Language . . . I have a contribution to make about the nature and development of language and thought. A young child may have good receptive language but a great deal of trouble learning to talk--oral-motor dyspraxis. If this child cannot master functional language by the age of about 7, s/he will never, no matter what later developments occur, be able to advance to symbolic language; to the abstract thought. Philosophy, theology, honor, duty, ideals, will forever be a closed book to this person; and for this reason, history, politics, economics, literature. A developmental window closes, and a mind is forever crippled. So--Do we think in language. No, if it's food or tools or cloth or anything else we can see and touch. Beyond that, language is absolutely imperative for thought: The thoughts are literally impossible without the language to couch them in. Mia McDavid