The central assertion in this volume is that the young child uses general skills, scaffolded by adults, to acquire the complex knowledge of sound patterns and the goal-directed behaviors for communicating ideas through language and producing speech. A child's acquisition of phonology is seen as a product of her physical and social interaction capacities supported by input from adult models about ambient language sound patterns. Acquisition of phonological knowledge and behavior is a product of this function-oriented complex system. No pre-existing mental knowledge base is necessary for acquiring phonology in this view. Importantly, the child's diverse abilities are used for many other functions as well as phonological acquisition. Throughout, an evaluation is made of the research on patterns of typical development across languages in monolingual and bilingual children and children with speech impairments affecting various aspects of their developing complex system. Also considered is the status of available theoretical perspectives on phonological acquisition relative to an emergence proposal, and contributions that this perspective could make to more comprehensive modeling of the nature of phonological acquisition are proposed. The volume will be of interest to cognitive psychologists, linguistics, and speech pathologists.

The central assertion in this volume is that the young child uses general skills, scaffolded by adults, to acquire the complex knowledge of sound patterns and the goal-directed behaviors for communicating ideas through language and producing speech. A child's acquisition of phonology is seen as a product of her physical and social interaction capacities supported by input from adult models about ambient language sound patterns. Acquisition of phonological knowledge and behavior is a product of this function-oriented complex system. No pre-existing mental knowledge base is necessary for acquiring phonology in this view. Importantly, the child's diverse abilities are used for many other functions as well as phonological acquisition. Throughout, an evaluation is made of the research on patterns of typical development across languages in monolingual and bilingual children and children with speech impairments affecting various aspects of their developing complex system. Also considered is the status of available theoretical perspectives on phonological acquisition relative to an emergence proposal, and contributions that this perspective could make to more comprehensive modeling of the nature of phonological acquisition are proposed. The volume will be of interest to cognitive psychologists, linguistics, and speech pathologists.

Developmental Speech Disorders is a CD-ROM that has been designed as a flexible resource for classroom and clinical use. Using an intuitive navigation chart, the CD-ROM demonstrates typical speech development beginning at the early stages of vocal development in infancy and continuing through age four. These clips can be compared with video clips of clients with mildly disordered, moderately disordered, and severely disordered speech development in the following age categories: 1-3 years, 3-5 years, 5-8 years, and 8+ years of age. Each video clip is accompanied by written descriptions of a brief case history, diagnosis, and other relevant information. There is also an assessment practice section that allows viewers to assess various video clips of clients according to severity. This clinical archive can be used to support clinical teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels of Communication Sciences and Disorders. It can also be used for support of clinical teaching related to student practicum experiences at the Master's degree level in CSD.Practicing clinicians can use this tool as a reference for themselves, as well as for the families of patients, to demonstrate the various degrees of developmental speech disorders.