Communication and Emergent Literacy: Early Intervention Issues Early Intervention Training Center for Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments FPG

Communication and Emergent Literacy: Early Intervention Issues

Early Intervention Training Center for Infants and Toddlers With Visual ImpairmentsFPG Child Development Institute, 2005

Communication Development and the Impact of Visual Impairments

Session 2

Early Intervention Training Center for Infants and Toddlers With Visual ImpairmentsFPG Child Development InstituteUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillAugust 1, 2005

Communication Development & Impact of VI 2A

After completing this session, participants will

1. describe seven levels of communicative competence.

2. describe the development of communication and language in typically developing children from birth through 36 months.

3. define language, and describe five elements of language.

Objectives


Communication Development & Impact of VI


4. explain the importance of caregiver responsiveness in parent-child attachment and communication.

5. describe the importance of concept development for communication and why children with visual impairments may develop concepts differently.

2B

Objectives




6. describe six modes of nonlinguistic/ prelinguistic communication, and explain how visual impairments may prevent children from engaging in typical nonlinguistic/prelinguistic communicative behaviors.

2C

Objectives




7. describe the potential impact of visual impairments on nonlinguistic/prelinguistic communication, including the development of idiosyncratic communicative behaviors of children with visual impairments and additional disabilities.

8. describe the potential impact of visual impairments, with and without additional disabilities, on language development.

2D

Objectives



Seven Levels of Communicative Competence

As children develop, they become more competent at communicating and progress through seven levels of competence.

Rowland & Stremel-Campbell, 1987

2E



• Level I: Pre-intentional behaviorReflexive behavior that reflects the

child’s state (e.g., hungry, sleepy)

• Level II: Intentional behaviorBehavior is intentional but not intended to communicate

At these levels, caregivers interpret behaviorsas communicative although the child does notintend to communicate.


2F

Levels I and II



• Level III: Nonconventional presymbolic communicationNonconventional gestures used in an attempt to affect caregiver’s behaviorExamples: laugh, babble

• Level IV: Conventional presymbolic communicationConventional gestures used to influence caregiver’s behaviorExamples: wave, point, nod, kiss


2G

Levels III and IV



• Level V: Concrete Symbolic Communication Use of concrete symbols that share features of the referent

Examples: make animal sounds, use depictive gestures (e.g., arms up for ‘hold me’)

• Level VI: Abstract Symbolic Communication Limited use of abstract symbols (e.g., spoken words)

Example: speech or sign used one word at a timeRowland & Stremel-Campbell, 1987

2H

Levels V and VI



• Level VII: Formal Symbolic Communication

Rule-bound (adult-like) use of abstract communication system

Example: combining two or more words to communicate


2I

Level VII



Receptive Communication in Infants

• Infants attend to human voices and become excited when parents approach.

• Infants begin to smile when adults smile and calm when picked up while crying.

• Infants respond to their name by 6 months.

Adamson, 1996

Sachs, 1997

2J



Nonintentional Communication

• Newborn infants do not intend to communicate—they simply react.

• Nonintentional communication dominates the first 6 to 8 months of life as children learn to engage in behaviors that elicit adult responses. Owens, 2001

Sachs, 1997

2K



Examples of early nonlinguistic

communication include

• crying,

• laughing,

• cooing, and

• babbling.

Owens, 2001

Sachs, 1997

2L

Expressive Communication in Infants



Language is symbolic—based on sounds that

represent objects, people, events, actions, etc.

Nonsymbolic communication includes

• vocalizations (e.g., babbling, crying),

• gestures,

• facial expressions, and

• social referencing (i.e., looking to an adult to

determine how to respond to a novel

situation).

2M

Symbolic and Nonsymbolic Communication



Other forms of nonsymbolic communication

include

• joint visual attention (i.e., looking at the same

object that an adult looks at) and

• responsiveness to a communicative partner.

Infants use nonsymbolic

communication

• to gain an adult’s attention and

• to express desires and needs.2N

Nonsymbolic Communication



• Children with and without disabilities vary considerably in the ages at which they attain communication and language milestones.

• The ages associated with milestone acquisition in typically developing children provide a reference point only, and should be viewed cautiously.

• Children with disabilities, and particularly those with multiple disabilities, may show tremendous variability in the ages at which they attain developmental milestones.

