When basic receptive language skills are not readily acquired, a child misses many important learning opportunities resulting in delays in overall development and subsequent acquisition of spoken language ( Drash & Tudor, 1993 Hart & Risley, 1992 Lovaas, 1977). Hundreds of everyday interactions with caregivers readily produce receptive language skills as children learn to select pictures in a book when an adult says the name of an item or to find the right color during reading and play activities. Young children quickly learn to respond to the spoken language of other people (i.e., receptive language) as they begin to orient to their own name and familiar voices, follow simple instructions, and identify a wide range of stimuli and events in their environment ( Hart & Risley, 1995 Lovaas, 1977).
