The studies proposed for this component of the program project follow directly from the investigator's continuing work describing the development of communication of non-speaking children with mental retardation. Research will focus on an important but understudied aspect of early conversation skills repair of communication breakdown. Research will focus on an important but understudied aspect of early conservation skills repair of communication breakdown. Children who communicate with gestures and vocalizations are at risk for experiencing communication breakdowns as they communicate with their mothers. Study 1 will investigate the hypothesis that children who differ in gesture use will also differ in their use of repair strategies. Forty two children will be observed in two contexts: interacting with their mothers and interacting with an experimenter in a scripted protocol. The communication breakdowns and repairs by four groups of 10 children will be compared. Groups will differ according to gesture and speech production. In addition to comparing group differences, we will analyze the relative effectiveness of different signals of communication breakdown in resolving breakdowns. Study 2 will attempt to alter the occurrences of specific types of communication breakdowns. Ten dyads that experienced relatively frequent breakdowns in Study 1 will be asked to participate in Study 2. Intervention will focus on teaching parents to identify communication breakdowns and to change the means used to indicate a communication breakdown. The specific strategies taught to parents will be based on the results of Study 1. The results of these two studies will contribute to the existing knowledge base regarding early communication development and interventions that may significantly alter communication effectiveness.
| Olswang, Lesley B; Dowden, Patricia; Feuerstein, Julie et al. (2014) Triadic gaze intervention for young children with physical disabilities. J Speech Lang Hear Res 57:1740-53 |
| Brady, Nancy C; Anderson, Christa J; Hahn, Laura J et al. (2014) Eye tracking as a measure of receptive vocabulary in children with autism spectrum disorders. Augment Altern Commun 30:147-59 |
| Brady, Nancy C; Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy; Fleming, Kandace et al. (2013) Predicting language outcomes for children learning augmentative and alternative communication: child and environmental factors. J Speech Lang Hear Res 56:1595-612 |
| Barker, R Michael; Akaba, Sanae; Brady, Nancy C et al. (2013) Support for AAC use in preschool, and growth in language skills, for young children with developmental disabilities. Augment Altern Commun 29:334-46 |
| Olswang, Lesley B; Feuerstein, Julie L; Pinder, Gay Lloyd et al. (2013) Validating dynamic assessment of triadic gaze for young children with severe disabilities. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 22:449-62 |
| Saunders, Muriel D; Sella, Ana Carolina; Attri, Dua et al. (2013) Establishing a conditional signal for assistance in teenagers with blindness. Res Dev Disabil 34:1488-97 |
| Michael Barker, R; Saunders, Kathryn J; Brady, Nancy C (2012) Reading instruction for children who use AAC: considerations in the pursuit of generalizable results. Augment Altern Commun 28:160-70 |
| Brady, Nancy C; Fleming, Kandace; Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy et al. (2012) Development of the communication complexity scale. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 21:16-28 |
| Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy (2012) Peer-Mediated AAC Instruction for Young Children with Autism and other Developmental Disabilities. Perspect Augment altern commun 21: |
| Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy S; Brady, Nancy C; Fleming, Kandace K (2012) Symbolic play of preschoolers with severe communication impairments with autism and other developmental delays: more similarities than differences. J Autism Dev Disord 42:863-73 |
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