Aided conversations differ from spoken ones in their transitions between turns and symbols because seeking and choosing symbols takes more time than speaking words naturally. This study adopted the concepts and principles of conversation analysis (CA) to analyze the transitions between symbols during the construction of aided turns. The data was…

Drawing on experiential learning and transformative learning theory, a transformative model of continuing professional development (CPD) was employed to implement symbolic gesturing in a day nursery. The model of CPD aimed to empower practitioners working with infants to have autonomy over their professional learning. Perspectives of the nursery…

This study examined the changes in the communication skills of preschool students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that resulted from an intervention that featured three evidence-based, transactional approaches to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention: (a) attributing communicative meaning to student behaviours; (b)…

The aim of this study was to examine how early symbolic forms (and their associated communicative functions) are related to change in communication among a sample of 12 young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who produced two or fewer spoken words ("M" age = 28.75 months; 11 male, 1 female). Parents reported on children's…

Children with Down syndrome (DS) and cerebral palsy (CP) are at risk of remaining pre-symbolic in their communication and play for prolonged periods. The aim of this study was to explore the early communication and play of children with DS and with CP who communicated at the pre-symbolic stage, and to determine the association between these…

This paper explores ideas of language as a cognitive tool and the role of gesture in expressing children's interests and levels of knowledge. The context is a group of three-year-old children who participate in a weekly music session with a trained musician. The authors present drawings from photographs of children's hands and interpret them,…

Including gesture in instruction facilitates learning. Why? One possibility is that gesture points out objects in the immediate context and thus helps ground the words learners hear in the world they see. Previous work on gesture's role in instruction has used gestures that either point to or trace paths on objects, thus providing support for this…

Use of logographic symbol systems with severely communication-disordered children led to a comparison of the relative ease of learning logographs from the Bliss and Rebus symbol systems with 32 normal preschoolers. Results indicated that Rebus symbols were recalled with significantly greater accuracy than Bliss symbols. (Author/DB)

Describes the spontaneous development of 13 symbolic gestures in a normal infant from 12 to 17 months. Sixteen additional symbolic gestures were purposefully taught. Vocal development was advanced, indicating that gesturing is not necessarily related to poor vocal skills. Data support the hypothesis that sensorimotor behaviors are natural…

The investigation compared the transparency of 11 different types of symbols with 40 nonspeaking mentally retarded subjects (ages 4-20). Analysis indicated a hierarchy of difficulty with actual objects the easiest and Blissymbols and written words the hardest to understand. Results have implications for selecting initial symbol systems for…

The article addresses the need to identify the unconventional, nonsymbolic behaviors of children with severe, multiple disabilities. Suggestions for improving the frequency and quality of communicative interactions by building on the child's current behavioral repertoire. (Author/DB)

The comparative translucency within and across 5 aided augmentative and alternative symbol systems for symbols representing 3 parts of speech (nouns, verbs, and modifiers) was investigated with 50 college undergraduates. Results indicated that translucency varies among systems or sets and among parts of speech. (Author/DB)

A review of studies in which signing or symbol use has been taught to autistic individuals suggests that these techniques can provide a means of communication and language development for the autistic, including mute and retarded children. (RH)

The investigation examined the transparency and recall of symbols representing three parts of speech (nouns, verbs, and descriptors) from three different graphic symbol systems (Blissymbols, Picture Communication System, and Picsyms) among adults with intellectual handicaps. Results suggested that Blissymbols were the least transparent and hardest…

A survey of 429 schools serving children classified as ESN(S)--educationally subnormal (severe)--or otherwise handicapped was conducted to find out which sign and symbol systems were used for nonvocal children. (SBH)