Individuals with a premutation of the fragile X mental retardation (FMR1) gene are at risk for a ... more Individuals with a premutation of the fragile X mental retardation (FMR1) gene are at risk for a variety of psychological, physical, and cognitive issues, including difficulty with word retrieval. The present study examined three indicators of word retrieval difficulty; reduced productivity, reduced lexical diversity, and increased errors in word retrieval in a group of 38 female premutation carriers during standard-length speech samples collected over a period of eight years. Our results revealed that as women aged, they produced fewer words, produced fewer different words, and had greater word retrieval errors. In addition, the rate of word retrieval errors was highly correlated between two speaking contexts, indicating that this difficulty was pervasive and not solely the result of speaking in monologue. Our results suggest that subtle areas of cognitive decline emerge at a much earlier age among female premutation carriers than would be expected during healthy aging.
American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2019
Contradictory reports of play strengths and weaknesses for children with autism spectrum disorder... more Contradictory reports of play strengths and weaknesses for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) persist in the literature. We compared the play of 19 children with ASD to 19 typically developing (TD) children matched on language and cognitive skills. All children were verbal. Results revealed no differences in indiscriminate actions, functional play, and object interest. The children with ASD showed less symbolic play and a significantly fewer number of children met criteria for emerging or mastered symbolic play. A specific deficit was observed for “doll as agent” symbolic play. Outcomes suggest that compared to children without disabilities, children with ASD may have comparable functional play skills and struggle with the transition to some, but not all types of symbolic play.
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2019
Purpose This study examines differences in the communicative use of triadic eye gaze (TEG) during... more Purpose This study examines differences in the communicative use of triadic eye gaze (TEG) during a communicative interaction in 2 neurodevelopmental disorders: Down syndrome (DS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and a 3rd group of varying disabilities associated with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). Also, the relationship between TEG use and language abilities was explored. Method Participants were 45 children, 15 in each group. The frequency of TEG was coded during a scripted communication assessment when children were between 3 and 6 years of age (37–73 months). Receptive and expressive language was measured using raw scores from the Mullen Scales of Early Learning concurrently between 3 and 6 years and again 2 years later when children were between 5 and 8 years (59–92 months). Results Descriptively, children with DS had a higher frequency of TEG than children with ASD and IDD, but significant differences were only observed between children with DS and ASD...
American journal of mental retardation : AJMR, 1996
Little is known about the distribution of communication skills among individuals with severe ment... more Little is known about the distribution of communication skills among individuals with severe mental retardation. The present study was designed to obtain basic descriptive information about the reported expressive communication status and other associated sensory and behavioral characteristics of four representative samples of this overall population. These samples include both children and adults and individuals living in large residential facilities as well as those living at home or in smaller, more natural community environments. Results of this study, based on completed questionnaires for 211 subjects, revealed a wide range of communication abilities in this population, with a significantly larger percentage of adults than children communicating at symbolic levels.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1991
A structured communication sampling procedure was used to measure the form and function character... more A structured communication sampling procedure was used to measure the form and function characteristics of intentional communication acts produced by nonverbal adults with severe mental retardation. Four “contact” subjects (who communicated only with contact gestures) and 4 “distal” subjects (who used distal as well as contact gestures) participated in this study. All subjects produced communication acts that were coded as initiations, and all subjects produced protoimperative-type communication acts. However, contact subjects produced no protodeclarative-type communication acts, whereas all distal subjects produced some protodeclaratives. Distal subjects lso produced significantly more repair/recast acts than did contact subjects. Other findings included a tendency for distal subjects to communicate at a higher rate, to initiate more communication acts, and to produce more accompanying wordlike vocalizations than contact subjects. These results are discussed in light of Werner and ...
