The research activities of the Child Language Center focus on young children with speech and/or language impairments. The following Activity List presents a representative sample of publications, scholarly presentations, grants, and community service presentations from faculty and fellows who have been affiliated with the Center over the past several years.
 

Publications

Bellaire, S., Plante, E., & Swisher, L. (1994). Bound-morpheme skills in the oral language of school-age, language-impaired children. Journal of Communication Disorders, 27, 265-279.

Camarata, S., & Swisher, L. (1990). A note on intelligence assessment within studies of specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 33, 205-206.

Gray, S. (l998). Lexical acquisition by children with specific language impairment: phonological and semantic effects on and performance predictions among fast mapping, word learning, and word extension. Unpublished dissertation: University of Arizona.

Gray, S., Plante, E., Vance, R., & Hendrichsen, M. (1999). The diagnostic accuracy of four vocabulary tests administered to preschool-age children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 30, 196-206.

Kayser, H., & Restrepo, M.A. (1995). Language samples: Elicitation and analysis. In H. Kayser, Bilingual speech-language pathology: An Hispanic focus (pp. 265-288). San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group, Inc.

Kiernan, B. (l993). Verbatim memory and gist extraction in elementary-school Children with impaired language skills. Unpublished Dissertation: University of Arizona.

Kiernan, B., & Gray, S. (1998).Novel vocabulary learning in preschool children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41, 161-171.

Kiernan, B., & Snow, D. (l999). Bound-morpheme generalization by children with SLI: Is there a functional relationship with accuracy of response to training targets? Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 42, 649-662.

Kiernan, B., Snow, D., Swisher, L., &Vance, R. (l997). Another look at nonverbal “rule-induction” in children with specific language impairment: Testing the “flexible reconceptualization” hypothesis. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 40, 75-82.

Kiernan, B., & Swisher, L. (1990). The initial learning of novel English words: Two single-subject experiments with minority-language children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 33, 706-716.

Krassowski, E. & Plante, E. (in press). IQ variability in children with SLI: Implications for use of cognitive referencing in determining SLI. Journal of Communication Disorders.

McCauley, R., & Swisher, L. (1984). Psychometric review of language and articulation tests for preschool children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 49, 34?42.

McCauley, R., & Swisher, L. (1984). Uses and misuses of norm?referenced tests in clinical assessment: A hypothetical case. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 49, 338?348.

McCauley, R., & Swisher, L. (1987). Letter to the editor: Are maltreated children at risk for speech or language impairment?: An unanswered question. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 52, 301-303.

Merrill, A., & Plante, E. (1997). Norm-referenced test interpretation in the diagnostic process. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 28, 50-58. 

Nakamura, M., Plante, E., & Swisher, L. (1990). Predictors of novel inflection learning in preschool-aged boys. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 33, 747-754. 

Nicol, J., & Swinney, D.A. (1989). Conference processing during sentence comprehension. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Special Issue: Sentence Processing, 18, 5-19.

Oyler, R.F., Oyler, A.L., & Matkin, N.D. (1987). Warning: A unilateral hearing loss may be detrimental to a child's academic career. The Hearing Journal, 40, 18?22.

Perozzi, J. A. (1985). A pilot study of bilingual language facilitation: Theoretical and intervention implications. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 50, 403?406.

Plante, E. (1991). MRI findings in the parents and siblings of specifically language impaired boys. Brain and Language, 41, 67-80.

Plante, E. (1996). Sources of variability in the behavioral and neuroanatomical phenotype of developmental language disorder.In M. Rice (Ed.), Toward a genetics of language, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Plante, E., Kiernan, B., & Betts, J.D. (1994). Method or methodolotry: The qualitative/quantitative debate. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 25, 52-54.

Plante, E., Swisher, L., Kiernan, B., & Restrepo, M.A. (1993). Language matches: Illuminating or confounding? Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 36, 772-776.

Plante, E., Swisher, L., & Vance, R. (1989). Anatomical correlates of normal and impaired language in a set of dizygotic twins. Brain and Language, 37, 643-657.

Plante, E., Swisher, L., Vance, R., & Rapcsak, S. (1991). MRI findings in boys with specific language impairment. Brain and Language, 41, 52-66.

Plante, E., & Vance, R. (1994). Selection of preschool language tests: A data-based approach. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 25, 15-24.

Plante, E., & Vance, R. (1995). Diagnostic accuracy of two tests of preschool language. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 4, 70-76.

