The Development of Early Communication: Using Developmental Literature for Selecting Communication Goals

Abstract

The developmental model of communication growth is often the most appropriate framework for determining intervention goals regarding forms of communication. Most children who are functioning at the sensorimotor level of cognition can learn to communicate more effectively and will benefit from intervention that is based on the normal progression of communication forms and functions. An integration of published literature describing the developmental progression of sensory, motor, and social abilities is provided as an intervention framework for developing communicative abilities in prelinguistic children.