Design of aided augmentative and alternative communication systems for children with vision impairment: psychoacoustic perspectives.

Children with complex communication needs often have multiple disabilities including visual impairments that impact their ability to interact with aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. Just as the field benefited from a consideration of visual cognitive neuroscience in construction of visual displays, an exploration of psychoacoustics can potentially assist in maximizing the possibilities within AAC systems when the visual channel is either (a) not the primary sensory mode, or (b) is one that can be augmented to ultimately benefit AAC outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to highlight background information about psychoacoustics and present possible future directions for the design of aided AAC system technologies for children with visual impairments who rely on auditory information to learn and utilize AAC.

Individuals Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication and Participate in Active Recreation: Perspectives From Adults With Developmental Disabilities and Acquired Conditions.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to gather the perspectives and lived experiences of 10 adults who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and participate in active recreation. Active recreational participation includes individual sports such as adaptive skiing, surfing, and cycling, as well as unified team sports such as soccer, bocce, and basketball.

Method: This research involved a qualitative study with two separate asynchronous online focus groups each conducted over a 6-week span.

Strategies for highlighting items within visual scene displays to support augmentative and alternative communication access for those with physical impairments.

Purpose: In contrast to the traditional grid-based display, visual scene displays (VSDs) offer a new paradigm for aided communication. For individuals who cannot select items from an AAC display by direct selection due to physical impairments, AAC access can be supported via methods such as item scanning. Item scanning sequentially highlights items on a display until the individual signals for selection.

Increasing reciprocal social interactions using collaborative art activities: An intervention for children with complex communication needs and their peers.

Children with complex communication needs who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies to communicate have difficulty participating in interactions with their peers. Integrating a collaborative learning framework with art activities may facilitate social interactions between children with complex communication needs and their peers. A single-subject withdrawal design was utilised to examine the impact of collaborative art activities on reciprocal social interactions between 2 dyads of participants with complex communication needs and their same-age peers.

What's in a Photograph? The Perspectives of Composition Experts on Factors Impacting Visual Scene Display Complexity for Augmentative and Alternative Communication and Strategies for Improving Visual Communication.

Purpose Visual scene displays (VSDs) can support augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) success for children and adults with complex communication needs. Static VSDs incorporate contextual photographs that include meaningful events, places, and people. Although the processing of VSDs has been studied, their power as a medium to effectively convey meaning may benefit from the perspective of individuals who regularly engage in visual storytelling.

Creating a Path for Systematic Investigation of Children With Cortical Visual Impairment Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

Purpose There is limited information about how to support children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). An initial review designed to explore the available evidence was used to outline critical needs in moving research and intervention forward for children who use AAC and have CVI. Method Previous systematic reviews, six databases, and theses and dissertations were systematically searched, along with reviews of the resulting works cited.

Effect of online instruction on volunteers who support people with complex communication needs in active recreation.

This study was conducted to teach and evaluate the effectiveness of an online training called The CAPTURE & Share program. The program was taught using online instruction in an asynchronous manner with six volunteers who facilitate recreational participation for individuals with complex communication needs. The online training focused on teaching volunteers how to support opportunities for individuals to capture photos and videos from recreation and then share them across their social networks.

Music Improves Social and Participation Outcomes for Individuals With Communication Disorders: A Systematic Review.

There is increasing interest in exploring the benefits of music in rehabilitation settings. In the field of speech-language pathology, an ultimate goal for individuals with communication disorders is to foster participation across multiple contexts. The goal of this systematic review was to explore social and participation outcomes for individuals with communication disorders who received arts-based interventions.

Weaving participation, interaction, and technology across recreational experiences: perspectives from volunteers, caregivers, and people with complex communication needs.

Recreational and leisure activities offer many meaningful and motivating opportunities for communication and improving quality-of-life. Volunteers in recreation activities have important roles as participation and communication facilitators, while also creating opportunities for learning and social interaction. The aim of this study was to implement a novel photo and video intervention called the CAPTURE & Share Program, and to evaluate its impact on communication opportunities and participation.

