Partindo da idéia de que não há oposição fundamental entre explicação e narração, pois ao contar uma história explicamos e, ao explicar, legitimamos o caráter memorável daquilo que contamos, elegemos como objeto de estudo a relação entre compreensão e produção de histórias orais em seis crianças, de cinco anos, de ambos os sexos, observando o papel da avaliação (Labov, 1972), bem como para identificar a articulação dos processos narrativo/explicativo presentes nas produções infantis. Para tanto, propomos uma análise de narrativa, a partir do modelo apresentado por Labov, mas procedendo de modo diferente do autor, uma vez que ele se ocupou das narrativas de experiências pessoais, onde os locutores se preocupam em reconstruir, até em reviver fatos de seu passado. Nesta perspectiva, adaptamos este modelo de narrativa com o olhar voltado para as histórias orais elaboradas pelas crianças. De acordo com o autor, a avaliação é um dos elementos estruturais da narrativa que tem por finalidade comunicar ao ouvinte o ponto de vista do narrador em relação à história por ele narrada, ou seja, a função avaliativa diz respeito à necessidade que tem o locutor de manter o interesse do interlocutor durante a narração. Considerando que é nosso objetivo estabelecer uma relação entre o narrar e o explicar com base no procedimento da avaliação (Labov), nos apoiamos em alguns autores (Hudelot et al. Veneziano, Halté entre outros) que tratam da explicação. Segundo Hudelot et al. (2003), o termo 'explicação' remete a um universo de sentidos, pois para explicar o significado de uma palavra ou de uma ação, é necessário analisar o contexto e o sentido da mesma, de modo que seja possível torná-la inteligível para o interlocutor. Leclaire-Halté (1990) afirma que a explicação, em textos de ficção, surge quando há um problema que deve ser resolvido. Assim, observamos e contrastamos duas situações: (a) produção de histórias orais a partir de desenhos feitos pelas crianças; e (b) a produção de narrativas a partir das histórias lidas pela pesquisadora, apoiando-nos para isso em autores que tratam tanto da comunicação verbal, como da comunicação não-verbal. As conclusões confirmam que, embora as histórias elaboradas nas duas situações apresentem características distintas da linguagem oral e escrita, ambas mantêm em comum a articulação do explicar e do narrar. / From the idea that there is no fundamental opposition between explanation and narration, because when one tells a story one explains it and explaining we legitimize the memorable character of what we tell, we’ve elected as the object of our study, the comprehension and production of oral stories in six children of five years old, of both genders, observing the role of the evaluation (Labov,1972) as well as to identify the articulation of narrative/explicative processes present in the children’s production. For that, we propose an analysis of the narrative starting from the model presented by Labov, but proceeding in a different way from that of author once he’s been dealing with the narratives of personal experience in which the locutor are worried about reconstructing or even reliving facts of their past. In this perspective, we’ve adapted this model of narrative looking at the oral stories produced by the children. According to the author, the evaluation is one of the structural elements of the narrative which has as its aim communicate to the listener the point of view of the narrator in relation to the story narrated by him, in other words, the evaluative function is concerned about the necessity that the locutor has of keeping the interest of the interlocutor along the narration. Considering that it’s our objective to establish a relation between the narrating and explaining based on the procedure of evaluation (Labov), we’ve found support in some authors (Hudelot et al., Veneziano, Halté among others) that work with explanation. According to Hudelot et al. (2003), the term 'explanation' refer a universe of senses, that is to explain the meaning of a word or action it’s necessary to analyses its context and sense that it’s possible to make the word or action intelligible to the interlocutor. Leclaire-Halté (1990) states that the explanation in fiction texts, arises when there is a problem that must be solved. This way, we’ve observed and contrasted two situations: (a) production of oral stories through drawings done by the children; and (b) the production of narratives through the stories read by the researcher being supported by authors that deal with both the verbal communication and the non-verbal communication. The conclusions confirm that although the produced stories in both situations present distinct characteristics of oral and written language, both keep the articulation of explaining and narrating in common.

