Enhancing Communicative Competence in Children with Disabilities: Implications for Reducing Child Abuse and Neglect

Project Title:	Enhancing Communicative Competence in Children with Disabilities: Implications for Reducing Child Abuse and Neglect
Grant/Contract Number:	90CA1593
Type of Project:	Research
Funding Agency:	Office on Child Abuse and Neglect
Agency Contact Person:	Sally M. Flanzer, Ph.D. (202) 205-8914
Principal Investigator:	Rebecca Nathanson
Mailing Address:	Texas Tech University Department of Education 203 Holden Hall Lubbock, TX 79409
Total Project Duration:	9/30/97 to 2/28/99
FY 98 Total Costs:	$61,250
Total Project Budget:	$61,250
Child Maltreatment Focus:	Primary
Type of Abuse:	Physical, Emotional, Sexual, Neglect; Undifferentiated
Sample Size:	45, 45, 30, 30
Age of Subjects:	7-10 year olds
Child Abuse and Neglect Focus of This Project:	Origins and Consequences
Summary

Texas Tech University will conduct four studies of learning disabled children aimed at both increasing the completeness and accuracy of recall of an abuse event in such children and at reducing their stress during the investigative and legal processes. The goal of the first study is to enhance the communication of children, whose disabilities may make it more difficult for them to communicate effectively about their abuse, by improving spontaneous recall of information. The study replicates a prior study that demonstrated that completeness of children's eyewitness testimony can be increased without compromising accuracy using narrative elaboration techniques. The goal of the second study, which also replicates prior research, is to enhance the ability of children with disabilities to detect noncomprehension and to increase their ability to accurately answer complex questions through comprehension-monitoring techniques. The goal of the third study is to enhance the ability of children with learning disabilities to communicate by helping them to resist suggestibility to misleading questions through resistance-to-suggestibility training. The goal of the fourth study is to enhance communication by increasing children's knowledge about the judicial process through a court education curriculum, thereby decreasing stress which has been shown to increase memory recall.