ABSTRACT
Purpose:
to propose an assessment of communication that includes the conversational analysis of children who have cerebral palsy, with complex communication needs and their interlocutors.
Methods:
a propositional study type of a speech language and hearing science assessment tool whose methodological flowchart was divided into five phases.
Results:
the final version of the protocol consisted of fifty-four items divided into three parts: (a) communicative means, acts of speech, topic maintenance and dialogue turn-taking, common to the dyads; (b) acts of child speech, use of resource, thematic maintenance and dialogue turn-taking and (c) speaker speech acts, encouragement of the use of the communication resource, theme maintenance and dialogue turn-taking. All assessment items receive a score by the assessment record according to presented linguistic behavior.
Conclusion:
this study showed the development and creation of a conversation evaluation protocol for children with cerebral palsy and their interlocutors. It can be used to evaluate the means, the communicative acts and adjacent-pairs observed in conversational contexts, leading the initial clinical speech language and hearing assessment process to the introduction, maintenance and general use of the Augmentative and Alternative Communication with different interlocutors and environments.
Keywords:
Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; Communication; Child Language; Evaluation Studies;Cerebral Palsy.