Discusses a new approach to teaching letters of the alphabet, one which focuses on studying letters and sounds in authentic contexts. Emphasizes that children's interests, rather than a teacher's desire to pass through the letters of the alphabet in direct sequence, should direct curriculum. Alphabet learning can be integrated into other classroom…

Relates how children's everyday experience can revolve around a common object, in this case, a large hole dug outside their early childhood classroom. Describes how the hole captivated student interest and became the focus of much of their thought and writing, thus facilitating language skill development. (JW)

This article for speech language pathologists discusses theories of language learning and use that are consistent with whole language, including lexical contrast, connectionism, schemata, event representations, and parsing. Direct application is made to intervention, and examples of interactions between speech language pathologists and children…

Relationships between phonological coding abilities and reading outcomes have implications for differential diagnosis of language-based reading problems. The theoretical construct of specific phonological coding ability is explained, including phonological encoding, phonological awareness and metaphonology, lexical access, working memory, and…

Reports on reaction time experiments investigating subject-verb agreement and null subjects in 33 Korean learners of German and a control group of 20 German native speakers. Results found that the two phenomena do not covary in the Korean learners, indicating that properties of agreement and null subjects are acquired separately from one another.…

This review considers use of natural language instruction by early childhood teachers for children with language disabilities in inclusive environments. The following factors are addressed: child-centered approach, family involvement, classroom strategies, activity-based intervention, environmental influences, the function of play, preliteracy…

This article reports on research carried out with homeless children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which sought to engage the fantasies of these children by telling them fairy tales that reflected their ordeal and by asking them to make up stories to tell puppets in distressing situations. The article contains a lengthy appendix with transcripts of…

Noting that in a traditional view oral language comes before literacy, addresses some of the aspects of the development of literacy in children with communicative delay. Describes the experience of two children who began constructing their own literacy as they were involved in an intensive speech-language intervention program. (TJQ)

Investigated the relationship between Singaporean preschoolers' play and language patterns. Observations of 56 children at play in a standardized setting in their classrooms and in their homes were videotaped and analyzed using two play measures and five language measures. Higher levels of play and higher levels of language were found to…

Studied effects of an interactive book-reading program with children attending day-care centers whose language development was delayed by 10 months. Children were read to by teachers and parents; read to by parents only; or in a control group. Educationally and statistically significant effects of the reading intervention were found at posttest…

Compared the early literacy development of English-speaking preschoolers and kindergartners to that of Spanish-speaking children. Subjects wrote at least six words and one sentence, then interpreted their own productions. Found that syllabic writings in English-speaking children were like those of Spanish speakers; found differences in how…

This article discusses the theoretical rationale for visually cued instruction and provides examples of pictographic and written language cues used to enhance the organizational skills, general skill development, academic learning, communication, socialization, and self-control of children with autism and pervasive developmental disorders. (DB)

This commentary responds to an article on using directives in early language intervention. Some research has indicated that parents may use directive behaviors to facilitate the participation of inactive, unresponsive children in interaction. Parental directiveness may be affected by parenting stress. The father's use of directives needs…

This study found that word learning ability in only 10 of 20 children (ages 7-10) with hearing impairment (HI) was comparable to performance of 20 hearing children matched for receptive vocabulary knowledge. Degree of hearing loss was not related to language or word-learning abilities. Results suggest the coexistence of a language impairment for…

Analysis of characteristics of 53 children with specific language impairment (SLI), ages 4 to 9, suggested that family history is related to pattern of language performance. Children with deficits in only expressive language had a higher proportion of affected family members than did children with both expressive and receptive language deficits.…