Communication Disorders Quarterly

Three mother-child dyads participated in a study evaluating the efficacy of storybook reading for facilitating mother-child interactions. The children with language impairment (LI), ages 38 to 41 months, and their mothers completed 15 study sessions. Mothers were taught to use a complete reading cycle (CRC) consisting of (a) attentional vocative, (b) query, (c) response, and (d) feedback. Measurable changes occurred in the mothers' number of CRCs, percentage of turns taken, and match in mother-child mean length of utterance (MLU). Measurable child increases occurred for frequency of verbal turns, MLU, and semantic level of storybook response. Results showed that CRC training produced changes in mothers' storybook interactions with reciprocal increases in their children's communicative performance.

This study describes the emergent literacy skills of 48 4-year-old migrant Mexican American preschoolers and the extent to which the home and Head Start literacy environments affected those skills. Children's emergent literacy skills were assessed individually in their dominant language. Information about the amount of print available in the home and at the Head Start center and the frequency of reading with each child was collected from parents and teachers. Scores on the emergent literacy measures showed mixed performance overall. Results suggested that the home literacy environment had the greatest influence on children's emergent literacy skills.

Language characteristics of 11 children with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 11 typically developing children ages 6 to 8 were compared in terms of semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic language skills. Children were tested on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), the Test of Language Development-2 Primary (TOLD-2), and the Test of Pragmatic Language (TOPL). Samples of children's language were collected during free play with an adult conversational partner using the Pragmatic Protocol. Results indicated that there was no difference between the two groups on receptive vocabulary as measured by the PPVT-R. Children with ADHD performed worse than typically developing children on the sentence imitation, word articulation, speaking quotient, and overall speech and language quotient subtests of the TOLD-2 Primary. Children with ADHD produced more inappropriate pragmatic behaviors in conversational interactions, although their pragmatic knowledge as measured by the TOPL did not differ from that of the normally developing children. Results are discussed in terms of the relative strengths and weaknesses in the communication skills of children with ADHD.

This study examined culturally based differences in children's eyewitness reporting. The same live event was enacted with one mainstream-culture and one Navajo (Diné) third-grade class. Ten days later an interviewer used a forensic protocol to question each child. The children's answers were analyzed for amount and accuracy of reported information. Mainstream-culture children reported more information overall than the Navajo, but the groups did not differ in accuracy. Active participation affected the amount of information reported by mainstream-culture children, whereas Navajo children were equally informative as either participants or observers. Results indicate a cultural orientation to the recall of personally experienced events.

Qualitative methodology was used to explore how incarcerated female delinquents described their communication behaviors in multiple contexts, including the influence of maltreatment experiences and their communication skills. Twenty youth ranging in age from 14 to 18 years of age were interviewed about their communications with friends, parents, and other authority figures and how maltreatment related to their communication skills. Data were triangulated through a review of school records, administration of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3, and interviews. Four themes emerged: participant communication, feelings and emotions, trust, and maltreatment. Results revealed that four participants were potential candidates for language services but had never received any kind of intervention. Implications suggest that speech-language pathologists and educators need to be aware of how maltreatment affects communication. Recommendations include early identification of children with communication problems and collaboration between speech-language pathologists and special educators to address the needs of these children.