For Potential Trainees
Why Finches?

While the majority of children develop complex speech abilities by the age of four years with no formal instruction, there are a large number of cases where speech is delayed or never acquired.  Even when conditions such as hearing loss were excluded, more than one million of the students in U.S. public school special education classes were diagnosed with speech or language impairments (US Dept. Education, 2002).  Many of these children had communication disabilities such as autism.  In fact, an estimated ten percent of all Americans exhibit speech and language delay (Law et al., 2000). Unfortunately, these problems persist in those with a history of language and speech impairment, as language performance exhibits considerable stability over many years (Johnston et al., 1999). Appreciable movement towards treatment and cure of these disorders will require an understanding of the fundamental biological principles of vocal learning.