Communication Skills In Young Children Research Articles

Analysis of Digital Media Usage in Promoting Communication Skills in Early Childhood

Digital media has become an omnipresent element in the lives of young children. This study aims to analyze the usage of digital media in promoting communication skills in early childhood. The proliferation of smartphones, tablets, and other digital devices has revolutionized how children interact with information and communicate with others. However, concerns have been raised regarding the potential impact of excessive screen time on children's development, particularly in areas such as language acquisition and social skills. This research employs a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with parents and educators of children aged 2 to 6 years. Quantitative data will be gathered to examine the frequency and duration of digital media usage among young children, while qualitative insights will delve into the perceived benefits and drawbacks of digital media on communication skills development. Additionally, observations of children's interactions with digital media tools will provide contextual understanding. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to a nuanced understanding of the role of digital media in early childhood communication development. By identifying effective usage patterns and potential pitfalls, educators and parents can make informed decisions regarding the integration of digital media into early childhood education and upbringing. Ultimately, this research aims to inform strategies that leverage digital media to enhance rather than hinder communication skills in young children, ensuring their holistic development in today's digital age.

Preschool Teachers’ Perceptions and Use of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention Strategies: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Investigation

Preschool classrooms serve children of varying abilities, including those who may benefit from social communication intervention. Research supports the use of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBI) to effectively increase the social communication skills of young children. Yet, little is known about preschool teachers’ perspectives on and use of NDBI strategies. The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed methods study was to integrate data from classroom observation, teacher self-report, and qualitative interviews to understand training and support needs for increasing implementation of NDBIs in a preschool classroom context. Eight preschool teachers provided a recording of an intervention session, self-reported their use of NDBI strategies, and participated in an interview to discuss their experiences. Results indicate preschool teacher participants perceive NDBI strategies favorably although they may need targeted support understanding and using NDBI strategies. We discuss implications for practice that may support increased use of NDBIs by preschool teachers.

Study of Manifestations of Communicative Initiative and the Formation of Speech Means in Young Children

Many researchers in recent decades have turned to studying the problem of developing communication skills in young children. The interest of scientists in this problem is due to the large percentage of children with consequences of perinatal pathology of the central nervous system. The article presents the results of an empirical study of communication skills in young children, conducted from October 2019 to March 2021. At the first stage of the study, statistical data on the children’s medical history provided by the early assistance service was analyzed. At the next stages, the skills of interaction between parents and the child were studied for the development of his communicative activity, the communicative initiative and speech means were analyzed in young children with “normal” communicative development and in children at risk. The aim of the study is to study the skills of interaction between adults and a child for the development of his communicative activity, as well as the manifestation of communicative initiative and the formation of speech means in young children for the subsequent development of an innovative methodology for developing communication skills in children in natural life situations. Based on the results of the experimental study, the following data were obtained: in the group of children with “normal” speech development, 42,6 % of participants demonstrated an optimal level of development of communication skills, and 1 participant did not demonstrate a critical level of development of these skills; in the group of children with disorders of communicative development, the majority showed a critical level of development of communication skills (84,3 %) and only 9,2 % demonstrated an optimal level.

<p>Promoting Communication for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Family-centered Music Therapy Intervention</p>

Introduction. Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a continuum of traits that may negatively affect social and emotional competencies of individuals, including challenges in their engagement abilities, possible limitations in reciprocal interactions, and inflexibility in initiating and sustaining communication. Such challenges may affect language development and speech acquisition. Considering their importance, this study explored the impact of a family-centered, music therapy intervention to promote preverbal and verbal communication skills of young children with ASD during parent–child, music engagement episodes. Method. A mixed-methods design was implemented to gather data on the children’s preverbal and verbal communication abilities (pre-and-post intervention data collection) and on each dyad’s musical interactions during a 16-week music therapy intervention. Quantitative outcome measures included children’s scores on the Pragmatics Profile of Everyday Communication Skills (PPECS) and the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile (CSBSDP), to assess children’s communication, expressive speech, and symbolic behavior over time. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, logs, and journaling. Results. Reports from the families corroborate with quantitative results regarding changes on the children’s communication abilities after the intervention. Discussion and Conclusion. Collectively, the current study provides evidence on the potential of using music therapy interventions within a family-centered approach to enhance young children’s preverbal and verbal communication skills.

