Aspects of language that develop during the adolescent years are discussed in the domains of pragmatics, syntax, and semantics. Selected topics include complex conversational behaviors that adolescents employ, syntactic attainments associated with persuasive writing; and the understanding of proverbs and figurative expressions. Relevant…

A review of developmental studies concerning metaphor, idiom, and proverb comprehension suggest a variety of assessment tasks for language impaired children. Also suggested are such intervention considerations as the comprehension of literal meaning of figurative expressions before nonliteral meanings. (CL)

Verbal analogical reasoning tasks are described as potentially valuable in the assessment and management of subtle linguistic defects less easily detected by standardized language tests. Semantic and structural factors that should be considered in the development of verbal analogies as test items are cited, as well as adaptations for nonreaders.…

This review considers aspects of normal mental storage and retrieval, storage and retrieval in disordered word finding, possible causes of word finding disorders, and clinical implications in both storage and retrieval components. Implications call for attention to increasing word knowledge, storage strength, naming accuracy and speed, retrieval…

This article reviews the developmental literature in spoken persuasion and discusses implications for assessment and intervention with students with language-learning disorders, in terms of persuading others, analyzing persuasive appeals, and responding to persuasive appeals. (JDD)