LANGUAGE AND STUDENTS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

This chapter examines the language and communication problems associated with
mental retardation. Ideas about mental retardation are changing, and teachers, as
well as other education professionals, should be aware of these changes. Children
with mental retardation are a diverse group, ranging from those with relatively ?
ninor developmental delays to those with severe impairments.
An examination of the range of language and communication problems
experienced by students with mental retardation and the possible causes of these
impairments leads, finallv, to some approaches to helping students with mental
retardation improve their language and communication skills.

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

1. Explain how mental retardation is defined and how the definition has changed.
2. Describe the specific language and communication deficiencies of children with
mental retardation.
3. List factors that might account for these problems with language and
communication.
4. Explain what teachers (and other professionals) can do to enhance the language
and communication skills of students with mental retardation.

CASE STUDIES

Karen

Karen, a 10-year-old girl with a measured [Q of 65, presently attends a regular third-
grade class in a public school. There is an aide in the classroom who assists Karen
and two other children with
mild disabilities. Karen has difficulty understanding directions, reading, and
completing work independently. She reads at a late first-grade level, and her math
achievement is at the second-grade level. Her teacher reports that Karen has made
progress while in this classroom. She noted that Karen is reluctant to contribute
during cooperative learning groups but will participate with prompting.
Karen's mother has reported that Karen had no apparent physical problems
during her early development, although her development was a little slower than
that of other children. Karen was late in crawling and could neither stand nor walk
at 18 months. When Karen was about 2 years old, her parents became concerned
about her lack of speech; however, the family physician told them not to worry-that
Karen would catch up. Karen had persistent otitis media (middle-ear infections) as a
young child and continues to experience occasional earaches.
Prior to this year, Karen was in a self-contained, special education classroom.
She appeared to make considerable progress in that class. She began to read and
opened up to other children in the class. Before being placed in the special
education class, Karen had spent two years in a regular first-grade program. Her
teachers there described Karen as quiet and a hard worker, but also as "slow and
immature." She had particular difficulty with beginning reading skills and with
working independently. She appeared to have few fnends.
Karen's parents asked that she be returned to the regular education
classroom after her year in special education. Although the dis'trict was reluctant to

1
return her to regular education (since she appeared to be progressing in the special
education classroom), they agreed to do so. At this point, Karen appears to be
making slow, but steady, progress. It is likely that she will remain in regular
education in the future.

Danny

Danny is a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome (Trisomy 21). He presently attends
a special education class for children with moderate mental retardation.
Danny has a history of significant cognitive and language delays. He did not
speak until he was approximately 3 years old. Even thca. his speech was difficult to
understand. Significant problems with articulation persist.
Danny has a measured IQ in the 40 to 45 range. However, his language age
of 4 years (as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) is below his mental
age of 5.6. A language sample analysis completed by the speech/language
pathologist indicated that Danny had an MLU of approximately 3.5. He used mostly
simple, declarative sentences and he appeared to have a limited vocabulary,
although his poor articulation made this difficult to determine.
Danny is a very talkative, very outgoing young man. He loves to hug his
teachers and to dance. His school program is focused on functional skills and
community-based training. The class makes frequent trips to local malls and
restaurants, where students get the opportunity to practice their math and travel
skills. Danny's speech and language instruction is focused on improving his
articulation and on helping him to make appropriate requests. Danny's parents hope
that he will be able to live in a group home or an apartment setting and, perhaps,
work in a service-type job.
The stories of Karen and Danny illustrate the diversity of the population of
children known as mentally retarded. Despite the widespread popular belief that
individuals with mental retardation are more alike than different, children with
mental retardation actually exhibit a diverse pattern of abilities and disabilities.
Today, mosTItve'at HorneVbut some reside in state or private institutions. Many are
educated in regular education classrooms, but many more continue to receiv.e their
education in separate classrooms or in special schools. While all children with
mental retardation have deficits in cognition, each child has an individual pattern of
strengths and weaknesses. In addition to deficits in cognition, most children with
mental retardation have problems with language and communication (Long & Long,
1994).
As we examine the research on the speech and language difficulties of
children with mental retardation, it is important to keep in mind the diverse nature
of this popuiajion^ This will help in understanding some of the inconsistencies of
the research on mental retardation, [t is important to also consider against whom
children with mental retardation are being compared. Some studies compare
children with mental retardation to nondisabled children of the same chronological
age, other studies match children with mental retardation to children having the
same mental age (MA) but who are chronologically younger, and still other studies
use some measure of language age as the means of cornparison. Each of these
methods has drawbacks and each can give quite different results.

The Changing View of Mental Retardation

2
Our understanding of mental retardation and our expectations for persons with
mental retardation are undergoing rapid change. Examples of this change in
attitudes and beliefs abound, [n the last 10 to 15 years, there has been a movement
away from institutions as the primary sites for treatment and residence for persons
with mental retardation toward smaller, community based and even family-centred ,
residences. At the same time, there has been growing pressure on schools to
educate children with mental retardation in regular education classrooms. These
trends challenge widely held beliefs about the ability of persons with mental
retardation to live, and function in society. For those of us in education, they
challenge us to develop instructional techniques that will benefit students with
mental retardation without having a negative impact on the education of
nondisabled students.

In addition to changing expectations for community living and inclusion in school,

there have been changes in our understanding of and expectations for literacy skills
in persons with mental retardation. Historically, there has been ambivalence toward
the notion of the development of literacy, and especially reading, among persons
with mental retardation. As Singh and Singh (1986) pointed out in their review of
reading in persons with mental retardation, until the 1950s reading was not
considered to be a necessary or even a desirable skill for individuals with mental
retardation. While students with mild levels of menial retardation might be expected
to develop reading skills as high as the second- or third-grade level, individuals with
lower measured intelligence were not expected to develop reading skills at all.
However, there is now a good deal of evidence that, given appropriate instruction,
students with mental retardation can learn to read and write (Katims, 2000a). In
fact, a recent study found 22 percent of elementary, middle, and high school
students (n - 132) with mild to moderate mental retardation achieved the criteria of
"minimum literacy," which meant reading and writing meaningfully (Katims, in
press).
We know that one of the critical skills for reading success is phonological
ability. Yet, there has been limited research interest on the phonological skills of
students with mental retardation. One reason may be that there is a prevailing
belief that persons with mental retardation have a specific phonological deficit
related to low intellectual functioning. This hypothesis was recently tested by
Conners, Catr, and Willis (1998) who found that performance on a forward digit span
task (a measure of phonological loop functioning) could be explained by deficiencies
in executive functioning rather than phonological functioning. In other words, these
researchers found that phonological processing is not closely linked to intelligence
and, as a result, phonological processing may actually be a successful approach to
helping students with mental retardation learn to read and write.
Changes in societal expectations for individuals with mental retardation, as
well as a greater emphasis on literacy skills, have significant implications for
language skills. Clearly, there are higher expectations for students with mental
retardation to have language skills that will enable thern~tcT fully parficlpateTn fhe
classroom. Therefore',' we will look at what we know about the language of persons
with mental retardation and what can be done to enhance language skills.

