THE INFLUENCE OF MATCHING AND MOTOR‐IMITATION ABILITIES ON RAPID ACQUISITION OF MANUAL SIGNS AND EXCHANGE‐BASED COMMUNICATIVE RESPONSES

Abstract

Establishing a relation between existing skills and acquisition of communicative responses may be useful in guiding selection of alternative communication systems. Matching and motor-imitation skills were assessed for 6 children with developmental disabilities, followed by training to request the same set of preferred items using exchange-based communication and manual signs. Three participants displayed both skills and rapidly acquired both communicative response forms. Three others displayed neither skill; 1 mastered exchange-based responses but not manual signs, and neither of the other 2 easily acquired either response form.