Lexical usage of retarded children: an examination of informativeness

Retarded children's lexical usage was examined as a function of informativeness. The children were most likely to both label and imitate when the referent objects were informative in the presentation sequence. The frequency of labeling and imitation was particularly high when the informative element was an object exemplar that had not been seen before. The results were discussed in terms of the presuppositional abilities seemingly demonstrated by the children and the implications these abilities have for intervention programs.