Preschoolers with developmental language disorder may substitute object case pronouns in the subject position of sentences. This study explored whether pronoun case accuracy in spontaneous language samples was associated with the provision of personal pronouns in probes that use structural priming. Seventeen Head Start preschoolers participated. Two categorical measures were calculated based on the absence of spontaneous case errors in 15-min language samples and the presence of personal pronouns in responses to formal priming items on a standardized assessment. Children who produced spontaneous pronoun case errors were less likely to respond to priming with he, she, him , or her in subject position, instead producing lexical noun phrases such as “the boy.” A prerequisite knowledge of English’s case system may be needed for uptake of structural priming in standardized assessments. Preschoolers with immature pronoun case knowledge may not exhibit pronoun case errors during structured formal tasks that rely on priming cues.

Familial beliefs and abilities play a crucial role in shaping the dynamics of shared book reading between caregivers and their young children. The variations in caregiver shared book reading behaviors significantly impact what and how much a child learns from those experiences. Thus, understanding caregiver beliefs through a strength-based lens is essential to inform the development of resources, recommendations, and interventions that prioritize familial perspectives. This approach is crucial for promoting children’s development, especially in vulnerable communities like migratory families and families experiencing homelessness. Therefore, this qualitative study adopted a strengths-based approach to explore the shared book reading perspectives, practices, and strengths in migratory and unhoused families. Through interviews with 13 caregivers (6 migratory caregivers and 7 unhoused caregivers), a phenomenological analysis revealed key themes of Shared Book Reading as Protection, Shared Book Reading as a Bridge, Reading to Teach, Making Reading Interesting, and Following the Child’s Lead. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the themes can serve as a foundation for the development of future shared book reading resources and interventions in collaboration with migratory and unhoused families, promoting inclusivity and effectiveness by aligning resource development with their unique perspectives and strengths.

Effective services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing depend on uniquely skilled professionals who coordinate their support. University programs have developed interdisciplinary models, training different types of professionals together to equip them for work settings that are increasingly inclusive and collaborative. These training programs address standards-based knowledge and skills from various disciplines, but may not be as deliberate in addressing the professional dispositions that are foundational to collaborative practice. Particularly when belief systems intersect topics of language use and identity, dispositions can be challenging to teach and are often applied differently across professions. This article provides a narrative description of an interdisciplinary training program that equips teachers of the deaf and speech-language pathologists. Using a “self-reflective cycle” representative of participatory-action research, it considers both missteps and successes within a continuous improvement process, and the integration of interdisciplinary dispositions as a foundational component of training. A framework of “What to Teach,” Why to Teach It,” and “How to Teach It” is provided that can be embedded or adapted for similar interdisciplinary training programs. The identified dispositions are informed by research-based best practices and center on inclusivity.

With advances in technology and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (2020–2023), telepractice has become a prominent service delivery model. This study explores the evolution of telepractice service delivery research published by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the impact of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency on ASHA publications through searches of the ASHAWire database using “telepractice OR telehealth OR virtual OR teletherapy” in February 2021, 2022, 2023 and April 2023. In February 2023, 1,683 records were identified and hand searched for relevance to the evolution of telepractice. In April 2023, 471 records published from 2020 to 2023 were systematically screened for relevance to reveal 148 articles that met inclusion criteria. ASHAWire is a reputable resource for articles on telepractice service delivery, especially after the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. It is important, however, for researchers and clinicians to carefully examine methodology of studies as the use of technology may conflate search results.

Special education teachers have students in their classrooms with a variety of needs, and it is their responsibility to meet these needs for all students. Research shows special education teachers oftentimes enter the field with limited knowledge and skills to serve students with complex communication needs. The lack of background in augmentative and alternative communication practices is detrimental, as communication skills are fundamental for students’ independence. To better understand the needs of special education teachers, a survey was conducted to identify recommendations from the experts, U.S. in-service special education teachers, to incoming educators on augmentative and alternative practices. Results show that certain participant demographics impacted the recommendations offered to incoming special education teachers. Practical implications for incoming special education teachers, school administrators, and teacher preparation programs are discussed, along with suggestion for future research directions.

