This study investigated the influence of interventive programs for syntax and articulation on the articulatory and syntactic skills of public school children with multiple-linguistic problems. One group received a program of syntax exclusively, a second received a program of articulation exclusively, and a third received no intervention. Pre- and posttesting revealed that the two experimental groups made significant gains in both syntax and articulatory skills, while the control subjects made no significant gains.

Effects of phonologica] and syntactic structure on the sentence productions of language-disordered school children (mean age = 6:2 years) were investigated. The syllabic complexity of target sentences as well as clause embedding significantly contributed to sentence inaccuracy (omission. substitution, addition, and transposition errors). Phonological complexity in lexical items disrupted syntactic performance in a quantitative fashion. Whereas the syntactic constructions determined the patterns of errors, added phonological cmnplexity simply increased the errors within the patterns. The causal interrelationships between children's syntactic and phonological disorders are discussed in terms of a theory of general organizational deficit.

The effects of syntactic and phonological structure on the consonant articulations of children with phonological deficits were investigated. Three structural variables were studied: syntactic structure (noun phrase, declarative sentence and passive sentence), word structure (monosyllable and disyllable) and word position (initial and final). Syntactic structure and word structure significantly affected the accuracy of articulation and the degree of word simplification. Structural complexity may contribute to overall hierarchial complexity, in turn causing children to simplify their speech.

Qualitative studies have produced new but fragmentary observations of the discourse of clinical lessons. This paper surveys these findings and integrates them around the principles of conversational discourse and discourse analysis. The picture which emerges is that training lessons are patterned within and across levels of conversational discourse. Social, verbal, and nonverbal components of clinician—child interaction are organized hierarchically for the purposes of eliciting correct linguistic responses. Clinical discourse research is discussed with reference to questions of clinical validity and practicality. Five learning hypotheses are also suggested.

Eight dyads of misarticulating school children (M = 7:9 years) enrolled in clinical programs were videotaped while they role-played 5-min remedial articulation lessons. Analysis of lesson transcripts was carried out at selected levels (lesson management, roles, discourse contexts, communicative acts, discourse sequences, and topic introduction). The "clinicians" controlled the lesson tasks and topics and used communicative acts in a manner typical of adult clinicians. The "clients" role-played cooperatively and displayed the response patterns of children receiving remedial lessons. Hierarchical relationships among the selected levels of analysis suggested the use of a cohesive register appropriate for clinical teaching. It is suggested that children's sociolinguistic perspectives on remedial speech and language lessons should be taken into account when intervention lessons are planned and implemented.