What is Determiners

Language intervention focusing on syntax is an essential component of programs designed to meet the educational needs of children with language disabilities as it provides a foundation for improved communication and literacy. Yet there are challenges to providing individualized syntax intervention on a daily basis in inclusionary settings. The use of assistive technology in the form of language intervention software provides one means to address these challenges. This chapter describes the background, rationale, and use of software designed to provide receptive syntax intervention to build sentence comprehension and use in pre-school and elementary children with disabilities. The software is also appropriate for at-risk students in districts providing early intervening services in a response to intervention model as well as English language learners. Included is an overview of advances in linguistic theory and research that have dramatically increased our understanding of language and how it is acquired by typically and atypically developing children, and which informed the curricular design of the software described. The results of field-testing under naturalistic conditions in classrooms, where regular use of the software was associated with accelerated language development, are also reviewed.