GENERALIZING SPONTANEOUS LANGUAGE IN DEVELOPMENTALLY DELAYED CHILDRENVIA A VISUAL CUE PROCEDURE USING CAREGIVERS AS THERAPISTS

Developmentally delayed children are recognized by deficits in languag e, motor skills, and social interaction. The importance of this topic is demonstrated by the fact that many studies have focused on increasi ng different aspects of this population's language. New training eleme nts for this population were used here (e.g., the visual cue method wa s used in horne settings). Caregivers were trained as therapists to te ach children spontaneous speech by targeting two behaviors. The visual cue method was effective for increasing spontaneous speech in develop mentally delayed children in the home. This finding is significant in that home training with caregivers promoted generalization of language by programming common stimuli. Implication of these data for future r esearch is discussed.