Successes and Challenges in Treating Severe Communication Disorders.
Developmental baby-steps, not age or IQ, give the best map for assessing and growing communication in nonverbal clients with IDD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Brady (2022) looked at years of papers on people with IDD who have little or no speech.
The author pulled the studies together like a story. The goal was to see how developmental theory can guide better tests and teaching for these clients.
What they found
Most tools we use today were built for kids who can talk. They miss the real skills nonverbal clients show every day.
The review says new tools based on infant and toddler development are coming. These tools will help you spot tiny gains in eye gaze, gestures, and body movement.
How this fits with other research
Smith et al. (2020) counted that 6 out of 10 Irish adults with ID have communication trouble. Brady (2022) agrees and says we need better ways to measure those troubles.
Fellinger et al. (2022) studied deaf adults with ID in a residential home. They found that poor language and social communication, not IQ, predict bad behavior. This backs the target paper’s push to focus on communication, not just scores.
Cui et al. (2023) reviewed language methods for kids with autism. Their paper and Brady (2022) both say the field needs clearer choices among treatments, but Brady (2022) widens the view to all IDD, not only ASD.
Why it matters
If your client does not speak, you can still track early developmental steps like shared looks, reaching, or switching gaze between toy and you. Ask your team to pick one new micro-skill this week and plot it on a simple chart. When the new tools arrive, you will already have the data ready to plug in.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This article summarizes research focusing on communication skills of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who communicate primarily without speech, sign language, or augmentative communication. Importantly, developmental theories were emphasized as useful for interpreting communication in children and adults. These studies led to research aimed at developing improved assessments and interventions for individuals with IDD, who may have a variety of diagnoses. Future research is needed to facilitate more widespread use of these tools by clinicians and researchers.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-127.2.99