Definition

3
Changes in attitudes about mental retardation are also reflected in the way mental
retardation has been defined. Prior to 1992, the prevailing definition of mental
retardation in the United States was the 19S3 AAMR definition. This definition
defined mental retardation as follows:
Mental retardation refers to significantly subaverage intellectual functioning
resulting in or associated with concurrent impairments in adaptive behavior and
manifested during the developmental period. (Grossman, 1983). An earlier version
of this definition was adopted by Congress as the definition of mental retardation in
Public Law 94-142. The definition includes the four levels of mental retardation that
have become familiar to those who work in special education. These levels are:

Mild Retardation IQ :50-55 to approximately

Moderate Retardation 70
Severe Retardation IQ 35-40 to 50-55
Profound Retardation IQ 20-25 to 35-40
IQ below 20 or 25

A more recent definition, adopted by the American Association on Mental

Retardation (AAMR) in 1992, eliminates classifications based on IQ. in its place, the
AAMR suggests that individuals should be
evaluated on their functional abilities. Those functions include:

• intellectual and adaptive skills

• psychological and emotional factors
• physical health and status
• environmental considerations

A matrix can be developed that includes the individual's strengths and weaknesses
on one axis and the level of support he or she requires (intermittent, limited,
extensive, pervasive) on the other axis (see Table 6.1). This matrix replaces the
levels of retardation that have been used previously to classify persons with mental
retardation.
The 1992 AAMR definition of mental retardation is an attempt to recognize
the individuality of each person with mental retardation, as well as acknowledge
that each individual with mental retardation has a unique pattern of strengths and
weaknesses. In so doing, the 1992 definition eliminates the concept of levels of
mental retardation, replacing it with a more complex evaluation that recognizes that
individuals will need different levels of support across various domains of
functioning.

Language and Communication Characteristics

Impairments in the understanding and production of spoken language are frequently
found among children with mental retardation. In fact, language and speech
disorders have been found to be the most frequent secondary disability among
children with mental retardation (Epstein, Polloway, Patton, & Foley, 1989). Deficits
in language and communication have been found to "constitute major impediments
to the social, emotional, and vocational adjustment of retarded citizens" (Swetlik &
Brown, 1977, p. 39). Let's look at some of the specific language and communication
characteristics of children with mental retardation.

4
TABLE 6.1 Domains of Functioning and Levels of Support

Intermittent Limited Support Extensive Pervasive

Support Support Support
Dimension I
Intelligence &
Adaplive Skills
Dimension II
Psych/Emotion
al
Dimension III
Physical/Healt
h/
Etiology
Dimension IV
Environmental
Considerations

Intermittent Support = support on an as-needed basis

Limited Support = consistent, time-limited support
Extensive Support = regular involvement, not time-limited
Pervasive Support = constant, high-intensity support, across environments
Source Adapted from AAMR. (1992). Mental retardation: Definition, classification, and systems of
support (9th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Phonology and Morphology
Difficulties with speech production (articulation) are more common among children
with mental retardation than among children without (Long & Long, 1994). However,
according to Shriberg and Widder (1990), estimates of the incidence of these
speech-production deficits have been reported as low as 5 percent and as high as
94 percent. Most studies have found that although there is an increased incidence
_of_sp_eechproduction problems among children_with mental retardation, these
children, appear to follow the same course ofdevelopment as children without
retardation and make simitar phonological errors (Shriberg & Widder, 1990). The
most common phonological errors are reduction of consonant clusters (saying bake
for break) and final consonant deletion (saying call for cat) (Klink, Gerstman,
Raphael, Schlanger, & Newsome, 19S6; Sommers, Patterson, & Wildgen, 1988).
It appears that children with more severe mental retardation have a greater
incidericeof speech-production problemsJjVlac Milian, 1982; Thomas & Patton,
1994). However, some studies that have directly investigated the relationship
between 1Q and articulation have failed to find that children with lower 1Q scores
have more articulation difficulties. It may be that because children with more severe
disabilities often have many related physical problems (such as cleft palate,
protruding toneue. and the like), it is these problems, rather than IQ score, that
relate to the higher incidence of speech-production problems.
Factors other than physical characteristics have also been suggested to cause
speechproduction problems. For example, Shriberg and Widder (1990) suggested
that children with mental retardation appear to have difficulty with phonological
encoding (similar to the problems experienced by manv children with learning
disabilities). Pruess, V'adasy, and Fewell (1987) noted that there is a higher

5
incidence of otitis media (middle-ear infections) in children with Down syndrome.
Otitis media has been found ro cause fluctuating hearing loss, which can_ca.use
impairments in articulation. Therefore, hearing problems are another possible cause
of the articulation problems frequently found among children with mental
retardation.
The research on speech production in children with mental retardation
suggests that education professionals should be prepared to help these children
enhance their speech skills. Many children with mental retardation have
articujationjiifficukies that interfere with their ability to be successful in school and
in social interactions. However, as Shriberg and Widder (1990) point out, speech
training for children with mental retardation is being deemphasized in schools.
There are concerns about the stow rate of progress of such instruction and about
the amount of time that speech training takes away from the teaching of what may
be more functional skills. They suggest that microcomputer training programs might
be useful in delivering speech training to children with mental retardation. In
addition, it may be possible for teachers to incorporate some articulation training
into regular classroom routines.
Studies of the development of morphological skills in children with mental
retardation have generally found that these skills develop in a manner similar to
that of children without retardation but at a significantly slower rate (Newfield &
Schlanger, 1968). In other words, although children with mental retardation appear
to be delayed in their ability to form words, they follow thersame sequence of
development as nondisabled children.