Este trabalho tem como corpus as gravações realizadas pelo Projeto NURC/SP contidas nos três volumes da série A Linguagem Falada Culta na Cidade de São Paulo e como objetivo relacionar os processos de formação de palavras e seus valores expressivos nos três tipos de inquéritos do Projeto: elocuções formais, diálogos entre dois informantes e diálogos entre informante e documentador. Como procedimento metodológico, é feito um levantamento dos vocábulos expressivos presentes nos inquéritos do projeto, os quais são divididos de acordo com o processo de formação e, posteriormente, pelo valor expressivo. Nos casos de composição, consideram-se os compostos não só no sentido tradicional do termo, mas também segundo o conceito de lexia composta proposto por Pottier, que permite identificar a presença de compostos já lexicalizados que ainda não se encontram nas gramáticas nem nos dicionários. Pretende-se identificar, também, composições ad hoc, formadas com objetivos específicos dentro do discurso e por meio das quais o falante pode atingir efeitos expressivos que se restringem à situação em que são empregadas. Na análise dos exemplos, observa-se que os compostos têm sua origem em grupos sintáticos ordinários que se cristalizam, como deus nos acuda e pão pão queijo queijo. Parte dos compostos encontrados no corpus é formada por repetição, como corre-corre. Quando ocorre a repetição de substantivos, o elemento repetido passa por processo de conversão, tornandose determinante do primeiro. No caso de verbos, a repetição do significante é utilizada para estabelecer a ideia de reiteração. Um número significativo de compostos são palavras-ônibus, como não sei que, não sei das quantas e, frequentemente, são utilizadas como elementos de estratégia discursiva na reprodução de diálogos. As ocorrências estudadas permitem observar, ainda, que o efeito expressivo atingido pode ser determinado pelo contexto. Entre os casos de derivação, inclui-se a prefixação, cujo principal valor afetivo é de intensificação. A derivação sufixal fornece mais possibilidades para a obtenção de efeitos expressivos, como atenuação, exatidão, ausência de dúvida, depreciação, semelhança, eufemismo, intensificação, exiguidade e ironia, os quais podem variar de acordo com o contexto. Embora sejam menos comuns, também são de interesse deste trabalho os processos de derivação regressiva, derivação parassintética e as onomatopeias. Finalmente, dividem-se as ocorrências por tipo de inquérito e faz-se uma comparação estatística, que tem o objetivo de relacionar os elementos analisados ao diferente grau de formalidade de cada gênero, bem como estabelecer uma ligação entre os diferentes gêneros orais e os valores expressivos que neles predominam / This work has as corpus recordings performed by the Project NURC / SP contained in the three volumes of the series A Linguagem Falada Culta na Cidade de São Paulo and aims to correlate the processes of formation of words and their expressive values in the three types of inquiries of the Project: formal utterances, dialogues between two speakers and dialogues between informant and documenter. As a methodological procedure, there is a research of expressive vocabulary present in the inquiries, which are divided according to the process of formation and later the expressive value. The compound words are considered not only in the traditional sense, but also according to the concept of compound lexia proposed by Pottier, which allows to identify the presence of compounds already lexicalized that are not yet in the dictionaries or grammars. It is intended also to identify ad hoc compositions formed with specific goals within discourse and through which the speaker can achieve expressive effects that are restricted to the situation in which they are employed. In the analysis of examples it is observed that the compounds have their origin in crystallized ordinary syntactic groups, as deus nos acuda and pão pão queijo queijo. Part of the compounds found in the corpus is formed by repetition, as corre-corre. When the repetition of nouns occurs, the repeated element goes though a conversion process, becoming determinant of the first. In the case of verbs, the repetition of the signifier is used to establish the idea of reiteration. A significant number of compounds are broad sense words as não sei que, não sei das quantas and are often used as elements of discursive strategy when reproduced dialogues. Occurrences studied allow also observe that expressive effect achieved can be determined by the context. The cases of derivation include the prefixation, whose main affective value is intensifying. The suffixation provides more possibilities to obtain expressive effects such as attenuation, accuracy, lack of doubt, depreciation, likeness, euphemism, intensification, smallness and irony, which may vary according to the context. Although less common, are also of interest in this work the processes of regressive derivation, prefix and suffix derivation and onomatopoeia. Finally, the occurrences are divided by type of inquiry in order to make a statistical comparison, which aims to relate the elements analyzed at different degree of formality of each genre, as well as establishing a link between the different oral genres and values expressive that predominate in them

