This comprehensive text offers a balanced, in-depth presentation of a variety of information on how children develop language, beginning with the perception and production of speech sounds in infancy and moving through the development of vocabulary, grammar, and communicative competence. Also included are chapters on language in special populations, childhood bilingualism, and the biological bases of language (which covers such topics as evolution, chimps, and aphasia). Written by an author who has a background in both speech pathology and psychology, the text uses theory to motivate and explain the research and to put the research findings in perspective. It is also the most current resource available with many of the latest research developments referenced from 1999 and 2000.