ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the potential of three language intervention procedures - sentence recasting, elicited imitation, and modeling - for teaching grammatical form to children with specific language impairment (SLI). Sentence recasting can be used in naturally occurring communicative contexts without intruding significantly on the child's agenda. It finds its way into many different types of modern, pragmatically enlightened, grammar facilitation programmes. In speech and language intervention, the procedures are the techniques that are presumed to have a direct, positive influence on the child's ability to understand or use the intervention target. The chapter discusses elicited imitation and modelling was abandoned prematurely and that they still have important roles to play in language intervention. It also examines some of the properties of grammatical forms that children typically find difficult to acquire and use. The chapter discusses the key components of imitation and modelling and show how they can be modified in ways that are more consistent with contemporary intervention principles.
