Purpose: The purpose of this clinical focus article was to illustrate the potential of employing conversation analysis (CA) as a method for assessing social communication that is neurodiversity affirming. Method: This clinical focus article will provide an overview of CA and explain how it offers a theoretically grounded means of analyzing…

Purpose: This study was designed to (a) compare the speech fluency of school-age children who do and do not stutter (CWS and CWNS, respectively) within 2 standard diagnostic speaking contexts (conversation and narration) while also controlling for speaking topic, and (b) examine the extent to which children's performance on such discourse tasks is…

The problem solving conversations of 92 adolescent romantic couples were analyzed using two innovative techniques for capturing the meaning-making processes in couples' interactions. Couples were coded using the narrative coding system developed by the Family Narrative Consortium [Fiese, B. H. & Sameroff, A. J. (Eds.), (1999). The stories that…

Analysis of interaction patterns is one of the most important indicators of quality of learning in educational web forums. Social network analysis (SNA) is gradually assuming importance in the study of interaction patterns as it focuses on the analysis of the interrelationships between individuals, thus providing a holistic perspective on group…

Background: The aim of this study was to explore, from the perspective of key communication partners, the meaning of a communication intervention and associated changes for an adult with severe intellectual disability (ID). Method: The parents and key support workers of Mark, a 22-year-old man with ID and complex communication needs, were…

The use of continuous discourse tracking to evaluate sensory prostheses for the hearing impaired was assessed in terms of the strategies used by the talker and responses elicited from the listener. Listeners showed small but significant differences in response patterns. Much larger differences were observed in the pattern of correction strategies…

Procedures are discussed for collecting the conversational samples needed to conduct a topic assessment in the communication of adults with mild to moderate mental retardation. A framework for analyzing topic initiations, topic maintenance, and topic changes or disruptions is explained via transcripts illustrating various types of topic…

Argues that accounts (explanations of conduct) provided in selection interviews are not powerless speech forms. Examines relative frequencies of accounts, and describes a subset of selection interviews as "hazardous" communication events. Suggests that accounts, if not excessive, assist applications by explaining away questionable…

Conversational and narrative language samples were elicited from 16 school-age individuals with mental retardation and 16 typically developing children matched for mental age. Analysis demonstrated that both groups produced more syntactically complex language during narration, whereas they were more talkative during conversation. Results support…

This paper focuses on the evidence of learning in children engaged in small-group discussion with a teacher. The children are considered to have learned if they show progress in the explanations they make, the language they use in the dialogue, or the understanding they show of the dialogue. Motives of the participants in this dialogue are…