Purpose: This study examines the effects of communication sample length on the reliability and co... more Purpose: This study examines the effects of communication sample length on the reliability and convergent validity of six vocal measures for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with minimal verbal skills. The results are expected to inform recommendations for the length of communication samples for clinical and research purposes. Method: Participants included 31 children with ASD (24 boys and seven girls; M age = 6;7 [years;months], SD = 17 months) with minimal verbal skills. We coded six vocal measures that focus on vocalizations and early word productions from the Communication Complexity Scale (CCS) scripted administration protocol. To evaluate reliability of different sample lengths, we calculated intraclass correlation coefficients between the full CCS sample and 1-, 3-, 7-, 10-, and 20-min samples. To examine convergent validity, we calculated correlations between the six vocal measures for each sample length. Results: When coded from 10-min samples from the beginning...
Purpose: Interventions that target the full breadth of communication skills for individuals who u... more Purpose: Interventions that target the full breadth of communication skills for individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) are needed in the literature. Narrative interventions for AAC would target the important communication skill of storytelling and may have broader academic and social effects. The authors review the components of narrative interventions that have been effective with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and could be modified for those who use AAC. Conclusion: Finally, a line of research developing AAC narrative interventions is proposed.
Previous research in the area of children's knowledge of number agreement morphology has yielded ... more Previous research in the area of children's knowledge of number agreement morphology has yielded mixed results. Some researchers have found evidence for sensitivity to agreement morphology at as early as 16 months, while others report that children do not comprehend number agreement morphology until as late as five or six years old. Studies of children's production of these forms suggest that while children go through a period of optionally using agreement morphemes as part of the Optional Infinitive stage of development, they show productive use of these morphemes at age two. Therefore, some researchers have concluded that this is an area of the grammar where production precedes comprehension. This general pattern of findings has several possible explanations, three of which will be described here. The general goal of the current study was to provide new information to this area of inquiry, with a particular focus on children's comprehension of "is" and "are" as well as plurals marking on nouns. To address possible methodological issues with picture selection and looking-time studies, a manual search task was used to tap receptive knowledge of these forms. Forty-eight 30-to 36-month-old children were tested on their receptive knowledge if "is," "are," and singular/plural distinctions on nous. Additionally, these children were given multiple assessments of their language production abilities and their non-verbal mental abilities. Results indicated that two-year-olds can comprehend noun morphology indicating number, but failed to show comprehension of "is" and "are." Additionally, when provided with both noun and verb information, the presence of the verb provided no added benefit to the children in terms strengthening their interpretation of the verbal prompts, suggesting that noun information regarding number is sufficient for sentence interpretation in two-year-olds. Analyses of
The Oxford Handbook of Down Syndrome and Development, 2020
Delayed and disordered speech and language development are among the primary challenges for young... more Delayed and disordered speech and language development are among the primary challenges for young children with Down syndrome. Common sources of these delays include frequent ear infections and fluctuating hearing loss early in life, significant oral motor impairments, and delayed onset of joint attention and related cognitive skills. This chapter is focused on the early childhood period up to 8 years of age because most of the intervention research has been conducted during this period. The review is limited to two types of intervention: milieu teaching (MT) and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) because much of the published research has focused on these two approaches. The review reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the research to date. Four directions for future research are proposed, most importantly combining MT and AAC approaches in a single flexible model of early communication and language intervention for young children with DS.