Syntax
Research on syntactic skills development in children with mental retardation has
also generally found that while there are delays in development of these skills, the
pattern of development is the same as that found in nondisabled children. In a
classic study, Lackner (1968) examined the syntax production of five children with
mental retardation, ages 6 and 16. He found that their sentence length increased
with mental age and was similar to that of nondisabled children of similar mental
age. Lackner also found that the order of development of syntactic rules was
similar. One difference that Lackner found in his sample of individuals with mental
retardation was that they less frequently used the more advanced syntactic
structures. Kamhi and Johnston (1982) found similar results in their study of the
language development of children with mild mental retardation. When cornpared to
that of nondisabled children of similar mental age, the syntactic development of the
children with mental retardation appeared to be quite similar. Interestingly, the
researchers also compared the children with mental retardation to children with
specific language impairments but who had IQ scores in the normal range. They
concluded that the language produced by the children with language impairments
was less complex and contained more errors than that produced by the children
with mental retardation.
Both the Kamhi and Johnston (1982) study and other studies (e.g., Naremore
& Dever. 1975.) found that children with mental retardation had more difficulty with
more advanced language constructs. For example, Kamhi and Johnston (1982)
found that the nondisabled children produced more sentences with questions and
with conjunctions. These findings suggest that there may be limits to the syntactic
development of children with mental retardation-that is, although their early

6
development may be similar to that of nondisabled children (although with delays),
there may be a plateau of development. After this plateau, further syntactic
development may be difficult.
We cannot be sure there are limits to the syntactic development of children
with mental retardation. One reason is that there may be methodological problems
with the research, as Kamhi and Johnston (1982) themselves pointed out. Another
reason is that there is a great deal of variability within the population called
mentally retarded. There are undoubtedly some individuals with mental retardation
who are able to acquire more advanced syntactic skills. Thus, research results can
be used as a guide for intervention but should never be used to justify the denial of
services to any individual.
The research on syntactic skills of children with mental retardation suggests
that education professionals may generally expect slow development of these
abilities along a normal developmental course, with the possibility of students'
having particular difficulty in the acquisition of more advanced syntactic skills.
Teachers may need to simplify their own language, as well as written text, to point
out some of the more advanced syntactic structures (such as the passive voice)
when they occur, and to encourage the use of more complex syntactic skills in older
children with mental retardation.

Semantics
There has been relatively little research on the semantic abilities of children with
mental retardation. The research that has been done indicates that children with
mental retardation tend to be more concrete in their understanding of words, having
more difficulty, for example, interpreting idiomatic expressions (e.g., he broke her
heart) (Ezell & Goldstein, 1991). This tendency to be more concrete may be the
result of delays in development of semantic abilities (Rosenberg, 1982).
Some studies have found that an area of strength for children with mental
retardation is that of vocabulary skills. In a study of the comprehension of syntax
and vocabulary conducted by Chapman, Schwartz, and Kay Raining-Bird (1991), the
authors found that their subjects with mental retardation performed significantly
better on the vocabularycomprehension task than on tests of syntactic skills, in fact,
outscoring a mental-agematched control group on their vocabulary comprehension.
Other studies have found that examination of language produced in natural settings
shows children with Down syndrome have a more diverse vocabulary than do
nondisabled children matched for mental age (Miller, 1988). To understand these
results, one should keep in mind that in these studies the children with mental
retardation were older than the control group and, therefore, may have had more of
an opportunity to learn vocabulary skills. Even so, their vocabulary skills are not
equivalent to those of nondisabled children of the same chronological age.
Another aspect of semantics involves the organization of language
information. If children are given groups of pictures and asked to remember them,
they tend to organize the pictures in their minds and recall them in groups. These
groups may be based on physical characteristics or function of the items or on the
conceptual category to which the items belong (e.g., toys, animals). Children with
mental retardation have been found to lag behind in their developmentj}f
organizing strategies (Stephens, 1972) and to use more concrete concepts (Mac
Millan. 1982), suggesting that children with mental retardation have some difficulty
developing and using semantic concepts.

7
Pragmatics
Since there is a good deal of research on the pragmatic abilities of individuals with
mental retardation, we will examine the research in three areas: speech-act usage,
referential cornmunication, and conversational skills.

Speech Acts

The concept of speech acts was described in Chapter I. These acts occur whenever
one has the intention to communicate. Requests, commands, and declarations
(Ipromise) are examples of speech acts. Children with mental retardation have been
described as having jielaved understanding of speech acts (Abbeduto, 1991). In one
study (Abbeduto, Davies, & Furman, 1988), children with and without mental
retardation were asked to interpret sentences requiring either a yes-no response or
an action. For example, Can you close the window could be either asking whether
one is able to close the window or requesting that someone actually close the
window. In their study, Abbeduto et al. found that in their ability to understand what
the speaker actually wanted, adolescents with mental retardation were similar to
younger, nondisabled children matched for mental age.
Speech –act usage also has been found to_be_delayed, although it is similar
to that of nondisabled children of equivalent mental age (Owens & McDonald,
1982). In other words, this study found that the speech-act usage of individuals with
mental retardation was similar to that of younger, nondisabled persons. It appears
that by adulthood, individuais with mental retardation can produce all of the basic
speech-act categories (Abbeduto & Rosenberg, 1980).

Referential Communication

In referential communication tasks, children are evaluated on their ability to explain

a task to another person. This procedure reveals their ability to take into account
the information needed by someone else to complete this task. One way to test
referential communication is with a barrier task. For this procedure, children are
seated across from each other with a barrier between them that prevents their
seeing each other. One child is the speaker; the other, the listener. Each has an
array of blocks or other items. The speaker's blocks-the model-are arranged in a
design. The speaker's task is to tell the listener how to arrange the blocks to match
the model, using only verbal directions. Using just such a procedure to study the
referential communication abilities of adolescents with mental retardation.
Longhurst (1974) found that when the individuals 'with mental retardation were in
the speaker's role, they were rernarkabjy.y_risucjcessful in directing .the
Jistenersj.o_jcomplete the task. However, when they were the listener, the subjects
were able to successfully perform the task when directions were given fay
nondisabled adults.
A second way to evaluate referential communication is by asking individuals to
describe an activity (such as a game) to someone else. In one such study (Loveland,
Tunali, McEvoy, & Kelly, 1989), adolescents and adults with Down syndrome were
asked to explain a game to an experimenter. These individuals with mental
retardation performed quite well, giving the necessary information to the listener
without a great deal of prompting. However, as Abbeduto (1991) points out, since

8
we do not know how nondisabled persons would have handled this task, it is difficult
to judge how good these results really are.
It appears from the research on referential communication that persons with
mental retardation have some difficulty getting their messages across to others,
they may have difficulty putting themselves in someone else’s place. On the other
hand they do better whwn they are in the listener role and perhaps, in more natural
tasks, like explaining a game.

