Ten children (ages 12-16) with specific language impairments (SLI) and controls matched for chronological or language age were tested with measures of complex sound localization involving the precedence effect phenomenon. SLI children exhibited tracking skills similar to language-age matched controls, indicating impairment in their ability to use…

This study compared 4 methods (2 case history and 2 performance-based) used to classify the status of adult subjects in familial studies of developmental language disorders, involving 24 parents of children with developmental language disorders and 24 unrelated adult controls. Classification by case history found fewer affected adults than…

Findings from the behavioral sciences suggest that prejudicial publicity can in some cases influence the outcome of a trial. Studies directed at the jury trial situation yield amibiguous results but provide some evidence that potential jurors can be prejudiced by pretrial publicity. However, the question "Does pretrial publicity bias the…

Four hundred eighty-six preschool children were screened with the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) and the Preschool Language Scale (PLS). Children who failed the screening were referred for a formal language assessment. Results indicated that the DDST is slightly more effective than the PLS in identifying preschool children who need…

The study involved a comparison of the ability of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test and the Concrete Objects Test to measure receptive and expressive language skills in 30 trainable mentally retarded children. ( Author/ PHR)

The reduction of existing lexical items to shorter forms has generally been discussed under the headings of "acronyms,""back-formations," and "clippings." Two kinds of acronym are found, the letter-naming type (e.g. FBI, YMCA) and the letter-sounding type (e.g. UNESCO, CARE). The latter type must be pronounceable within the phonotactic norms of…

Children with voice disorders do respond to treatment, with vocal hyperfunction being the predominant disorder on the caseload of the pediatric voice clinician. This article reviews the literature in describing what is known about these children and typical disorders, prevention of voice disorders, the need for treatment, the referral patterns of…

The performance of 90 children between the ages of four and six years on two language screening tests was compared with their performance on Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) to determine the accuracy of these screening tests in identifying language impairments. The Bankson Language Screening Test was generally accurate in the identification of…

A study assessed auditory sequential, short-term memory (SSTM) performance in 24 children (ages 5-11) using cochlear implants (CI). The CI group did not have a sequential memory deficit specific to the auditory modality. Visual spatial memory was the main predictor of variance in the language scores of the CI group. (Contains references.)…

Describes an integrated language arts unit built around Brian Doyle's "You Can Pick Me Up at Peggy's Cove" that provides a supportive language learning environment for children in the upper elementary grades. (FL)

Emphasizes that problems in assessing functional communication have their origin in conceptional ambiguity. Contrasts communicative competence with functional communicative effectiveness and proposes the latter as a more appropriate construct for older children and adults. (JMF)

An annotated bibliography for English as a second language teachers is divided into five main sections: (1) general resources for teachers; (2) courses devised for second language teaching and foreign language teaching; (3) the development of listening and speaking skills; (4) the development of reading skills; and (5) the development of writing…

This journal presents the following articles: "Introduction: Volume 14--Examining Performance" (Marie Cora) "Fair Assessment Practices: Giving Students Equitable Opportunities to Demonstrate Learning" (Linda Suskie); "Assessing Oral Communication at the Community Learning Center Development of the OPT (Oral Proficiency Test)" (JoAnne Hartel and…

Six simulation games for English instruction in the classroom are offered in this book, the aim of which is to encourage communication. In simulation games, rules are structured to correspond to those that are an integral part of a real situation, with supporting documentation replicating actual materials pertinent to the situation. The contents…

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the representation of sound categories in human auditory cortex. Experiment 1 investigated the representation of prototypical (good) and nonprototypical (bad) examples of a vowel sound. Listening to prototypical examples of a vowel resulted in less auditory cortical activation…