Restrepo, M.A., Swisher, L., Plante, E., & Vance, R. (1992). Relations among verbal and nonverbal cognitive skills in normal language and specifically language-impaired children. Journal of Communication Disorders, 25, 205-220.

Reyna, V.F., & Kiernan, B.J. (1994). Development of gist versus verbatim memory in sentence recognition: Effects of lexical familiarity, semantic content, encoding instructions, and retention interval. Developmental Psychology, 30, 178-191.

Reyna, V.F., & Kiernan, B.J. (1994). Children's memory and metaphorical interpretation. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity. 10, (4)

Snow, D. (1996). A linguistic account of a developmental semantic-pragmatic disorder: Evidence from a case study. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 10, 281-298.

Snow, D., & Swisher, L. (1996). Neurobehavioral analogies between syndromes of acquired and developmental language impairment: Hypotheses for research. Aphasiology.10, 453-468.

Snow, D., Swisher, L., McNamara, M., Kiernan, B.J. (1996). A potential limitation of treatment efficacy research: A comment on Camarata, Nelson, and Camarata (1994). [Letter to the editor]. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research. 39, 221-222.

Swisher, L. (1994). Developmental language disorders. In F. Minifie (Ed.), Introduction to Communication Disorders (pp. 237-278). San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group, Inc.

Swisher, L., & Plante, E. (1993). Nonverbal IQ tests reflect different relations among skills for specifically language-impaired and normal children. Journal of Communication Disorders, 26, 65-71.

Swisher, L., Plante, E., & Lowell, S. (1994). Nonlinguistic deficits of language-impaired children complicate the interpretation of their nonverbal IQ scores. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools, 25, 235-240.

Swisher, L., Restrepo, M.A., Plante, E., & Lowell, S. (1995). Effect of implicit and explicit "rule" presentation on bound-morpheme generalization in specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 168-173.

Swisher, L., & Snow, D. (1994). Learning and generalization of morphological acquisition by children with specific language impairment: Is there a functional relation? Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37, 1406-1413.

Violette, J., & Swisher, L. (1992). Echolalic responses by a child with autism to four experimental conditions of socio-linguistic input. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 139-147.

Wilcox, A. (1997). Annological problem-solution generalization: The impact of instructional flexibility on performance by preschool children with SLI. A Master’s thesis submitted to The Graduate College, University of Arizona.

The * indicates an invited presentation.

Daily, S., Plante, E., & Swisher, L. (1992, November). Oral bound morpheme deficits in school-age, language-learning disabled and normal language children. Poster presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, San Antonio, TX.

* Gray, S. (1996, February). Assessment and treatment of a young child from Russia with environmental deprivation. Language Grand Rounds presented at the annual convention of the Arizona Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Phoenix, AZ.

* Gray, S. (l996, October). Developing models of student training in Scottish Rite Clinics. Invited presentation to the first convention of the Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders, Denver, CO.

Gray, S. (l999, November). Fast mapping, word learning, and word extension by preschoolers with SLI. Poster presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, San Francisco, CA.

Gray, S. (2000, June). Predicting language group status and word-learning success: The contribution of phonological memory, semantic skills, and norm-referenced test. Poster presented at the Twenty-first annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI.

Gray, S., & Kiernan, B. (l997, April). Vocabulary learning in preschooll children with specific language impairment. Miniseminar presented at the annual meeting of the Arizona Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ArSHA), Phoenix, AZ.

Gray, S., & Kiernan, B. (l997, November). Word learning in supported-learning contexts by preschool children with SLI. Miniseminar presented at the annual convention of the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), Boston, MA.

Gray, S., Plante, E., Vance, R., & Henrichsen, M. (l998, November). The diagnostic accuracy of four vocabulary tests administered to preschool-age children. Poster presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, San Antonio, TX.

Gray, S., Vance, R., & Plante, E. (November, 2000). Oral and written language scales performance by children with SLI. Poster to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Speech, Language, Hearing Association, Washington, D.C.

Kiernan, B. (1991, November). Probing the verbatim to gist shift in language development. Miniseminar presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Atlanta, GA.

Kiernan, B. (1993, November). Gist-extraction deficits observed in language-impaired children: Modifiable performance deficits. Poster presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), Anaheim, CA.

* Kiernan, B. (1996, May).Instructional facilitation of language learning and communication in children with SLI. Invited discussant remarks in the symposium “Varieties of instruction on communicational skills,” presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis, San Fransisco, CA.

Kiernan, B., Gray, S., & Swisher, L. (1996, November). Is poor vocabulary learning a hallmark of preschoolers with SLI?Miniseminar presented at the annual convention of the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Seattle, WA.

