Communicative competence in a group of visually impaired children

Abstract

Aspects of verbal and non-verbal communicative competence of five visually-impaired six and seven year old children were investigated. The Profile of Communicative Appropriateness (Penn, 1983) was used to assess communicative competence in one discourse interaction with a known interlocutor (mother). The results indicated that the subjects were predominantly appropriate in terms of verbal communication, and predominantly inappropriate in terms of non-verbal communication. Severity of visual impairment influenced performance in terms of nonverbal communication. Research and therapeutic implications are discussed.