Language Development in Children with Special NeedsM S L Stewart, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

ã 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Glossary

Accents – The sound differences of spoken

languages. They may be derived from one’s

geographic region and/or the influences of foreign

languages.

Articulation disorder – A common speech disorder

that results when individuals are not able to produce

the various sounds and sound combinations of

language at the developmentally appropriate age.

Collaboration – A process whereby professionals,

including parents and primary caregivers, work

together for a shared purpose in a mutually

beneficial, supportive relationship.

Communication – A written or spoken transmission

and reception of information, which has at least three

components: sender, receiver, and message.

Communicative difference/dialect – A variation of

a symbol system and reflects shared regional, social,

or cultural/ethnic factors.

Fluency disorder – A communication disorder that

occurs when the individual has difficulty with the flow

and rate of speech, which may be accompanied by

struggle behavior.

Language disorder – A communication disorder

that involves understanding or producing meaningful

conversation.

Morphemes – The smallest linguistic unit of

meaning in a language; forms a bridge between

phonology and syntax.

Phonology – The system of rules that governs

sounds and their combination.

Pragmatics – The actual use of language within a

social context.

Semantics – The content of language.

Speech disorder – A term used when the

individual’s communication is unintelligible,

unpleasant, or interferes with communication.

Speech–language pathologists – The

professionals who treat speech and language

disorders.

Syntax – The arrangement of words combined by

following the rule governance and patterns of the

specific language to form meaningful sentences.

Voice disorder – A communication disorder wherein

there is difficulty with the quality, resonance, pitch, or

intensity of one’s voice.

One’s language is personal, interactive, and original. It isthe most human characteristic that helps to shape one’scultural and personal identity, and to a large extent,demonstrates what separates humans from other beings.It celebrates who we are and from whence we have come.It then should come as no surprise that as the nation’sschools become more diverse, more challenging issuesrelated to communication, language acquisition, languagedifferences, and language disorders arise. To the extentpossible, all students should develop language and com-munication skills that will aid them in being successful inboth school and community settings. Learners who expe-rience difficulty in absorbing information through listen-ing and reading, and who are unable to express themselvesin spoken words are almost certain to experience difficul-ties, not only in their schools, but in their communities aswell. This difficulty may have an impact on the indivi-dual’s ability to form satisfying relationships with others(Table 1).

The ability to effectively communicate is one of themost important aspects of an individual’s development. Inany setting, there may be a variety of individuals presentwho do not speak at all, those requiring assistive/augmen-tative communications, those who must learn to speechread and operate assistive listening devices, as well asthose who display socially inappropriate verbal and non-verbal communication skills. An understanding of thesedisabilities, as well as a global understanding of languageand speech development, is critical to our understandingof human beings. Children identified as special needshave many characteristics similar to those identified intypically developing children. These children may takelonger to develop their speech, while others may havedisabilities that are not recognized at birth but maybecome more apparent over time. Others may experiencedifficulties in school, ranging from problems with concen-tration, learning, language, and perception to problemswith behavior. (American Academy of Child and Adoles-cent Psychiatry, 2008). This article provides a frameworkfor understanding terms/concepts concerning normalspeech and language development, communication, lan-guage disorders, and language differences in students withspecial needs. Further, it presents information on howprofessionals may collaborate with families/primary care-givers as a way of sharing information that should lead toexpanded information for all parties involved. In addition,specific information regarding students with disabilitiesthat may impact language development is discussed.

745

Table 1 Identifying children with language problems

Directions: The following behaviors may indicate that a child in your classroom has a language impairment that is in need of languageintervention. Please check the appropriate items.

____ Child mispronounces sounds and words.

____ Child omits words, endings, such as plural-s and past tense-ed.

____ Child omits small, unemphasized words, such as auxiliary verbs or prepositions.____ Child uses an immature vocabulary, overuses empty words, such as ‘one’ and ‘thing’, or seems to have difficulty recalling or finding

the right word.

____ Child had difficulty comprehending new words and concerns.

____ Child’s sentence structure seems immature or over-reliant on forms, such as subject-verb-object. It’s unoriginal, dull.____ Child has difficulty with one of the following:

__ Verb tensing __Articles __ Auxiliary verbs

__ Pronouns __ Irreg. verbs __Prepositions

__ Word Order __ Irregular plurals____ Child has difficulty relating sequential events.

____ Child has difficulty following directions.

____ Child’s questions often poorly formed.____ Child has difficulty answering questions.

____ Child’s comments often off topic or inappropriate for the conversation.

____ There are long pauses between a remark and the child’s reply or between successive remarks by the child. It’s as if the child is

searching for a response or is confused.____ Child appears to be attending to communication but remembers little of what is said.

