Early Development of Understanding Words and Equivalence Cognition of Matching Pictures : Children With Severe Motor and Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

early development of the understanding of words in such children is needed for usefu1 application of the technology of augmentative and alternative communication (Oishi, 2006). In a study of early development of understanding words, Nagasaki and Onosato (1996) examined behavior patterns of young infants at about 8 months and above. They fbund that young in± 'ants can pay attention to objects pointed to by their mothers. Nagasaki and Onosato (1996) also noted that visual discrimination ot' object shapes develops during early infancy, in that infants can identify objects that their mothers indicate with spoken words.