Kiernan, B., & Gray, S. (1997, April). Vocabulary learning in preschool children with specific language impairment. Seminar presented at the annual convention of the Arizona speech-Language-Hearing Association, Phoenix, AZ.

Kiernan, B., & Gray, S. (2000, June).Reconsidering the impact of low-normal nonverbal IQ scores on performance of preschool children with SLI. Poster presentation at the 20^th Annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI.

Kiernan, B., & Hellwig, L. (1985, May).Evaluating oral English proficiency in children.Miniseminar presented at III Annual Venezuela TESOL Convention, Caraballeda, Venezuela.

Kiernan, B., McNamara, M., & Swisher, L. (l996, November). Verbal memory skills of preschool children with specific language impairment: Differential sensitivity to phonological, lexical, and syntactic information. Research session at the annual convention of the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Seattle, WA.

* Kiernan, B., Swisher, L., Kayser, H., Gutierrez-Clellen, V., & Perozzi, J. (1993, November). Experimental or clinical support that L1 facilitates L2 learning. Miniseminar presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Anaheim, CA.

Kiernan, B., Swisher, L., & Rupp, K. (1988, March). Comparing bilingual and monolingual approaches to receptive vocabulary learning. Miniseminar presented at the annual convention of the Teachers of English to Students of Other Languages, Chicago, IL.

Kiernan, B., Swisher, L., & Snow, D. (1995, December). Learning about language learning and generalization. Miniseminar presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), Atlanta, GA.

Plante, E. (1988, November). MRI findings in children with specific language impairment. Paper presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Boston, MA.

Plante, E. (1994, November). Adults with developmental language disorders: The parents of SLI children. Miniseminar presented at the convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, New Orleans, LA.

Plante, E. (1994, December). Developmental language disorders: Behavioral correlates in adults. Telerounds broadcast by the National Center for Neurogenic Communication Disorders, Tucson, AZ.

Plante, E., & Boliek, C. (1993, November). The relation between language disorders and elevated androgens. Paper presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Anaheim, CA.

* Plante, E., Swisher, L., & Hixon, K. (1989, April). Language and the developmentally disordered brain: Lessons learned from specific language impairment. Presentation at the Centro Studi Regionali Sindrome Di Down Conference, San Remo, Italy.

Plante, E., Swisher, L., & Vance, R. (1990, November). A biological profile of specific language impairment. Paper presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Seattle, WA. 

Restrepo, M.A., Plante, E., & Swisher, L. (1993, November). Explicit teaching of grammatical rules: Beneficial or interfering with bound morpheme generalization? Poster presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Anaheim, CA.

Restrepo, M., Plante, E., Swisher, L., & Vance, R. (1991, November). Predicting grammatical morpheme learning in normal and language-impaired children. Poster presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Atlanta, GA. 

Snow, D. (1995, March). Phrase-final prosody and children's early grammatical development. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Indianapolis, IN.

Snow, D. (1995, June). A linguistic account of a developmental, semantic-pragmatic disorder: Evidence from a case study. Poster presented at the 16th annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI.

* Swisher, L. (1992). Specifically language-impaired children have no peers. Presentation at the School for Human Communication Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Swisher, L. & Bauvier, D. (1996, April) Developmental language disorders: assessment and management. Half-day seminar presentedto Child Psychiatry fellows, Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, AZ.

* Swisher, L., (featured speaker) & Kiernan, B. (1995, March). Specific language impairment: Data-based evaluation and intervention recommendations. Two-day seminar presented at the annual convention of the Hawaii Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Honolulu, HA.

Swisher, L., Plante, E., Kiernan, B., & Restrepo, M. (1993, November). Beyond linguistic deficits: The nonverbal profile of specific language impairment. Miniseminar presented at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Anaheim, CA.

* Swisher, L., Plante, E., & Vance, R. (1990, October). Towards a biologically-based model of the developmentally-disordered language system. Paper presented to the Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. 

* Swisher, L., & Vance, R. (1988, September). Challenges to clinicians and educators presented by Public Law 99-457. Teleconference on meeting the needs of communicatively handicapped 3-5 year-old children, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

* Swisher, L., Vance, R., & Plante, E. (1990, February). The behavioral constellation of specific language impairment from a biological perspective. Presentation at the annual convention of the Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Chicago, IL.

Wilcox, A., & Kiernan, B. (l998, June). Facilitating generalization by children with specific language impairment in a functional analogy task. Poster presentation at the 19^th annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI.