The development of prelinguistic communication in typically developing infants is marked by chang... more The development of prelinguistic communication in typically developing infants is marked by changes in complexity as well as frequency, yet most measures focus on frequency. In the current study we used the Communication Complexity Scale (CCS) to measure prelinguistic complexity of typically developing infants in a cross-sectional sample of 6-, 8-, 10-and 12-month-olds (N = 204) during semi-structured play interaction. For each toy/interactive episode, infants' highest level of communication complexity (ranging from 0 for no response to 12 for multi-word verbalization), for both joint attention (i.e., social) and behavior regulation (e.g., requesting) functions, was scored. In addition, the same interaction was coded for frequency of all prelinguistic communication acts. Results of multivariate models indicated age-related differences in prelinguistic complexity. Measures of prelinguistic complexity and frequency evidenced moderate to strong correlations, with age-related differences by function (joint attention and behavior regulation). Significant associations with parent-report communication questionnaires were observed for both complexity and frequency measures. Results indicate that evaluating complexity of infant preverbal communication skill with the CCS is a valuable approach that can meaningfully index developmental differences in prelinguistic and early linguistic communication.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2014
Before the 1990s, research on the early identification and prevention of severe behavior disorder... more Before the 1990s, research on the early identification and prevention of severe behavior disorders (SBDs), such as aggression, self-injury, and stereotyped behavior, among young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), was mostly done with children 3 years or older. More recent work suggests that signs of SBDs may occur as early as 6 months in some infants. The present study combined a cross-sectional and longitudinal approach to examine SBDs in 180 young children aged 4-48 months recruited through mass screening, then receiving an interdisciplinary evaluation and six-month follow-ups for one year. Twelve potential risk factors related to SBDs were examined. Eight of these risk factors, including age, gender, diagnosis, intellectual and communication levels, visual impairment, parent education, family income, were differentially related to scores for Aggression, SIB, and Stereotyped Behavior subscales on the Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI-01) at initial int...
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2011
Children with autism are often described as having deficient play skills, particularly symbolic p... more Children with autism are often described as having deficient play skills, particularly symbolic play. We compared the play of 35 children with autism to 38 children with other developmental delays. All children were preschool-age and produced less than 20 different words. Results indicated no significant differences across the two groups in their play. Children with autism engaged in more conventional play, that is, putting objects together according to how the toys were constructed (e.g., pieces in a puzzle, lid on a teapot). Results also indicated high correlations between play, language, and cognitive measures. Findings indicate that play relates to language and cognitive levels yet may not discriminate children with autism and children with other developmental delays early in their development.
Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 2007
... Infants can be taught to use manual signs to communicate requests and doing so may replace cr... more ... Infants can be taught to use manual signs to communicate requests and doing so may replace crying1 1 ... Simultaneous communication and speech comprehension. ... conditions during the reversal phase, it can be assumed that the intervention caused the increase in sign usage. ...
Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 2010
Question: Can four children with severe developmental disabilities learn to produce a sequence of... more Question: Can four children with severe developmental disabilities learn to produce a sequence of AAC responses aimed at rejecting one object and subsequently requesting another object in highly controlled settings? Design: A multiple-probe design across participants (Horner & Baer, 1978) was used to examine the effectiveness of intervention within the teaching contexts. Generalization to two untrained contexts was measured pre-and post-intervention, and short term maintenance was assessed. Allocation: All four children participated in each phase of the study (baseline, intervention, generalization, and follow-up). The authors did not specify how the children were allocated to the tiers in the multiple-probe design.
Our purpose was to review evidence-based literacy instruction for children with severe speech imp... more Our purpose was to review evidence-based literacy instruction for children with severe speech impairment (SSI) who communicate with AAC. This review focuses on three issues important to researchers in this area: participant heterogeneity, assessment and instruction, and research design. We found 8 articles that reported attempts to teach phonological awareness and individual-word reading to a total of 26 children with SSI who used AAC. We evaluated these studies based on reporting of participant characteristics, assessment and instruction modifications, and the strength of research designs. We conclude by highlighting the need for standard assessments that can be used across studies, discussing strategies for facilitating metaanalyses, and suggesting the creation of an online database for researchers to share results on literacy instruction for this population.
American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2010
The relationship between early maternal responsivity and later child communication outcomes in yo... more The relationship between early maternal responsivity and later child communication outcomes in young children with fragile X syndrome was investigated. Data were obtained from 55 mother–child dyads over a 36-month period. Performance data were obtained at each measurement point from video observations of four different contexts. These were coded for (a) child communication behaviors, (b) parent responsivity, and (c) behavior management behaviors. Results indicate that early maternal responsivity predicts the level of four important child language outcomes at 36 months of age after controlling for child developmental level and autism symptomology.
