Line of research
Development stage
As with any lengthy process, this research project went through several stages. An intertextuality task was carried out, supported by authors from various disciplines related to the study of language, mainly J. Austin, M. Bajtin, E. Bates, J. Bruner, T. van Dijk, M. Halliday, E. Lucas, J. Searle, L. Vigotsky and L. Wittgenstein. The authors analyzed concepts they considered significant to be included in the speech and language therapy, such as speech act (minimum unit of communication) and its forces, cohesion, coherence, discourse analysis, micro and macrostructures, enunciated-enunciation, format, pre-linguistic functions, etc.
The initial goal was to perform a systematic qualitative and quantitative assessment, not observational, of the pragmatic aspect of Spanish-speaking children of the River Plate with communication impairments.
Various pilot tests with different goals were carried out. First, to test the instruments created according to a theoretical work focused on the concept of the speech act. To do so, we selected seven of the speech acts described as initial in the psycholinguistic literature. The intention was to stress the importance of the speech act in the pragmatic development of child language and see, through a preliminary pilot test, whether the instrument that was being developed, Speech Act Analysis and Record, enabled therapists to use of the strengths of this concept in a speech and language assessment (Abraham, M. & Brenca, R., 2002).
Development stage
The results obtained encouraged the research, which made it possible to incorporate modifications and adjustments, as well as new components. The analysis of pre-linguistic manifestations, precursors of each of the basic speech acts considered in the ICRA, was added and two more instruments were created to help the evaluator obtain information about the parents’ perception of their children’s communicative competence in daily life (Questionnaire for Parents and Guide for Parents) (Abraham, M. & Brenca, R., 2005). On the other hand, shared referentiality evaluation, pre-linguistic functions and speech act pre-verbal precursors were incorporated in a controlled format of recreational interaction (Pragmatic Observation of Play) (Abraham, M. & Brenca, R., 2007). Finally, the updated instrument was published and the validation process was initiated (Abraham, M. & Brenca, R., 2009).
A distinction was made between DISORGANIZATION, DELAY and PRAGMATIC DISORDER, and PRAGMATIC FEATURES proper to each of the basic speech acts selected ad hoc were identified, which were considered as constituents of the MINIMUM COMUNICATION CIRCUIT.
Development stage
Gradually, a central approach of the ICRA Method was outlined: “All the linguistic development that an individual may reach is originated from such speech acts: we reject, assert, give new information, request information through questions, make statements, request objects and actions we need, and summon another person by greeting or calling. The development of these seven basic speech acts, with all their pre-linguistic, paralinguistic, linguistic and coherence components, opens up the MINIMUM COMMUNICATION CIRCUIT.. What follows is a progressive development of increasing lexical-semantic and pragmatic complexity that includes the deployment of acts of indirect speech and a move to the discourse level”.
On the basis of the study of these seven basic speech acts, research was conducted towards the assessment and analysis of early narrative skills by developing ICRA-N Battery instruments ((Communicative Competence Research for Narrative Speech Acts Production),) made up of instruments dealing with three areas of analysis: re-narration, description and conversation. This battery was created to assess early narrative skills, that is, once the child has managed to open the minimum communication circuit from the development of the seven basic speech acts and starts to show a minimum production of discourse (MINIMUM NARRATIVE CIRCUIT) in spontaneous situations.
Development stage
The valuable contribution of speech acts and their forces, both for the ranking of language functionality and for opening the MINIMUM COMMUNICATION CIRCUIT in early childhood, encouraged us to wonder whether it might also contribute to recoveringthe MINIMUM COMMUNICATION CIRCUIT irrespective of the patient’s age.
Finally, a battery called ICRA-R ICRA-R (Communicative Competence Research for the Recovery of Speech Acts), was designed to be implemented in the assessment and treatment of patients with severe aphasia. The goal is that these patients may recover the MINIMUM COMMUNICATION CIRCUIT by restoring effective minimum communication supported by eight basic speech acts. The concepts of COMMUNICATIVE COMFORT and INTERACTION ROLE MODEL are central. The ICRA-R Battery is supported by the ICRA Method concepts and its instruments follow the same criterion of analysis of linguistic-pragmatic variables that was applied in the design of ICRA-A Battery Instruments 1 and 3.
Development stage
During the research and its implementation in clinical attention, typical strategies and concepts were developed, such as PRAGMATIC MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS, COMMUNICATIVE COMFORT, , CONCEPTUAL INTENSITY, , INITIAL CHANGE POTENTIALITY, , TRANSITION COMMUNICATION INDICATORS, , INTERACTION ROLE MODEL, , COMMUNICATIVE QUALITY, , EARLY NARRATIVE SPEECH ACT and NEGATIVE PRAGMATIC IMPACT.
A distinction was made among DISORGANIZATION, DELAY and PRAGMATIC DISORDER, and PRAGMATIC FEATURES proper to each of the basic speech acts selected ad hoc were identified. All these concepts are constituents of the ICRA Method, to be applied both for assessment and for pragmatic therapeutic intervention, where MINIMUM COMMUNICATION CIRCUITS became the most representative.