Parent Perceptions of Communication Behaviors at Formally Assessed Stage Transitions in Young Children at Risk for Being Nonspeaking

The authors compared parent-perceived communication behaviors for formally assessed stages longitudinally for 42 infants at risk for being nonspeaking. They compared perceived communication behaviors at assessed transitions to communicative stages (intentional behavior, intentional communication, symbolic communication) and found systematic differences between parent observations and formal observations of early skills. Parents' perceptions of an increase in their children's communicative signals and functions tended to occur at different points relative to each formally assessed transition. The results indicate that early communication transitions are not single qualitative shifts but a continuum of skills that are gradually developed and differently interpreted according to the means of observing the change.