Partindo da idéia de que não há oposição fundamental entre explicação e narração, pois ao contar uma história explicamos e, ao explicar, legitimamos o caráter memorável daquilo que contamos, elegemos como objeto de estudo a relação entre compreensão e produção de histórias orais em seis crianças, de cinco anos, de ambos os sexos, observando o papel da avaliação (Labov, 1972), bem como para identificar a articulação dos processos narrativo/explicativo presentes nas produções infantis. Para tanto, propomos uma análise de narrativa, a partir do modelo apresentado por Labov, mas procedendo de modo diferente do autor, uma vez que ele se ocupou das narrativas de experiências pessoais, onde os locutores se preocupam em reconstruir, até em reviver fatos de seu passado. Nesta perspectiva, adaptamos este modelo de narrativa com o olhar voltado para as histórias orais elaboradas pelas crianças. De acordo com o autor, a avaliação é um dos elementos estruturais da narrativa que tem por finalidade comunicar ao ouvinte o ponto de vista do narrador em relação à história por ele narrada, ou seja, a função avaliativa diz respeito à necessidade que tem o locutor de manter o interesse do interlocutor durante a narração. Considerando que é nosso objetivo estabelecer uma relação entre o narrar e o explicar com base no procedimento da avaliação (Labov), nos apoiamos em alguns autores (Hudelot et al. Veneziano, Halté entre outros) que tratam da explicação. Segundo Hudelot et al. (2003), o termo 'explicação' remete a um universo de sentidos, pois para explicar o significado de uma palavra ou de uma ação, é necessário analisar o contexto e o sentido da mesma, de modo que seja possível torná-la inteligível para o interlocutor. Leclaire-Halté (1990) afirma que a explicação, em textos de ficção, surge quando há um problema que deve ser resolvido. Assim, observamos e contrastamos duas situações: (a) produção de histórias orais a partir de desenhos feitos pelas crianças; e (b) a produção de narrativas a partir das histórias lidas pela pesquisadora, apoiando-nos para isso em autores que tratam tanto da comunicação verbal, como da comunicação não-verbal. As conclusões confirmam que, embora as histórias elaboradas nas duas situações apresentem características distintas da linguagem oral e escrita, ambas mantêm em comum a articulação do explicar e do narrar. / From the idea that there is no fundamental opposition between explanation and narration, because when one tells a story one explains it and explaining we legitimize the memorable character of what we tell, we’ve elected as the object of our study, the comprehension and production of oral stories in six children of five years old, of both genders, observing the role of the evaluation (Labov,1972) as well as to identify the articulation of narrative/explicative processes present in the children’s production. For that, we propose an analysis of the narrative starting from the model presented by Labov, but proceeding in a different way from that of author once he’s been dealing with the narratives of personal experience in which the locutor are worried about reconstructing or even reliving facts of their past. In this perspective, we’ve adapted this model of narrative looking at the oral stories produced by the children. According to the author, the evaluation is one of the structural elements of the narrative which has as its aim communicate to the listener the point of view of the narrator in relation to the story narrated by him, in other words, the evaluative function is concerned about the necessity that the locutor has of keeping the interest of the interlocutor along the narration. Considering that it’s our objective to establish a relation between the narrating and explaining based on the procedure of evaluation (Labov), we’ve found support in some authors (Hudelot et al., Veneziano, Halté among others) that work with explanation. According to Hudelot et al. (2003), the term 'explanation' refer a universe of senses, that is to explain the meaning of a word or action it’s necessary to analyses its context and sense that it’s possible to make the word or action intelligible to the interlocutor. Leclaire-Halté (1990) states that the explanation in fiction texts, arises when there is a problem that must be solved. This way, we’ve observed and contrasted two situations: (a) production of oral stories through drawings done by the children; and (b) the production of narratives through the stories read by the researcher being supported by authors that deal with both the verbal communication and the non-verbal communication. The conclusions confirm that although the produced stories in both situations present distinct characteristics of oral and written language, both keep the articulation of explaining and narrating in common.

