Aided Communication With Individuals Who Have Multiple Disabilities That Include Visual Impairments: A Meta-Analysis.

Purpose: Despite several decades of research focused on improving early symbolic communication for individuals with multiple disabilities, relatively limited focus has been placed on individuals who also have visual impairments. To establish what is currently known about aided language adaptations for this population, a meta-analysis was conducted to examine augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention approaches for individuals with multiple disabilities that include visual impairments.

Method: Six relevant databases were systematically searched.

An Interprofessional Graduate Student and Family Coaching Program in Naturalistic Communication Techniques.

Researchers implemented a short-term cascading coaching model focusing on naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention with three participant triads. Triads consisted of a graduate student clinician, a minimally verbal child with autism spectrum disorder, and the child's parent. Coaching and intervention occurred during an interprofessional summer clinic that included graduate student clinicians from special education and speech and hearing sciences departments.

How Toddlers Use Core and Fringe Vocabulary: What's in an Utterance?

Purpose: Selecting vocabulary for preliterate individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication presents multiple challenges, as the number of symbols provided must be balanced with cognitive, motoric, and other needs. Prioritizing certain types of vocabulary thus becomes a necessity. For example, prioritizing core vocabulary-that is, words that are commonly used across a group of people and contexts-is a common practice that attempts to address some of these issues.

Applying a Developmental Model to Preliterate Aided Language Learning.

Purpose: Childhood spoken language interventions and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions share a common purpose: maximizing communication and language outcomes. To ensure that interventions for children who require AAC also address expressive language acquisition, this clinical focus article focuses on how to apply a developmental model of language acquisition to guide AAC decision making for preliterate aided communicators, with a particular focus on vocabulary selection.

Method: A brief review of early expressive language development is presented, along with arguments for why relying on a developmental model to guide AAC decision making is so critical.

Dynamic Assessment of AAC Action Verb Symbols for Children with ASD.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make progress in learning to use action verb symbols on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) applications across different communicative functions (requesting, labeling) and instructional formats (embedded instruction, discrete trial teaching).

Methods: Four preschool-aged children completed graduated prompting dynamic assessment sessions in which they were provided with varying levels of support (e.g.

Aided Language Measures: Establishing Observer Agreement for Communicators in Early Language Phases.

Purpose: Although many valid, reliable, and developmentally sensitive measures exist to monitor the language gains of children who rely on spoken language to communicate, the same is not true for graphic symbol communicators. This study is a first step in developing such measures by examining the interobserver agreement (IOA) and within-observer agreement of 13 measures designed to monitor the language progress of children who use aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). These measures are based on the Graphic Symbol Utterance and Sentence Development Framework (Binger et al.

Prologue: Implementation Science in CSD and Starting Where You Are.

In this prologue, we introduce readers to the Forum: Clinicians and Researchers Navigating Implementation Science in CSD. (IS), or the study of the adoption of evidence-based practice in real-world settings, is a key area of development in communication sciences and disorders (CSD). The goal of this forum was to show by example how researchers and clinicians are collaborating to begin to apply IS in CSD.

Planning for Implementation Science in Clinical Practice Research: An Augmentative and Alternative Communication Example.

Purpose: Most evidence-based clinical research findings in communication sciences and disorders never achieve full implementation by practicing clinicians. To address this almost universal problem, this tutorial focuses on the initial planning steps of including implementation methodologies as part of clinical practice research programs. Integrating the principles and methodologies of implementation science can shift the current reality, leading to better uptake of evidence-based interventions.

A survey of school-age children with highly unintelligible speech.

Prevalence studies in the AAC discipline are fundamental to establishing funding, instructional, and research priorities. These data inform policy-makers on the allocation of clinical and educational services, help prioritize AAC pre-service and in-service trainings, and support AAC research grant applications. A survey study was designed to (a) provide prevalence estimates of school-age students who have highly unintelligible speech, (b) describe the demographic makeup of these students, and (c) describe their access to AAC.

Using the ImPAACT program with preschoolers with Down syndrome: a hybrid service-delivery model.

Three parents of preschool-aged children with Down syndrome using mobile augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies to communicate participated indirect, systematic communication-partner instruction. Intervention featured an adaptation of the ImPAACT Program (Improving Partner Applications of Augmentative Communication Techniques; Kent-Walsh, Binger, & Malani, 2010) that included six face-to-face and three telepractice sessions. Parents learned to use the evidence-based Read-Ask-Answer (RAA) instructional strategy (Kent-Walsh, Binger, & Hasham, 2010) during shared storybook reading with their children.

Tracking Early Sentence-Building Progress in Graphic Symbol Communication.

Purpose As is the case with children who rely on spoken language, speech-language pathologists must support and track the expressive language development of children with complex communication needs who use graphic symbols to communicate. This research note presents a framework of the progression of expressive English sentence development using graphic symbols and introduces possible approaches for measuring and analyzing graphic symbol use. Method Current issues in measuring graphic symbol utterances are explored, and a range of measures designed to analyze individual graphic symbol utterances as well as larger samples of utterances are presented.

Error patterns and revisions in the graphic symbol utterances of 3- and 4-year-old children who need augmentative and alternative communication.

The purpose of this study was to explore the errors and revisions (i.e., repairs) that 3- and 4-year-old children who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) make as they construct 2-3-word utterances using graphic symbols.

Methodological advances, opportunities, and challenges in AAC research.

Since its inception in 1985, the AAC journal has been publishing scientific articles related to the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) that (a) report research concerning assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, and education of people who use or have the potential to use AAC systems and (b) cover theory, technology, and systems development relevant to AAC. The journal has maintained a consistent focus on the science and practice of AAC while also advancing in varied and impressive ways. Among the many developments apparent in AAC over the years, methodological advancements emerge as pivotal within the evolution of the science of AAC.

