<p> Caregivers interacting with young children in natural settings have been found to provide language input that is in tune with the child's output in terms of mean length of utterance (MLU). Previous research suggests that caregivers provide language input within the child's proximal zone of language development, that is 2.0-3.0 morphemes ahead of their child's MLU. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate whether speech-language pathologists (SLP) working in early intervention tailor their input in the same way. </p><p> Communication interactions between six speech-language pathologists and their toddler aged clients between the ages of 28 and 33 months were audio recorded during one of their regularly scheduled speech and language intervention sessions. MLUs for the SLPs and the children were calculated for each intervention dyad via the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) version 2012 computer software program. The MLU of each SLP was then compared to the MLU of her client. Data analysis revealed that three of the six SLPs directed their language input to the child at levels within the child's proximal zone of language development, between 2.0 and 3.0 morphemes greater than the child's MLU. The other three SLPs provided input at levels that exceeded the 2.0 to 3.0 morpheme range. Qualitative analysis suggest that factors other than the children's MLUs, such as their language comprehension levels, may have been a factor in the complexity levels of the SLPs input. Future research, employing larger sample sizes and careful measures of the children's language comprehension and cognitive levels, is indicated.</p>

<p> English phonological abilities of Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual children were compared to those of monolingual children at 30 months of age and at five years. Measures of language abilities and language experience at 30 months were included in order to determine the impact that these variables have on English phonological ability. We hypothesized that early phonological abilities will be predictive of later phonological abilities for both monolingual and bilingual children. We also hypothesized that early language abilities and experience with each language will be predictive of concurrent and later phonological abilities, but we expected the relationship to be stronger between English language abilities and phonological abilities than Spanish language abilities and English phonological abilities. Phonology measures were collected for 10 monolingual and 47 bilingual participants at 30 months and at five years of age. Results indicate that early English phonological abilities are not predictive of later phonological abilities for monolingual or bilingual children. Although language experience was related to language ability (vocabulary size), relative exposure to English was not directly related to English phonological abilities. Although monolingual children had significantly poorer English phonological abilities at 30 months than monolingual English speaking children, their English phonological abilities were commensurate with those of the monolingual group at five years. These findings suggest that bilingual children are learning properties of English phonology at a faster rate than their monolingual peers between 30 months and five years of age.</p>

<p> Traditionally, Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) has been used as means of increasing verbal output (expressive language) in individuals with Broca&rsquo;s aphasia; however, recently MIT has been studied for its potential impacts on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) population, as well. The purpose of this study was to examine the features of music (i.e., exaggerated pitch and/or rhythm) found in traditional MIT against traditional speech to determine the impact of these musical features on receptive language abilities in individuals with ASD. This study involved an ASD group and a typically developing (TD) group, both with school-age children. Each group was presented with an experimental protocol, which included prompting each subject with a simple verbal command to manipulate one of four objects that had been placed in front of them. These commands were presented in a traditional speech condition, an exaggerated intonation condition, or a rhythmically controlled condition. We hypothesized that the rhythmic condition would be the most successful for promoting auditory comprehension of verbal commands in the subjects with ASD. Our hypothesis was partially supported, as one of the ASD subjects found the most success with the rhythmically controlled commands; but the other ASD subject found intonation to be the most helpful condition. Both ASD subjects indicated that music was more successful than traditional speech for comprehending simple auditory commands. Future studies should extend to other age groups, and should also examine why these musical components are more successful than speech within the ASD population.</p>