Nonverbal communication skills of children with developmental disorders

Nonverbal communication skills provide a vital foundation for subsequent language, social and cognitive development in young children. Young children with distinct forms of biologically-based developmental disorders display different profiles of development across nonverbal communication skills. Children with Prader-Willi syndrome display significantly delayed development in high-level nonverbal communication skills, while children with Down syndrome have a disturbance of nonverbal requesting skill development. In particular, children with autism manifest a profound disturbance of joint attention skill. Children with intractable symptomatic epilepsy have features similar to those of children with autistic disorder. Low-birth-weight premature infants display significant deficits in initiate joint attention, The differences in nonverbal communication skill characteristics in children with different etiologies of developmental disorders can provide a basis for specifically designed early intervention. The development of language skills can be promoted more effectively through construction of an interpersonal framework of nonverbal communication skill development than through conventional interventions focusing directly upon language per se. Therefore, nonverbal communication skills are important not only in the evaluation of developmental characteristics but also in the design of specific early intervention programs for children with different etiologies of developmental disorders.