Learning always happens from input that contains multiple structures and multiple sources of variability. Though infants possess learning mechanisms to locate structure in the world, lab-based experiments have rarely probed how infants contend with input that contains many different structures and cues. Two experiments explored infants' use of two…

Down Syndrome (DS) is an intellectual disability (ID) characterized by a distinct profile of behavioral characteristics that impact language learning. One specific area of challenge is moving from producing single words to producing more complex syntax. Although there is a broad evidence base for existing interventions for children with DS,…

Intentional communication is a correlate of later language in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A meta-analysis on two pragmatic functions of intentional communication acts (ICAs) suggested that declarative ICAs (used to comment) are correlated with language skills, but did not provide clear evidence regarding the association of…

This article contrasts two studies that focus on language learning strategies (Study 1) and strategy instruction (Study 2) in CLIL programs. Drawing from the literature on language learning strategies and strategy instruction, we propose a theoretical framework that takes into account metacognitive awareness as a useful concept to capture the…

Purpose: Differences across language environments of prelingually deaf children who receive cochlear implants (CIs) may affect language acquisition; yet, whether mothers show individual differences in how they modify infant-directed (ID) compared with adult-directed (AD) speech has seldom been studied. This study assessed individual differences in…

We examined the relation between maternal responsiveness and children's acquisition of mental and non-mental state vocabulary in 59 pairs of mothers and children aged 10 to 26 months as they engaged in a free-play episode. Children wore a head camera and responsiveness was defined as maternal talk that commented on the child's actions (e.g., when…

At the babbling stage, the syllable does not have the temporal characteristics of adult syllables because of the infant's limited oro-motor skills. This research aims to further our knowledge of syllable duration and temporal variability and their evolution with age as an indicator of the development of articulatory skills. The possible impact of…

Bilingualism changes how people relate to others, and lead their lives. This is particularly relevant in autism, where social interaction presents challenges. Understanding the overlap between the social variations of bilingualism and autism could unveil new ways to support autistic people. This research aims to understand the language learning…

The syntactic behaviour of human beings cannot be explained by analogical generalization on the basis of concrete exemplars: analogies in surface form are insufficient to account for human grammatical knowledge, because they fail to hold in situations where they should, and fail to extend in situations where they need to. [For Ben Ambridge's…

Supporting young students' oral language development is vital in ensuring their future success as readers. One important way that early childhood teachers can foster language development is by having extended conversations with students. The authors share research about the importance of rich teacher-student conversations and explain how less…

Spelling is a key transcription skill for writing. While little is understood about the particular challenges some students experience when learning to spell, explicit instruction is known to improve spelling performance. The study reported in this article draws on eight case studies from a larger Australian mixed-methods study examining spelling…

This study aimed to determine the children's skills of comprehending similes. The participants of the research consisted of 120 children that were aged 5-6 and enrolled in preschool education institutions. The data were collected with a 16-item success test. The items in the test were orally administered to the participants during the interviews.…

In typical development, gestures precede and predict language development. This study examines the developmental sequence of expressive communication and relations between specific gestural and language milestones in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who demonstrate marked difficulty with gesture production and language. Communication…

The production of a well-constructed narrative is the culmination of several years of language acquisition and is an important milestone in children's development. There is no current description of narrative development for Catalan speaking children. This study collected elicited narratives in Catalan from 118 children aged 4;0-10;11. Narratives…

15-month-olds behave as if they comprehend filler-gap dependencies such as "wh"-questions and relative clauses. On one hypothesis, this success does not reflect adult-like representations but rather a "gap-driven" interpretation heuristic based on verb knowledge. Infants who know that "feed" is transitive may notice…