Conversational Competence

How effective are persons with mental retardation as conversational partners?

People with mental retardation have often been described as passive
communicators who wait for others to take the lead in conversations (Bedrosian &
Prutting, 1978). However, people who have worked or lived with individuals with
mental retardation have often found them to be very outgoing-often to the point of
being intrusive. How can we reconcile the research findings with experience?
Perhaps the answer lies in the selection criteria of the population to be
studied. Kuder and Bryen reported the results of a study in which they observed
residents in a private institution interacting with staff in a classroom and in a
residential setting (1991). They found that, in general, the residents initiated
interaction with staff. For their study, they selected subjects who were capable of
verbal communication. Previous studies (e.g., Prior, Minnes, Coyne, Golding, Hendy,
& McGillivray, 1979) had included all of the residents in an institution, including
some who may have been unable to engage in verbal interaction. Not surprisingly,
by selecting only subjects who could talk, Kuder and Bryen found much more
frequent initiation of conversation than had been previously reported.
There is more to conversational competence than simply being involved in
interaction; there are qualitative aspects as well, such asjura taking, topic
management, and conversational repair. The conversational competence of persons
with mental retardation has been studied in each of these areas, in normal
conversations, participants take turns talking. Occasionally they talk at the same
time, but imagine what it would be like if we all talked at the same time all of the
time. Persons with mental retardation have been found to have few problems with
turn taking. Studies of the conversational turn taking in young children with mental
retardation (Tannock, 1988), as well as adults (Abbeduto & Rosenberg, 1980), have
found that they take turns in conversations and make few errors, much as
nondisabled people do.
Although people with mental retardation appear capable of taking their turn
in a conversation, what is even more important is what they do with that turn.
Typically, people with mental retardation do not make significant contributions to
maintaining the conversation (Abbeduto, 199 I). They may make comments, such as
ok or umn-umn. but_do not extend the topic by adding new information.
Research on the conversational skills of people with mental retardation has
also found that they have difficulty_repairing_conversations_that break down. If you
are talking with someone else and do not understand what is being said, you will do
something to clarify the conversation. You will say what? or excuse me as a signal to
the speaker that you do not understand. People with mental retardation have been
found to be capable of using such conversational repairs, but fail to use them when
they are needed (Robinson &. Whittaker, 1986; Abbeduto. Davies, Solesby, &
Furman, 1991). Children with mental retardation have also been found to be slow in

9
responding to clarification requests made by others (Scherer <fc Owings, 1984).
Moreover, researchers have found that the development of conversational repair
skills appears to plateau during the school years and not improve with experience
(Abbeduto, Short-Meyerson, Benson, & Dolish, 1997).
In considering all of the research on the communicative abilities of persons
with mental retardation, Abbeduto (1991) concluded that "deficits in verbal
communication are a defining feature of mental retardation and should figure
prominently in assessments of adaptive behavior" (p. 108). Although problems with
verbal communication do seem to be quite common among people with mental
retardation, there is considerable variability within the population.

Obviously, the ability to engage in effective communication with others is a critical

skill for classroom success. Teachers and other education professionals should be
alert to the problems that students with mental retardation may have in expressing
themselves and understanding others. Placing students in heterogeneous groups
can be a good way to encourage communicative interaction, if the groups are well
managed and the group activities carefully chosen.

Language Characteristics of Sub-Groups of Individuals with Mental

Retardation

In addition to looking at the general population of persons with mental retardation,

researchers have also studied sub-groups, including individuals with Down
syndrome, Fragile-X syndrome, and those with severe cognitive disabiiities. This
research has described the specific language and communication characteristics of
these groups.
For example, a considerable amount of research has been conducted with
persons with the genetic disorder known as Down syndrome (or Trisomy 21). In
general, the research has indicated that Individuals with Down syndrome have more
extensive language and communication difficulties than other persons with mental
retardation when matched for either chronological age or mental age (Kernan &
Sasfay, 1996). The differences have been found primarily in syntactic and
morphological usage, but not In semantic skills (Marcell, Busby, Mansker, & Whelan,
1998).
Recently, researchers have begun to study the language characteristics of
individuals with Fragile-X syndrome. A relatively recently discovered genetic
disorder, Fragile-X, after Down syndrome, is the most common genetic form of
mental retardation. While there is considerable disagreement among researchers
about the language difficulties that can be directly linked to Fragile-X syndrome,
significant deficits in language and communication are one of the hallmarks of the
disorder. Although their language and communication may be similar to that of
individuals with autism, some researchers have found that individuals with Fragile-X
are more likely to engage in "perseverative" language (i.e., talking about something
for considerably longer than would be typically expected) and to stray from the
topic (Sudhaher & Belser, 2001). Other reported language difficulties include word
retrieval and auditory processing. Specific strengths have been reported in
vocabulary and articulation (Santos, 1992).
Some researchers (notably Lee McLean and her colleagues at the University
of Kansas) have attempted to describe the communicative abilities of persons with
severe mental retardation (McLean, Brady, & McLean, 1996; McLean, Brady,

10
McLean, & Behrens, 1999). They have found a wide range of communicative skills in
this population. A surprising number of individuals with severe mental retardation
(nearly half) used symbolic communication (a vocalization or sign) and most of
these used multi-word utterances. However, they found significant variation in
communication skills, including some individuals who appeared to produce no
intentional communication.