3.43 More Severe Executive Function Impairments Are Associated With Increases in Frontal Theta and Decreases in Beta and Gamma EEG Power in Young Children With ASD

3.43 More Severe Executive Function Impairments Are Associated With Increases in Frontal Theta and Decreases in Beta and Gamma EEG Power in Young Children With ASD

Prelinguistic Interventions

To review studies evaluating interventions for developing the prelinguistic communication skills of young children with developmental disorders and complex communication conditions. Evidence supports the use of naturalistic behavioral interventions for improving the prelinguistic communication skills of young children with developmental disorders provided that the interventions are implemented in relatively high doses. Early intervention to replace or enhance a child’s prelinguistic behavior may help to prevent communicative breakdowns and the emergence of problematic forms of communication. Future research using rigorous methodology is needed to identify the specific intervention components that promote prelinguistic behavior change as this may lead to differential responsivity to interventions.

Dog training intervention improves adaptive social communication skills in young children with autism spectrum disorder: A controlled crossover study

There is some evidence that using therapy dogs for children with autism spectrum disorder generally results in improved social communication skills and reduced behavioral problems. However, well-controlled studies that examine its effectiveness are scarce. This study examined the effectiveness of a "Dog Training Intervention." The study included 73 participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (61 males, 12 females) with age range of 2:10-7:6 years (M = 4:10 ± 1:0) who attend autism spectrum disorder-specific special education schools. The study population was divided into two groups. Each group received the dog training intervention during one part of the school year (first half or second half) in addition to the standard interventions provided by the special education school settings. The dog training intervention was given twice weekly for 4 months within the school setting. The group that received the dog training intervention first showed a significant increase in adaptive social and communication skills in comparison to the second group that did not receive the intervention in this period. This improvement was maintained after the dog training intervention. The second group, which received intervention at the second half of the year, showed improvement in communication and socialization adaptive skills only during the period in which they received the dog training intervention. The positive impact on social communication adaptive skills of the dog training intervention among young children with autism spectrum disorder suggests that dogs may serve as an effective model for establishing social interaction. Dog training intervention appears to be an effective adjunct treatment to the interventions provided in special education schools for young children with autism spectrum disorder.

Editors' Introduction

We are thrilled to share with you the first issue of Inclusion for 2021. This issue offers readers several studies aimed at promoting the inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). As we move forward in 2021, we remain encouraged that Inclusion continues to serve as a journal where audiences gain perspectives about the qualities and strengths of people with (IDD). As our society continues to grapple with the challenges brought forward by the pandemic, we remain encouraged by those that were able to mobilize and share with us their research. We view the sharing of research during a challenging time in our society as an unwavering commitment to justice and liberation for people with IDD that, even during a pandemic, have not been forgotten.The current issue features three manuscripts that were accepted for publication as a part of Inclusion, 8.4, a special issue on the research of doctoral students and early career researchers. These three articles expand research in the field of IDD across the age range, with those articles focusing on adults, on school-aged youth, and on preschool-aged children.In the first article, Kammes and colleagues share findings from a community-based participatory research study of the impact of participation in sexuality training for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This study, which relied on the input of adults with IDD, documents the need for mentoring and developmentally appropriate sexual health information.Article two describes the results of a qualitative study conducted by Boisvert-Hamelin and Odier-Guedj to examine writing difficulties by looking at the meanings and motives that students on the autism spectrum give to writing activities both in and out of school. They are hopeful that their findings can lead to further research on the teaching of writing in schools.In the third article, Chung and Meadan examine the involvement of caregivers in early intervention services designed to improve the communication skills of young children with IDD. Their findings have implications for strengthening collaboration between professionals and families to support communication and inclusion.In addition to the three articles from doctoral and/or early career researchers, this issue also includes two articles from experienced researchers. In the fourth article of this issue, Shogren and colleagues discuss the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), including a fidelity measure to assess the implementation of the model. The authors emphasize the focus of implementation science in promoting the generalizability of the SDMLI.In the final article, Friedman examines emergency department utilization and community living of people with IDD. The author describes communication patterns, frequency of emergency department visits, and other complex topics that could influence choice-making decisions for supporting people with IDD.We hope that our readers can learn and apply many of the ideas and strategies presented in this issue. We also hope that our readers find these topics helpful as we continue to mobilize and generate research to build a shared understanding of what inclusion means for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Thus, we remain inspired and hope that our readers feel the same.

Mexican-American preschoolers as co-creators of zones of proximal development during retellings of culturally relevant stories: A participatory study

This study explores communication and retelling skills that are revealed after Mexican-American preschoolers engaged in culturally sensitive read alouds. Participants, highlighted in this article, included two four-year-old preschool children in a Spanish/English dual language classroom. The children selected culturally relevant texts and engaged in story retellings with their respective parent. The findings indicate that children co-constructed Zones of Proximal Development (ZPDs) in response to their parents' caring moves. Participants responded as cared-fors and carers as evident in their use of memorization skills and attention to detail to appropriate vocabulary and effectively retell a story. Additionally, preschoolers extended their ZPDs through imagination and inferencing by inserting events into the narrative and reading between the lines to expand and enrich the original stories. These findings have implications for reframing the way in which educators capitalize on young children's communication skills.

