Brain, cognition and language connection: current issues in child language

This theme issue focuses on relationships between the brain, cognition, and language, and the implications that these relationships have for providing assessment and intervention services to individuals with language-based impairments. The Child Language Committee of the IALP compiled this issue with the goal of stimulating evidenced-based practice and research related to language acquisition and its impairments exhibited by a range of populations across numerous contexts. Scholars from various parts of the world contributed articles that address the neurodevelopmental and cognitive underpinnings of language with respect to typically developing children and adolescents, for late talkers, and for individuals who have language impairments resulting from diverse etiologies, such as autism and Down’s syndrome. All of the articles show the need for those providing assessment and intervention services to pay attention to the underlying skills of individual children and adolescents with language impairments. This publication is valuable reading for speech-language pathologists, general and special educators as well as psychologists and psychiatrists who work with individuals diagnosed with cognitive impairments.