Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol
November 2024
Sharing personal stories with others is essential to human interaction and language development. To communicate, individuals use a variety of semiotic resources, including images, symbols, and written and spoken language. These modes are deployed in the co-construction of a daily face-to-face conversation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Caregivers play a critical role in their children's development and serve as their primary communication partners. Family interactions provide the most naturally occurring opportunities for children with complex communication needs to learn language in the context of family routines. A growing body of research suggests that caregivers can effectively support their children's use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems when provided with appropriate training and coaching through caregiver-implemented interventions (CIIs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis pilot study describes the application of the Protocol for the Analysis of Aided Language Samples in Spanish (PAALSS), specifically designed for the manual analysis of language samples from individuals in the early stages of Spanish aided language development. Data were collected from 22 language samples from 16 individuals who use aided AAC and are at the earlier stages of Spanish language development. The primary objective of this study was to explore the feasibility of using PAALSS as an analytical tool to describe various aspects of the language samples, including lexical productivity, lexical diversity, morphology, grammatical complexity, and syntax.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe relationships between the use of nouns and verbs, and other word classes have been well established in the typical language development literature. However, questions remain as to whether the same relationships are seen in the language use of individuals who use graphic symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The aim of the study was to examine relationships between the use of verbs and nouns, and the use of prepositions, adverbs, and adjectives through a secondary analysis of language transcripts taken from 12 children and adolescents who used aided AAC in conversation with an adult.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAugment Altern Commun
December 2024
The selection of appropriate vocabulary is a crucial and challenging aspect of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention. Core vocabulary lists are frequently used to support vocabulary selection for children who require AAC. A vocabulary domain that has garnered limited attention within the AAC literature is relational basic concepts (RBCs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Project Building Bridges was funded by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs to address the shortage of speech-language pathologists qualified to serve students with complex communication needs who benefit from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and are culturally and linguistically diverse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Parent engagement and involvement is essential for the successful implementation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems in the home. The purpose of the current study is to gain a deeper understanding of caregivers' experiences with AAC systems and their collaboration with school professionals during the implementation of AAC, which may have led to subsequent abandonment.
Method: This review intentionally included qualitative studies that employed semistructured interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic investigations that documented the experiences and perceptions of families implementing AAC at home.
Prog Community Health Partnersh
January 2024
Background: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an increasingly recognized approach to address health inequities. Although in CBPR all processes occur within the community context, its diagrammatic model places the intervention/research outside of the community rather than conceptualizing it as an event in a complex web of system components.
Objectives: We sought to 1) introduce a systems-oriented community ownership conceptual framework that integrates a systems perspective with CBPR and 2) to describe an application of this framework in the form of the Mi Gente, Nuestra Salud initiative, a research-based, action-oriented collaboration between Cal Poly investigators and community partners in Santa Maria and Guadalupe, California.
Inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract is a prevalent pathology in diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Currently, there are no therapies to prevent IBD, and available therapies to treat IBD are often sub-optimal. Thus, an unmet need exists to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying intestinal tissue responses to damage and regeneration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: A key histopathological feature of inflammatory bowel disease is damage to the mucosa, including breakdown of the epithelial barrier. Human enteroids and colonoids are a critical bench-to-bedside tool for studying the epithelium in inflammatory bowel disease. The goal of the current study was to define transcriptional differences in healthy versus diseased subjects that are sustained in enteroids and colonoids, including from disease-spared tissue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAugment Altern Commun
March 2024
Core vocabulary lists and vocabulary inventories vary according to language. Lists from one language cannot and should not be assumed to be translatable, as words represent language-specific concepts and grammar. In this manuscript, we (a) present the results of a vocabulary overlap analysis between different published core vocabulary lists in English, Korean, Spanish, and Sepedi; (b) discuss the concept of universal semantic primes as a set of universal concepts that are posited to be language-independent; and (c) provide a list of common words shared across all four languages as exemplars of their semantic primes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The development of culturally and linguistically appropriate resources to support communication interventions for underserved communities is an urgent necessity. The purpose of the study was to obtain stakeholder feedback on vocabulary items from a Sepedi core vocabulary list developed as a resource for vocabulary selection for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, and to expand the list based on stakeholders' vocabulary recommendations.
