This study characterized the profile of pragmatic abilities among 24 children with hearing loss (HL) aged 6.3-9.4 years, 13 using hearing aids (HAs) and 11 using cochlear implants (CIs), in comparison to those of 13 hearing children with similar chronological and language ages. All the children with HL used spoken language, attended regular schools, and received communication therapy twice a week. They had no disabilities other than the HL. We assessed pragmatic abilities using the pragmatic protocol of C. A. Prutting & D. M. Kirchner (1987. A clinical appraisal of the pragmatic aspects of language. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 52, 105-119), which includes verbal, nonverbal, and paralinguistic aspects. Findings showed that children with HL used varied pragmatic functions but revealed more incidents of inappropriate use of the different abilities, compared to hearing children. Intergroup differences were significant only for verbal parameters. No differences emerged between children who used CIs vs. HAs. It seems that the CI group had the same pragmatic abilities as severe HA children. The different or less effective pragmatic abilities of children with HL may be explained by less flexible use of language structures, difficulties in theory of mind, difficulties in auditory perception of spoken language, and less exposure to varied pragmatic situations and strategies. Results indicated the need to incorporate pragmatic communication abilities into rehabilitation programs.

In this study, the authors examined the language of 43 participants with chronic schizophrenia under the basic assumption that a paradigmatic shift is needed in the methodology used to investigate the language of schizophrenia. The pragmatic protocol (C. Prutting and D. Kirchner, 1987) was chosen as the method of analysis to attain a general profile of pragmatic abilities. The results showed that the participants with schizophrenia exhibited a high degree of inappropriate pragmatic abilities compared to participants with mixed anxiety-depression disorder and participants with hemispheric brain damage, as previously assessed by Prutting and Kirchner. Statistical methods for clustering analysis yielded 5 distinct parameter clusters: Topic, Speech Acts, Turn-Taking, Lexical, and Nonverbal. Group clustering analysis of the 43 participants with schizophrenia produced 3 distinct groups with different profiles: minimal impairment, lexical impairment, and interactional impairment. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical implications in the area of pragmatics, the diagnosis of schizophrenia, and other goals.

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The Katzenberger Hebrew Language Assessment for Preschool Children (henceforth: the KHLA) is the first comprehensive, standardized language assessment tool developed in Hebrew specifically for older preschoolers (4;0–5;11 years). The KHLA is a norm-referenced, Hebrew specific assessment, based on well-established psycholinguistic principles, as well as on the established knowledge in the field of normal language development in the preschool years. The main goal of the study is to evaluate the KHLA as a tool for identification of language-impaired Hebrew-speaking preschoolers and to find out whether the test distinguishes between typically developing (TDL) and language-impaired children. The aim of the application of the KHLA is to characterize the language skills of Hebrew-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI). The tasks comprised in the assessment are considered in the literature to be the sensitive areas of language skills appropriate for assessing children with SLI. Participants included 454 (383 TDL and 71 SLI) mid–high SES, monolingual native speakers of Hebrew, aged 4;0–5;11 years. The assessment included six subtests (with a total of 171 items): Auditory Processing, Lexicon, Grammar, Phonological Awareness, Semantic Categorization, and Narration of Picture Series. The study focuses on the psychometric aspect of the test. The KHLA was found useful for distinguishing between TDL and SLI when the identification is based on the total Z-score or at least two of the subtest-specific Z-scores in −1.25 SD cutoff points. The results provide a ranking order for assessment: Grammar, Auditory Processing, Semantic Categorization, Narration of Picture Series/Lexicon, and Phonological Awareness. The main clinical implications of this study are to consider the optimal cutoff point of −1.25 SD for diagnosis of SLI children and to apply the entire test for assessment. In cases when the clinician may decide to assess only two or three subtests, it is recommended that the ranking order be applied as described in the study.

This paper presents a comprehensive clinical education program for speech-language pathology students while considering the learning process and gradual acquisition of knowledge and skills for becoming a practicing speech-language pathologist. It describes the clinical speech and language education program for speech-language pathology students at Hadassah Academic College Jerusalem (HAC) based on three facets of learning: reflective practice, evidence-based practice and case-based learning. Also described are the choice of the model of learning and its implementation. The clinical education program presented reflects the professional development of the faculty at HAC as well as recent trends in clinical education methods.