Exploration of Head Related Transfer Function and Environmental Sounds as a Means to Improve Auditory Scanning for Children Requiring Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

Many individuals who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) cannot directly select items on computer-based displays. Individuals who also have visual impairments may need to rely on sequential announcement of array choices in auditory scanning. The method is challenging and there is a lack of research to improve this access method.

Identification and drawing of early concepts in children with autism spectrum disorder and children without disability.

This comparative study is a replication and extension of previous work related to children's drawings of early concepts. In all, 15 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 19 children without disability took part in the study, and were video recorded as they drew 10 early emerging concepts such as "eat" and "more." In a second task, the participants were asked to label Picture Communication Symbols conventionally used in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems.

Designing augmentative and alternative communication applications: the results of focus groups with speech-language pathologists and parents of children with autism spectrum disorder.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain insight from speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) regarding appealing features of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) applications.

Method: Two separate 1-hour focus groups were conducted with 8 SLPs and 5 parents of children with ASD to identify appealing design features of AAC Apps, their benefits and potential concerns. Participants were shown novel interface designs for communication mode, play mode and incentive systems.

A comparison of the performance of 2.5 to 3.5-year-old children without disabilities using animated and cursor-based scanning in a contextual scene.

Although recent evidence suggests learning demands for children can be reduced by organizing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) displays in contextual scenes, there is little evidence on how such scenes could be made accessible for children who cannot use direct selection. Using a line drawn scene of a living room, a traditional traveling cursor (a green outline of objects within the scene) was compared with sequential animation-logically matching the function of items in the scene (e.g.

"You Get More Than You Give": Experiences of Community Partners in Facilitating Active Recreation with Individuals who have Complex Communication Needs.

Recreation is an essential part of life that provides enriching experiences that may define one's life course similar to careers or other interests. An understanding of the role of volunteers in active community-based recreational programs can help to generate ways to enhance participation and contribute to additional communication opportunities with people who have complex communication needs. Nine volunteers from two adaptive ski programs and one therapeutic horseback-riding program in the Northeast region of the United States participated in semi-structured interviews.

Simultaneous natural speech and AAC interventions for children with childhood apraxia of speech: lessons from a speech-language pathologist focus group.

In childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), children exhibit varying levels of speech intelligibility depending on the nature of errors in articulation and prosody. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies are beneficial, and commonly adopted with children with CAS. This study focused on the decision-making process and strategies adopted by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) when simultaneously implementing interventions that focused on natural speech and AAC.

Situational and psychosocial factors mediating coordinated joint attention with augmentative and alternative communication systems with beginning communicators without disabilities.

This study examined how infants' age, joint attention (JA) skills, caregiver ratings of language and temperament, and caregiver JA style related to JA in a structured literacy task with an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system. Sixteen infants (mean = 10.6 months) without disabilities participated in two storybook reading interactions with an experimenter in two conditions where the AAC system was either aligned or divided from the experimenter's eye gaze.

The effects of reading personal narratives written by an individual who uses AAC on the attitudes of pre-professionals in business.

A Solomon Four-Group Design was used to study the effects of reading personal narratives written by an individual with complex communication needs on the attitudes, potential future behaviors, and general experiences of 109 undergraduate business majors. The Attitudes Toward Nonspeaking Persons Scale (ATNP) and a scale of behavioral intentions modeled according to Ajzen's ( 1991 ) Theory of Planned Behavior were used as dependent variables. A sub-group of individuals in the experimental group participated in individual follow-up interviews.

The effect of high-tech AAC system position on the joint attention of infants without disabilities.

Joint attention is critical for language development in children. Children with complex communication needs have additional challenges in managing their joint attention, and there is minimal information on how to reduce these demands. Sixteen infants without disabilities and their caregivers participated in a within-subjects design with two storybook reading interactions.