Using a barrier game format to improve children's referential communication skills.

Area of Science:

• * Cognitive Psychology
• * Special Education
• * Developmental Psychology

Background:

• * Learning-disabled (LD) students often face challenges in communication.
• * Referential communication skills are crucial for effective interaction and learning.
• * Previous research on improving these skills in LD populations is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To investigate the effectiveness of training referential communication skills in upper elementary-aged learning-disabled students.
• * To compare the performance of trained LD students with untrained LD students and normally achieving students.
• * To assess the long-term retention of trained skills.

Main Methods:

• * Forty-two upper elementary-aged children were divided into three groups: LD training, LD control, and normally achieving training.
• * All participants completed pretests including listening and speaking tasks.
• * The two training groups received dyadic training on referential communication tasks, followed by posttests and a 7-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• * No significant differences were found in listening task performance across groups.
• * The LD trained group showed significantly higher scores on speaking measures compared to the LD control group.
• * The LD trained group performed comparably to the normally achieving training group, and significant differences between LD groups persisted at follow-up.

Conclusions:

• * Learning-disabled students can significantly benefit from targeted training in referential communication skills.
• * The improvements in speaking skills are measurable and can be sustained over time.
• * Intervention programs focusing on referential communication are effective for enhancing the communicative competence of LD students.