EFFECTS OF SAMPLING CONTEXT ON THE EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH MENTAL-RETARDATION

This study was designed to determine whether conversational samples of language should be supplemented with samples obtained in narrative, o r storytelling, contexts when evaluating the expressive language skill s of individuals with mental retardation. Language samples were elicit ed in both conversational and narrative contexts from 16 school age in dividuals with mental retardation and 16 typically developing children matched to them on MA. An analysis of the samples demonstrated that b oth groups produced more syntactically complex language in narration t han in conversation, whereas they were more talkative in conversation than in narration. These results suggest that conversational and narra tive contexts should be used together when evaluating the ex pressive language performance of individuals with mental retardation.