2O

Individual Differences in Development



• 10 to 18 months: first true word

• 10 to 18 months: points to an object and uses word approximation

• 12 to 18 months: vocabulary of 3 to 20 words; 50% of words are nouns

• 12 to 18 months: uses phrases such as “All gone” and “Want more”; begins using verbs and adjectives

2P

First Words



Expressive Language of the Toddler

• 2 years: approximately 65% of speech is intelligible, with ~50 recognizable words

• 2½ years: 70% of speech is intelligible, with ~200 words

Answers Where?, What . . .doing?, and What do you hear? questions

Uses two-word phrases including negation (e.g., “No bed”), possessives (e.g., “Mommy car”), and pronouns (e.g., “Me Janey”)

2Q



• 3 years: 80% of speech is usually

intelligible, with ~500 words

Asks simple questions and repeats

sentences

Uses articles such as “a” and “the”

Uses contractions and –ing endings

25% of utterances are nouns and 25% are verbs

2R

Expressive Language of the Toddler



12 to 18 months

• Follows simple one-step commands

• Points to one to three body parts

• Identifies one or

two objects from a

group of objects

2S

Receptive Language of the Toddler



Between 18 and 24 months

• Comprehends

about 300 words

• Interested in

listening to stories

2T




• 2½ years Comprehends 500 words Listens to 5-10 minutes of a story Carries out two related commands

• 3 years Comprehends 900 words Knows concept words such as in/on and

big/little

2U




• Phonology—rules that govern the use of

speech sounds

• Morphology—rules that determine the

internal organization of words

• Semantics—rules that determine the

meaning of words and word combinations

2V

Elements of Language



• Syntax—rules that govern the form or structure of a sentence

• Pragmatics—rules that governs how a given language is used in different social contexts and environments

2W

Elements ofLanguage



Attachment describes the emotional connection between people in intimate relationships such as parent and child.

Zeanah & Boris, 2000

2X

Attachment



Examples of behaviors that encourage attachment are

• crying,

• smiling,

• crawling toward a caregiver, and

• clinging to a caregiver.

2Y

Attachment



• Attachment behaviors may be delayed, occur less frequently, or occur with less clarity, in children with visual impairments.

• Caregiver responsiveness is the most important factor in encouraging attachment with children with visual impairments.

Fazzi, 2002

Warren & Hatton, 2003

2Z

Attachment and Visual Impairment



Responsiveness includes reading children's signals to know when they want to interact, when they are tired or overstimulated, and what interests the child.

Fazzi, 2002


2AA

Attachment and Visual Impairment



• Talk to children before picking them up.

• Give children time to adjust to new situations.

• Look for subtle responses such as changes in breathing or body posture.

• Allow children to touch your face in order to recognize you.

• Carry infants in cloth baby carriers (chest or back) during daily routines and when participating in community activities. Ferrell, 1985

2BB

Facilitating Attachment



Turn-taking—parents wait for child to act, thenimitate, and follow child’s lead.

2CC

Facilitating Nonlinguistic/Prelinguistic Communication



• Social routines—teach turn-taking and patterns while providing consistency for a communicative exchange.

• Interactive matching—parents adjust their interaction style to match children’s pace, level of functioning, and lead.

• Environmental arrangement—can prompt children to use gestures or vocalizations to

secure toys.

2DD

Facilitating Nonlinguistic/Prelinguistic Communication



What is concept development?

• A concept is a general idea that develops through repeated experiences with specific events.

• Children need repeated experiences with specific examples to generalize concepts.


2EE



Movement

• Children with visual impairments often have delays in motor development.

• Delayed motor development impedes movement and exploration.

• Lack of exploration directly impacts concept development and communication.

Adelson & Fraiberg, 1974

Jan, Sykanda, & Groenveld, 1990

Palazesi, 19862FF



• Provide children with multiple active experiences to build concepts.

• Children learn concepts through natural experiences and play.

• Concepts are best learned within functional activities.

• Children with visual impairments are often delayed in concept development due to loss of visual input and delays in self-initiated movement.

2GG

Concept Development



• Take advantage of naturally occurring events (e.g., accidents, a dump truck on the street).

• Expose children to concepts in the home and in the community.

2HH

Promoting Concept Development



There are six modes of nonlinguistic/prelinguistic

communication between infant and caregiver.

