Supporting communication in young children with developmental disabilities

Abstract

The behavior of parents, adult caregivers, and peers comprises the critical features of community support for the development of communication in young children with developmental disabilities. In a bio-ecological model of development, communication development is the result of the interactions of individuals with specific characteristics, in particular contexts over time. From the perspective of this model, foundational findings of intervention research to current views of communication development in children with developmental disabilities are summarized. The contributions of individual child characteristics to child-caregiver interactions that support language development are illustrated based on research with children who have autism, Williams syndrome, Down syndrome, and children who use augmentative communication systems. Parent-child interaction and the quality and quantity of parent talk are discussed as factors in children's language development. The effects of young children's delayed language on their interactions with peers, the contributions of peers to children's language learning and use, and the critical features of classroom settings that support child language development are reviewed. MRDD Research Reviews 7:143-150, 2001.

Immersive Communication Intervention for Speaking and Non-speaking Children with Intellectual Disabilities

“…The communicative environments of children with intellectual disabilities can greatly differ from those of children with typical development (Cardoso-Martins, Mervis, & Mervis, 1985;Ruskin, Kasari, Mundy, & Sigman, 1994); although it should be more contingent and responsive to the child's lead, often it is more directive and adult-guided (Light, Collier, & Parnes, 1985a, 1985bMahoney & Wheeden, 1999). Parents often adapt their language and communication to the expressive language level of the child, but this may result in less diverse and complex talk that does not necessarily provide the optimal environment in which to stimulate communication and language development (Kaiser et al, 2001). Expansion of children's utterances (more complex vocabulary, greater information, and/or more complete syntax) in concrete rich contexts can optimize language learning and communicative competence of children requiring intervention (Kaiser, Hancock, & Hester, 1998;Romski, Sevcik & Adamson, 1999).…”

“…And, while it resembles language development of typically developing children at least to some extent, timing and outcomes are more varied, and individual differences are more pervasive and often do not reflect the child's developmental age (e.g., major articulation, vocabulary, and/or syntax delays (Kaiser et al, 2001). These individual differences can be largely attributed to syndrome differences (Rondal, 2001).…”

“…Their language develops slower than that of children with typical development but appears to follow the same developmental path (Bates, Dale, & Thal, 1995). For most children with intellectual disabilities, their language abilities are at the level of their mental age (Chapman, 1997;Rondal, 2001); however, when the communicative environment offers sufficient and individualized support, they can master quite complex communication skills (Kaiser, Hester, & McDuffie, 2001). Nevertheless, as a group, children with intellectual disabilities vary greatly.…”

Patterns in early interaction between young preschool children with severe speech and physical impairments and their parents

“…In contrast, the children without impairments could make themselves heard more easily. In the end, getting used to not receiving attention can lead to the more common pattern of the passive child, found in earlier studies (Kaiser et al, 2001). Judging by both qualitative and quantitative data, the parents seemed to take a noticeably more active role in the interactions than did their children.…”

A Holistic Model to Infer Mathematics Performance: The Interrelated Impact of Student, Family and School Context Variables

“…From a bio-ecological and transactional perspective (Kaiser, Hester, & Mc Duffie, 2001), a person"s cultural worldview constitutes a social and cultural difference and it causes differences in learning performance (Aleven, McLaren, Roll, & Koedinger, 2006). It might therefore be important to add these variables to the assessment approach and intervention strategies for students at risk in view of mathematical learning difficulties.…”