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2014
Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how maternal gesture relates to speech produ... more Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how maternal gesture relates to speech production by children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). Method Participants were 27 young children with FXS (23 boys, 4 girls) and their mothers. Videotaped home observations were conducted between the ages of 25 and 37 months (toddler period) and again between the ages of 60 and 71 months (child period). The videos were later coded for types of maternal utterances and maternal gestures that preceded child speech productions. Children were also assessed with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning at both ages. Results Maternal gesture use in the toddler period was positively related to expressive language scores at both age periods and was related to receptive language scores in the child period. Maternal proximal pointing, in comparison to other gestures, evoked more speech responses from children during the mother–child interactions, particularly when combined with wh -questions. Conclusion This...
American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2012
We examine how the family environment is associated with aspects of the Fragile X syndrome phenot... more We examine how the family environment is associated with aspects of the Fragile X syndrome phenotype during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Mothers of children (n = 48), adolescents (n = 85), and adults (n = 34) with Fragile X syndrome participated in a multisite study. For children and adults with Fragile X syndrome, the presence of warmth and positivity and the absence of criticism were associated with fewer behavior problems. Although a higher level of criticism was significantly associated with greater behavior problems, there were only trend-level associations between levels of warmth and positivity and behavior problems during the adolescent years. The provision of family psychoeducation programs, which can reduce parental criticism, would likely benefit both the individual with Fragile X syndrome and the family.
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2010
Purpose The authors hypothesized that significant positive relationships would exist between earl... more Purpose The authors hypothesized that significant positive relationships would exist between early gesture use and later language attainments in children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), as has been reported in studies with other populations. Method Participants were young children with FXS and limited expressive language (21 boys, 4 girls), divided into 2 subgroups based on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS; Schopler, Reichler, & Renner, 1988) scores. Data were collected when participants were about 2 years of age and again when they were about 5 years of age. Communication was assessed through the analysis of video samples obtained in the children’s homes for both observation periods. Correlational analyses were completed between early prelinguistic communication and later verbal communication scores for all participants and for children with high (>30) versus low (<30) scores on the CARS. Results Although no significant relationships were found between prelinguistic ges...
Individuals with a premutation of the fragile X mental retardation (FMR1) gene are at risk for a ... more Individuals with a premutation of the fragile X mental retardation (FMR1) gene are at risk for a variety of psychological, physical, and cognitive issues, including difficulty with word retrieval. The present study examined three indicators of word retrieval difficulty; reduced productivity, reduced lexical diversity, and increased errors in word retrieval in a group of 38 female premutation carriers during standard-length speech samples collected over a period of eight years. Our results revealed that as women aged, they produced fewer words, produced fewer different words, and had greater word retrieval errors. In addition, the rate of word retrieval errors was highly correlated between two speaking contexts, indicating that this difficulty was pervasive and not solely the result of speaking in monologue. Our results suggest that subtle areas of cognitive decline emerge at a much earlier age among female premutation carriers than would be expected during healthy aging.
American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2019
Contradictory reports of play strengths and weaknesses for children with autism spectrum disorder... more Contradictory reports of play strengths and weaknesses for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) persist in the literature. We compared the play of 19 children with ASD to 19 typically developing (TD) children matched on language and cognitive skills. All children were verbal. Results revealed no differences in indiscriminate actions, functional play, and object interest. The children with ASD showed less symbolic play and a significantly fewer number of children met criteria for emerging or mastered symbolic play. A specific deficit was observed for “doll as agent” symbolic play. Outcomes suggest that compared to children without disabilities, children with ASD may have comparable functional play skills and struggle with the transition to some, but not all types of symbolic play.
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2019
Purpose This study examines differences in the communicative use of triadic eye gaze (TEG) during... more Purpose This study examines differences in the communicative use of triadic eye gaze (TEG) during a communicative interaction in 2 neurodevelopmental disorders: Down syndrome (DS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and a 3rd group of varying disabilities associated with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). Also, the relationship between TEG use and language abilities was explored. Method Participants were 45 children, 15 in each group. The frequency of TEG was coded during a scripted communication assessment when children were between 3 and 6 years of age (37–73 months). Receptive and expressive language was measured using raw scores from the Mullen Scales of Early Learning concurrently between 3 and 6 years and again 2 years later when children were between 5 and 8 years (59–92 months). Results Descriptively, children with DS had a higher frequency of TEG than children with ASD and IDD, but significant differences were only observed between children with DS and ASD...