Este trabalho tem como corpus as gravações realizadas pelo Projeto NURC/SP contidas nos três volumes da série A Linguagem Falada Culta na Cidade de São Paulo e como objetivo relacionar os processos de formação de palavras e seus valores expressivos nos três tipos de inquéritos do Projeto: elocuções formais, diálogos entre dois informantes e diálogos entre informante e documentador. Como procedimento metodológico, é feito um levantamento dos vocábulos expressivos presentes nos inquéritos do projeto, os quais são divididos de acordo com o processo de formação e, posteriormente, pelo valor expressivo. Nos casos de composição, consideram-se os compostos não só no sentido tradicional do termo, mas também segundo o conceito de lexia composta proposto por Pottier, que permite identificar a presença de compostos já lexicalizados que ainda não se encontram nas gramáticas nem nos dicionários. Pretende-se identificar, também, composições ad hoc, formadas com objetivos específicos dentro do discurso e por meio das quais o falante pode atingir efeitos expressivos que se restringem à situação em que são empregadas. Na análise dos exemplos, observa-se que os compostos têm sua origem em grupos sintáticos ordinários que se cristalizam, como deus nos acuda e pão pão queijo queijo. Parte dos compostos encontrados no corpus é formada por repetição, como corre-corre. Quando ocorre a repetição de substantivos, o elemento repetido passa por processo de conversão, tornandose determinante do primeiro. No caso de verbos, a repetição do significante é utilizada para estabelecer a ideia de reiteração. Um número significativo de compostos são palavras-ônibus, como não sei que, não sei das quantas e, frequentemente, são utilizadas como elementos de estratégia discursiva na reprodução de diálogos. As ocorrências estudadas permitem observar, ainda, que o efeito expressivo atingido pode ser determinado pelo contexto. Entre os casos de derivação, inclui-se a prefixação, cujo principal valor afetivo é de intensificação. A derivação sufixal fornece mais possibilidades para a obtenção de efeitos expressivos, como atenuação, exatidão, ausência de dúvida, depreciação, semelhança, eufemismo, intensificação, exiguidade e ironia, os quais podem variar de acordo com o contexto. Embora sejam menos comuns, também são de interesse deste trabalho os processos de derivação regressiva, derivação parassintética e as onomatopeias. Finalmente, dividem-se as ocorrências por tipo de inquérito e faz-se uma comparação estatística, que tem o objetivo de relacionar os elementos analisados ao diferente grau de formalidade de cada gênero, bem como estabelecer uma ligação entre os diferentes gêneros orais e os valores expressivos que neles predominam / This work has as corpus recordings performed by the Project NURC / SP contained in the three volumes of the series A Linguagem Falada Culta na Cidade de São Paulo and aims to correlate the processes of formation of words and their expressive values in the three types of inquiries of the Project: formal utterances, dialogues between two speakers and dialogues between informant and documenter. As a methodological procedure, there is a research of expressive vocabulary present in the inquiries, which are divided according to the process of formation and later the expressive value. The compound words are considered not only in the traditional sense, but also according to the concept of compound lexia proposed by Pottier, which allows to identify the presence of compounds already lexicalized that are not yet in the dictionaries or grammars. It is intended also to identify ad hoc compositions formed with specific goals within discourse and through which the speaker can achieve expressive effects that are restricted to the situation in which they are employed. In the analysis of examples it is observed that the compounds have their origin in crystallized ordinary syntactic groups, as deus nos acuda and pão pão queijo queijo. Part of the compounds found in the corpus is formed by repetition, as corre-corre. When the repetition of nouns occurs, the repeated element goes though a conversion process, becoming determinant of the first. In the case of verbs, the repetition of the signifier is used to establish the idea of reiteration. A significant number of compounds are broad sense words as não sei que, não sei das quantas and are often used as elements of discursive strategy when reproduced dialogues. Occurrences studied allow also observe that expressive effect achieved can be determined by the context. The cases of derivation include the prefixation, whose main affective value is intensifying. The suffixation provides more possibilities to obtain expressive effects such as attenuation, accuracy, lack of doubt, depreciation, likeness, euphemism, intensification, smallness and irony, which may vary according to the context. Although less common, are also of interest in this work the processes of regressive derivation, prefix and suffix derivation and onomatopoeia. Finally, the occurrences are divided by type of inquiry in order to make a statistical comparison, which aims to relate the elements analyzed at different degree of formality of each genre, as well as establishing a link between the different oral genres and values expressive that predominate in them