746 Education of Children with Special Needs

Language: Definition and Attributes

It is generally agreed that a child’s language skills areacquired in a predictable order. Children, however, maydiffer at the rate in which they acquire a given languageskill. This can even occur with children in the same familygroup. Language, as defined by the American Speech–Language–Hearing Association (ASHA), is a ‘‘complexand dynamic system of conventional symbols that isused in various modes for thought and communication.’’The development of language, often hailed as the hall-mark accomplishment of humans, is rule-governed withspecific conventions that are learned. In humans, languageis dependent upon one having a society in which to learnit, other human beings to speak to, and the intelligence tomake it possible.

The development of language is a highly complexprocess. It begins during infancy and continues through-out one’s life. Young children normally progress throughseveral stages in developing language, and as previouslyhighlighted, normally exhibit considerable variability intheir stages of development. These differences may bedue, in part, to general health, environmental influences,and heredity. Specific causes may include hearing andvisual impairments, difficulty with oral–motor skills asfound in children with specific syndromes, such as Downsyndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, cerebral palsy, cleft lip/palate, and Prader–Willi syndrome. Often the cause can beunknown.

It is generally agreed that today’s youngsters comefrom more diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.These learners exhibit a wide range of language, learning,and behavioral characteristics that present challenges to

educators. Some are at risk of academic failure and placedin special education settings because of their limitedEnglish proficiency, behavioral characteristics, and/or so-cioeconomic status. Nearly 4 million of our childrenunder the age of 18 are being reared by their grandparentsor great-grandparents; many live in, or near, poverty. Fac-tors for this occurrence include parents not being able tocare for their own children because of incarceration anddrug and/or alcohol abuse.

The United States is a society made up of many culturesand languages. Each person uses language differently. Forone to fully appreciate or understand a language, its use,diversity, and disorders, an understanding of the broadercontext of language is required. Following are the attributesof language:

� language evolves within specific historical, social, andcultural contexts;

� language is rule-governed;� language learning and use are determined by the inter-action of biological, cognitive, psychological, and envi-ronmental factors; and

� effective use of language for communication requires abroad understanding of human interactions, includingassociated factors such as nonverbal cues, motivation,and sociocultural role.

Oftentimes, language is described along dimensionssuch as form (phonology, morphology, and syntax), con-tent (semantics), and use (pragmatics). Phonology is thesystem of rules that governs sounds and their combina-tion. Each language has specific sounds, or phonemes, thatare characteristic of that language. A phoneme is furtherdefined as the smallest unit of sound in a word that makes

Language Development in Children with Special Needs 747

a difference in its meaning. Morphology is the system ofrules for combining sounds into meaningful units, such aswords, suffixes, and prefixes. Simply stated, morphemesare the smallest linguistic unit with meaning and form abridge between phonology and syntax. Syntax refers tothe arrangement of words combined by following the rulegovernance and patterns of the specific language to formmeaningful sentences. The content of language is referredto as the semantics of the language. The concept of se-mantics refers to the ability to distinguish word meaning,including multiple meanings and subtle nuances, and tounderstand the language. The actual use of languagewithin a social context is referred to as pragmatics; more-over, it is the awareness of socially appropriate behaviorsin communication interactions.

Developmental Milestones:Communication Skills in Young Children

Researchers such as Bernstein and Tiegerman-Farber(2002) and Owens (1988) presented detailed summariesof commonly agreed-upon communication developmen-tal milestones in young children. They are:

� At 12 months. Infants recognize their own name and canfollow simple motor instructions; they produce the firstword and express vocabulary of one or more words.

� At 15 months. Infants have a vocabulary of four to sixwords.

� At 16 months. Infants develop the ability to point to toys,persons, and animals. They use jargon and words inconversation with a four-to-six-word vocabulary.

� At 18 months. Infants begin to use two-word utterancesand have a 20-word vocabulary.

� At 21 months. Infants understand personal pronouns;they use ‘I’ and mime.

� At 24 months. Infants have a 200–300-word vocabularyand name common everyday objects.

� At 36 months. Infants have a vocabulary of 900–1000words; create three- to four-word sentences and followtwo-step commands.

� At 48 months. Infants have a vocabulary of 1500–1600words and use increasingly complex sentences.