Dynamic Assessment for 3- and 4-Year-Old Children Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Evaluating Expressive Syntax.

Purpose: The developmental readiness to produce early sentences with an iPad communication application was assessed with ten 3- and 4-year-old children with severe speech disorders using graduated prompting dynamic assessment (DA) techniques. The participants' changes in performance within the DA sessions were evaluated, and DA performance was compared with performance during a subsequent intervention.

Method: Descriptive statistics were used to examine patterns of performance at various cueing levels and mean levels of cueing support.

Early Sentence Productions of 3- and 4-Year-Old Children Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

Purpose: This study investigated the early rule-based sentence productions of 3- and 4-year-old children with severe speech disorders who used single-meaning graphic symbols to communicate.

Method: Ten 3- and 4-year-olds requiring the use of augmentative and alternative communication, who had largely intact receptive language skills, received instruction in producing up to four different semantic-syntactic targets using an Apple iPad with a communication app. A single-case, multiple-probe, across-targets design was used to assess the progress of each participant and target.

Language Sampling for Preschoolers With Severe Speech Impairments.

Purpose: The purposes of this investigation were to determine if measures such as mean length of utterance (MLU) and percentage of comprehensible words can be derived reliably from language samples of children with severe speech impairments and if such measures correlate with tools that measure constructs assumed to be related.

Method: Language samples of 15 preschoolers with severe speech impairments (but receptive language within normal limits) were transcribed independently by 2 transcribers. Nonparametric statistics were used to determine which measures, if any, could be transcribed reliably and to determine if correlations existed between language sample measures and standardized measures of speech, language, and cognition.

Effects of Communication Partner Instruction on the Communication of Individuals using AAC: A Meta-Analysis.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) partner instruction intervention literature to determine (a) the overall effects of partner interventions on the communication of individuals using AAC, and (b) any possible moderating variables relating to participant, intervention, or outcome characteristics. Seventeen single-case experimental design studies (53 participants) met the inclusion criteria and were advanced to the full coding and analysis phase of the investigation. Descriptive analyses and effect size estimations using the Improvement Rate Difference (IRD) metric were conducted.

Teaching children who use augmentative and alternative communication to ask inverted yes/no questions using aided modeling.

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of a direct intervention program involving aided modeling and the presentation of contrastive targets on the aided production of inverted yes/no questions and possible generalization to other sentence types by children using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

Method: A single-case, multiple-probe, experimental design across participants was used to evaluate the effects of the instructional program with 3 children who had motor speech disorders and used AAC (ages 4;10 [years;months], 6;2, and 4;9). The treatment involved aided modeling of treatment and contrastive targets through concentrated modeling and interactive play activities.

Using dynamic assessment to evaluate the expressive syntax of children who use augmentative and alternative communication.

The developmental readiness of four 5-year-old children to produce basic sentences using graphic symbols on an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device during a dynamic assessment (DA) task was examined. Additionally, the ability of the DA task to predict performance on a subsequent experimental task was evaluated. A graduated prompting framework was used during DA.

Personnel roles in the AAC assessment process.

Completing an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) assessment is a complex process that involves many stakeholders and professionals. To help clarify professional roles and provide assessment guidelines, an AAC Assessment Personnel Framework was developed. This framework was adapted from the work of Beukelman, Ball, and Fager in 2008, which focused on general AAC needs (not just assessment) and concentrated specifically on adults.

Using aided AAC models, recasts, and contrastive targets to teach grammatical morphemes to children who use AAC.

Purpose: The purpose of the investigation was to evaluate the effects of using aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) modeling and recasting on the expression of grammatical morphemes with children who used AAC.

Method: A single-subject, multiple-probe, across-targets design was used for the study. Three participants were each taught to use 3 grammatical structures.

Effects of parent instruction on the symbolic communication of children using augmentative and alternative communication during storybook reading.

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of a communication partner instruction strategy for parents of children using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) on the communicative turn taking of their children. Instruction was provided within storybook-reading contexts.

Method: Two single-subject multiple-probe-across-participants designs were used to evaluate the effects of parent instruction on (a) 3 European American parents and (b) 3 African American parents.

Teaching educational assistants to facilitate the multisymbol message productions of young students who require augmentative and alternative communication.

Purpose: Many classroom educational assistants (EAs) have a significant amount of responsibility in carrying out educational plans for children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), but they receive little instruction on how to do so (Kent-Walsh & Light, 2003). This study investigates the impact of using a communication partner instructional program to teach EAs how to teach their students to produce symbol combinations on their speech-generating devices.

Method: A single-subject multiple-probe-across-participants design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional program on (a) the EAs' implementation of an interaction strategy with their students who used AAC and (b) the rates of multisymbol message productions for the students who used AAC.

Tales from school trenches: AAC service-delivery and professional expertise.

School-based speech-language pathologists work with a broad spectrum of students with varying needs. Recent reports indicate that ~50% of speech-language pathologists working in school settings have students who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) on their caseloads. Therefore, AAC service-delivery continues to emerge as an area of great interest and concern in the school setting.

The effects of aided AAC interventions on AAC use, speech, and symbolic gestures.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) service provision can be time-consuming, and it is important to ensure that the time invested in aided AAC interventions is worth the costs. As children who use AAC are multimodal communicators, it is important to understand the effects that aided AAC interventions may have not only on AAC use but also on other communication modes, including speech and symbolic gestures. Toward these ends, this article contains a review of commonly used AAC intervention techniques, a discussion of how use of these techniques affects aided AAC use, and an examination of the effect that AAC interventions have on other communication modes, including speech and various types of gestures.