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Biomedical subjects

D Paul-Brown

Publications and source records attributed to D Paul-Brown.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Peer-related communicative competence of preschool children: developmental and adaptive characteristics.

The peer-related communicative interactions of nonhandicapped 3- and 4-year-old children as well as a group of 4-year-old mildly developmentally delayed children were investigated in a cross-sectional descriptive study. Adjustments of speakers to companions varying in terms of chronological age and developmental status were of interest, as were comparisons among the three groups. All three groups made adjustments in communicative functions (directives and information statements), interactive style (strong and joint directives), and communications involving affect (disagreements), but only to mildly delayed children. Adjustments to mildly delayed children were more closely related to interpersonal and social status factors than to children's developmental levels. The communicative interactions of mildly delayed children were highly similar to the developmentally matched nonhandicapped group on all measures except for a lower level of speech complexity. Significant differences between 3- and 4-year-old nonhandicapped children were obtained only for measures of speech complexity.

Affect↗
PubMed1988

Temporal changes in word revisions by children and adults.

A study was conducted to investigate the temporal changes that occur when a speaker attempts to revise words for a listener. Specifically, the study was designed to examine whether adults and children modify the timing of vowel and consonant production in response to listener miscomprehension. Four adults and sixteen 5-year-old boys and girls served as subjects. They were asked to repeat words that differed in voicing of initial and final stop consonants (back, pack, cab, cap), and to respond to either specific revision requests focused on initial or final sound segments, or to a general revision request. The speech waveform was used to measure the following: Voice Onset Time, vowel duration, final closure duration, and total word duration. Results revealed that children and adults made segmental changes in duration while preserving total word length in revised speech. The effect was a decrease in vowel duration and an increase in final closure duration for revised responses, regardless of the source of miscomprehension. These durational changes result in an apparent enhancement of the final consonantal portion of the misperceived word. All linguistic distinctions in voicing were maintained in the revised words. There were no major differences between adults and children in the type of revision responses produced.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Communicative interactions of mildly delayed and normally developing preschool children: effects of listener's developmental level.

The communicative interactions of mildly delayed and normally developing preschool children were recorded during free play as they interacted with children at different developmental levels in a mainstreamed program. Analyses of syntactic complexity, semantic diversity, functional aspects of speech, and the use of selected discourse devices indicated that mildly delayed children adjusted important characteristics of their speech in accordance with the cognitive and linguistic levels of their companions. Specifically, speech addressed to less developmentally advanced children was less complex, more diverse, and consisted of a greater proportion of behavior requests but contained proportionally fewer information requests or information statements. These adjustments appeared to be well suited for improving communicative effectiveness and were similar in magnitude and direction to those of normally developing children. In addition, both mildly delayed and normally developing groups were generally successful in obtaining responses to their behavior and information requests. The implications of these findings were discussed in relation to the communicative competence of young children and to early childhood mainstreaming.

Child Language↗
PubMed1980

Functional and discourse analyses of nonhandicapped preschool children's speech to handicapped children.

Functional and discourse analyses of the communicative interactions of nonhandicapped preschool children when addressing children at different developmental levels were carried out in an instructional setting. Listeners were classified as manifesting either mild, moderate, severe, or no developmental delays. The results indicated that the nonhandicapped children appropriately adapted their interactions in a manner that would suggest an increased likelihood that messages would be understood and responded to. In addition, the modified interactions appeared to be consistent with the communicative goals of the speaker and the social roles of the participants. These findings were discussed in terms of their relevance to the issue of mainstreaming and early intervention.

Child Development↗
PubMed1977

The nature of verbal interactions among handicapped and nonhandicapped preschool children.

The nature of verbal interactions among handicapped and nonhandicapped preschool children was examined in instructional and free-play settings. A wide variety of linguistic parameters designed to reflect verbal productivity and grammatical complexity was selected for analysis. The speech of designated nonhandicapped children wddressed. Listeners were classified as manifesting mild, moderate, severe, or no developmental delays. The results indicated that the speech of the designated children tended to be more complex, more frequent, and more diverse when addressed to developmentally more advanced children in both settings. These results were discussed in terms of their significance for facilitating the development of the language-delayed child.

Child, Preschool↗