Article Descriptors profoundly mentally handicapped students; multiply handi capped students; prelanguage communication skills; interac tive communication behaviors; communication programming; communication awareness skillsThe purpose of this study was to ascertain the effec tiveness of specific prelanguage communication pro gramming techniques on the development of com munication awareness behaviors of four profoundly mentally handicapped students. Results indicate that the procedures were effective and that, in the majority of cases, the communication awareness behaviors generalized to other situations and individuals. Prob lems related to defining communication awareness behaviors and communicative stimuli, as well as issues pertaining to generalization, are discussed.