Visual signals and the communication abilities of children

The communication abilities of children of differing ages (4-, 6-, and 11 years) were compared. The children performed two communication tasks and were interviewed in both face-to-face and audio-only contexts. While older children adapted to the loss of visual signals the younger age groups did not and their communication suffered. It appears that a significant amount of information which young children transmit occurs in a nonverbal format, and that visual signals are less demanding for young listeners. Such findings have implications for professionals working with young children since they show the importance of addressing both the child's visual signals and one's own. Copyright (C) 1996 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry.