Transitions to early communication in children with perinatal brain lesions/Predjezicna i rana jezicna komunikacija: obiljezja prijelaznog stadija u djece s perinatalnim ostecenjem mozga

The available research concerning early communication development has thus far placed a large emphasis on language development, whereas the period of prelinguistic communication has been systematically neglected. The aim of this research was thus to analyse features of intentional prelinguistic communication in children with perinatal brain lesions (clinical group) compared with children without neurodevolopmental risk factors in approximately the same communication developmentphase (6 months before achieving an expressive vocabulary over 50 words). The research is part of the longitudinal study "Cognitive and linguistic development in children at neurodevelopmnental risk". The participants were 21 children: 11 children with pre/perinatal brain lesions and typical cognitive development, 5 children with perinatal brain lesions and delayed cognitive development, and 5 children without any known neuro development risk factors. Children were assessed on variables including mental age, language comprehension, language expression, communicative functions, and communicative forms. The results showed that the three groups had the same communication developmentphase at different chronological ages which were preceded by a similar level of language comprehension. Furthermore, those in the clinical groups in comparison to the control group communicated in simpler forms and exhibited fewer communicative functions. The results indicate the need to change the focus of future research to include attention to prelinguistic development. Key words: children with pre/perinatal brain lesion, prelinguistic communication, communicative functions, communicative forms U istrazivanju rane komunikacije uglavnom se naglasak stavlja na istrazivanje jezicnog razvoja. Period predjezicne komunikacije je sustavno zanemarivan. Cilj ovog istrazivanja je stoga bio analizirati obiljezja intencijske predjezicne komunikacije u djece s perinatalnim ostecenjem mozga (klinicka skupina) u usporedbi s obiljezjima kontrolnih ispitanika u priblizno istom komunikacijskom razvojnom stadiju (6 mjeseci prije negoli dijete ovlada ekspresivnim vokabularom vecim od 50 rijeci). Istrazivanje je dio longitudinalnog pracenja djece s perinatalnim ostecenjem mozga u okviru projekta "Kognitivni i jezicni razvoj u djece s neurorazvojnim rizikom". Ispitanici su 11 djece s pre/perinatalnim ostecenjem mozga koja su imala uredan razvojni kvocijent, 5 djece s perinatalnim ostecenjem mozga koja su imala usporen kognitivn