Assessment of preverbal communicative abilities in students with severe intellectual disability

Identification of intentional communication in students with severe and multiple disabilities

“…In addition, repetition of the assessment procedures with students accessing formalized and nonformalized communication systems (depending on their initial demonstration of intentionality) would indicate if their ability to demonstrate intentionality was dependent on access to a method for doing so. Finally, more information is needed on the communicative acts individuals demonstrate in everyday situations (as in Butterfield, 1994;Woodyatt & Ozanne, 1994), and how these behaviors compare with more structured sampling procedures as used in this study.…”

“…Unfortunately, the utility of behavioral definitions of intentional communication in children with multiple disabilities remains relatively unexplored. Research involving children with physical disability in addition to intellectual disability has been scarce and has relied on naturalistic observations, rather than structured situations that may enhance sampling of communicative acts: for example, two Australian studies by Butterfield (1994) and Woodyatt and Ozanne (1994). Butterfield (1994) compared caregiver reports to observations in classroom situations of three students with intellectual disability, only one of whom also had a physical disability (as a result of cerebral palsy).…”

Communicative Repair Strategies and Problem Behaviours of Children with Autism

“…These additional forms may include the use of informal gestures, aggression, self-injury, and the direct manipulation of an adult's hand (Carr & Kemp, 1989;Stone et al, 1997). Some of these behaviours may be difficult for communicative partners to recognise and interpret (Butterfield, 1991). For example, children who flap their hands when offered an object may be requesting or rejecting the offer.…”

Addressing Teacher Needs and Concerns in Communication Interventions for Students with an Intellectual Disability

“…Improving partner ability to create an environment that is conducive to communicative exchanges is, therefore, as critical as developing student sldlls and abilities (Butterfield, 1991). All who interact with the student need to be increasingly aware of (a) the way the student presently communicates, (b) the need to respond as if the purpose was to communicate a need or to interact socially, and (c) the many opportunities that occur throughout the day that can be used to generate communicative exchanges (see e.g., Siegel-Causey & Guess, 1989).…”