Mastery motivation in children with complex communication needs: longitudinal data analysis.

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Research

Background:

• Mastery motivation is crucial for children with complex communication needs (CCN) to overcome challenges in expressive communication.
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is often used by children with CCN.
• Understanding factors influencing mastery motivation in this population is essential for intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare longitudinal changes in mastery motivation during parent-child free play in children with CCN.
• To investigate the influence of motor skills and receptive language on mastery motivation.
• To examine differences in mastery motivation between object play and social play.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of 37 children with CCN over 18 months.
• Analysis of unprompted parent-child free play episodes across three assessment sessions.
• Coding of nine mastery motivation categories in social and object play, controlling for receptive language.

Main Results:

• Object-oriented mastery motivation was significantly influenced by motor skills.
• One social mastery motivation category was also influenced by motor skills.
• Object play elicited more object-focused mastery motivation behaviors than social play.
• Social play elicited more social-focused mastery motivation behaviors than object play.
• No significant longitudinal changes in mastery motivation variables were observed over time.

Conclusions:

• Motor skills play a significant role in the mastery motivation of children with CCN, especially during object play.
• Current assessment of mastery motivation may be limited by a focus on object-oriented tasks.
• Further research should broaden definitions and procedures to include social play and other contexts for children with CCN.