Conclusion ,

Review of the research on the language and communication abilities of people with
mental retardation has revealed several things. First, in most cases, the language
skills of this population can be described as delayed rather than different. That is,
children with mental retardation seem to develop through the same stages as
nondisabled children, only much more slowly. There are some exceptions to this
generalization-especially when it comes to the acquisition of more advanced
syntactic skills-and some pragmatic skills. But, for the most part, language delays
are characteristic of children with mental retardation (see Table 6.2 for a summary).
Second, there Is a good deal of variation in the language and communication skills
of persons with mental retardation. These variations may be due to cognitive
delays, physical characteristics, or to the underlying cause of the individual's
developmental disability. Still, language and communication difficulties are
characteristic of most persons with mental retardation. Why is this so? In the next
section, we will examine some factors that may help answer this question.

TABLE 6.2 Language and Communication of Individuals with Mental Retardation

Phonology and Syntax Semantics Pragmatics

Morphology
Development Sentence length Problems Delays in
similar to non- similar to mental- understanding understanding
mentally retarded; age-matched idiomatic speech acts
but delayed controls (Lackner, expressions (Ezetl (Abbeduto. 1991)
(Shriberg & 1968) & Goldstein, 1991)
Widder, 1990) Difficulty with
More difficulty with Delays in semantic speaker role
Reduction of advanced syntactic development (Longhurst, 1974)
consonant clusters structures (Rosenberg, 1982)
and Final (Naremore & Turn taking intact
consonant deletion Dever, Vocabulary a (Tannock, 19S8)
(Klinketal, 1986; 1975; Karnhi & relative
Summers et al., Johnston, strength
1988) 1982) (Chapman et aL,
1991)
Delays in
morphological More concrete
development (New concepts
field & Schlanger, (MacMillan, 19S2)
1968)

11
Causes of Language and Communication Impairments
In most cases, it is not possible to say with certainty what causes the language and
communication impairments of any individual (just as it is not possible to explain
normal language development). It is true that in some individuals there are obvious
physical characteristics (such as a cleft palate or protruding tongue) that can
explain some of the cornmunication difficulties of that person. But, in most cases,
the best we can do is to talk about factors that may contribute to language and
communication disorders. What are these contributing factors? We could have quite
a long list, but we will limit our examination to three factors: cognitive functioning,
specific language disorder, and input language.

Cognitive Functioning

Deficits in cognitive functioning are the defining feature of mental retardation.

Cognitive abilities-as measured by intelligence tests-are the first criteria in
determining whether an individual is cognitively disabled. There may be a
temptation to assume a person having low measured intelligence is functioning low
across the board. But, this is rarely the case. Each individual has a unique set of
cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, the population called mentally
retarded has general cognitive strengths and weaknesses that must be examined in
some detail if we are to understand how deficiencies in cognitive functioning may
contribute to difficulties with language and communication.

Let's look at three areas of cognitive functioning that have been researched
extensively with regard to mental retardation: attention, organization, and memory
(see Table 6.3 for a summary).

TABLE 6.3 Research on the Cognitive Functioning of Persons with Mental

Retardation

Attention Organization Memory Generalization

Difficulty Ineffective Long-term memory Difficulties in the
discriminating techniques of relatively intact ability to apply
important features organizing (Belmont, 1966) knowledge to new
of information (Spitz, settings (Stephens,
task 1966) Short-term 1972)
(Zeaman & House, memory problems
1979) Similar stages of (Ellis, 1970)
development of
Relatively good organization Inefficient
sustained attention (Stephens, 1972) rehearsal
(KarreretaL, 1979) strategies
(Bray, 1979)

12
Children with mental retardation have been reported to have problems
discriminating the important features of a task and attending to more than one
dimension at a time (Zeaman & House, 1979). For example, if asked to sort objects
on the basis of both size and color, most children with mental retardation would
have difficulty. On the other hand, their ability to sustain attention has been found
to be as good, or better than, mental-agematched peers (Karrer, Nelson, &
Galbraith. 1979).

Individuals with mental retardation have been described as having difficulty

organizing information for recall (Spitz, 1966). This is an important skill. For
example, if you" were asked to remember the following list of items, you would
probably use a chunking strategy to recall the list;

ball apple pear

orange wrench bike

hammer doll pliers

You would probably recognize that these items comprise three groups: toys, fruit,
and tools. When asked to recall the items, you would probably report them in these
three groups. Typically, children with mental retardation do not spontaneously
recognize or use these groups for recall (Stephens, 1972).
Memory difficulties have long been associated with mental retardation.
However, as we learn more about memory, we learn that people with mental
retardation have both strengths and weaknesses in this domain. Long-term
memory, for example, has been found to be relatively intact in most persons with
mental retardation (Belmont, 1966). However, problems with short-term memory
are frequently reported (Ellis, 1970). One explanation for the observed problems
with short-term memory is that people with mental retardation have inefficient
rehearsal strategies (Bray, 1979). In order to remember information, you have to
store it. [f you want to remember a telephone number for just a few seconds, it is
usually enough to repeat the number over and over. But, if you want to remember
the number for a few minutes or a few days or more, you need .to store it in a way
that is retrievable. For example, a phone number with the last four digits 1488
might be remembered by recalling 1492 (the year Columbus landed in the
Americas) minus 4 (1488). People with mental retardation tend to use rehearsal
strategies that do not enhance their recall. They tend to persist with inefficient
strategies (such as repetition) that do not always work.
Another specific cognitive impairment associated with mental retardation is
generalization of information. Persons with mental retardation have often been
described as having difficulty applying what they have learned previously to use in
new settings, with different people, or in new ways (Stephens, 1972). Generalization
is a critical skill for learning. If students do not know when and where to apply their
skills, they have really learned nothing. Therefore, it is essential that students with
mental retardation be taught in ways that will increase their likelihood of
generalization.

13
 How could the cognitive difficulties associated with mental retardation affect
the acquisition of language and communication0 Clearly, if someone has difficulty
attending to a certain task-especially a complex task like social interaction-that
person may have difficulty picking up pragmatic and, perhaps, syntactic aspects of
language. Difficulties with organizing information may affect the child's ability to
acquire new vocabulary, to differentiate new words from previously stored words,
and to recall words when they are needed. Of course, memory impairments also
have profound implications for language learning. To learn language, one must store
and retrieve vast amounts of information. Syntactic rules, semantic rules, and
vocabulary-all of these and more-have to be stored in a way that they are easily
retrieved. Moreover, this has to be done instantaneouslv. Children with impairments
in memory are likely to have a difficult time with the understanding and use of
language.
For teachers, there are several implications that can be drawn from the
research discussed. First, attention of the child to the task at hand is critical. It is
important to limit the task dimensions. In other words, whenever possible only one
aspect of a task (shape, size, color) shou[3T5e varied, until the individual is ready to
handle more, [t is essential to get and hold attention. Using items that are familiar
to the student, involving themTuTlhEr lesson, and relating the lesson to their
personal experience are ways tcTdo this. Many children with mental retardation will
need to have organization cueTgiven to them. They will need to be told how and
when to use these cues for learning. Finally, teachers need to teach for
generalization. This means using a variety of materials and examples. It also means
teaching in the natural environment-the place where the skill will be
appliedwhenever possible.

