Nonverbal Communication Judgment in Siblings of Nonverbal Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess nonverbal communication judgment in siblings of nonverbal children. In particular, this study assesses how a typically developing sibling of a nonverbal child understands nonverbal communication acts. It hypothesized that siblings of nonverbal children would have an increased recognition of nonverbal communication compared to one child from a typical developing sibling dyad, performances of these children would not be at ceiling, and we predicted that older children would be better at recognizing nonverbal communication than younger children. The results indicate that siblings of nonverbal children comprehend nonverbal communication at a rate similar to siblings of a typically developing child, older children are able to recognize nonverbal communication at a higher rate than younger children, and children who can identify nonverbal acts depicting behavioral regulation are also likely to identify social interaction and joint attention at higher rates. This study provides preliminary evidence to support future research on the use of siblings of nonverbal children as participants in speech-language therapy, siblings of typically developing children in classrooms with language disorders students, and presents areas of growth in the nonverbal communication judgment skills of children.