Publications | Children's Communication Lab

Here in PDF form, in order of publication date, are all of Prof. Daniela O'Neill's published papers to date with students and colleagues.

Please Note: These electronic articles are posted for individual, noncommericial use to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly work. They are intended for teaching and training purposes only. Articles may not be reposted or disseminated without permission by the copyight holder unless they are open access. Copyright holders retain all rights as indicated within each article.

You may also wish to visit Daniela's page on ResearchGate for open access publications along with other supplementary material.

Non-academic writing by Daniela O'Neill

The Wonder in Language , April 23 2014. Shanker Blog: The Voice of the Albert Shanker Institute, Washington, DC.

Language Use Inventory (LUI) Assessment Measure (available in hardcopy & fully online version)

O’Neill, D. K. (2009) Language Use Inventory (LUI) Manual. Waterloo, ON: Knowledge in Development, Inc. [This is the formal citation to be used to reference the LUI measure itself.]

The LUI in hardcopy and online form is published commercially by Knowledge in Development Inc., a company founded by Daniela O'Neill. Visit LanguageUseInventory.com If you are an SLP, researcher or clinician, you can email Daniela for 5 free trials of the online LUI. The online LUI is made available at no/reduced cost to student researchers and faculty who may be on very limited budgets. Contact Daniela for more detalls.

Main research articles on the development of the LUI (all open access) are:

Pesco, D., & O'Neill, D. K. (2012). Predicting later language outcomes from the Language Use Inventory. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 55, 421-434. (Open Access)

O’Neill, D. K. (2007). The Language Use Inventory for Young Children: A parent-report measure of pragmatic language development for 18- to 47-month-old children. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 50, 214-228. (Open Access)

Note: An ongoing list of articles and research reporting on or using the LUI by other researchers is maintained at https://languageuseinventory.com/Research/Publications

Newest articles relating to the LUI! (all open access):

O'Neill, D. K., Pesco, D., Mu, F., & Scortt, J. (2024). Using the Language Use Inventory to examine toddlers' social communication trajectories to inform clinical practice. Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, 48(3), 139-154. (Open Access)

Blume, J., Miller, M., O’Neill, D. K. (2024). Utility of the Language Use Inventory in young children at. elevated likelihood of autism. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 67(2):573-585. doi: 10.1044/2023_JSLHR-23-00442

Pesco, D. & O’Neill, D. K. (2023). Assessing pragmatics in early children with the Language Use Inventory across seven languages. Frontiers in Psychology, 14:1169775. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1169775

Technical Manual

O’Neill, D. K. (2009). Language Use Inventory (LUI) Manual. [Users Manual with Canadian norms to accompany the Language Use Inventory and Language Use Inventory Score Sheets.] Waterloo, ON: Knowledge in Development, Inc.

[The full text pdfs of Chapter 5 (Development of the LUI and Psychometrics) and Chapter 6 (Standardization and Norms Development) are openly available at: https://languageuseinventory.com/Research/Psychometrics]

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

O'Neill, D. K., Holmes, P. E. (2022). The power of boardgames for multidomain learning in young children. American Journal of Play, 14(1), 58-98. (Open Access)

Longobardi, E., Lonigro, A., Laghi, F., & O'Neill, D. K. (2021). The assessment of early pragmatic development: A study of the reliability and validity of the Language Use Inventory - Italian. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 64(8), 3186-3184. (Only Abstract available - email first author for copy emiddia.longobardi@uniroma1.it).

O’Neill, D. K., DeGlint, T. J., McKinnon, A. M., Nyhout, A., & Scott, J. (2019). Busy toy designs reduce the specificity of mothers’ references to toy parts during toy play with their toddlers. Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, 43(1). 35-47. (Open Access)

Białecka-Pikul, M., Filip^,A., Stępień-Nycz, M., Kuś, K. & O’Neill, D. K. (2019). Ratunku! or just tunku! Evidence for the reliability and concurrent validity of the Language Use Inventory: LUI-Polish. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 62(7), 2317-2331. (Open Access)

Nyhout, A. & O’Neill, D. K. (2017). Children’s enactment of characters’ movements: A novel measure of spatial situation model representations and indicator of comprehension. Mind, Brain, and Education, 11, 112-120.

Longobardi, E., Lonigro, A., Laghi, F., & O'Neill, D. K. (2017). Pragmatic language development in 18- to 47-month-old Italian children: A study with the Language Use Inventory. First Language, 37(3), 252-266. (Only Abstract available - email first author for copy emiddia.longobardi@uniroma1.it).

