Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are known to have limited lexicons. Previous studies implicate a possible processing problem, in the form of a limited ability to comprehend new words in settings that require Quick Incidental Learning (QUIL). This study investigates further the factors contributing to limited QUIL by examining the effects of input frequency and word type (nouns vs. verbs). In addition, immediate versus long-term memory was examined for possible problems with storage mechanisms. Subjects were 30 5-year-old SLI children with receptive and expressive language deficits and two comparison groups of normally developing children: 30 MLU-equivalent and 30 CA-equivalent. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions in which they viewed video story presentations in which targeted words were embedded. The conditions varied by number of word presentations, 0, 3, or 10. The 0 condition was a control condition in which familiar words were presented. Children's word comprehension was tested immediately following viewing and again several days later. The findings confirm a strong frequency effect, but one that is influenced by group status, word type, and retention demands. There is evidence of a robust representational mapping ability for SLI, which is at the same time modulated by a minimum input constraint and apparent problems with storage into long-term memory.KEY WORDS: language acquisition, specific language Impairment, word acquisition, frequency of Input, noun and verb acquisition 106 0022-4685943701-0106$0 1.00/0

The objective of this study was to investigate changes in the natural language environments of families with typically-developing infants receiving language feedback in South Korea. Volunteer parents of 99 children aged 4–16 months were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. During 6 months’ intervention, the experimental group recorded weekly day-long automatically-analyzed LENA measures of language environment and viewed feedback, while the control group recorded only baseline, mid-period and post-test without feedback. LENA Adult Word Counts (AWC) and Conversational Turn (CT) counts correlated reasonably well with human transcripts. At baseline groups were not significantly different. At post-test there was no significant overall difference between experimental and control groups, but AWC and CT differences were significant for families below the 50th percentile at baseline. Korean parents whose linguistic environment was below average adapted their communicative interaction in response to linguistic feedback. The intervention has promise for use with at-risk families in many countries.

The present study focuses on noun and verb processing during language acquisition, whereby the word production and the word comprehension of preschool children of different ages were investigated across three languages. Two hypotheses were put forward: first, given that languages differ with respect to the clarity of the noun-verb distinction and the saliency of nouns and verbs, crosslinguistic differences in acquisition were expected. Second, in the light of conceptual differences between the basic categories of nouns and verbs, category-specific effects were also expected. Of the children who participated in a naming study, 240 were German, 240 Korean, and 60 Turkish; 233 German and 99 additional German and Korean children were tested with a wordcomprehension task. The target items were 36 nouns and 36 verbs, adapted for the three languages. The results are interpreted as evidence for both languagegeneral tendencies and language-specific influences. Although the children were Correspondence should be addressed to Christina Kauschke, mostly better at processing nouns than verbs, the extent of this discrepancy differed across languages. The results also indicate more crosslinguistic variance in the case of nouns than in the case of verbs. The findings are discussed with respect to structural characteristics of the languages, developmental patterns in lexical acquisition, and characteristics of the task.

The aim of the present study was to ascertain the profiles of communication between school-aged children with social communication disorder (SCD) and children with high-functioning autism (HFA). Methods: The participants in this study included forty-five school-aged children with SCD, HFA, and TD. This present study used the Korean Test of Problem Solving, which is a behavior observation in a structured task representing a small group classroom setting, as well as the test of theory of mind (ToM). Results: First, there were no significant differences between the three groups on the Korean Test of Problem Solving. Second, in the structured task representing classroom setting, there were significant differences in the total amount of social communication (SCD< TD) as well as in the, frequency of verbal (SCD< HFA, TD) and nonverbal (HFA< SCD, TD) behaviors. Furthermore, There were significant differences initiations among groups; prosocial (SCD< TD), irrelevant (HFA> SCD, TD), and assertive (HFA> TD) behaviors. While there were significant responsive among groups; prosocial (TD > SCD, HFA), passive (SCD > HFA, TD), irrelevant (HFA > SCD, TD), and assertive (HFA> SCD, TD) behaviors. Finally, there was also a significant difference in the theory of mind among groups (HFA< SCD, TD). Conclusion: This study revealed that the children with SCD showed similar communicative behaviors in initiations with TD children except prosocial behaviors. Interestingly enough the children with SCD seem to be very passive in responsiveness. These results could be used to guide the assessment and/ or intervention for school-aged children with SCD. The findings of this paper will support the guideline of the assessment and/or intervention for school-aged children with communication disorders.

Objectives:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the characteristics of the listening and reading comprehension skills of school-aged poor readers. In addition we have also identified the error patterns of listening comprehension skills which affect the reading comprehension abilities. Methods: A total of 166 elementary school children (83 poor readers and 83 good readers) participated and were divided into lower (1-2), middle (3-4), and higher (5-6) grade groups. The tasks for identifying their listening and reading comprehension skills were performed and then compared. Additionally, the errors in listening comprehension tasks were analyzed to investigate their relations to reading comprehension skills. Results: Poor readers in the three groups commonly presented a significantly low achievement in their listening and reading comprehension tasks. As for error type analysis, the most frequent error type was question scope errors for higher grade of good readers, whereas poor readers showed question scope errors and inference errors. There were significant correlations between the overall listening skills and reading comprehension skills, whereas no correlation was found in each error patterns for listening comprehension and reading comprehension skills. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that poor readers in elementary schools had difficulties both in their reading and listening comprehensions even when they reach higher grades. Also, it seems to be necessary to tap into listening skills by considering error patterns as well as reading skills in order to provide an intervention program for poor readers.