Specific Language Disorders

There is no doubt that most people with mental retardation have impairments of
cognitive functioning. They also have problems in several areas of language
development. Might we conclude, then, that the cognitive impairments cause the
language disabilities? Might it be just as true to assert that the language
impairments cause delays in cognitive development?
These are not easy questiqns to answer because language and cognition are
interrelated in very complex ways. To try to answer these questions, researchers
have compared the language of children with mental retardation to that of
nondisabled children who are matched for mental age. If their language
performance Is similar, this suggests that language development is dependent on
cognitive development. If, on the other hand, the language development of the
subjects with mental retardation is less advanced than that of the nondisabled
subjects, one could conclude that people with mental retardation have a specific
language disorder that cannot be explained by cognitive delays alone.
Research on the relationship between cognition and language in persons with
mental retardation has yielded inconsistent results. Our review of the research has
revealed that delays in most aspects of language development are characteristic of
children with mental retardation. For the most part, their language development is
like that of younger children matched for mental age. However, there are
exceptions to this (e.g., in pragmatics and syntax). When Kamhi and Johnston
(1982) studied the language and cognitive abilities of .children with mental
retardation, children with language impairments, and normally developing children,

14
they found that, for the most part, the language of the children with mental
retardation was similar to that of the younger, nondisabled children matched for
mental age. When there were deviations from the normal pattern, they were
attributed to deficits in motivation and adaptive behavior. Abbeduto, Furman, and
Davies (1989) studied the receptive language skills of school-age children with
mental retardation. They found that mental age (MA) was a good predictor of the
language performance of children at lower levels of mental age (MA = 5). However,
mental age was not a good predictor for their subjects with higher mental age (7
and 9). They suggested that at least some of the language impairments of their
higher MA group were the result of specific language deficits.
So what can be said about the relationship between cognitive abilities and
language in persons with mental retardation? Is there a specific language disorder
that goes beyond what would be predicted by mental age alone? Well, yes and no. It
appears that in younger children (MA < 5), there is a close connection between
cognitive development and language development. It still is not possible to say with
certainty which is the cause and which the effect, but there is a close relationship.
For older individuals (MA > 7) there appear to be specific language deficiencies that
cannot be explained by mental age_alone. Problems relating to motivation, adaptive
behavior, or a specific language disorder may explain the language impairments of
these Individuals.
What can teachers do with this information? First, the research suggests that
although instruction in cognitive skills is important, such instruction by itself may
not address some of the specific language Impairments of children with mental
retardation. Older children and adolescents, in particular, may need help with
higher-order syntactic skills and with pragmatics. Second, because early
intervention in language is so critical, the research provides a rationale for teachers
and other education professionals to devote attention to the expressive and
receptive language problems of children with mental retardation.

Input Language
Parent-Child interaction

In the search for causes of language and communication difficulties in mental

retardation, another aspect is input language. We know from research on normal
language development that children learn language by participating in
communicative interactions with parents and other caregivers. We also know that
parents alter their language to make it more compatible with their child's ability to
comprehend. Some research has suggested that parents of children with mental
retardation do not provide an effective languagelearning environment for their
children. For example, mothers of children with mental retardation have been found
to use shorter, less complex sentences than do mothers of nondisabled children
(Buium, Rynders, & Turnure, 1974). In addition, they tend to dominate interactions
with their children by being more directive and by initiating more of the interactions
with their children dian do mothers of nondisabled children (Eheart, 1982). Mothers
of children with mental retardation have also been reported to be less focused on
their child's activities (Mahoney, Fors, & Wood, 1990).
The question here is why would parents of children with mental retardation
intentionally (or unintentionally) provide their children with less than an optimal
language-learning environment? The answer is, they do not. While it is undoubtedly

15
true that communicative interaction between children with mental retardation and
their parents is different from that between parents and their nondisabled children,
this does not mean that the parents are doing something wrong. If children with
mental retardation are developing language skills more slowly than normal, it
should be no surprise to find that their parents are using simpler language. If
children are slow to respond or are inattentive, it is not unlikely that parents will
take a more directive role in the interaction.
In fact, mothers of children with mental retardation alter their linguistic input
appropriately for the language development level of their children (Rondal, 1978).
As Owens (1997) noted, if mothers of children with mental retardation provided
their children with language models similar to those provided by mothers of
nondisabled children, these models would not be appropriate for the language
learning needs of theirchildren. Ou the other hand, parents of children with mental
retardation must be careful not to overcompensate for their child's language
impairments. They must work hard at giving their child the opportunity to initiate
interaction and should be responsive to their child, eveirif they feel that the child
may be acting inappropriately. It is often difficult to determine what children are
trying to communicate until they are given a chance to do so.

Staff-Client interaction

Individuals with mental retardation who live in institutions or in group settings in the
community get much of their opportunity for communicative interaction from staff
in those facilities. However, staff tend to communicate in ways that not only do not
enhance interaction but actually discourage interaction. Studies have reported that
staff tend to use a lot of directives-commands and directions that require little if any
verbal response (Prior, Minnes, Coyne, Golding, Hendy, & McGillivray, 1979). When
residents try to communicate, they are often ignored.
Part of the explanation for staff members' low rates of responsiveness may be
that the residents' communicative attempts are unclear. Kuder and Bryen (1991)
found that whea residents clearly identified their communicative partner and used a
con versational opener that encouraged a response, staff were highly responsive.
They also found that staff and residents communicated more frequently in a
structured classroom setting than they did m a less structured, residential
environment.
The results from research on both parent-child and staff-resident interactions
suggest that to conclude that parents or residential staff cause the language
impairments experienced by individuals with mental retardation is too simple an
explanation. More likely is that the language impairments themselves alter the
interactions that individuals with mental retardation have with others. As a result,
communicative interaction may become less frequent and less effective. There is a
danger, however, that parents and staff may become so accustomed to a highly
directive conversational role that they fail to give their children or residents the
chance to communicate.