American journal of mental retardation : AJMR, 1996
Little is known about the distribution of communication skills among individuals with severe ment... more Little is known about the distribution of communication skills among individuals with severe mental retardation. The present study was designed to obtain basic descriptive information about the reported expressive communication status and other associated sensory and behavioral characteristics of four representative samples of this overall population. These samples include both children and adults and individuals living in large residential facilities as well as those living at home or in smaller, more natural community environments. Results of this study, based on completed questionnaires for 211 subjects, revealed a wide range of communication abilities in this population, with a significantly larger percentage of adults than children communicating at symbolic levels.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1991
A structured communication sampling procedure was used to measure the form and function character... more A structured communication sampling procedure was used to measure the form and function characteristics of intentional communication acts produced by nonverbal adults with severe mental retardation. Four “contact” subjects (who communicated only with contact gestures) and 4 “distal” subjects (who used distal as well as contact gestures) participated in this study. All subjects produced communication acts that were coded as initiations, and all subjects produced protoimperative-type communication acts. However, contact subjects produced no protodeclarative-type communication acts, whereas all distal subjects produced some protodeclaratives. Distal subjects lso produced significantly more repair/recast acts than did contact subjects. Other findings included a tendency for distal subjects to communicate at a higher rate, to initiate more communication acts, and to produce more accompanying wordlike vocalizations than contact subjects. These results are discussed in light of Werner and ...
Purpose: This study examines the effects of communication sample length on the reliability and co... more Purpose: This study examines the effects of communication sample length on the reliability and convergent validity of six vocal measures for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with minimal verbal skills. The results are expected to inform recommendations for the length of communication samples for clinical and research purposes. Method: Participants included 31 children with ASD (24 boys and seven girls; M age = 6;7 [years;months], SD = 17 months) with minimal verbal skills. We coded six vocal measures that focus on vocalizations and early word productions from the Communication Complexity Scale (CCS) scripted administration protocol. To evaluate reliability of different sample lengths, we calculated intraclass correlation coefficients between the full CCS sample and 1-, 3-, 7-, 10-, and 20-min samples. To examine convergent validity, we calculated correlations between the six vocal measures for each sample length. Results: When coded from 10-min samples from the beginning...
Purpose: Interventions that target the full breadth of communication skills for individuals who u... more Purpose: Interventions that target the full breadth of communication skills for individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) are needed in the literature. Narrative interventions for AAC would target the important communication skill of storytelling and may have broader academic and social effects. The authors review the components of narrative interventions that have been effective with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and could be modified for those who use AAC. Conclusion: Finally, a line of research developing AAC narrative interventions is proposed.
Previous research in the area of children's knowledge of number agreement morphology has yielded ... more Previous research in the area of children's knowledge of number agreement morphology has yielded mixed results. Some researchers have found evidence for sensitivity to agreement morphology at as early as 16 months, while others report that children do not comprehend number agreement morphology until as late as five or six years old. Studies of children's production of these forms suggest that while children go through a period of optionally using agreement morphemes as part of the Optional Infinitive stage of development, they show productive use of these morphemes at age two. Therefore, some researchers have concluded that this is an area of the grammar where production precedes comprehension. This general pattern of findings has several possible explanations, three of which will be described here. The general goal of the current study was to provide new information to this area of inquiry, with a particular focus on children's comprehension of "is" and "are" as well as plurals marking on nouns. To address possible methodological issues with picture selection and looking-time studies, a manual search task was used to tap receptive knowledge of these forms. Forty-eight 30-to 36-month-old children were tested on their receptive knowledge if "is," "are," and singular/plural distinctions on nous. Additionally, these children were given multiple assessments of their language production abilities and their non-verbal mental abilities. Results indicated that two-year-olds can comprehend noun morphology indicating number, but failed to show comprehension of "is" and "are." Additionally, when provided with both noun and verb information, the presence of the verb provided no added benefit to the children in terms strengthening their interpretation of the verbal prompts, suggesting that noun information regarding number is sufficient for sentence interpretation in two-year-olds. Analyses of
The Oxford Handbook of Down Syndrome and Development, 2020
Delayed and disordered speech and language development are among the primary challenges for young... more Delayed and disordered speech and language development are among the primary challenges for young children with Down syndrome. Common sources of these delays include frequent ear infections and fluctuating hearing loss early in life, significant oral motor impairments, and delayed onset of joint attention and related cognitive skills. This chapter is focused on the early childhood period up to 8 years of age because most of the intervention research has been conducted during this period. The review is limited to two types of intervention: milieu teaching (MT) and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) because much of the published research has focused on these two approaches. The review reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the research to date. Four directions for future research are proposed, most importantly combining MT and AAC approaches in a single flexible model of early communication and language intervention for young children with DS.
