The authors compared parent-perceived communication behaviors for formally assessed stages longitudinally for 42 infants at risk for being nonspeaking. They compared perceived communication behaviors at assessed transitions to communicative stages (intentional behavior, intentional communication, symbolic communication) and found systematic differences between parent observations and formal observations of early skills. Parents' perceptions of an increase in their children's communicative signals and functions tended to occur at different points relative to each formally assessed transition. The results indicate that early communication transitions are not single qualitative shifts but a continuum of skills that are gradually developed and differently interpreted according to the means of observing the change.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adamson, L., Bakeman, R., Smith, C., & Walters, A. (1987). Adults' interpretation of infants' acts. Developmental Psychology, 3, 383—387.
2.
Bakeman, R., & Adamson, L.B. (1984). Coordinating attention to people and objects in mother—infant and peer—infant interaction. Child Development, 55, 1278—1289.
3.
Bates, E., Camaioni, L., & Volterra, V. (1975). The acquisition of performatives prior to speech . Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 21, 205—226.
4.
Bates, E., O'Connell, B., & Shore, C. (1987). Language and communication in infancy. In J. Osofsky (Ed.), Handbook on infant development (pp. 149— 203). New York: Wiley.
5.
Beukelman, D.R., & Mirenda, P. (1998). Augmentative and alternative communication: Management of severe communication disorders in children and adults. Baltimore: Brookes.
6.
Blackstone, S. (1991). Intervention framework. In S. Blackstone (Ed.), Technology in the classroom: Communication module (pp. J1—J2). Rockville, MD: ASHA Publications.
7.
Cress, C.J. (1995). Communicative and symbolic precursors to AAC development. Unpublished NIH grant document (NIDCD), University of Nebraska —Lincoln.
8.
Cress, C.J. (2002). Expanding children's early augmented behaviors to support symbolic development. In J. Reichle , D. Beukelman, & J. Light (Eds.), Implementing an augmentative communication system: Exemplary strategies for beginning communicators (pp. 219—272). Baltimore: Brookes.
9.
Cress, C.J. (2004). AAC and language: Understanding and responding to parent perspectives. Topics in Language Disorders., 24(1), 28—38.
10.
Cress, C.J., Andrews, T.A., & Reynolds, C.D. (1998, April). Gestural imitation and contingent parent responses in non-speaking children with physical impairments . Poster session presented at the 11th Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies (ICIS), Atlanta, GA.
11.
Cress, C.J., Shapley, K., Linke, M., Havelka, S., Dietrich, C., Elliott, J., et al. (2000, August). Characteristics of intentional communication in young children with physical impairments. Paper presented at the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication Conference, Washington, DC.
12.
Ganzeboom, H., & Treiman, D. (1996). Internationally comparable measures of occupational status for the 1988 international standard clarification of occupation. Social Science Research, 25, 201—239.
13.
Houghton, J., Bronicki, G.J.B., & Guess, D. (1987). Opportunities to express preference and make choices among students with disabilities in classroom settings. The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 12(1), 18—27.
14.
Iacono, T., Carter, M., & Hook, J. (1998). Identification of intentional communication in students with severe and multiple disabilities. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 14, 102—114.
15.
Lee, S. (2000, August). Partner recognition of nonverbal communication behaviors of young children with developmental disabilities. Poster session presented at the International Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Conference, Washington, DC.
16.
McDonald, E.T. (1980). Early identification and treatment of children at risk for speech development. In R. L. Schiefelbusch (Ed.), Nonspeech language and communication: Analysis and intervention: Vol. 4. Language intervention series (pp. 49—79). Baltimore: University Park Press.
17.
McLean, J., & Snyder-McLean, L. (1987). Form and function of communicative behavior among persons with severe developmental disabilities . Australia and New Zealand Journal of Developmental Disabilities , 13(2), 83—98.
Siegel, E., & Cress, C. (2002). Overview of the emergence of early AAC behaviors: Progression for communicative to symbolic skills. In J. Reichle, D. Beukleman, & J. Light (Eds.), Implementing an augmentative communication system: Exemplary strategies for beginning communication (pp. 25—57). Baltimore: Brookes.
20.
Siegel, E., & Wetherby, A. (2000). Nonsymbolic communication. In M. Snell & F. Brown (Eds.), Instruction of students with severe disabilities (5th ed., pp. 409—451). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
21.
Sigafoos, J., Woodyatt, G., Keen, D., Tait, K., Tucker, M., Roberts-Pennell, D., et al. (2000). Identifying potential communicative acts in children with developmental and physical disabilities. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 21, 77—86.
22.
Snow, C. (1995). Issues in the study of input: Fine-tuning, universality, individual and developmental differences, and necessary causes. In P. Fletcher & B. MacWhinney (Eds.), The handbook of child language (pp. 180—193). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
23.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
24.
Wetherby, A.M. (1991). Profiling pragmatic abilities in the emerging language of young children. In T. Gallagher (Ed.), Pragmatics of language: Clinical practice issues (pp. 249—281). San Diego, CA: Singular.
25.
Wetherby, A.M., Cain, D.H., Yonclas, D.G., & Walker, V.G. (1988). Analysis of intentional communication of normal children from the prelinguistic to the multiword stage. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 31, 240—252.
26.
Wetherby, A.M., & Prizant, B. (1993). Communication Symbolic Behavior Scales: Research version. Baltimore: Brookes.
27.
Wilcox, M.J., Kouri, T.A., & Caswell, S. (1990). Partner sensitivity to communication behavior of young children with developmental disabilities. The Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 55, 679—693.
28.
Yoder, P.J. (1987). Relationship between degree of infant handicap and clarity of infant cues. American Journal of Mental Deficiency , 91(6), 639—641.
29.
Yoder, P.J., & Warren, S. (1998). Maternal responsivity predicts the pre-linguistic communication intervention that facilitates generalized intentional communication . Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41, 1207—1219.
