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THE IMPACT OF CONVERSATIONAL TURN-TAKING ON VOCABULARY SIZE IN CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES USING AUGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION

Abstract

Conversational turn-taking in families with children who are typically developing has been shown to positively impact their child’s receptive and expressive vocabulary scores. However, limited research analyzes whether this relationship exists in children with developmental disabilities and limited functional speech. Research suggests that augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) facilitates a greater vocabulary size in children with developmental disabilities, but it is unknown if conversational turn-taking impacts its success. This study reduces the gap in the literature by examining the impact of conversational turn-taking on the effectiveness of AAC exposure throughout a 12-week language intervention. Additionally, it examines the growth trajectory of conversational turn-taking throughout the AAC language intervention. The results indicated that AAC exposure moderates the relationship between conversational turns and vocabulary size at the end of the intervention, such that increases in total conversational turns between parent-child dyads predicted greater vocabulary size at the end of the intervention, but only in children exposed to AAC. Moreover, throughout the AAC intervention parents and children exhibited similar quadratic growth curves in conversational turns suggesting that parents are meeting the engagement of their children while participating in the intervention. Clinically, these results imply that language interventions using AAC would benefit from increasing opportunities for more conversational turns, but such techniques would be ineffective in the spoken communication interventions. Additionally, when parents take on the role of interventionist, they should be informed of the importance of conversational turns to match the input of their child and maximize vocabulary growth by the end of the intervention.

Acknowledgements

National Institutes of Health grant DC-03799 and U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences Grant R324A070122.

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