Conclusion
In the beginning of this section we noted the difficulty in finding a specific cause for
the language impairments experienced by most persons with mental retardation.
Indeed, our search for a cause has yielded some clues but no firm answers.

16
Cognitive disabilities clearly play a role, but^do not account for all of the language
difficulties of people with mental retardation. Parents and other caregivers may talk
differently to children with mental retardation, but it is likely that these differences
are as much the result of language differences as the cause. Lack of motivation,
adaptive behavior deficits, physical disabilities, and specific language impairments
have also been proposed as the cause of the language deficiencies of individuals
with mental retardation.

Approaches to Intervention
As we have seen, finding the cause of the language and communication disabilities
of children with mental retardation is not always possible. Fortunately, it is not
essential to know the cause of the problem in order to do something about it. This
section presents some general principles for intervention with students with mental
retardation, discussing two specific intervention approaches for language and-
communication impairments.

Instructional Principles

Owens (1997) suggested seven principles that teachers and other education
professionals can use in developing intervention programs for individuals with
mental retardation. These principles address some of the specific cognitive and
language characteristics commonly found among students with mental retardation.
We know, for example, that many individuals with mental retardation have
difficulty discriminating information. They have problems knowing what they are
supposed to attend to. Teachers may address this problem by highlighting new or
relevant information. New vocabulary words may be written in a different color,
for example, fn a conversational situation, the teacher could point out how people
speak to children in different ways than they do to adults.
As discussed, another area of difficulty for many children with mental
retardation is in organization of information for recall. Owens suggests that it may
be helpful if teachers preorganize information. To get students to remember
words, for example, the teacher may find it useful to group the words in ways that
will enhance recall (all of the toys together). Of course, merely grouping the items
together may not be enough. Students may have to be taught the category label
and when to use it.
Since memory is problematic for most students with mental retardation,
Owens suggests that teachers can help students enhance their recall by teaching
them to use effective rehearsal strategies. We saw earlier in this chapter that
different rehearsal strategies work for different situations. For students to remember
for a long period of time, they may need to learn how to use a strategy to enhance
their memory; for example, visual images or associating words that rhyme may
enhance recall.
One of the most significant problems faced by teachers of students with
mental retardation is helping them to generalize new learning. Owens offers two
suggestions to help in this area: that teachers use overlearmng and repetition
and that teachers train in the natural environment. Not surprisingly, students
who receive extra training and practice tend to retain more information. Moreover, a
number of research studies have found that difficulties with generalization can be
reduced if children are taught in the settings in which they will need the skill they

17
are learning (e.g., Stowitschek, McConaughy, Peatross, Salzberg, & Lignagaris/Kraft,
1988; Caro & Snell, 1989). If, for example, children learn to approach others by
practicing this skill in the cafeteria, then it should be easier for them to ask
someone in the cafeteria to share a table if they need to do so.
Owens further suggests that training begin as early as possible and that
teachers Foliou developmental guidelines. Early training is especially critical for
language, since these skills build on each other and there is a critical period for
language learning. Developmental guidelines can be used to determine where to
begin and how to sequence instruction. However, teachers who choose to follow
developmental guidelines must be careful in making instructional decisions to also
consider the child's environmental demands.

Specific Intervention Approaches

The instructional principles suggested by Owens can help teachers begin to plan for
the needs of their students with mental retardation. These guidelines might be
applied not just to language but to any domain of learning. A number of
instructional methods have been developed to teach language and communication
skills to students with mental retardation, especial!)' those with more severe
retardation. In general, these approaches differ along a continuum from highly
structured, didactic teaching to more naturalistic, childoriented approaches (Yoder.
Kaisder, & Alpert, 1991). Among the more highly structured procedures are
behavior-based methods that use imitation, modeling, and/or reinforcement.
Behavioral approaches have been quite successful in enhancing the language and
communication of children with significant disabilities, including mental retardation
and autism. Such approaches use a stimulus to prompt a response, which is then
reinforced. Shaping is used to mold jhe verbal behavior intojhe adult .target;_form
.that .is desired. A complete description of a behavioral approach to language
instruction is available in Lovaas (1977). Lovaas gives the following example of a
child being trained with a behavioral approach (p. 53):

E is the trainer; B is Billy, a child with autism. There is a breakfast tray (stimulus)
between them.

E: What do you want?

B: Egg

E: No, what do you want? I...

B: I want...

E: Egg (pause). O.K., what do you want?

E: No, what do you want? [. . .

B: I want egg.

E: Good boy (feeds Billy).

18
In several studies, Lovaas has documented his success using this type of approach
with children with autism. For example, Lovaas has reported that children with
autism who received early, intensive, behavioral intervention (including language)
scored higher on tests of intelligence and were more successful in school than
similar children who received less intensive intervention (Lovaas, 1987). A follow-up
study several years later found that these differences continued to exist (McEachlin.
Smith, & Lovaas, 1993). Smith, Eikeseth, Klevstrand, & Lovaas (I997j reported that
preschoolers with severe mental retardation and autistic features who received
intensive behavioral treatment obtained a higher IQ score and had more expressive
speech than similar children who received minimal treatment.
Although behavior-intervention approaches to language instruction can work,
they have limitations. The biggest concerns revolve around the generalizing of
verbal behavior to natural, social situations. In other words, it is one thing to train a
specific verbal behavior under a one-on-one clinical condition but something else to
use that newly acquired skill to order a hamburger at McDonald's. Although Lovaas
claims to be able to teach spontaneous verbalization, there is little data to support
this claim.
Behavioral approaches to language instruction are most useful for training
specific skill sequences (such as request routines or word endings). If using
behavioral techniques, teachers should pay special attention to helping the child
generalize newly acquired behavior and include practice in real social situations.
The mand-model procedure was developed to teach students to use
language to obtain items or to participate in social interactions, fn this approach,
the adult initiates the interaction using activities and objects that the student is
using at the moment; the adult prompts a response by using a "mand" (a demand
or request). Similar to the interruptedchain strategy, this technique uses natural
activities in the child's environment as the basis of instruction. However, modeling,
rather than operant conditioning, is used to teach the language skill. Warren (1991)
gives the following example;

Context: (The child is scooping rice with a spoon and pouring it into a bowl.)

