The emergence of repair strategies in infants and toddlers

Abstract

This article describes the emergence of repair behaviors in young children as a reflection of three significant developmental achievements: the emergence of communicative intentionality, the development of socioemotional perspective taking, and the acquisition of effective communicative means. Because research in the emergence of preverbal communicative repairs is limited, a cross-sectional study was conducted on the ontogeny of repair strategies using the normative samples from the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (Wetherby & Prizant, 1993). Patterns of early repair behaviors of typically developing children, as well as those of small groups of children with hearing impairments and pervasive developmental disorders, are presented. Findings of this study suggest that the ability to repair communicative breakdowns develops at the same time as intentional communication and that gestures are integral to preconversational repairs. Assessment and intervention implications for clinical practice are discussed.