COMMUNICATIVE FLEXIBILITY IN CHILDREN - ITS EFFECT ON JUDGMENTS OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AND COMMUNICATION DISORDER

A recent trend in intervention for language-impaired children has focu sed upon communication in context. One of the skills which may be targ eted is the ability to adapt communication to the needs of the listene r. However, there is as yet little empirical support for the notion th at a deficit in this skill leads to a perception of impaired communica tion. The present study was designed to address the question of whethe r a lack of communicative flexibility affects judgements of communicat ion. Sixty-three speech-language pathologists rated videotapes of chil dren's communication on a scale of communicative competence and a scal e of communication disorder. The videotapes consisted of a control gro up and an experimental group of children speaking to two unseen partne rs. The experimental group videotapes were contrived to portray a lack of communicative flexibility. The lack of communicative flexibility d epicted in this study significantly lowered the speech-language pathol ogists' ratings of children's communicative competence and communicati on disorder. Therefore, the results of this study lend support to the proposition that communicative flexibility is a factor in judgements o f children's communicative competence and its lack increases the perce ption of communication disorder.