Wilcox, A., & Kiernan, B. (l998, November). Generalization problems: Can error analysis guide training choices? Poster presentation at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), San Antonio, TX.

Grants and Contracts

Research Grants

Demetras, M.J., & Swisher, L. (1982). Subclassification of language?impaired preschool children. Biomedical Research Support Grant Program, Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health. Grant No. 2 S07RR07021, $6,500.

Kiernan, B. (l998). Evaluating the effectiveness of a teacher-training program designed to promote early identification and referral for preschool children with speech or language impairment. University of Arizona Community Partnership Grant ($25,000).

Plante, E., & Swisher, L. (1988). Neuroanatomical correlates of developmental language disorders. Biomedical Research Support Grant Program, Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health. Grant No. BRSG S07RR07002, $8,500.

Swisher, L & Kiernan, B. (October, 1994-September, 1997). Specific language impairment: Language learning and generalization. U.S. Department of Education. Grant No. H023C40118, $540,000. 

Leadership Preparation Grants

Swisher, L. (June, 1983?May, 1986). Doctoral and post?doctoral leadership training in teaching and research: Early childhood language disorders. U.S. Department of Education. Grant No. G008301459, $270,654.

Swisher, L. (June, 1986?May, 1989). Doctoral and post-doctoral leadership training in clinical research, teaching and administration: Child language research center. U.S. Department of Education. Grant No. G008630088, $436,594. 

Swisher, L. (June, 1989-June, 1992). Child language laboratory personnel preparation project. U.S. Department of Education. Grant No. H029D90108, $270,000.

Swisher L. (June, 1992-May, 1997). Child language laboratory personnel preparation project. U.S. Department of Education. Grant No. HO29D20070, $567,205.

Gray, S. (1996). Vocabulary learning by children with specific language impairment. 1996 American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation Student Research Grant in Early Childhood Language.

Kiernan, B. (1987). Bilingual and monolingual vocabulary learning by predominantly Navajo- speaking preschool children. Arlene Matkin Award. American Speech?Language? Hearing Foundation, Tucson, AZ.

Swisher, L. (1983). Top Five, University-wide "Five Star" Faculty Award Sponsored by the Honors program, The University of Arizona.

Swisher, L. (1993). Mortar Board Hall of Fame: Recognition of a woman among the University faculty or staff who has demonstrated leadership, promoted high standards in the academic community, and has contributed outstanding service both to the students and the overall welfare of The University of Arizona.

Community Service Invited Presentations

Gray, S., & Kiernan, B. (l999, March). Spotting speech and language problems in preschoolers. Miniseminar presented at the Annual Conference of The Tucson Association for the Education of Young Children. Tucson, AZ.

Gray, S., & Kiernan, B. (l999, August). Spotting Speech and Language Problems in Preschoolers. Child-Parent Center’s Annual Kickoff Conference, Tucson, AZ.

Gray, S., & Kiernan, B. (1999, September). Spotting speech and language problems in preschoolers. Miniseminar presented at the Tucson Unified School District Training for Teachers of At-Risk Children, Tucson, AZ.

Gray, S., & Zakerwski, K. (l999, March). Integrating speech and language activities into the classroom. Miniseminar presented at the Annual Conference of the Arizona Council for Exceptional Children. Tucson, AZ.

Gray, S., & Zakerwski, K. (1999, August). Integrating speech and language activities into the classroom. Child-Parent Center’s Annual Kickoff Converence, Tucson, AZ.

Gray, S., & Zakerwski, K. (l999, September). Integrating speech and language activities into the classroom. Miniseminar presented at the Tucson Unified School District Training for Teachers of At-Risk Children, Tucson, AZ.

Restrepo, M. & Vance, R. (1995, May). Language stimulation in the preschool classroom. Inservice presented to Casita Maria Day Care Center staff.

Snow, D. (1994, May). "On the Wings of Words:" Tucsonians help children with specific language impairment. North Tucson Lions Club, Tucson, AZ. 

Vance, R. (1995, September). Language stimulation in the classroom. Inservice presented to Headstart preschool teachers, Tucson, AZ.

Vance, R. (1995, October). Language development through the school years.Inservice presented to teachers'aides. Coolidge, AZ.

Vance, R. (l996, February). The Child Language Center: Making a difference in the lives of children with specific language impairment. Tucson Rotary Club, Tucson, Az.

Vance, R. (l996, September). Literate citizen or school dropout: A proactive choice. Tucson Rotary Club, Pantano Chapter, Tucson, AZ.