IALP 2025

Communicative Intentions in Children with Global Developmental Delay: The Role of Language, Cognitive Functioning, and Executive Abilities

Ronit Saban-Bezalel
Communication Disorders, Ariel University, Israel

Background: Expressing communicative intentions is a core pragmatic skill essential for fulfilling personal and social needs. This ability depends on cognitive skills, social understanding, and linguistic competence, which may be impaired in individuals with global developmental delay (GDD). Despite its significance, research on the pragmatic abilities of preschool-aged children with GDD remains limited. This study examines how individual characteristics (e.g., age, cognitive functioning, language ability, and executive functions) relate to the range of communicative intentions produced by children with GDD and their typically developing (TD) peers.

Method: Seventy-one children (24–68 months) were divided into three groups: children with GDD, TD children matched by chronological age, and TD children matched by language age. All children participated in a structured pragmatic observation designed to elicit communicative intentions. Children`s communicative productions were recorded, coded, and analyzed for the type and range of communicative intentions produced.

Results: Children with GDD differed significantly from their age-matched TD peers, who demonstrated a broader range of communicative intentions. However, children with GDD exhibited communicative profiles more similar to their language-matched TD peers. Among children with GDD, stronger language abilities were associated with a broader range of communicative intentions. Notably, in younger TD children, stronger executive functioning and better expressive language abilities were linked to a broader range of communicative intentions.

Conclusions: This study highlights delays in communicative development among children with GDD and identifies key individual factors influencing their communicative performance. These findings underscore the importance of tailored interventions to support the unique communicative challenges faced by children with GDD.