Communication skills in young children with emotional disorder in Kupang


 
 
 Young children with disabilities are a group that is prone to stigma anddiscrimination. Therefore, World Health Organization and United Nations Children’sFund declared a global agenda in 2012 to address the needs of inclusive ECCD to improve the participation and development of young children with disabilities. In respond to that agenda, it is crucial to understand the particular needs of young children with emotional disorder such as their communication ability, before they can be included into inclusive ECCD service. This research aims to describe the communication skills of young child with emotional disorder in Kupang, Nusa Tenggara Timur. The participant in this study showed insignificant performance in verbal communication skills like linguistic content, structures and the use of language. Meanwhile in non verbal communication skills such as face expression, body gesture and hand gesture, the child showed considerable performance. The research method used qualitative method, which is direct observation to the child and interview to thesubject’s parents. Parents and ECCD tutors should consider to set a communication- stimulating relationship in house and ECCD post to support the verbal skills development. The result of this study can give impact in the development of inclusive ECCD science in East Nusa Tenggara, also to aid future research in inventing best practice models in the field.
 
 

The Effects of Early Intervention Programs on the Social Communication Skills of Young Children with Autism: A Systematic Review

The Effects of Early Intervention Programs on the Social Communication Skills of Young Children with Autism: A Systematic Review

Eye-gaze control technology holds the potential to promote communication skills in young children with dyskinetic cerebral palsy, but more rigorous research is needed to prove its effectiveness

Q Is eye-gaze control technology feasible and effective in improving communication and participation for young children with dyskinetic cerebral palsy?Design: The study used a pretest-posttest desi...

Child-directed communication behaviours during mother-child interaction in children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children in south India

Child-directed verbal and non-verbal behaviours play a crucial role in the development of communication skills in young children. This study compared child-directed utterances and pragmatic acts used by mothers of 2-4 year old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (n =50) with that of two groups of typically developing (TD) children: one matched for chronological age (TD-CA; n = 50) and other for language level (TD-LL; n=50). Forty minutes mother-child interaction during free play at home was analysed. Results indicated that the the number of utterances used by mothers in the three groups were similar. However, the type of sentences used by each group varied distinctly. Mothers in the ASD (49.1%) and TD-LL group (35.47%) predominanlty used imperatives, while mothers in TD-CA group used more of interrogatives (50.12 %). Among the three groups, declarative and exclamatory sentences were more in TD-LL group; and negative sentences were more in mothers of ASD children. Analysis of pragmatic acts indicated that mothers in ASD group initiated more and took a dominant role during the interaction, while mothers of TD children were engaged predominantly in responding to their children. The study concluded that, in addition to children's language profiling, a comprehensive assessment of child-directed speech would provide directions for child-oriented assessment and management. Considering the era of globalisation and migration, this language and culture specific findings may be of interest to several practitioners catering to Tamil population.

Effects of Reciprocal Imitation Training on Social Communication Skills of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The aim of the current study was firstly to examine the effectiveness of Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) on a) imitation of object actions and gestures and b) maintenance of these skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Secondly, the purpose was to explore the effectiveness of object and gesture imitation teaching with RIT on motor imitation skills, initiating and responding to initiations of joint attention, play and verbal imitation skills, communicative behaviors and vocabulary, and contextually appropriate use of language. The design of this study was Modified Multiple Baseline Design Across Subjects. The study group consisted of three children with ASD. The results of this study showed that for all subjects there was an increase in the object and gesture imitation. Also, the findings showed that RIT increased motor imitation, verbal imitation, and play skills as well as the frequency of initiating and responding to initiations of joint attention, communicative behaviors, and vocabulary. The results are discussed in line with the literature related to teaching imitation in early childhood period.

The potential of extended cultural residencies for young children

ABSTRACTAlthough years of research efforts have investigated learning benefits from museum visits, relatively less attention has been paid to young children's experiences in these settings. Drawing on contextualist perspectives of learning, this paper seeks to address this gap, using two case studies to explore the experiences of children ages three to five who spent extended periods of time attending school in a museum setting. We draw on qualitative data from the evaluation of two museum-school partnerships, to investigate potential learning benefits of such experiences and elements that may have facilitated the outcomes observed. These two exploratory case studies indicate considerable potential for supporting language and communication skills in young children, as well as personal, social and emotional development. These outcomes appear to be linked to the rich nature of the experience, as well as its extended duration, which allowed it to be deeply child-centred, allowing for valuable learning from the museum environment.