Theory of mind (ToM) involves understanding others’ thoughts and feelings and is related to language abilities. Individuals with communication disorders are at risk of ToM difficulties; however, little is known about speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs’) knowledge, perceptions, and educational preparation related to ToM.U.S.SLPs ( N = 95) completed an online survey in which they described their understanding of ToM and answered questions about their educational preparation related to ToM. A thematic analysis of SLPs’ definitions of ToM revealed nine themes represented in participants’ responses including perspective-taking and interpersonal and intrapersonal cognitive and affective ToM. Most SLPs’ definitions included more than one code indicating a multifaceted understanding of ToM; however, most SLPs reported little formal education related to ToM. Although language ability plays a critical role in the development of ToM and SLPs are language specialists, these results suggest that SLPs receive little formal education on these topics. Clinical implications are discussed.

This study explored how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in Jordan perceived and implemented telepractice at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, from April to June 2020. Eighty-five SLPs who provided telepractice and 57 SLPs, who did not, completed an online survey sharing their perceptions related to the delivery and barriers of telepractice. The results showed a significant increase of telepractice use in response to the pandemic. However, the SLPs identified several barriers to telepractice, including environmental distractions at the client’s end, limited computer knowledge, technological issues, internet connectivity problems, and platform availability. There was general agreement among the SLPs regarding the need for professional training and governmental guidelines to regulate the use of telepractice. The study’s findings demonstrate how SLPs in Jordan adapted to the sudden shift toward telepractice, and identify potential implementation obstacles, which could assist in establishing telepractice as a reliable model for speech-language therapy services in the future.

School-age English learners (ELs) are faced with the challenging task of acquiring a foreign language while simultaneously reading academically demanding literature. Therefore, the current research aimed to examine the relation between the rate of grammatical tense marking errors made by ELs and their performance on measures of reading comprehension (RC). The sample for the current study included 5th-grade students who were categorized as ELs who were receiving English support services ( N = 103). Samples were collected using i-Ready and writing samples. The samples were used to examine ELs’ RC in relation to tense marking errors in their written responses on the district writing assessment at the end of the school year. The results from the study revealed that there was a moderate negative correlation ( r = −.431, p < .010) between verb tense errors and reading comprehension. Students with high rates of verb tense errors received lower RC scores.

Deafblindness is complex, and there is very limited research on literacy for learners who are deafblind, including on comprehension. This study investigated current practices for comprehension development for learners who are deafblind. Data were collected through a survey and interviews from 63 U.S. participants who were teachers, interveners, and parents. Thematic analysis resulted in the emergence of themes and strategies related to supporting and measuring comprehension during shared reading for learners who are deafblind. Strategies for supporting comprehension include multiple communication forms, customizing the text, repeating, exploring materials, and integrating technology. For measuring comprehension strategies include questioning, completing phrases, commenting and discussing, retelling, sequencing, and extension activities. Implications for research include future investigations on the effectiveness of the strategies currently reported to support and measure comprehension. Implications for practice include developing understanding by supporting communication and access during shared reading while using multiple measures of comprehension.

The lack of research exploring the influence of dynamic visual narratives on inference skills prompted the present study with an aim to profile the inference skills in school children between the ages of 6 years and 9 years 11 months using dynamic visual narratives. A total of 80 participants were considered for the study. An animated story was designed as the dynamic visual narrative stimuli based on which an “inference task” was formulated, which included forced-choice questions and free-response questions. The responses of the forced-choice questions were analyzed quantitatively using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), while the responses from the free-response questions were analyzed qualitatively. The results revealed an increase in inference skills with age, with children using less seductive details, beginning to display inductive inference, and providing multiple inferences. The inference profiles obtained from the study can serve as evidence for the development of bridging inference skills from dynamic visual narratives in children.