This article summarizes research focusing on communication skills of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who communicate primarily without speech, sign language, or augmentative communication. Importantly, developmental theories were emphasized as useful for interpreting communication in children and adults. These studies…

Changes in minimal verbal communication by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were measured with the Communication Complexity Scale (CCS) and other communication assessments. The CCS measures complexity of preverbal and beginning verbal communication used to communicate behavior regulation and joint attention. The purpose was to…

Purpose: Accurate description of an individual's communication status is critical in both research and practice. Describing the communication status of individuals with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities is difficult because these individuals often communicate with presymbolic means that may not be readily recognized. Our goal was…

This study of the forms and functions of expressive communication produced by 84 children and adults with severe mental retardation found significant differences among participants associated with differences in their communication levels (contact gesture, distal gesture, or symbolic), age (child or adult), and residential status (community home…

Purpose: This study examined the effects of expressive and receptive language levels on initiated and repaired communication acts by prelinguistic children with developmental disabilities. Method: In this descriptive study, participants were 45 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years who had severe delays in expressive communication. Some…