This study examined the lexical development of nine Samoan-English bilingual children during their first year in English speaking preschools in Australia. Receptive and expressive lexicon in Samoan and English was assessed when the children had completed their first term of school (approximately 10 weeks) and then 6 months later. The bilingual children's scores in each language and composite scores were examined over time. Performance was also compared with typically developing, age-matched (4-5-year-old) monolingual English-speaking peers. Results indicated that the group made significant gains in both languages over time. The bilingual children's receptive composite scores were comparable to monolingual English scores, with clear changes in lexical composition (singlets and translation equivalents) over time. Expressive composite scores of bilingual children were lower than scores of monolingual peers. Results appeared to be highly influenced by the language environment and patterns of language use in this group. The potential use of composite score methodology as a clinical assessment tool in bilingual children is discussed.

Associations between clinical and functional aphasia recovery and perceptions of emotional and psychosocial adjustment accompanying aphasia were examined in five subjects at 3 and 9 months post-onset of stroke using a range of objective and subjective measures. The subjective well-being and optimism of significant others of aphasic patients was also examined, and speech pathologists completed measures of optimism. Unique patterns of individual emotional and psychosocial adjustment were found over time in patients and their significant others, even in patients with similar aphasia type and severity. Individual variability in emotional and psychosocial adjustment and their impact on recovery from aphasia are discussed.

Children born preterm show subtle and specific linguistic deficits that continue to affect their ability to formulate a narrative in the upper primary school years.

In this article we review the negative impact of aphasia on emotional well-being. Depression is the emotional response that has been examined most, and we examine the different causes of depression for people with aphasia. We discuss the relationships between recovery and emotional state and the clinical implications of these relationships, then review briefly issues of drug treatment for depression. We conclude that the emotional impact of aphasia can have a marked negative impact on recovery, response to rehabilitation, and psychosocial adjustment.

Most investigations of bilingual language development focus on children acquiring two European languages. Little research has investigated diverse language pairs or compared the influence of the first language on second language development. The study reported here compared the lexical skills of three groups of 11-year-old students from different language backgrounds. Two bilingual groups (first language Vietnamese or Samoan, second language English) and a monolingual control group matched for social class were compared on a series of tasks. The tasks examined English lexical comprehension and use, as well as single word processing on nonword tasks. The results showed that both bilingual groups performed significantly below their monolingual peers in all lexical tasks but not on nonword tasks. There were no differences between the two bilingual groups, despite the fact that the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of each were very different. The findings indicate that despite six years of formal schooling in English, including focused ESL support, bilingual students from both Vietnamese and Samoan cultural backgrounds perform less well than their peers in their understanding and use of the English lexicon. The implications of these findings for theory of bilingual language acquisition, assessment practice and educational policy are considered.