Language comprehension provides a better index of burgeoning linguistic skill than does language production. Until 1982, however, the methods used to assess language comprehension were inadequate. In a grant funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Golinkoff and Hirsh- Pasek (1981) developed a new language comprehension procedure which permits sensitive assessment of linguistic abilities with minimal responses on the part of infant subjects. The present project is designed to accomplish 3 specific aims: (1) To demonstrate the significance of our language comprehension paradigm for the linguistic assessment of infants and young children with cerebral palsy; (2) to permit a more fine-grained analysis of different linguistic subtypes within the cerebral palsy population. This project will help us begin to differentiate those who suffer from motorically based production deficits from those who have deeper linguistic deficits; and (3) to assess the effects of the diverse motor limitations in cerebral palsy on the emergence of linguistic relational classes such as spatial terms. This project will inform our theories about the link between action and cognition and it will demonstrate that young handicapped children can be sensitively and reliably assessed. Contingent upon the outcome of this project, we will pursue the development of an actual assessment instrument. Before taking that step, however, it is essential that we document the utility of this paradigm for the cerebral palsied child.
| Golinkoff, R M; Jacquet, R C; Hirsh-Pasek, K et al. (1996) Lexical principles may underlie the learning of verbs. Child Dev 67:3101-19 |
| Golinkoff, R M; Mervis, C B; Hirsh-Pasek, K (1994) Early object labels: the case for a developmental lexical principles framework. J Child Lang 21:125-55 |
