Do acting out verbs with dolls and comparison learning between scenes boost toddlers' verb comprehension?

To better understand how toddlers integrate multiple learning strategies to acquire verbs, we compared sensorimotor recruitment and comparison learning because both strategies are thought to boost children's access to scene-level information. For sensorimotor recruitment, we tested having toddlers use dolls as agents and compared this strategy with having toddlers observe another person enact verbs with dolls. For comparison learning, we compared providing pairs of: (a) training scenes in which animate objects with similar body-shapes maintained agent/patient roles with (b) scenes in which objects with dissimilar body-shapes switched agent/patient roles.

A Read-Aloud Storybook Selection System for Prereaders at the Preschool Language Level: A Pilot Study.

Purpose: Many well-accepted systems for determining difficulty level exist for books children read independently, but few are available for determining the wide range of difficulty levels of storybooks read aloud to preschoolers. Also, the available tools list book characteristics only on the basis of parents' or authors' opinions. We created an empirically derived difficulty-level system on the basis of 22 speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) judgments of specific storybooks used in preschooler read-alouds.

Distinguishing between casual talk and academic talk beginning in the preschool years: an important consideration for speech-language pathologists.

Purpose: The need for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to consider an academic talk (AT) register in addition to an everyday casual talk (CT) register of oral language with children beginning in the preschool years is presented, the AT and CT registers are distinguished in a comprehensive manner, ideas regarding AT language assessment are proposed, and suggestions for fostering children's skills with the AT register are offered.

Method: Extant research and scholarship from a wide variety of disciplines are integrated and organized.

Results: The author discusses the role of the SLP in supporting AT skills beginning in the preschool years and the added risk of difficulties with the AT register for children with language impairment who are from diverse backgrounds.

The effects of race and maternal education level on children's retells of the Renfrew Bus Story--North American Edition.

Purpose: The Renfrew Bus Story--North American Edition (RBS-NA; C. Glasgow & J. Cowley, 1994) is widely used in clinical and research settings to determine children's language abilities, although possible influences of race and maternal education on RBS-NA performance are unknown.

Historical perspectives on literacy in early childhood.

Purpose: To more fully understand current trends in preliteracy research, as well as controversies that continue to surround best teaching practices, it is essential to have an understanding of the historical evolution of ideas and practices relevant to preparing young children for learning to read.

Method: Several interrelated historical movements relevant to placing current research and practices related to preliteracy development in context are reviewed. These ideas play out in the interrelated and changing ideas regarding the role of the family in children's literacy development, as well as in the appropriate curriculum for preschoolers.

Should we use telegraphic or grammatical input in the early stages of language development with children who have language impairments? A meta-analysis of the research and expert opinion.

Purpose: In working with children with language impairments, some clinical scholars and clinicians advocate using input that is simplified to the point of being ungrammatical (telegraphic input), while others advocate simplified but grammatical input. This article considers 2 types of external evidence on this topic.

Method: First, a meta-analysis of relevant research, including intervention studies and processing studies, is reported.

Fostering literal and inferential language skills in Head Start preschoolers with language impairment using scripted book-sharing discussions.

Purpose: Preschoolers with language impairment have difficulties with both literal and inferential language, both of which are critical to later reading comprehension. Because these children are known to be at risk for later reading comprehension difficulties, it is important to design and test interventions that foster both literal and inferential language skills. Using a randomized pretest-posttest control group design, we investigated whether an 8-week, one-on-one book-sharing intervention would improve both the literal and inferential language skills of Head Start preschoolers with language impairments.