� At 60 months. Infants have a vocabulary of 2100–2200words, follow three-step commands, and have 90%grammar acquisition.

Note that children’s receptive vocabulary, oftentimes,exceed their expressive vocabulary. This simply meansthat they understand far more than they are able toverbally express. However, there are children who maynot have normal developments. They may have specialneeds and speech/language impairment. According to the27th Annual Report to Congress on the Implementationof the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

by the US Department of Special Education, in 2003, thelargest disability category was specific learning disabilities(47.4%). The next most common disability category wasspeech or language impairments (18.7%), followed bymental retardation (9.6%), emotional disturbance (8.0%),and other health impairments (7.5%).

Language Difference versus LanguageDisorder

In viewof the demographic shifts in our nation’s schools, it isimportant to understand communication in the context ofstudents. Communication is considered to be disorderedwhen it deviates from the standards of the community,enough to interfere with the transmission of messages andstands out as being unusually different, or it produces nega-tive feelings within the communicator. The disorder mayeither be developmental or acquired through injuries ordiseases that affect the brain. Conversely, speech disordersresult when the individual’s communication is unintelligi-ble, unpleasant, or interferes with communication.

Communication involves languages. How then, cancommunication and/or language disorders be furtherexplained? There are different kinds of communicationdisorders. Articulation disorders, perhaps the most com-mon speech disorders, result when individuals are not ableto produce the various sounds and sound combinations oflanguage at the developmentally appropriate age. A fluencydisorder occurs when the individual has difficulty with theflow and rate of speech. The two most common types offluency disorders are stuttering (i.e., an interruption of theforward flow of speech) and cluttering (i.e., speech that isoverly rapid, disorganized, and occasionally filled withunnecessary words and unrelated insertions). A voice dis-order is one wherein there is difficulty with the quality,resonance, pitch, or intensity of one’s voice. Students withlanguage disorders may have delays in the development ofcomprehensive or expressive language. The question con-tinues to be, when is a language difference misinterpretedto mean language disorder?

ASHA, the national professional, scientific, and creden-tialing association for speech, language, and hearing profes-sionals, notes that English language is composed of manylinguistic varieties. This may include Ebonics, Spanish-influenced English, Appalachian English, and StandardEnglish. Accents are sound differences of spoken languages.They may be derived from one’s geographic region andmay be influenced by foreign languages. A communicativedifference or dialect, on the other hand, can be a variationof the form and content of a language. Accents and dialectsare types of language differences. A language difference,in and of itself, may not require intervention and remedia-tion; however, those students who are found to be lan-guage disordered by a team of professionals will require

748 Education of Children with Special Needs

intervention and remediation. Language can be describedas being disorderedwhen it interferes with communication,calls unfavorable attention to itself, or causes its user to bemaladjusted. In earlier studies, ASHA noted that an indi-vidual with a language disorder may have problems insentence processing and in abstracting information mean-ingful for storage and retrieval from short- and long-termmemory.

A language difference is not necessarily a languagedisorder. As previously explained, language contains avariety of forms, called dialects. Reiterating, dialects area variation of a symbol system and reflect shared regional,social, or cultural/ethnic factors. Each dialect represents afunctional form of English, permitting speakers to com-municate adequately, while at the same time maintaininga symbolic representation of the historical, social, andcultural background of the speakers. Although some dia-lect speakers may have a speech or language disorder, thedialect itself is not the disorder. The presence of a dialectshould not necessarily rule out the possibility that alanguage disorder might exist. A language disorder is aproblem in understanding or producing meaningful con-versation and might involve

1. a serious disruption of the language acquisition process;2. difficulty with following rules of grammar;3. the ability to understand or use words in correct

context;4. not choosing appropriate language for different situa-

tions; and5. problems of written or spoken language, and/or other

symbol systems.Language disorders may vary in severity, ranging frommild to severe.

Specific Disabilities and LanguageDevelopment

Some individuals may have specific disabilities that mayimpact language development. This may include the cate-gories of individuals with mental disabilities, cognitive dis-abilities, learning disabilities, or those categorized withbehavioral disorders. The existence of cognitive disabilitiesusually is identified early in the young child’s life, due to thedevelopmental delay evidenced by the child’s overall func-tioning in gross and fine motor skills and usually confirmedwith intellectual and behavioral assessments. Cognitive dis-ability has been defined as intellectual functioning that issignificantly below average, observed during the develop-mental years, and accompanied by deficits in adaptivebehavior. The regulations for IDEA provide the followingtechnical definition for cognitive disability:

Students with cognitive disability may follow the devel-

opmental sequence of language acquisition, use, and

comprehension, but they will not progress at the same

rate of their intellectual functioning. Therefore, the ex-

tent and rate of acquisition of their total development of

language will not be that for ‘‘typical’’ learners. Therefore,

it is critical to clearly delineate the needed language and

communication goals for the individual student consider-

ing his or her long-term life outcomes through the Indi-

vidualized Education Planning (IEP) process.

