How and when does the ability to give and understand explanations develop? Morag Donaldson directly addresses this question in the present study, providing evidence from a series of imaginative experiments she carried out with 3- to 10-year-olds. In contrast to many earlier accounts, she demonstrates that children can distinguish between cause and effect and among physical, psychological and logical relations well before the age of 7. The study focuses primarily on the linguistic abilities that are needed for explanation, in particular the understanding of because, so, why?, and how do you...

Children's Explanations is a book that will be of equal interest to cognitive and developmental psychologists and to psycholinguistics.

'Throughout the book the author is able to present concisely and accurately rather complex research information about children with language impairments without unduly oversimplifying the issues involved. The scope of the book is therefore particularly appropriate for professionals wishing to find out the basics about language-impaired children, such as educational psychologists and teachers with little experience with such children. Furthermore first- or second-year undergraduate students, as well as parents with an interest in the area, of speech-language pathology will find this book...