Eighteen people (with ages ranging from 7 to 22 years) who had been diagnosed as aphasic 10 years previously were assessed in terms of current functioning to test the hypothesis that, since the subjects had a specific language disorder, other areas of adaptive development should be relatively spared, and communication scores should be…

A videotape of one student, "Eric," age three years, engaged in dialogue with his teacher about a picture he has drawn, clearly demonstrates the rich language learning opportunities that language encounters on the topic of a student's art work provide for both the child and the teacher. In this encounter, Eric is able to convey affective…

This paper reports on a 14-year follow-up study of two developmentally retarded Japanese children, a brother and sister, who had been kept shut up in a small shack before being rescued (at ages 5 and 6 respectively). Following birth they consistently suffered malnutrition, maternal deprivation, social isolation from adults, language deprivation,…

The purpose of this study was to survey teacher training programs for teachers of the deaf, to ascertain the extent to which American Sign Lanuage (ASL) and Manually Coded English (MCE) are taught in such programs, and to solicit the opinions of university personnel on the role of ASL and MCE in the language development of deaf children. The…

Detailed guidelines are provided for parent group trainers who conduct workshops on language and communication, pre-reading, and pre-writing for parents of young children. In addition, many handouts for parents are presented in the manual, including information on: ways to help infants, toddlers, and preschool children listen and talk, reading and…

In an effort to describe the linguistic relational categories used by elementary school children, 75 children in grades one through six were asked to complete a puzzle by placing each of three identical triangles on a drawing of a fish, one on the dorsal, one on the ventral, and one on the tail. A piece of Velcro was attached to the back of two…

During the first half of the 1988-89 school year, the Chapter 1 Prekindergarten Program of the School District of the City of Saginaw, Michigan, screened 488 children and served 446. Process evaluation data on cognitive, psychomotor, parent participation, education, language development, and scheduling activities in 13 classrooms revealed that:…

This paper attempts to show the relationship between variable rules and more widely used psycholinguistic constructs such as amalgams and schemas, and to point out how variationists' methods can be useful in the study of language acquisition. The traditional rule, the rule for forming the past tense of regular verbs in English, is discussed as it…

As evidenced by the increasing awareness of metaphorical thought (and other nonlinear and aesthetic thinking structures) in literature on the development of composing and comprehending skills, teaching metaphor as a mode of thinking is an important function of schooling, especially in the English classroom. It is important that the classroom…

Input language may have an effect on child development that goes far beyond language development alone. Language is the medium by which children acquire at least a portion of their sex role and social class or group characteristics, world view, and emotional and psychological well-being. Existing theories of psychological development ignore…

This report evaluated the third year of operation (1984-85) of the Chapter 2 All-Day Kindergarten Program. The goals of the program were to (1) promote growth in reading readiness and mathematics skills for educationally disadvantaged children; (2) further the affective growth of these children; and (3) encourage parents' increased participation…

The practicum focused on the lack of sufficient speech therapy for 90 physically and mentally handicapped infants and preschoolers in a program for developmentally delayed children. Two workshops were conducted and a speech videotape library was established consisting of demonstrations of 49 receptive language goals in developmental order. Videos…

Communicative competence is defined as "...the ability to use appropriate speech for the circumstances, and when deviating from what is normal to convey what is intended." A study was undertaken to show that children's sociolinguistic communicative competencies and incompetencies can be identified and described in components of the "Ways of…

Research relevant to planning and practice in the area of infant mental health is discussed in this paper. First, three examples of research approaches that reflect current attitudes are given. The first example represents those studies in which there is an effort to closely coordinate physiological and behavioral studies. The second example…

This manual presents guidelines for users of the Child Development Assessment Form (CDAF) -- a 90 item checklist of behaviors characteristic of children from birth to 3 years of age. The CDAF is designed to help parents and teachers identify skills and behaviors that the child has developed and plan learning experiences that facilitate growth. The…