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CHILDREN'S COMMUNICATIVE ADJUSTMENT TO RETARDED AND NONHANDICAPPED PEERS

This study investigates the question of how the combination of different-age listeners and developmentally delayed individuals affects preadolescents' communication. While being videotaped in a lounge-like setting, two 11-year-old females separately interacted with three different same sex listeners: a younger nonhandicapped child (6 years old); a nonhandicapped peer (11 years old); and a retarded peer (also 11 years old). Measures were taken on the number, duration, and content of their initiated interactions. The results demonstrated that the speaker who addressed the less verbally adept retarded peer made more communicative adjustments than the speaker who talked with the more verbally advanced retarded peer, more than when she talked with the two nonhandicapped listeners. Also, both speakers seemed to talk to the younger child much like they spoke with the normal same-age peer. This finding suggests that the age of the listeners had less influence on the speaker's linguistic behavior than the developmental level of the listener. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/291917
Date January 1987
CreatorsMartin, Laurie Louise, 1962-
ContributorsUmbreit, John
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Thesis-Reproduction (electronic)
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

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