The development of listener-adapted communication by educable mentally impaired children

The listener-adapted communication strategies of educable mentally impaired and nonmentally retarded children were investigated. The children constructed goal directed messages to three pairs of targets (a happy and a sad boy, man, and woman). They were than asked to explain their communicative strategies: Did they alter their messages for the happy and sad targets? Ten mentally impaired children in the mental age levels of 6, 8, 10, and 12 were compared with their nonretarded peers of similar mental ages. The results revealed that age, listener, and group differences were evident as a function of the specific task the children were required to perform.