Communication is one of the fundamental abilities needed by humans and which we have to develop in early childhood. The ability to communicate is dependent on sociopragmatic skills, which are very important for children, because they are the foundation to an effective communication. These are verbal and nonverbal activities. Children can communicate with gestures or vocalization. In this master's thesis I am analysing the development of children’s sociopragmatic skills from 12th to 36th month of age from the Celje area. The analysis is based on the sample of 153 children. Parents of those children used a rating scale from Luigi Girolametta (translation and adaptation: Martina Ozbič, Damjana Kogovšek in Barbara Penko) to asses children’s sociopragmatic skills.
The results of the analysis show that sociopragmatic abilities, assertiveness and responsiveness, are intensely developing from 12th to 36th month of age. It shows that there are none important statistical differences between boys and girls in learning of sociopragmatic abilities. Also the children whose parents are worried about their development of communication, have less developed abilities of assertiveness and responsiveness. The development of assertiveness and responsiveness between 24th and 36th month is better than in between 12th and 24th month.
The acquired data will contribute to understanding of sociopragmatic development of Slovenian preschool kids and this master's thesis is included in the research about sociopragmatic skills, which took place at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of education, as part of an international research collaboration with the author of the rating scale – Luigi Girolametto.
The use of rating scale to assert sociopragmatic skills is a reliable and valid measurement instrument that allows us early detection of communication problems.
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