Method: A questionnaire was used to obtain the ratings of 57 stakeholders regarding the importance of including 155 Sepedi words from the Sepedi core vocabulary list on an AAC system for a child with receptive language skills at the level of a 4-year-old or higher.
The present study investigated the relationship between lexicon and grammar in individuals who use graphic symbol-based aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Data came from 60 transcripts of generalization sessions that were part of two previous intervention studies, aimed at improving the expressive vocabulary and grammar of 12 children and youth who used graphic symbol-based AAC. The specific aims of the current study were to (a) describe vocabulary composition across different levels of expressive vocabulary and (b) analyze the relationship between global measures of expressive vocabulary and the use of grammar in individuals who use aided AAC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The purpose of this project was to examine the perspectives, practices, and confidence of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) regarding service provision for emergent bilinguals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) through a nationwide survey.
Method: Licensed SLPs ( = 179) completed an online survey, which included Likert-type and multiple-choice questions.
Results: Findings from the survey revealed a discrepancy between SLPs' perceptions and practices regarding service provision for emergent bilinguals who use AAC.
Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol
May 2023
Calorie restriction can enhance the regenerative capacity of the injured intestinal epithelium. Among other metabolic changes, calorie restriction can activate the autophagy pathway. Although independent studies have attributed the regenerative benefit of calorie restriction to downregulation of mTORC1, it is not known whether autophagy itself is required for the regenerative benefit of calorie restriction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The purpose of this project was to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on speech-language pathologist (SLP) service provision for emergent bilinguals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). One prominent issue in AAC service delivery is the efficacy and feasibility of providing AAC services via telepractice. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified this issue as most providers, clients, and families adjusted to remote service delivery models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMind understanding allows for the adaptation of expressive language to a listener and is a core element when communicating new information to a communication partner. There is limited knowledge about the relationship between aided language and mind understanding. This study investigates this relationship using a communication task.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAugment Altern Commun
March 2022
Multilingual individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) often shift between language environments and speakers of different languages; thus, code-switching (or alternating between languages or dialects within or across contexts) becomes necessary for effective communication. Recently, AAC product developers have responded to this need by building multilingual AAC systems; however, research in multilingualism and AAC is lacking. In this paper, we discuss theoretical and practical implications for research related to code-switching using aided AAC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAugment Altern Commun
December 2021
Conversational repair has been found to play a fundamental role in the acquisition of language. This paper describes existing research on conversational repair and its relationship to language learning, whether a first language or a second language, as well as its relevance to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). A case is made for incorporating prompts to repair in conversation-based language interventions with children learning to use AAC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Investig Health Psychol Educ
June 2021
The restorative justice (RJ) paradigm requires coherence among legal, justice, and educational systems to promote a culture of restorative dialogue with victims of violence and to reintegrate aggressors into the community. The objective of this study, from an evolutionary social perspective, was to examine criminal mediation files in the archives of the Murcia Intrajudicial Criminal Mediation Service (UMIM), Spain, to see which variables are associated with which types of violence and understand the contents and adoption of agreements. In this study the sociodemographic, procedural, and interpersonal variables of 216 people who used criminal mediation were analysed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe individual's adaptation problems can lead to risky behaviors such as drug use. This study aimed to analyze the existence of different adaptation profiles (personal, school, and social) in adolescents. Thus, the study aimed to analyze the existence of significant differences in interpersonal risk factors depending on the degree of adaptation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAugment Altern Commun
March 2021
For children with complex communication needs in the early stages of language development, access to appropriate vocabulary provides a means for social interaction and participation, and the foundation for the acquisition of grammar and other language related skills. While numerous resources are available to support decision making for speakers of English, there is a pressing need to rapidly expand such resources for other languages. Spanish is the official language in 20 countries, and in other countries (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAugment Altern Commun
September 2020
Although the literature suggests that multilingual augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions hold benefits for children from multilingual backgrounds, there is little guidance on how such interventions can be implemented. While various barriers to this process have been noted, language ideology has not received much attention in the AAC literature. This paper aims to highlight multilingualism as both a linguistic and a sociopolitical phenomenon.
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