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A compensatory language program was administered to 13 children, considered, for the most part, as culturally disadvantaged and linguistically deficient. These 13 children comprised the experimental group, while 12 other children were used as a control group. The ages of the children ranged from 3 years, 3 months to 5 years, 10 months. The average age of the experimental group was less than that of the control group. The experimental group was divided into three groups on the basis of language ability. The language program required the children to describe things, listen to the language models of the teacher, and imitate those models. Pretests administered at the beginning of the 5-month program were (1) the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA), (2) the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), and (3) the Irwin Articulation Test. Only the ITPA and PPVT were given as posttests. The scores of the experimental and control groups on the ITPA and PPVT did not differ significantly except on two subtests of the ITPA, both of which tested grammar skills. Thus, it was concluded that the language progra did produce some gain in the language ability of the experimental group. It was also found that the most able children at the beginning of the program benefited the most from the program. (WD)

A SPECIFIC APPROACH TO SPEECH LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT WAS DESIGNED AND TESTED USING 56 EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUP CLASSES OF VERY YOUNG CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN AND THE FIRST GRADE. AUDITORY DISCRIMINATION, ARTICULATION, AND READING AND SPELLING SKILLS WERE EMPHASIZED. ALTHOUGH ACTUAL SPEECH TRAINING WAS PROVIDED FOR ONLY 1 YEAR, THE PROGRESS OF EACH SUBJECT WAS FOLLOWED FOR A 3-YEAR PERIOD. INFORMATION FOR COMPARING THE TWO GROUPS WAS OBTAINED FROM TESTS ADMINISTERED BY THE CLASSROOM TEACHERS OR BY SPEECH CLINICIANS. SEVERAL STATISTICAL PROCEDURES WERE USED IN ANALYZING THE COLLECTED DATA. THE FIRST-GRADE AND OLDER KINDERGARTEN EXPERIMENTAL CLASSES HAD SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER ARTICULATION SCORES AT THE END OF TRAINING THAN THOSE THAT DID NOT RECEIVE THE PROGRAM, AND THIS CONTINUED UNTIL THE END OF THE SECOND YEAR OF EXAMINATION WHEN BOTH GROUPS WERE SIMILAR. ON DISCRIMINATION, THE EXPERIMENTAL KINDERGARTEN GROUP HAD LOWER ERROR SCORES ONLY AT TERMINATION OF TRAINING. AT THE FIRST-GRADE LEVEL THERE WERE NO SIGNIFICANT DISCRIMINATION DIFFERENCES AT ANY EVALUATION PERIOD. THE EFFECTS OF THE PROGRAM ON READING AND SPELLING WERE POSITIVE. THIS PROJECT APPEARED TO BE PARTICULARLY HELPFUL FOR SELF-CORRECTION IN SPEECH AT THE KINDERGARTEN LEVEL AND FOR INCREASING TEACHER INSIGHT INTO EARLY SPEECH PROBLEMS. (JH)

The author responds to W. Arndt's criticisms of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test, a test for assessing receptive and expressive grammar in young children. (SBH)