This study assessed communication initiation and repair behaviors of 28 adults with severe/profound mental retardation in a variety of settings. All subjects communicated through nonsymbolic gestures. All subjects initiated at least one communication act; all but three subjects repaired at least one communication act following a breakdown. Recasts…

Nine hours of videotape of an integrated eight-year-old deaf child of hearing parents, in social and instructional settings, were analyzed using a Vygotskian model. Analysis focused on: the frequency, amount, and kinds of interactions; the means of communication; the importance of context; the use of eye contact; and repair/avoidance of…

Work with a mute, autistic, severely handicapped girl over five years (ages 7-11) is analyzed using developmental pragmatics. While she often used interactive acts leading to environmental consequences, she was almost never observed using any that led to a social consequence. She learned to point and gesture but not voluntarily. (Author/VW)

The report examines research on differences in the interpretations of discrepant and nondiscrepant messages by normal and emotionally disturbed children and reports on a study in which tone of voice and verbal content were discrepant in their affective meaning. A review of the research on discrepant messages, their delivery, interpretation, and…

Investigates whether first- and fourth-grade children vary their production of redundant messages (saying more than the minimal necessary to be informative) as a function of sharing common experience with a listener. (HOD)

This study, with 26 deaf and 26 pair-matched hearing preschool children, first assessed their cognitive modifiability using dynamic and static-convention instruments, and then compared the factorial pattern of the cognitive measures in both groups. Results are interpreted according to the Structural Cognitive Modifiability and Mediated Learning…

A study was conducted in September 1981 of factors which influence the process of communication between clients and staff at six high-capacity computer facilities in the Sacramento, California, metropolitan area. These included two large government organizations, a medium-sized corporation, two bibliographic database settings, and a computer…

Teacher isolation is a significant problem in the science teaching profession. Traditional inservice solutions are often plagued by logistical difficulties or occur too infrequently to build ongoing teacher networks. Educational Technology Center (ETC) researchers reasoned that computer-based conferencing might promote collegial exchange among…