REFERENTIAL COMMUNICATION - ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION

The referential communication paradigm, which investigates the growth of the ability to send and receive verbal information, is described an d the current state of knowledge reviewed. In particular, the explanat ions for communication failure are examined. Evidence from an internat ional study is presented as an illustration of the difficulty that eve n older elementary school children have in detecting ambiguity in mess ages. It is argued that there is a case for the construction of a stan dardized test in this area, given its importance in educational achiev ement. The article concludes with a brief survey of work with language -impaired groups and approaches to intervention.