Intentional communication acts expressed by children with severe disabilities in high-rate contexts

The purpose of this study was to identify the rates of communication expressed by 17 children with severe disabilities in high-rate school contexts while piloting a new coding system for intentional communication acts (ICAs). The following nine characteristics were used when coding ICAs expressed in both child initiated and adult initiated communicative interactions: joint attention.. form of communication, use of pause, persistence, repetition, repair, expression of pleasure or displeasure when understood or misunderstood, expression of pleasure or displeasure to communication partner's message, and evidence of comprehension. Children communicated 1.7-8.0 ICAs per minute in the highest rate contexts. Nine of the 34 high-rate contexts were speech clinical sessions, six were activities that included eating, 30 were familiar activities, and four were novel activities.