—Many professionals are interested in whole language intervention, but are unsure what it “looks like,” what goals and objectives can be addressed in such naturalistic contexts, and what techniques can be used to achieve those goals. These issues become clearer when the speech-language pathologist (SLP)has an understanding of some current theories of language learning and use that are consistent with whole language. This article briefly discusses some of these theories, including lexical contrast, connectionism, schemata, and event representations. As the theories are discussed, direct application is made to intervention, and examples of interactions between SLPs and children are provided.
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