Discusses the effects of a cognitive-behavioral intervention that focused on facilitating expressive behaviors with their parents of 44 children (ages 22-32 months) with pervasive developmental delays and autism. Results found the program "Learning to Speak" increased the children's verbal compliance and decreased acts of verbal noncompliance. (CR)

Describes how using American Sign Language can facilitate the development of skills in spoken English for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Discusses factors influencing how well a child with deafness will develop spoken language and the need to teach the two languages separately. (CR)

Sign language production of 14 low-functioning students (ages 9 to 20) with autistic disorder were examined. The location aspect of signs was produced more accurately by subjects than either the handshape or movement aspects. Wide individual differences were observed. Sign vocabulary size and accuracy was correlated with performance on two…

Reviews studies comparing short- and long-term effects of language-based socially and cognitively interactive play enrichment in day care and the home during infancy. Found that both day care and home children experiencing intervention advanced to high levels of language and cognitive functioning compared to control children. Advantages of home…

Progression is an interactive mnemonic strategy using a series of five panels: the first displaying a stimulus item, the last, a response item, and the intermediate panels showing a metamorphosis from the first to the last. Adults viewing progressive displays of foreign words had significantly greater recall of meaning than those viewing…

A within-subject multiple baseline design was used to teach a young girl with severe disabilities six target signs that were functionally equivalent to existing behaviors (e.g., leading, reaching). Teaching occurred only in the presence of behavioral indication by the subject. Results showed successful acquisition and discriminating use of the six…

Effects of two instructional trial scheduling formats (massed practice only, versus combined massed practice and distributed practice) on acquisition, transfer, and generalization of explicitly prompted requests were studied with five children with severe mental disabilities, ages 4-8. General case/naturalistic teaching was effective for all…

Three studies investigated the comprehension of sentences containing the focus particle "only" by children and adults. Contrary to previous findings, two of the studies found that young children made errors predominantly by failing to process contrast information rather than errors in which they failed to use syntactic information to…

Discusses promotion of multicultural child education and literacy learning. Focuses on identity building and language development. Analyzes Brazilian government's "National Curricular References for Child Education." Argues that predominance of a monocultural, cognitive-based approach to child education is detrimental to children whose…

This study examined immigrant parents' role in young children's language learning in various linguistic contexts, focusing on how parents helped their children learn English while maintaining their mother tongue. Findings of questionnaires, observations, and interviews indicated factors supporting children's learning, including parents' interest…

Assessment of the prelinguistic behaviors of 43 deaf children (ages 8 to 49 months) of hearing parents in Israel found only partial resemblance to the theoretical model of prelinguistic communication in hearing infants. Unique interrelationships among pointing and early noncommunicative behaviors were found with no correlation between use of…

Two studies investigated the developmental trends and concurrent validity of the Language Proficiency Profile-2 (LPP-2), a measure of language and communication skills for deaf children. Results indicate that the LPP-2 has good utility not only as a measure of overall language development but also as a predictor of achievement for English language…

Examines short-term memory for spoken words ignored at the time of their presentation. Age differences in the persistence of memory was found. Suggests that relatively attention-free properties of short-term memory may change with development in childhood, and priority should be given to distinguish maturational and experiential influences on…

Describes a preschool class for deaf children co-taught by two teachers (one hearing, one deaf) that uses a whole language approach to build students' American Sign Language (ASL) and written English skills. The class uses a thematic approach to organize learning activities through the creative use of ASL. (DB)

This paper examines the negative impact the linguistic situation in the Arab world, which is characterized by diglossia, has on Arab children's ability to acquire reading and writing skills in Arabic and on their academic attainment in general. Discusses specific obstacles posed by contemporary diglossia to the acquisition of literacy, including…