Pesco, D. & O’Neill, D. (2016). Assessing early language use by French-speaking Canadian children: Introducing the LUI-French. Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, 40, 198-217. (Open Access)

Nyhout, A., Fecica, A.M., O’Neill, D.K. (2015). Getting lost in a book: The science of reading comprehension. Frontiers for Young Minds, 3:15. doi: 10.3389/frym.2015.00015 (Open Access)

Nyhout, A., & O'Neill, D. K. (2014). Storybooks aren't just for fun: narrative and non-narrative picture books foster equal amounts of generic language during mother-toddler book sharing. Frontiers in Psychology - Developmental Psychology, 5, Article 325. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00325 (Open Access)

O’Neill, D. K. (2014). Assessing pragmatic language functioning in children: Its importance and challenges (PDF) . In D. Matthews (Ed.). Pragmatic Development in First Language Acquisition (pp. 363-386). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Nyhout, A., & O'Neill, D. K. (2013). Mothers' complex talk when sharing books with their toddlers: Book genre matters (PDF) . First Language, 33(2), 115-131. Preprint version. Identical to published version available at: http://fla.sagepub.com/content/33/2/115

O’Neill, D. K. (2012). Components of pragmatic ability and children’s pragmatic language development (PDF) In W. Bublitz, A. H. Jucker, & K. P. Schneider (Series Eds.) and H-J Schmid (Volume Ed.), Handbooks of Pragmatics 4: Cognitive Pragmatics (p. 261-288). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Pesco, D., & O'Neill, D. K. (2012). Predicting later language outcomes from the Language Use Inventory. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 55, 421-434. (Open Access)

Fecica, A. M., & O'Neill, D. K. (2010). A step at a time: Preliterate children's simulation of narrative movement during story comprehension (PDF). Cognition, 16, 368-381.

O'Neill, D.K., Main, R. M., & Ziemski, R. (2009). "I like Barney." Preschoolers' spontaneous conversational initiations with peers (PDF) . First Language, 29, 401-425.

O’Neill, D. K., & Shultis, R. (2007). The emergence of the ability to track a character’s mental perspective in narrative (PDF) .Developmental Psychology, 43, 1032-1037.

Atance, C. M., & O’Neill, D. K. (2005). The emergence of episodic future thinking in humans (PDF) .Invited submission to special issue on Cognitive time travel in people and animals. Learning and Motivation, 36, 126-144.

Atance, C. M., & O'Neill, D. K. (2005) Preschoolers’ talk about future situations (PDF) . First Language, 1, 5-18.

O’Neill, D. K. (2005). Talking about “new” information: The given/new distinction and children’s developing theory of mind (PDF) . In Astington, J. W. and Baird, J. (Eds.), Why language matters for theory of mind (pp. 84-105). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Atance, C. M., & O’Neill, D. K. (2004). Acting and planning on a false belief: Its effects on 3-year-old children’s reasoning about their own false beliefs (PDF) . Developmental Psychology, 40, 953-964.

O'Neill, D. K., Pearce, M. J., & Pick, J. L. (2004) Predictive relations between aspects of preschool children’s narratives and performance on the Peabody Individualized Achievement Test - Revised: Evidence of a relation between early narrative and later mathematical ability (PDF) . First Language, 24, 149-183.

O'Neill, D. K., Topolovec, J. C., & Stern-Cavalcante, W. (2002). Feeling sponginess: The importance of gesture in two-year-old children's acquisition of adjectives (PDF) . Journal of Cognition and Development, 3, 243-277.

O’Neill, D. K., & Holmes, A. (2002). Young preschoolers’ ability to reference story characters: the contribution of gesture and character speech (PDF) . First Language, 22, 73-103

Atance, C. M., & O'Neill, D. K. (2001). Episodic future thinking (PDF) . Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12, 533-539.

Atance, C. M., & O'Neill, D. K. (2001). Planning in 3-year-olds: A reflection of the future self? (PDF) . In C. Moore, & K. Skene (Eds.). The self in time: Developmental issues (p. 121-140). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

O'Neill, D. K., & Chong, S. (2001). Preschool children's difficulty understanding the kinds of information we gain through our five senses (PDF) . Child Development, 72, 803-815

O'Neill, D. K. & Topolovec, J. C. (2001). Two-year-old children's sensitivity to the referential (in)efficacy of their own pointing gestures (PDF) . Journal of Child Language, 28, 1-28.

O'Neill, D. K., & Atance, C. M. (2000). "Maybe my daddy give me a big piano:" The development of children's use of modals to express uncertainty (PDF) . First Language, 20, 29-52.

O'Neill, D. K., & Happé, F. (2000). Noticing and commenting on what's new: differences and similarities among 22-month-old typically developing children, children with Down syndrome, and children with autism (PDF) . Developmental Science, 3, 457-478.

Povinelli, D. J. & O'Neill, D. K. (2000). Do chimpanzees use their gestures to instruct each other? (PDF) In S. Baron-Cohen, H. Tager-Flusberg, & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental cognitive neuroscience (p. 459-487). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

O’Neill, D. K. (1996). Two-year-old children’s sensitivity to a parent’s knowledge state when making requests (PDF) . Child Development, 67, 659-677.

O’Neill, D. K. (1996). The development of communicative competence. In David Green (Ed.), Cognitive Science: An Introduction, (p. 244-275). Oxford: Blackwell.

Fernald, A. & O’Neill, D. K. (1993). Peekaboo across cultures: how mothers and infants play with voices, faces, and expectations In K. MacDonald & D. Pelligrini (Eds.), Parent-child play: Descriptions and Implications, (p. 259 - 286). New York: SUNY.

O’Neill, D. K., Astington, J. W., & Flavell, J. H. (1992). Young children’s understanding of the role that sensory experiences play in knowledge acquisition (PDF) . Child Development, 63, 474-490.

O’Neill, D. K., & Gopnik, A. (1991). Young children’s understanding of the sources of their knowledge (PDF) . Developmental Psychology, 27, 390-397.)