Abstract
Pre-linguistic children with severe to profound mental retardation were compared to matched infants without disabilities in regard to attaining adult comprehension of the child's communicative intentions by repairing communication and accepting correct interpretations. The results showed no group difference in the rate of repair, but the types of repair produced were different between the two groups. The children with mental retardation were offered fewer interpretations to their initiations and repairs, and accepted these at a far lower rate compared to the infants. Adults responded to intentions of these children at far higher rates compared to the normally developing infants, even when they repaired the adult's comprehension failure. The relationship between the type of repair, type of intended effect in communication, and an adult's response to a child's initiation and repair are discussed. The need for some compensatory strategy to help these children operate with some junior version of the Gricean cycle is suggested.