PREDICTING CHILDRENS RESPONSE TO PRELINGUISTIC COMMUNICATION INTERVENTION

The present study tested the hypothesis that pretreatment level of pla y would predict the rate of increase in prelinguistic, intentional req uesting during prelinguistic communication intervention. The participa nts were 8 children with developmental disabilities. A negative relati on was found between the amount of person-only engagement observed dur ing baseline sessions and later rate of change in the number of prelin guistic, intentional requests children made to interventionists during the intervention period. In contrast, a positive relation was found b etween the amount of transitional or symbolic play observed during bas eline sessions and the rate of increase in the number of prelinguistic , intentional requests children directed to interventionists. The impl ications of the results for individualizing interventions and for pred icting children's responses to prelinguistic communication interventio n are discussed.