Description of Communication Breakdown Repair Strategies Produced By Nonverbal Students with Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

This study describes the communication repair behaviors used by nonverbal students with developmental disabilities in the interactions they were involved in with their teachers during free play activities. All children were students at centers serving student with developmental disabilities at Anadolu University in Turkey. Data were collected by videotaping the students during free play sessions at the centers they attended. The tapes were observed by the researchers, and any communication repair behaviors displayed by the students and communication breakdowns used by their teachers was recorded. The results of this study revealed that repetition, no response, addition, and recast were most frequent communication breakdown strategies displayed by nonverbal students with developmental disabilities, respectively. In addition, results showed that there was a positive correlation between the way teachers expressed communication breakdowns and the communication strategies the students used, which may be interpreted as the more teachers made use of asking for clarification, the more students utilized recast, addition and repetition strategies.