• Proxemic—movement toward or away from the caregiver

• Kinesic—recognition of facial expressions

• Gestural—child reaching toward caregiver

2II

Six Modes of Nonlinguistic/Prelinguistic Communication



There are six modes of nonlinguistic communication between infant and caregiver.

• Ocular—looking behaviors shared between infant and caregiver

• Tactile-kinesthetic—touching between infant and caregiver

• Vocal—vocalizations from the infant to the caregiver, combines vision and hearing

2JJ

Six Modes of Nonlinguistic/Prelinguistic Communication



• All, except tactile-kinesthetic, rely partly or entirely on visual input.

• Visual impairments limit or alter other modes of communication.

• Visual impairments may decrease children’s communicative initiations about objects in the environment. Sapp, 2001

2KK

Influence of VI on Modes of Nonlinguistic Communication



• Children with visual impairments engage in nonlinguistic communication that is interpreted by and responded to by their mothers.

• The repertoire of communicative behaviors of children with visual impairments is more limited than their peers.

Preisler, 1991

Rowland, 1984

Urwin, 1984

2LL

Key Issues From Research



• Mothers of children with visual impairments engage in patterns of communication that differ from mothers of typically sighted children.

• Children with visual impairments smile, coo, and attempt to imitate adult speech at similar ages as children with sight.

Preisler, 1991

Rowland, 1984

Urwin, 1984

2MM




• Children with visual impairments use imitation to elicit communicative responses from mothers, and they respond to their mothers’ use of routines for communication.

• Children who are blind do not demonstrate conventional gestures (e.g. showing, waving, and nodding).

Preisler, 1991

Rowland, 1984

Urwin, 1984

2NN




Mothers of children with visual impairments

• are more likely to be physically involved and to engage in controlling behaviors,

• modify common interactive routines to encourage child participation, and

• use routines that involve social play or imitation and are less likely to be action based.

Behl et al., 1996 Chen, 1996

2OO

Maternal Interactions and VI



• Parents face additional challenges in interpreting nonintentional communication.

• Mothers engage in fewer positive and more negative interactions with children with multiple disabilities than do mothers of sighted children.

Baird et al., 1997

Rogers & Puchalski, 1984

2PP

Children With VI and Additional Disabilities



• Mothers of children who have multiple disabilities identify fewer behaviors as communicative.

• Children often vocalize less, are more negative in their vocalizations, and develop idiosyncratic ways of communicating.

Baird et al., 1997


2QQ

Children With VI and Additional Disabilities



• Phonology and morphology develop in children with VI at the same rate as in sighted children.

• Semantics:

The first 50 words of children with VI have more specific nouns and fewer general nouns than those of sighted children.

Children with VI are less skilled at verbal classification than are sighted children.

2RR

Development of Language in Children With VI



• Sighted children learn pragmatics through communicative/social interactions with adults and other children.

• Children with visual impairments develop social smiles at the same time as typically developing children.

Conti-Ramsden & Pérez-Pereira, 1999


2SS

Pragmatics



Children with visual impairments

• ask more questions,

• use questions to request an action from communication partners, and

• rely more on routines, repetition, and imitation than do sighted children.

Erin, 1986; 1990

Pérez-Pereira & Castro, 1992; 1997

2TT

Pragmatics



• During communication, children with visual impairments have fewer verbal turns and more nonverbal turns than do their sighted peers.

• Mothers of children with blindness initiate more communication than do mothers of children with low vision.

Conti-Ramsden & Pérez-Pereira, 1999


2UU

Pragmatics



• Children with visual impairments have difficulty learning to read body language.

• Children with multiple disabilities initiate communication less frequently, and communicative partners spend less time facing the child.

• Visual impairments may impede children’s ability to understand nonverbal aspects of communication.

Kekelis & Prinze, 1996

Moore & McConachie, 19942VV

Pragmatics



After speech develops, many

aspects of communication

are still nonverbal

and can include

• turn-taking,

• body language,

• initiations, and

• responsivity.

Hala, 1997

2WW

Nonverbal Communication and Visual Impairments



• Children with multiple disabilities have delays in language development.

• Children with multiple disabilities may use alternative systems including touch cues, augmentative

communication devices(high- and low-tech),

signing, and hand-in-hand signing.

Fazzi & Klein, 2002

2XX

Children With Multiple Disabilities

Documents

Communication and Emergent Literacy: Early Intervention Issues Early Intervention Training Center for Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments FPG