Teaching Spontaneous Language to Individuals with Severe Handicaps: A Matrix Model

Abstract

Although language intervention strategies have been successful in teaching persons with severe handicaps to communicate, success has been limited because individuals with severe handicaps often fail to use these new language skills spontaneously in their natural environment. Previous studies in teaching spontaneous and generalized language usage have not taken into account the need for listener preparatory behaviors such as selecting an appropriate listener, establishing proximity, and obtaining attention before delivering a message, nor have they addressed sufficiently the complexities of the contextual variables affecting spontaneous language/communication. The paper presents a matrix model of spontaneous language that takes into account listener preparatory behaviors and contextual variables, and examines the practical implications of the model for teaching spontaneous language to individuals with severe handicaps.