Profile of the prelinguistic intentional communicative behaviors of children with profound mental retardation.

The prelinguistic intentional communicative behaviors of 10 noninstitutionalized children with profound mental retardation were analyzed according to five profile parameters: communicative rate, communicative function, discourse structure, communicative means, and syllable shape. Subjects used a predominance of regulatory communicative functions, initiated discourse structure, gestural communicative means, and nontranscribable vocalizations/vocalizations without consonants. Findings were compared to previously reported data from children without mental retardation and institutionalized children with severe and profound mental retardation.