Interactional competencies that develop in the first two years of life provide a foundation for all further social and communicative developments. Their normal acquisition, especially in the handicapped, can not be taken for granted. If delays in social‐communicative development can be identified early in life and changes made in how the social environment interacts with the child, intervention may effectively facilitate social development. However, to accomplish this, both a model for describing and an instrument for assessing interactional competencies are needed. A recently developed set of scales, organized according to a cognitive‐developmental framework and drawing upon recent research literature, is described in terms of its organization and content. Results that support the cognitive model underlying the set of scales are reported. The paper concludes with a consideration of potential criticisms that may apply to such a theoretically based instrument.
This paper describes a set of scales designed to assess social and communication skills that an infant typically acquires in the first 30 months of life. The advantages and disadvantages of alternative methods for gathering the assessment information, ranging from caregiver interview to structured testing, are considered. One of the most critical aspects of the structured test, the role of the tester as an interactive partner for the infant, is discussed at length. The paper presents reliability data suggesting that the child's communication performance is highly stable over time with the same partner, but that there are substantial differences with different partners. The implications of the findings for assessment and intervention practices are noted.
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