Students with learning disabilities may exhibit a com-bination of characteristics, which may mildly, moderately,or severely impair the learning process. Learning disabil-ities are characterized by a significant difference in thechild’s achievement in some areas, as compared to theoverall intelligence. Academically, students with learningdisabilities may exhibit a wide range of traits, includingproblems with language as evidenced in reading com-prehension, spoken language, written language, and rea-soning abilities. Receptive and expressive language, bothin the written and oral forms, can be a significant area forremediation. Difficulties will be evidenced in reading,writing, spelling, and comprehending oral and writtendirections across each of the academic settings. The dis-crepancies between expectations and achievement forstudents with learning disabilities increase without in-tense remediation in these areas.

As the exact numbers of students with learning disabil-ities are difficult to accurately establish, so also are the termsand defining characteristics as elusive when describing andidentifying students who have been described with emo-tional, behavioral, or mental disorders. The federal defini-tion of serious emotional disturbances (SEDs) includes:

A condition exhibiting one or more of the following

characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked

degree that adversely affects educational performance:

� An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intel-

lectual, sensory, or health factors;

� An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interper-

sonal relationships with peers or teachers;

� Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under nor-

mal circumstances;

� A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depres-

sion, or;

� A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears

associated with personal or school problems. (Code of

Federal Regulations, Title 34, 300.7(b)(9))

The causes of SED have not been adequately deter-mined. Although various factors, such as family function-ing, heredity, diet, brain trauma or disorder, and stress,have been suggested as possible causes (NICHCY, 1996),research has not shown any of these factors to be a directcause. Given the social and emotional nature of the defin-ing characteristics of this disability, the ramifications inthe areas of speech, language, and communication are

Language Development in Children with Special Needs 749

evident, especially with communication. Social interac-tions, as defined by the appropriate use of pragmatics andvocabulary, are the greatest areas of needs evidenced bystudents with serious emotional disturbances. Becauselanguage and communication are essential componentsof interpersonal relationships, children with SED mayexperience difficulties giving and receiving informationfrom others. Consequently, language skills seem to impactupon children’s social skills.

If a professional/service provider is unsure aboutwhether the child has a speech or language problem, he/she might refer the child for testing by a speech, language,or hearing professional. Speech–language pathologists arealso specially trained to serve as consultants to teachers andother professionals on dialectal variations and modifica-tions. Further, they are able to provide individual therapyfor the child; consult with the child’s teacher about themost effective ways to facilitate the child’s communicationin the class setting; and work closely with the family todevelop goals and techniques for effective therapy in theclassroom as well as at home. The use of assistive technol-ogy may help children whose physical conditions makecommunication difficult.

Proactive Strategies for Working withStudents with Communication Disorders

To work with exceptional learners with speech and lan-guage disorders or communications disorders, it is criticalto form and maintain partnerships that effectively fa-cilitate the community of learning that occurs in thehome, school, and community environments. The typesof parent–teacher–community partnerships that are formedand maintained are related to an understanding of bothmulticultural students with exceptionalities and their di-verse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. As a matter offact, ASHA noted that:

In order to effectively meet the needs of an increasingly

diverse multicultural clientele, it is very helpful for

speech-language-hearing professionals to be aware of the

historical, social and political factors that have contrib-

uted to the development of various speech communities

throughout the United States. (American Speech–

Language–Hearing Association, 2005)

Several critical factors concerning families of childrenwith special needs and their involvement with schools areimportant to note. The participation of parents in aneducational partnership with school staff may be affectedby their comfort level. For some parents/family membersof children with special needs, schools are not often seenas very user-friendly places. If parents/family membersfeel uncomfortable with the school’s conceptualization oftheir parent involvement, they may choose to abstain from

any of the roles made available to them by school person-nel. Many parents with limited verbal skills and littleexperience in negotiating the educational system may findit difficult to identify and access appropriate educationalresources for their children. Dealing with any bureau-cracies, including school systems, can be a frustrating andoverwhelming process. These parents may rarely have thecapacity to participate in educational partnerships, espe-cially when they sense that they are dealing with a systemthat does not recognize that they suffer from the double-whammy of dealing with both race and disability.