Efficacy of low intensity, therapist-implemented Project ImPACT for increasing social communication skills in young children with ASD

ABSTRACTProject ImPACT is a Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (NDBI) for young children with ASD. Preliminary research supports its feasibility and efficacy as a parent-mediated intervention; however, its efficacy as a low-intensity, therapist-implemented intervention is unclear. A single-case, multiple-baseline design evaluated the effect of 2 h per week of therapist-implemented Project ImPACT on social engagement, language, and play in nine children with ASD. Language and play skills were targeted separately for five children and together for four children. Children increased their rates of social engagement and language when language or play was the sole target and when language and play were targeted together; however, gains in play skills were evident only when they were targeted separately. This study provides support for the efficacy of the Project ImPACT when implemented by therapists at a low intensity and suggests the way in which skills are targeted can affect child learning.

Peers as clinicians: Examining the impact of Stay Play Talk on social communication in young preschoolers with autism

BackgroundPeer Mediated Interventions (PMIs) can be incorporated into integrated early childhood and preschool settings to address socialization impairments observed in children with ASD (Katz & Girolametto, 2013). However, research examining specific PMI strategies with young preschoolers remains limited. ObjectiveThe current study examines the efficacy of the Stay, Play, Talk PMI (English, Shafer, Goldstein, & Kaczmerek, 1997) on the social communication skills of young preschool children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). MethodEach of 3 typically developing children (ages 3–5 years) was paired with a child with an ASD (ages 3–4 years). Typically developing peers were taught to Stay with their friend, Play with their friend, and Talk to their friend. The child dyads played together during two, 20-min weekly sessions for 6–8 weeks. A multiple baseline design across participants was implemented to measure the impact of the Stay Play Talk strategies on social initiations and responses characterized by non-coordinated gestures, gestures, and words. Simulation Modeling Analysis was also conducted to confirm visual analysis. ResultsAll 3 typical peer buddies and all 3 target children with ASD demonstrated increases in the frequency of their responses, reaching levels that greatly exceeded baseline levels. Further, social reciprocations increased among each dyad above baseline. Social initiations remained variable across dyads. Gains were not maintained two months post intervention. ConclusionResults of this study corroborated previous findings that support the usefulness of PMIs to improve social communication of young children with ASD (Chan et al., 2009) and suggest an economical, naturally occurring approach to improve social communication during early childhood.Learning outcomes: Readers will gain knowledge regarding the social communication profile of children with ASD and how this profile can negatively impact language development and peer relationships. In addition, readers will be able to identify the basic components of the Stay Play Talk intervention. Finally, this paper will explain the impacts of the Stay Play Talk intervention on the social communication skills of young children with ASD.

Do You See a Difference? Evaluating Outcomes of a Parent-Implemented Intervention

The Parent-Implemented Communication Strategies (PiCS) project resulted in the development of an intervention package aimed at enhancing the social communication skills of young children with disabilities and limited expressive language. While the outcomes of the PiCS project seem to be positive, a thorough and comprehensive assessment of social validity was warranted. Wolf (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 203–214, 1978) contended that interventions should be assessed not only for effectiveness but also for social validity. This study of social validity addressed the question, “Was the PiCS project socially valid from an expert perspective?” Our expert evaluators were recruited from three groups: (a) parents of young children with disabilities, (b) early childhood special education teachers, and (c) speech language pathologists who worked with young children with disabilities. Each evaluator viewed video clips of parent–child interactions from pre- and post-intervention sessions, in random order, and completed a questionnaire about parent and child behaviors. The overall findings provided support for the social validity of the PiCS project. Further discussion that examines differences in the ratings of the groups of evaluators and implications for research and practice is provided.

Predictors of parent–child interaction style in dyads with autism

Parent synchrony has been shown to be developmentally important for the growth of communication skills in young children with autism. Understanding individual-differences in parent synchrony and other associated features of dyadic interaction therefore presents as an important step toward the goal of appreciating how and why some parent-child dyads come to adopt more optimal interaction styles, while for others, parent interaction is more asynchronous and less developmentally facilitative. Within the large, well-characterized Preschool Autism Communication Trial (PACT) cohort, baseline parent-child interaction samples were coded for three key aspects of dyadic interaction style; - Parent Synchrony, Child Initiation, and Shared Attention. We explored associations among these measures, demographic characteristics and standardized child assessment scores. While various child factors were associated with each of the interaction measures, very few associations were observed with parent/familial factors. Child language age-equivalence was a significant positive predictor of variation in each interaction measure, while child repetitive symptoms predicted reduced Shared Attention. The three interaction measures were moderately positively inter-related. In the context of childhood autism, variation in dyadic interaction style appears to be driven more by child language and repetitive behaviors than age, social-communication symptoms and non-verbal ability. Parent/family factors contributed little to explaining variability in parent-child interaction, in the current study.

Communication Takes Two

Communication Takes Two