Parents and their children with severe expressive impairments may have limited successful communicative exchanges due to each partner’s difficulty in recognizing and responding to communicative behaviors of the other. This study examined the communicative functions and modes of communication that received contingent responses in 20 dyads of parents and young children with severe expressive impairments. Parents responded more often to children’s nonvocal behaviors and adult-directed behaviors than vocal behaviors and non-adult-directed behaviors (i.e., child gestures or vocal behaviors that were not conveyed toward the direction of the adult). The children responded more often to parent communication about goal-directed than non-goal-directed tasks. Implications of these results for communication intervention are discussed.
AkhtarN.DunhamF.DunhamP. (1991). Directive interactions and early vocabulary development: The role of joint attentional focus. Journal of Child Language, 18, 41-49.
2.
BairdS. M.PetersonJ.ReillyA. (1995). Patterns of specific infant behavior interpretation. Infant-Toddler Intervention: The Transdisciplinary Journal, 5, 255-276.
3.
BAM World Markets. (1991). Hearing screener. Denver, CO: Author.
4.
BeckerP.KaneJ. (1996, April). Context, age, and family system effects on interactions of mothers of infants with mental delay. Paper presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, Providence, RI.
5.
BlackstoneS. (1991). Communication signal inventory. In BlackstoneS. (Ed.), Technology in the classroom: Communication module (pp. 37, J-1, J-2). Rockville, MD: ASHA Publications.
6.
CraisE.DouglasD. D.CampbellC. C. (2004). The intersection of the development of gestures and intentionality. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 678-694.
7.
CressC. J. (1995). Communicative and symbolic precursors to AAC development (Unpublished NIH Grant document [NIDCD]). Lincoln: University of Nebraska.
8.
CressC. J. (2002). Expanding children’s early augmented behaviors to support symbolic development. In ReichleJ.BeukelmanD. R.LightJ. C. (Eds.), Exemplary practices for beginning communicators (pp. 219-272). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
9.
CressC. J.AndrewsT.ReynoldsC. (1998, April). Gestural imitation and contingent parent responses in nonspeaking children with physical impairments. Poster session presented at the XIth Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies, Atlanta, GA.
10.
CressC. J.MoskalL.HoffmannA. (2008). Parent directiveness in free play with young children with physical impairments. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 29, 99-108.
11.
CressC. J.ShapleyK.LinkeM.HavelkaS.DietrichC.ElliottJ.ClarkJ. (1999, November). Intentional communication patterns in young children with physical impairments. Presentation at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, San Francisco, CA.
12.
FloydF. J.PhillippeK. A. (1993). Parental interactions with children with and without mental retardation: Behavior management, coerciveness, and positive exchange. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 97, 673-684.
13.
GanzeboomH.TreimanD. (1996). Internationally comparable measures of occupational status for the 1988 international standard classification of occupations. Social Science Research, 25, 201-239.
14.
GirolamettoL.HoakenL.WeitzmanE.van LieshoutR. (2000). Patterns of adult-child linguistic interaction in integrated day care groups. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools, 31, 155-168.
15.
GoldsteinM. H.WestM. J. (1999). Consistent responses of human mothers to prelinguistic infants: The effect of prelinguistic repertoire size. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 113, 52-58.
16.
GuralnickM. J.NevilleB.HammondM. A.ConnerR. T. (2008). Mothers’ social communicative adjustments to young children with mild developmental delays. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 113, 1-18.
17.
HanzlikJ. R. (1990). Nonverbal interaction patterns of mothers and their infants with cerebral palsy. Education and Training in Mental Retardation, 25, 333-343.
18.
HanzlikJ. R.StevensonM. B. (1986). Interaction of mothers with their infants who are mentally retarded, retarded with cerebral palsy, or nonretarded. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 90, 513-520.
19.
IaconoT.CarterM.HookJ. (1998). Identification of intentional communication in students with severe and multiple disabilities. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 14, 102-114.
20.
KazdinA. E. (1982). Single case research designs: Methods for clinical and applied settings. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
21.
KimS.WilcoxM. J.CarnahanC. L. (2008, November). Caregiver verbal responsivity to prelinguistic versus symbolic communication. Presentation at the ASHA Annual Convention, Chicago, IL.
22.
LussierB. J.CrimminsD. B.AlbertiD. (1994). Effect of three adult interaction styles on infant engagement. Journal of Early Intervention, 18, 12-24.
23.
McCollumJ. A.HemmeterM. L. (1997). Parent-child interaction intervention when children have disabilities. In GuralnickM. J. (Ed.), The effectiveness of early intervention (pp. 549-578). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
24.
McDonaldE. T. (1980). Early identification and treatment of children at risk for speech development. In SchiefelbuschR. L. (Ed.), Nonspeech language and communication: Analysis and intervention (pp. 49-80). Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.
25.
MundyP.SigmanM.KasariC.YirmiyaN. (1988). Nonverbal communication skills in Down syndrome children. Child Development, 59, 235-249.
SigafoosJ.WoodyattG.KeenD.TaitK.TuckerM.Roberts-PennellD.PittendreighN. (2000). Identifying potential communicative acts in children with developmental and physical disabilities. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 21, 77-86.
28.
SlonimsV.CoxA.McConachieH. (2006). Analysis of mother-infant interaction in infants with Down syndrome and typically developing infants. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 111, 273-289.
29.
SpencerP. E.GutfreundM. K. (1990). Directiveness in mother-infant interactions. In MooresD.Meadow-OrlansK. P. (Eds.), Research on developmental and educational aspects of deafness (pp. 350-365). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University.
30.
Tamis-LemondaC. S.BornsteinM. H.BaumwellL. (2001). Maternal responsiveness and children's achievement of language milestones. Child Development, 72, 748-767.
31.
Thiemann-BourqueK.BradyN.OlswangL.DowdenP. (2009, November). Assessing early expressive communication across the life span. Poster presentation at the 84th annual ASHA conference, New Orleans, LA.
WassermanG. A.AllenR.LinaresL. O. (1988). Maternal interaction and language development in children with and without speech-related anomalies. Journal of Communication Disorders, 21, 319-331.
34.
WaxmanR. P.SpencerP. E.PoissonS. S. (1996). Reciprocity, responsiveness, and timing in interactions between mothers and deaf and hearing children. Journal of Early Intervention, 20, 341-355.
35.
WetherbyA. M.CainD. H.YonclasD. G.WalkerV. 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.
36.
WetherbyA. M.PrizantB. (1993). Communication and symbolic behavior scale: Normed edition. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
37.
WilcoxJ. M.KouriT. A.CaswellS. (1990). Partner sensitivity to communication behaviors of young children with developmental disabilities. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 55, 679-693.
38.
YoderP. J. (1987). Relationship between degree of infant handicap and clarity of infant cues. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 91, 639-641.
39.
YoderP. J.FeagansL. (1988). Mothers’ attributions of communication to prelinguistic behavior of developmentally delayed and mentally retarded infants. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 93, 36-43.
40.
YoderP. J.WarrenS. F. (1999). Maternal responsivity mediates the relationship between prelinguistic intentional communication and later language. Journal of Early Intervention, 22, 126-136.
41.
YoderP. J.WarrenS. F. (2001). Intentional communication elicits language-facilitating maternal responses in dyads with children who have developmental disabilities. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 106, 327-335.