For parents who have had negative experiences them-selves with schools, this may present a barrier to theirparticipation as partners in the educational process. Someof these negative experiences may be more subtle; otherexperiences may be more overt. For example, when par-ents feel that there is little or no attempt to accuratelyrepresent the historical contributions of African Ameri-cans in the school curriculum, they may be reluctant oreven unwilling to form partnerships with teachers andothers involved in the education of their children. Parents,including those who have children with exceptionalities,usually understand that knowledge of one’s racial identityand cultural heritage are critical factors in promotingpositive self-esteem in some children and in socializingthem to effectively cope with racism.

Conclusion

Most would agree that the United States is a nationcomprised of persons from different backgrounds, expe-riences, ethnic and cultural groups, and expectations. Asa result, it is the responsibility of teachers and serviceproviders to provide academic and social–emotional sup-port that empowers both students and families withspecial needs. For many students with special needs, espe-cially those that are culturally and linguistically diverse,problems of misidentification, labeling, and inappropriateschooling still remain. Specifically, educators must valuecommunity and family involvement. In addition, theymust understand when students have language disordersor language differences as they explore the different typesof communication disorders. Finally, they must under-stand that collaboration with the child’s parents/primarycaregivers can have a major impact on the child’s commu-nicative development and skills. This is true for all chil-dren, but especially for students whose first language isnot the majority language.

Bibliography

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2008). Services inSchool for Children with Special Needs: What Parents Need to Know.89. Retrieved May 22, 2008, from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/

750 Education of Children with Special Needs

facts for_families/services_in_school_for_children_with_special_needs_what_parents_need_ to_know (accessed August 2009).

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2005). MulticulturalHistory and Demographic Profile of the United States. http://www.asha.org/about/leadership-projects/multicultural/readings/reading_1.htm (accessed August 2009).

Bernstein, D. K. and Tiegerman-Farber, E. (2002). Language andCommunication Disorders in Children, 5th edn. Boston, MA: Allynand Bacon.

NICHCY (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities)(1996). Educating Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders.http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/bibliog/bib10txt.htm (accessed August2009).

Owens, R. E., Jr (1988). Child development, In Language Development:An Introduction, 2nd edn., pp 63–103. Columbus, OH: Merrill.

Further Reading

Adger, C. T., Wolfram, W., and Detwyler, J. (1993). Languagedifferences: A new approach for special educators. TeachingExceptional Children 26, 44–48.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (1982). Definitions:Communication disorders and variations. ASHA 24, 949–950.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (1983). Positionpaper: Social dialects. ASHA 25, 23–24.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2001).Communicating in a Diverse Society. http://www.asha.org/about/news/tipsheets/Diverse_society.htm (accessed August 2009).

Anderson, N. B. and Shames, G. H. (2006). Human CommunicationDisorders: An Introduction, 7th edn. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Bank Street College (2008). English language learners: Working withstudents with whom English is a new language. Bank Street’s Guideto Literacy. http://www.bankstreet.edu/literacyguide/ell.html(accessed August 2009).

Berk, L. (2000). Child Development, 5th edn. Boston, MA: Allyn andBacon.

Carmack, F. and Thomas, P. J. (1990). Speech and Language:Detecting and Correcting Special Needs. Boston, MA: Allyn andBacon.

Craig, H. K. and Washington, J. A. (2000). An assessment battery foridentifying language impairments in African American children.Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 43, 366–379.

Craig, H. K., Washington, J., and Thompson-Porter, C. (1998).Performances of young African American children on twocomprehension tasks. Journal of Speech, Language, and HearingResearch 41, 445–457.

Culatta, R., Tompkins, J., and Werts, M. (2003). Fundamentals ofSpecial Education: What Every Teacher Needs to Know. Boston, MA:Allyn and Bacon.

Delpit, L. (2002). Introduction. In Delpit, L. and Dowdy, J. (eds.) The Skinthat We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in theClassroom, p xvii. New York: New Press.

Delpit, L. (2006). Other People’s Children. Cultural Conflict in theClassroom. New York: New Press.

Dev, P., Doyle, B., and Valente, B. (2002). Labels needn’t stick: ‘‘At risk’’first graders rescued with appropriate intervention. Journal ofEducation for Students Placed at Risk 7(3), 327–332.

Dockrell, J. E. (2001). Assessing language skills in preschool children.Child and Adolescent Mental Health 6(2), 74–85.

