This study was designed to explore the influences of both cognitive and linguistic abilities on verbal analogy completion. School-age children classified as language-learning disabled were administered five types of verbal analogies: synonyms, antonyms, linear order, category membership, and functional relationship. The performance of the children with language-learning disabilities was compared with one group of normally developing children matched for mental age and another group matched for language age. Results indicated that the group matched for mental age performed better than the other two groups on all types of analogies. Although they had significantly higher mental ages, the children with language-learning disabilities did no better than the language-matched group on any analogy type except antonyms.

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As speech-language pathologists work more directly and in concert with educators to address reading problems in school-age children with language-based learning disabilities (LLD), knowledge of current methods in reading instruction will become critical. Eight methods found to be effective with typically developing children and children with LLD are outlined. Word identification is best trained using methods that rely upon knowledge of letter-sound correspondences in varying syllable contexts and word attack skills using letter-sound decoding and analogy. When learning reading comprehension, students benefit from methods that address vocabulary skills and text-level comprehension monitoring.On a daily basis, the U.S. public is bombarded with news reports regarding new government initiatives-local, state, and federal-for addressing the seemingly intractable reading problems faced by children and our education system. Over the past 25 years, the amount of involvement of speechlanguage pathologists (SLPs) in reading interventions has increased as the relationship between reading impairment and school-age language impairment has become more clear. Given the connection between language disorders and reading disabilities, the American Speech-Language-Hearing As-