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / An in-depth, longitudinal study of the speech and oral language development of eight infants with a profound hearing loss who receive early interventions focused on developing their auditory, speech and oral language capacity is presented in this thesis. Infants were tracked for two years, during the period when they are changed from a hearing aid to a cochlear implant. All infants in this study had their hearing loss identified early and were fitted with hearing aids between 1 and 7 months of age and received their cochlear implant between 8 and 16 months of age. They attended a number of different auditory-verbal early intervention programs (depending on where they lived) all of which focused on developing speech and language skills through listening. Attendance at their particular early intervention program at least once a week was in addition to weekly attendance the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre for therapy and audiological services. A broad range of measures has been used to track the infants’ acquisition of oral language skills, including measures of communicative intention, pre-speech and speech development, and oral language development. Despite a wide range of individual differences across the group of infants, the results suggest some general trends. In the area of communicative intent most infants followed typical development patterns in terms of both the types (e.g. requesting, answering etc) and forms (gestural, vocal, verbal) used, but they showed delays in their frequency of usage of these types and forms. For speech development the infants demonstrated typical speech skills by 18-months post-cochlear implantation in the areas of consonant inventories, severity of phonological involvement (speech intelligibility) and phonological process development, but they showed delays in vowel and consonant acquisition. Finally, for language development the infants were delayed relative to typical development at 18 months post-implantation. The findings support and extend previous studies which have demonstrated the benefits of early intervention for communication development in infants with hearing loss (Calderon & Naidu, 2000; Mayne, Yoshinaga-Itano & Sedey, 2000; Moeller, 2000; Yoshinaga-Itano & Apuzzo, 1998). However, the delays in the oral communication skills of the infants in the current study suggest that more intensive long-term intervention is required if the infants are to attain typical oral speech and language development. The findings capture the complexity of early oral language development, which has been lacking in previous studies of infants with significant hearing loss, receiving a cochlear implant (Dettman, Briggs, & Dowell, 2005; Houston, Ying, Pisoni, & Iler Kirk, 2003; Schauwers, Gillis, Daemers, De Beukelaer, & Govaerts, 2004). The present data also provide some limited support for earlier implantation, that is, before 12 months of age, as the infants made little progress in oral language development while using hearing aids. The reduced amount of auditory signal available to them prior to implantation may be the determining factor in their inability to follow typical rates and patterns of development. However, rates of development with the implant were not straightforward and further research on this population is needed. Universal neonatal screening programs for hearing loss will potentially provide a larger population of early identified infant for future research. This will create the opportunity for large scale, prospective, longitudinal, studies examining the acquisition of speech and oral language development. Limitations of this study, tracking the early stages of speech and language development over a two year period are identified. Future studies are needed to follow the infants for a longer time to determine if their rate of development is sufficient for them to catch up in areas of delay and maintain their performance in areas where they match their typically developing peers.

This study examined the oral language abilities of 100 English as-a-second-language (ESL) and 50 English as-a-first-language (EL1) students in grade 5 with and without reading disabilities. Students with reading disabilities were further divided into two groups: poor decoders and poor comprehenders. A MANOVA was conducted to determine the effect of language group and reading group on the students’ cognitive and linguistic skills. The ESL students demonstrated delays in receptive vocabulary as measured by the PPVT, but were comparable to EL1 students on all other measures. Significant differences were found between reading groups for both language groups. Normal readers performed significantly better than poor decoders and poor comprehenders on all of the oral language measures. The poor decoders performed significantly better than poor comprehenders on an oral language task assessing listening comprehension. This research demonstrates that students with reading difficulties also have difficulties in oral language proficiency, regardless of second language status.

This study examined the oral language abilities of 100 English as-a-second-language (ESL) and 50 English as-a-first-language (EL1) students in grade 5 with and without reading disabilities. Students with reading disabilities were further divided into two groups: poor decoders and poor comprehenders. A MANOVA was conducted to determine the effect of language group and reading group on the students’ cognitive and linguistic skills. The ESL students demonstrated delays in receptive vocabulary as measured by the PPVT, but were comparable to EL1 students on all other measures. Significant differences were found between reading groups for both language groups. Normal readers performed significantly better than poor decoders and poor comprehenders on all of the oral language measures. The poor decoders performed significantly better than poor comprehenders on an oral language task assessing listening comprehension. This research demonstrates that students with reading difficulties also have difficulties in oral language proficiency, regardless of second language status.

The purpose of this study was to examine: (a) the methodological quality of current research on English Language Learners (ELL) in the areas of high-stakes testing and oral language as a component skill of reading performance, (b) the association between oral language and reading performance in third grade Hispanic ELLS, and (c) the impact of instructional program model on ELLs’ oral language development. Two parallel systematic reviews were conducted searching CSA, Ebsco and Wilson electronic databases for empirical studies conducted in the U.S. and published in peer-reviewed journals in English. In study one, ELLs and high-stakes testing, eleven reviewed studies (N=11) met the inclusion/exclusion criteria; while in study two, ELLs and oral language, twenty-three reviewed studies (N=23) met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Abstracted studies were evaluated using a 10-criteria matrix, and a methodological quality score was assigned.

