Language Acquisition Preschool

The Language Acquisition Preschool (LAP) is a licensed program that serves children with and without communication disabilities. It is also a practicum placement site for students learning to use indirect intervention techniques within the classroom setting. Typically, one-third of each class consists of children with speech and language impairments, one-third have typical language development, and one-third are learning English as a second language. LAP is a three-hour a day, 4 day a week program (there is a morning class and an afternoon class serving 18 children in each class). The head teacher in the class is a speech language pathologist and the assistant teacher is an early childhood educator. The director of the program is Dr. Betty Bunce. The preschool curriculum was developed in LAP and is described in three books: Building a language focused curriculum for the preschool classroom: Vol I: A foundation for lifelong communication, edited by Mabel Rice and Kim Wilcox; Building a language focused curriculum for the preschool classroom: Vol II: A planning guide, written by Betty Bunce; and recently published: Early literacy in action: The language focused curriculum, also written by Betty Bunce. All of these books are published by Paul H. Brookes.