Hardman, M. L., Drew, C. J., and Egan, M. W. (2008). HumanExceptionality: School, Community, and Family, 9th edn. Boston,MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Hedge, M. N. (1995). Introduction to Communication Disorders. Austin,TX: Pro-Ed.

Heward, W. L. (2005). Exceptional Children, 8th edn. Upper SaddleRiver, NJ: Pearson Education.

Johansson, I. (1994). Language Development in Children with SpecialNeeds: Performative Communication. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Kuder, S. J. (2007). Teaching Students with Language andCommunication Disabilities, 2nd edn. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Lindsay, G. and Dockrell, J. E. (2004).Lue, M. S. (2001). A Survey of Communication Disorders for the

Classroom Teacher. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Mercer, C. D. and Pullen, P. C. (2005). Students with Learning

Disabilities, 6th edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

Moeller, M. (2000). Early intervention and language development inchildren who are deaf and hard of hearing. Pediatrics 106(3). http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/106/3/e43(accessed August 2009).

Morton, R., Sharma, V., Nicholson, J., Broderick, M., and Poyser, J.(2002). Disability in children from different ethnic populations. Child:Care Health and Development 28(1), 87–93.

National Center on Educational Statistics (2005). Language minorityschool age children: Participation in education. Condition ofEducation. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2005/section1/indicator05.asp (accessed August 2009).

Nieto, S. and Bode, P. (2008). Affirming Diversity. The SociopoliticalContext of Multicultural Education, 5th edn. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Obiakor, F. E. (ed.) (2007). Multicultural Special Education. CulturallyResponsive Teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

Owens, R. E., Jr., Metz, D., and Haas, A. (2007). Introduction toCommunication Disorders: A Lifespan Perspective, 3rd edn. Boston,MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Payne, K. T. and Taylor, O. L. (1998). Communication differences anddisorders. In Shames, G. H., Wiig, E. H., and Secord, W. A. (eds.)Human Communication Disorders: An Introduction, 5th edn., pp118–154. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Pierangelo, R. (2003). The Special Educator’s Book of Lists. SanFrancisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Polloway, E., Patton, J., and Serna, L. (2001). Strategies for TeachingLearners with Special Needs, 7th edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

Porter, L. (2002). Educating Young Children with Special Needs.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Roseberry-McKibbin, C. (1995). Distinguishing language differencesfrom language disorders in linguistically and culturally diversestudents. Multicultural Education 2, 12–16.

Sileo, T. W., Sileo, A. P., and Prater, M. A. (1996). Parent andprofessional partnerships in special education: Multiculturalconsiderations. Intervention in School and Clinic 31, 145–153.

Stone, C. A., Silliman, E. R., Ehren, B. J., and Apel, K. (eds.) (2004).Handbook of Language and Literacy. New York: Guilford.

Turnbull, R., Turnbull, A., Shank, M., Smith, S., and Leal, D. (2002).Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today’s Schools, 3rd edn.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

Van Riper, C. and Erickson, R. (1996). Speech Correction: AnIntroduction to Speech Pathology and Audiology, 9th edn. Boston,MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Vaughn, S., Bos, C., and Schumm, J. (2000). Teaching Exceptional,Diverse, and at-Risk Students in the General Education Classroom,2nd edn. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Relevant Websites

http://www.ataccess.org – Alliance for Technology Access.http://www.asha.org – American Speech–Language–Hearing

Association.http://www.childrensdisabilities.info – Children’s Disabilities

Information.http://www.cec.sped.org – Council for Exceptional Children.http://www.easterseals.com – Easter Seals Disability Services.http://lshss.asha.org – Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in

Schools.http://www.ldanatl.org – Learning Disabilities Association of America.http://www.ldonline.org – LD Online.

Language Development in Children with Special Needs 751

http://www.nabe.org – National Association for Bilingual Education.http://www.nads.org – National Association for Down Syndrome.http://www.napcse.org – National Association of Parents with Children

in Special Education, Speech and Language Impairments.http://www.nidcd.nih.gov – National Institute on Deafness and Other

Communication Disorders.http://www.nncc.org – National Network for Childcare-Children with

Disabilities or Special Needs.

http://www.nsastutter.org – National Stuttering Association.http://www.cfw.tufts.edu – Tufts University, Child and Family.http://www.ed.gov – US Department of Education, Twenty-Seventh

Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individualswith Disabilities Education Act, Parts B and C.

http://www.zerotothree.org – Zero to three: Early Language andLiteracy.