Class Meetings with a teacher and group of young children (ages 3-5) provide a forum for creative group problem solving, both establishing a community of learners and developing oral language skills. The construction of a child's oral language and problem-solving skills is far reaching and is an underlying theme in many areas of social and emotional growth including moral development, character development, conflict resolution, identification of values, self esteem, and academic improvement. The theoretical framework for this study is based on various scholarly sources including those concerned with early childhood group learning, oral language, and problem solving.During this 12 week action research study, both teacher-talk and children's problem solving strategies were addressed to answer the following research questions: What roles do teachers play in Class Meetings? What types of teacher talk are used to influence student thinking and talk within Class Meetings? What problems are identified in a Class Meeting with young children? What problem-solving strategies do young children develop within Class Meetings? The research design and methodology include videotaping, audio taping Class Meetings and transcribing these interactions with preschool children in an early childhood classroom setting.Results indicate that during this study, attendance at the Class Meetings increased, and that young children, when given the opportunity to self-select, chose to attend the Class Meetings over other available activities. Also, this study suggests that the Class Meeting model and effective teacher-talk support student oral language, the use of positive communication, problem identification, and the development of problem solving strategies. Implications for early childhood educators, teacher educators, policymakers and researchers are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / An in-depth, longitudinal study of the speech and oral language development of eight infants with a profound hearing loss who receive early interventions focused on developing their auditory, speech and oral language capacity is presented in this thesis. Infants were tracked for two years, during the period when they are changed from a hearing aid to a cochlear implant. All infants in this study had their hearing loss identified early and were fitted with hearing aids between 1 and 7 months of age and received their cochlear implant between 8 and 16 months of age. They attended a number of different auditory-verbal early intervention programs (depending on where they lived) all of which focused on developing speech and language skills through listening. Attendance at their particular early intervention program at least once a week was in addition to weekly attendance the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre for therapy and audiological services. A broad range of measures has been used to track the infants’ acquisition of oral language skills, including measures of communicative intention, pre-speech and speech development, and oral language development. Despite a wide range of individual differences across the group of infants, the results suggest some general trends. In the area of communicative intent most infants followed typical development patterns in terms of both the types (e.g. requesting, answering etc) and forms (gestural, vocal, verbal) used, but they showed delays in their frequency of usage of these types and forms. For speech development the infants demonstrated typical speech skills by 18-months post-cochlear implantation in the areas of consonant inventories, severity of phonological involvement (speech intelligibility) and phonological process development, but they showed delays in vowel and consonant acquisition. Finally, for language development the infants were delayed relative to typical development at 18 months post-implantation. The findings support and extend previous studies which have demonstrated the benefits of early intervention for communication development in infants with hearing loss (Calderon & Naidu, 2000; Mayne, Yoshinaga-Itano & Sedey, 2000; Moeller, 2000; Yoshinaga-Itano & Apuzzo, 1998). However, the delays in the oral communication skills of the infants in the current study suggest that more intensive long-term intervention is required if the infants are to attain typical oral speech and language development. The findings capture the complexity of early oral language development, which has been lacking in previous studies of infants with significant hearing loss, receiving a cochlear implant (Dettman, Briggs, & Dowell, 2005; Houston, Ying, Pisoni, & Iler Kirk, 2003; Schauwers, Gillis, Daemers, De Beukelaer, & Govaerts, 2004). The present data also provide some limited support for earlier implantation, that is, before 12 months of age, as the infants made little progress in oral language development while using hearing aids. The reduced amount of auditory signal available to them prior to implantation may be the determining factor in their inability to follow typical rates and patterns of development. However, rates of development with the implant were not straightforward and further research on this population is needed. Universal neonatal screening programs for hearing loss will potentially provide a larger population of early identified infant for future research. This will create the opportunity for large scale, prospective, longitudinal, studies examining the acquisition of speech and oral language development. Limitations of this study, tracking the early stages of speech and language development over a two year period are identified. Future studies are needed to follow the infants for a longer time to determine if their rate of development is sufficient for them to catch up in areas of delay and maintain their performance in areas where they match their typically developing peers.