese undergraduate students were taught to pronounce and discriminate English words containing unfamiliar phonemic contrasts. Teaching pronunciation was found to be easier than teaching listening discrimination. Teaching listening discrimination resulted in collateral improvement in pronunciation, and, to a lesser extent, vice versa.…

Asserts that puppets help children in storytelling and role playing, encouraging creativity and language development. Details types of puppets and how to construct them, including: (1) figure stick puppets; (2) paper plate puppets; and (3) garden glove puppets. Describes how to construct different puppet stages for performance. (BGC)

Longitudinally compared the production of syllable shapes in 10-minute spontaneous speech samples of 20 children with expressive specific language impairment (SLI-E) and 15 typically developing (TD) peers from 24 to 36 months of age. Results are discussed. (Author/VWL)

A study combined communication book training, a milieu approach, and systematic vocabulary selection to teach a nonspeaking adolescent with mental retardation to communicate in three settings. Results indicated rapid learning of communication book use in meal preparation and employment training and more delayed increased in small group…

This study examined test characteristics of the Pediatric Language Acquisition Screening Tool for Early Referral-Revised (PLASTER-R), a set of developmental questionnaires for children 3 to 60 months of age. The PLASTER-R was moderately to highly successful in identifying children within normal limits for language development. Test-retest…

This study examined the use of dynamic mediation procedures for assessing language modifiability of Spanish-speaking students with learning disabilities. Pre- and post-mediation measures included language scores and behavioral observations of language learning and modifiability during mediation. Results indicated significant improvement in…

This study compared cognitive and linguistic development of young children with (N=28) and without (N=29) cleft palate. Children with cleft palate, although well within the normal range, performed significantly below the control group on cognitive and linguistic tests. Cognitive differences were linguistic in nature and were related to hearing…