Adult: Tell me what you are doing.

Child: Beans.

Adult: Well then say, "pour beans."

Child: Pour beans.

Adult: That's right you are pouring beans into the pot.

In this example, the adult's Tell me what you are doing elicited a response. If the
child had not responded, the adult could have told the child to say the name of the
object. Since the child did respond, the adult modeled for the child a more adult
form of responding. This technique helped children with significant language
impairments increase their cornmunication (Rogers-Warren & Warren, 1980).
It is also possible to combine elements of more structured and less structured
approaches. One example of a procedure that combines structured and naturalistic

19
procedures is the interrupted-behavior-chain strategy. £n this approach, a targeted
language skill is inserted in the middle of an already established sequence of
behaviors. Caro and Snell (1989) give an example of the application of this strategy
in grocery shopping. Having taught an individual to read a grocery list, locate items
on the shelf, and pay the cashier, the teacher could interrupt the behavior sequence
to ask the student to say which items had already been placed in the grocery cart,
and then praise a correct response. If the student produced an incorrect response,
the instructor would model the correct response and prompt the student to produce
it. This is an example of the combination of a natural environment (grocery
shopping) with a structured instructional technique (prompting, modeling,
reinforcement).
Hunt, Goetz, Alwell, & Sailor (1986) describe the use of the interrupted
behavior chain strategy with a student named Everett, a 7-year-old boy with severe
mental retardation. The first step in this intervention was to identify sequences of
behaviors that Everett could presently perform or was currently being taught. In
Everett's case he was able to independently get a drink from the water fountain and
get food from the refrigerator. He was being taught to start and listen to a record
player and to play an arcade game. Then interruptions were inserted into these
behavior sequences at particular points. For example, as he leaned down to take a
drink, Everett would be asked What do you want and then prompted to choose by
pointing to the picture of the water fountain from among a group of four pictures.
Using this approach, Everett increased his ability to identify the correct picture and
learned to point to a picture to request water. The researchers suggested that
interrupting a previously established chain of behavior may motivate students to
learn the communication skill so they can continue with the activity.
The results of research studies on instructional methods for teaching
language and communication to individuals with mental retardation and other
significant disabilities may, at first, appear to be confusing and contradictory.
However, there may be some useful instructional guidelines that can come from
these studies. Effective intervention appears to include techniques that;

• Focus on a specific skill or skills that is/are needed in the child's environment
• Utilize appropriate and desired reinforcers
• Take place in the most naturalistic setting possible
• Consider the need to generalize a learned skill to new environments

Summary
In this chapter we have seen how changes in our understanding of mental
retardation placed new demands on language instruction for persons with mental
retardation. We have reviewed recent trends in literacy and in educational services.
Then, in describing the specific language and communication characteristics of
persons with mental retardation we noted that while delays in language
development are often found in people with mental retardation, there appear to be
some specific differences in their language abilities. We have examined possible
causes of these language and communication impairments, including discussions of
cognitive delay, specific language disorder, and deficiencies of input language. A
discussion of intervention techniques included both structured and naturalistic
instructional methods that have been used to help individuals with mental
retardation enhance their language and communication skills.

20
Review Questions
1. How does the 1992 definition of mental retardation differ from previous
definitions?
2. How have residential and educational services for persons with mental
retardation changed ui the last ten years'?
3- Describe the syntactic skills of persons with mental retardation. Are they delayed,
different, or both? Explain.
4. What does research on referential communication tell us about the
communication skills of people with mental retardation?

5. What do we know about the conversational skills of people with mental

retardation in regard to turn taking, conversational repairs, and topic management?
6. Discuss some of the implications of research on cognition for understanding the
language development of individuals with mental retardation.
7. Describe the interaction between parents and their children with mental
retardation. What could these parents do to enhance their child's language and
communication skills?

Suggested Activities

Research on the communicative interaction between parents and their children with
mental retardation has sometimes led to conflicting conclusions. Some researchers
have concluded that parents of children with mental retardation do not provide their
child with an appropriate language environment. Others have claimed that any
differences in parent-child interaction may be the result of the adjustment of
parents to their child's abilities and needs. This debate suggests two essential
questions that can be investigated in this activity:

Does the language and other communication used by parents of children with
mental retardation differ from that used by parents of nondisabled children?

Do parents of children with mental retardation alter their language appropriately for
the language level of the child?

To investigate these questions, find two parent-child dyads. The children should be
between 18 months and 3 years of age, and one of them should be mentally
disabled.

Ask the parents to play with their children using objects that are familiar to each
child. It would be best to do this in the child's home. Record your observations of
each parent-child interaction (on videotape, if possible), and compare the two
parents on the following:

• Length of utterance
• Use of nonverbal communication
• Number of different words used
• Complexity of language (sentence structures used)
• Initiation of communication (whether child or parent)

21
2. We know from research on children with mental retardation that for them,
comprehension of idiomatic expressions is often difficult- Try teaching such
expressions to an individual with mental retardation. The student should have a
mental age of at least 8 years. Begin by asking the student to tell you what the
following idiomatic expressions mean:

• Strike a bargain
• Hit the road
• Break a date
• Jump the gun

If the student has trouble explaining any of these expressions, explain the meaning
and ask the child to try again. Once the student appears to have learned the
expression, repeat the exercise a few days later to check retention.
Glossary

Discrimination: in cognitive psychology, the ability to identify and attend to the

essential elements of a task

Down syndrome: a genetic syndrome caused by an extra chromosome at pair 21

Fragile-X syndrome: a genetic disorder in which the X chromosome is deficient,

causing mental retardation

Generalization: the ability to apply previous learning to novel situations and tasks

Interrupted behavior-chain strategy: target skill is inserted in the middle of an

established sequence of behaviors to teach the new skill

Mand-model procedure: instructional procedure in which the trainer attempts to

prompt a response from the student by using a demand or request ("mand')

Referential communication: a measure of communicative ability in which

individuals are evaluated on their ability to explain a task to each other

Shaping: behavioral instructional technique used to mold a behavior into the

desired adult target form

22