The development of prelinguistic communication in typically developing infants is marked by chang... more The development of prelinguistic communication in typically developing infants is marked by changes in complexity as well as frequency, yet most measures focus on frequency. In the current study we used the Communication Complexity Scale (CCS) to measure prelinguistic complexity of typically developing infants in a cross-sectional sample of 6-, 8-, 10-and 12-month-olds (N = 204) during semi-structured play interaction. For each toy/interactive episode, infants' highest level of communication complexity (ranging from 0 for no response to 12 for multi-word verbalization), for both joint attention (i.e., social) and behavior regulation (e.g., requesting) functions, was scored. In addition, the same interaction was coded for frequency of all prelinguistic communication acts. Results of multivariate models indicated age-related differences in prelinguistic complexity. Measures of prelinguistic complexity and frequency evidenced moderate to strong correlations, with age-related differences by function (joint attention and behavior regulation). Significant associations with parent-report communication questionnaires were observed for both complexity and frequency measures. Results indicate that evaluating complexity of infant preverbal communication skill with the CCS is a valuable approach that can meaningfully index developmental differences in prelinguistic and early linguistic communication.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2014
Before the 1990s, research on the early identification and prevention of severe behavior disorder... more Before the 1990s, research on the early identification and prevention of severe behavior disorders (SBDs), such as aggression, self-injury, and stereotyped behavior, among young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), was mostly done with children 3 years or older. More recent work suggests that signs of SBDs may occur as early as 6 months in some infants. The present study combined a cross-sectional and longitudinal approach to examine SBDs in 180 young children aged 4-48 months recruited through mass screening, then receiving an interdisciplinary evaluation and six-month follow-ups for one year. Twelve potential risk factors related to SBDs were examined. Eight of these risk factors, including age, gender, diagnosis, intellectual and communication levels, visual impairment, parent education, family income, were differentially related to scores for Aggression, SIB, and Stereotyped Behavior subscales on the Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI-01) at initial int...
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2011
Children with autism are often described as having deficient play skills, particularly symbolic p... more Children with autism are often described as having deficient play skills, particularly symbolic play. We compared the play of 35 children with autism to 38 children with other developmental delays. All children were preschool-age and produced less than 20 different words. Results indicated no significant differences across the two groups in their play. Children with autism engaged in more conventional play, that is, putting objects together according to how the toys were constructed (e.g., pieces in a puzzle, lid on a teapot). Results also indicated high correlations between play, language, and cognitive measures. Findings indicate that play relates to language and cognitive levels yet may not discriminate children with autism and children with other developmental delays early in their development.
Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 2007
... Infants can be taught to use manual signs to communicate requests and doing so may replace cr... more ... Infants can be taught to use manual signs to communicate requests and doing so may replace crying1 1 ... Simultaneous communication and speech comprehension. ... conditions during the reversal phase, it can be assumed that the intervention caused the increase in sign usage. ...
Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 2010
Question: Can four children with severe developmental disabilities learn to produce a sequence of... more Question: Can four children with severe developmental disabilities learn to produce a sequence of AAC responses aimed at rejecting one object and subsequently requesting another object in highly controlled settings? Design: A multiple-probe design across participants (Horner & Baer, 1978) was used to examine the effectiveness of intervention within the teaching contexts. Generalization to two untrained contexts was measured pre-and post-intervention, and short term maintenance was assessed. Allocation: All four children participated in each phase of the study (baseline, intervention, generalization, and follow-up). The authors did not specify how the children were allocated to the tiers in the multiple-probe design.
Our purpose was to review evidence-based literacy instruction for children with severe speech imp... more Our purpose was to review evidence-based literacy instruction for children with severe speech impairment (SSI) who communicate with AAC. This review focuses on three issues important to researchers in this area: participant heterogeneity, assessment and instruction, and research design. We found 8 articles that reported attempts to teach phonological awareness and individual-word reading to a total of 26 children with SSI who used AAC. We evaluated these studies based on reporting of participant characteristics, assessment and instruction modifications, and the strength of research designs. We conclude by highlighting the need for standard assessments that can be used across studies, discussing strategies for facilitating metaanalyses, and suggesting the creation of an online database for researchers to share results on literacy instruction for this population.
American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2010
The relationship between early maternal responsivity and later child communication outcomes in yo... more The relationship between early maternal responsivity and later child communication outcomes in young children with fragile X syndrome was investigated. Data were obtained from 55 mother–child dyads over a 36-month period. Performance data were obtained at each measurement point from video observations of four different contexts. These were coded for (a) child communication behaviors, (b) parent responsivity, and (c) behavior management behaviors. Results indicate that early maternal responsivity predicts the level of four important child language outcomes at 36 months of age after controlling for child developmental level and autism symptomology.
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2014
Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how maternal gesture relates to speech produ... more Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how maternal gesture relates to speech production by children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). Method Participants were 27 young children with FXS (23 boys, 4 girls) and their mothers. Videotaped home observations were conducted between the ages of 25 and 37 months (toddler period) and again between the ages of 60 and 71 months (child period). The videos were later coded for types of maternal utterances and maternal gestures that preceded child speech productions. Children were also assessed with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning at both ages. Results Maternal gesture use in the toddler period was positively related to expressive language scores at both age periods and was related to receptive language scores in the child period. Maternal proximal pointing, in comparison to other gestures, evoked more speech responses from children during the mother–child interactions, particularly when combined with wh -questions. Conclusion This...
American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2012
We examine how the family environment is associated with aspects of the Fragile X syndrome phenot... more We examine how the family environment is associated with aspects of the Fragile X syndrome phenotype during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Mothers of children (n = 48), adolescents (n = 85), and adults (n = 34) with Fragile X syndrome participated in a multisite study. For children and adults with Fragile X syndrome, the presence of warmth and positivity and the absence of criticism were associated with fewer behavior problems. Although a higher level of criticism was significantly associated with greater behavior problems, there were only trend-level associations between levels of warmth and positivity and behavior problems during the adolescent years. The provision of family psychoeducation programs, which can reduce parental criticism, would likely benefit both the individual with Fragile X syndrome and the family.
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2010
Purpose The authors hypothesized that significant positive relationships would exist between earl... more Purpose The authors hypothesized that significant positive relationships would exist between early gesture use and later language attainments in children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), as has been reported in studies with other populations. Method Participants were young children with FXS and limited expressive language (21 boys, 4 girls), divided into 2 subgroups based on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS; Schopler, Reichler, & Renner, 1988) scores. Data were collected when participants were about 2 years of age and again when they were about 5 years of age. Communication was assessed through the analysis of video samples obtained in the children’s homes for both observation periods. Correlational analyses were completed between early prelinguistic communication and later verbal communication scores for all participants and for children with high (>30) versus low (<30) scores on the CARS. Results Although no significant relationships were found between prelinguistic ges...
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Papers by Nancy Brady