The author of "The Learning Mystique: A Critical Look at Learning Disabilities," responds to critical and supportive reactions (EC 220 147-152) concerning the relevance of cited issues, the role of language, heritability, scientific criteria, poor reading versus true dyslexia, and the promise of his proposed interactivity theory. (DB)

Six language-impaired children, aged 4-7, were studied in two routinized contexts (a lesson without music and a singing session) and child-teacher talk was analyzed. Results showed that the addition of music to a routinized context has the potential to increase the language-impaired child's ability to interact non-verbally. (Author/JDD)

Investigates conversational characteristics (discourse features, illocutionary force and style parameters) of mothers of two-year-old twins and mothers of two-year-old singletons with older siblings. Finds significant differences in conversational characteristics, and between twins' and singletons' language scores on measures of language…

Nine generalizations on optimal age, first language cognitive development, and second language academic achievement are proposed in order to expand the current theoretical base in second language (L2) acquisition. These generalizations summarize research on L2 acquisition for schooling purposes. (57 references) (Author/VWL)

Ten mothers and 20 children, aged 5 and 10 years, were examined to determine the time at which velopharyngeal port opening began in /dVn/ syllables and velopharyngeal port closing reached completion in /nVd/ syllables. Adults and children nasalized most vowels in the /dVn/ context and the /nVd context. (Author/JDD)

The article describes the use of interrupted behavior chains to teach communication skills in natural settings with autistic students. Empirical and theoretical bases for the training strategy are explained as are specific procedures for implementing the strategy. Implications of the strategy for classroom organization and service delivery are…

Patterns of growth in one language in relation to growth in the other and also with respect to growth in both languages were studied in a group of 20 bilingual (English/Spanish) infants ages 10 to 30 months. The rate and pace of development were similar in both groups; differences among the bilinguals included their use of "referential"…

Possibilities and limitations of a natural language processing technology, with its central engine, the parser, are discussed. Observations are drawn from a project by the U.S. Army Research Institute to develop a German tutor, the BRIDGE, which revolves around a parser. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/LB)

Reviews new visions of language and of development that acknowledge human sociocultural and ideological complexity. Argues that children's differentiation of ways of using language is linked to their differentiation of their own place--potential or actual--in the social world. Offers a concrete illustration of writing children as social and…

Four parents were trained to use enhanced milieu teaching with their preschool children with developmental delays. The parents learned to use the strategies in the clinic and generalized them to the home. Positive effects were observed on children's spontaneous communication and target use, and on parent and child affect. (Author/DB)

A discussion of why change is needed in second-language teacher education considers five problems that plague the profession: lack of consideration of first- and second-language interdependence; fragmentation/isolation of language arts fields; view of language as "object;" focus on methodology; and failure to connect language and culture. (80…

Eleven young children with borderline to moderate levels of mental retardation (mean initial age 47.7 months) received 3 to 4 sessions weekly of milieu language training in a small group play situation. Milieu teaching was associated with enhanced generativity and use of semantic relationships. (Author/DB)

The use of writing as a process to create a positive learning environment in English-as-a-Second-Language and bilingual classrooms is described from a variety of phases: interviews, prewriting, first draft writing, responding, revising, final draft writing, and publishing. (Contains 11 references.) (LB)

This study examined the nature and frequency of parental recasts to six children with specific language impairment (SLI) compared with normal language learning children at the same language stage (including younger siblings). Children with SLI at early stages of development experienced a simple recast gap in their linguistic input. Qualitative…

Comparison of the language development profiles of five children exposed prenatally to cocaine and associated risk factors with those of a matched nonexposed control group found that major differences between the two groups were in discourse-pragmatics, with less marked differences in syntactic development. (Author/DB)