Recent research has acknowledged the importance of morphological awareness, beyond phonological awareness, to literacy achievement in both reading and writing for children, adolescents, and adults. Morphological awareness is the ability to recognize, reflect on, and manipulate the sublexical structure of words--the roots, prefixes, and suffixes.…

Cross-language effects of Spanish derivational awareness on English vocabulary and reading comprehension were studied in Spanish-speaking English Language Learners (N = 90) in grades four and seven. The role of cognate vocabulary in cross-language transfer of derivational awareness was also examined. Multivariate path analyses controlling for age,…

This article describes comprehensive, high-quality writing instruction for students with developmental disabilities. The Enriched Writers' Workshop combines differentiated writing process instruction with social communication instruction and cognitive strategy instruction for students with complex writing needs across a wide range of ages. It…

The purpose of this article is to present a perspective on disciplinary literacy and the Common Core State Standards based on the argument that disciplinary literacy is embedded in the standards. The article highlights possibilities and challenges associated with national efforts to prepare students for success in college and the workforce.…

This article outlines some of the factors leading to challenges in succeeding in college environments for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Individuals with the intellectual ability to pursue postsecondary education still need individualized and ongoing supports from their families and others to ensure success. Social challenges…

Students must be able to consciously use their knowledge of phonology, orthography, morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics to successfully read and write. Difficulties in the conscious awareness of 1 or more of these 6 linguistic knowledge components may lead to reading and writing deficits. In this article, we present a componential model…

Growing evidence suggests that, as a group, many internationally adopted children catch up to their peers in terms of their language development by the time they reach their school-age years. Although this appears to be particularly true for children adopted during the first few years of life, it is not true for all internationally adopted…

Williams syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by deletion of approximately 25 genes on chromosome 7q11.23. Children with the syndrome evidence large individual differences in both broad language and reading abilities. Nevertheless, as a group, children with this syndrome show a consistent pattern characterized by relative…

Velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) is a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion of chromosome 22q11.2. Although there is some variability, VCFS is associated with a characteristic physical, behavioral, and cognitive phenotype. This review article focuses on aspects of language and literacy development in VCFS, describing what is known and…

This article discusses the potential value of working with school-aged children to increase their competence with narrative forms. With illustrations from current research, it argues that increased knowledge of, and experience with, narrative should have positive effects on comprehension of classroom language, selective listening, peer relations,…

With the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 2004, our nation has an explicit mandate to put reading first. Recognizing the fundamental connection between language and literacy, teachers and speech-language pathologists have become more…

Some in the field of special education hold that students with significant disabilities should pursue the same learner outcomes as students without disabilities. However, educational teams often lack the knowledge and skills necessary to support a student's membership and participation in general education classrooms and learning of the general…

Conveying information to clients has a variety of purposes in professional-client interactions. It has a clear relationship to client access to participation in the decisions made about a presenting problem. Speech-language pathologists tend to assume they do this competently and to the advantage of their clients, but rarely has this assumption…

Nearly one in five Americans speaks a language other than English at home; among Americans speaking languages other than English, the largest single language group is Spanish speaking (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2004). The increase in the total group of language minority individuals has been dramatic, with their proportion in the U.S. population…

This article addresses ways in which speech-language pathologists can play a proactive and substantive part in schoolwide reading disability prevention and intervention efforts within the responsiveness to intervention framework. First, the driving forces that led Congress to alter how schools may operationalize learning disabilities are…