A systematic review of research on staff training as an intervention to develop communication in children and adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.

Introduction: This paper aims to identify to what extent staff training interventions are successful in enhancing the development of communication skills in people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.

Methods: A systematic review was undertaken, conforming to PRISMA guidelines. English language, peer reviewed, empirical studies of staff training interventions to enhance the communication of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities were included.

Something for everybody? Assessing the suitability of AAC systems for children using stated preference methods.

Little is known about what features of AAC systems are regarded by AAC professionals as more suitable for children with different characteristics. A survey was conducted in which participants rated the suitability of hypothetical AAC systems on a Likert scale from 1 () to 7 () alongside a discrete choice experiment. The survey was administered online to 155 AAC professionals in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Attributes of communication aids as described by those supporting children and young people with AAC.

Background: Those supporting children and young people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) contribute to ongoing complex decision-making about communication aid selection and support. Little is known about how these decisions are made in practice and how attributes of the communication aid are described or considered.

Aims: To understand how communication aid attributes were described by those involved in AAC recommendations and support for children and young people, and how these attributes were described as impacting on AAC use.

A scoping review of AAC research conducted in segregated school settings.

Background: School education for children with severe disabilities tends to occur in restricted or segregated settings, especially for students who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

Aim: We sought to understand the role played by AAC, especially in supporting students' academic learning and social participation in studies conducted in segregated school settings.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review, searching five databases, supplemented by hand, ancestral and forward citation searches of studies published from 2000 to 2020 involving compulsory school-aged students and featuring AAC.

Attribute Selection for a Discrete Choice Experiment Incorporating a Best-Worst Scaling Survey.

Objectives: Although literature exists on using qualitative methods to generate potential attributes for a discrete choice experiment (DCE), there is little on selecting which attributes to include. We present a case study in which a best-worst scaling case 1 (BWS-1) survey was used to guide attribute selection for a DCE. The case study's context was the decision making of professionals around the choice of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems for children with limited natural speech.

Making Public Involvement in Research More Inclusive of People With Complex Speech and Motor Disorders: The I-ASC Project.

In this study, we aimed to identify processes that enabled the involvement of a person with complex speech and motor disorders and the parent of a young person with these disorders as co-researchers in a U.K. research project.

Looking back, looking forward: Methodological challenges and future directions in research on persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.

Background: Within the context of the Special Interest Research Group (SIRG) on Persons with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities (PIMD), researchers often discuss the methodological problems and challenges they are confronted with. The aim of the current article was to give an overview of these challenges.

Methods: The challenges are centred on six topics.

Finding the best fit: examining the decision-making of augmentative and alternative communication professionals in the UK using a discrete choice experiment.

Objectives: Many children with varied disabilities, for example, cerebral palsy, autism, can benefit from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. However, little is known about professionals' decision-making when recommending symbol based AAC systems for children. This study examines AAC professionals' preferences for attributes of AAC systems and how they interact with child characteristics.

Professionals' decision-making in recommending communication aids in the UK: competing considerations.

Existing research suggests the provision of communication aids for children with complex communication needs can have significant positive impacts on health and quality-of-life. The process of clinical decision-making related to the recommendation of high-tech communication aids is not well documented or evaluated, and research evidence related to the provision of these aids remains limited. This study aimed to understand the factors that specialized AAC professionals in the UK consider when recommending high-tech communication aids.

Decision-making in communication aid recommendations in the UK: cultural and contextual influencers.

High-tech communication aids are one form of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention offered to children following an assessment process to identify the most appropriate system based on their needs. Professional recommendations are likely to include consideration of child characteristics and communication aid attributes. Recommendations may be influenced by contextual factors related to the cultural work practices and service context of professionals involved, as well as by contextual factors from the child's life including their family environment and wider settings.

The language and communication attributes of graphic symbol communication aids - a systematic review and narrative synthesis.

Symbol communication aids are used by children with little or no intelligible speech as an Augmentative and Alternative Communication strategy. Graphic symbols are used to help support understanding of language and used in symbol communication aids to support expressive communication. The decision making related to the selection of a symbol communication aid for a child is poorly understood and little is known about what language and communication attributes are considered in this selection.

SLTs' conceptions about their own and parents' roles during intervention with preschool children.

Background: Current research investigating collaboration between parents and speech and language therapists (SLTs) indicates that the SLT role is characterized by therapist-led practice. Co-working with parents of children with speech and language difficulties is less frequently described. In order to embrace co-working during intervention, the SLT role may need to be reframed, focusing on acquiring skills in the role of coach as well as the role of planning intervention and treating children.

What's important in AAC decision making for children? Evidence from a best-worst scaling survey.

The choice of which AAC device to provide for a child can have long lasting consequences, but little is known about the decision-making of AAC professionals who make recommendations in this context. A survey was conducted with AAC professionals using best-worst scaling methodology examining what characteristics of children and attributes of AAC devices are considered most important in decision-making. A total of 19 child characteristics and 18 device attributes were selected by the authors from lists generated from literature reviews and from focus groups with AAC professionals, people who use AAC, and other stakeholders.

Approaches to communication assessment with children and adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.

Communication assessment of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) has seldom been investigated. Here, we explore approaches and decision making in undertaking communication assessments in this group of people. A questionnaire was sent to UK practitioners.

Health Education for Musicians.

Many musicians suffer for their art, and health is often compromised during training. The Health Promotion in Schools of Music (HPSM) project has recommended that health education should be included in core curricula, although few such courses have been evaluated to date. The aim of the study was to design, implement and evaluate a compulsory health education course at a UK conservatoire of music.

Parent-mediated communication interventions for improving the communication skills of preschool children with non-progressive motor disorders.

Background: Children with motor disorders can have difficulties in producing accurate and consistent movements for speech, gesture or facial expression (or a combination of these), making their communication difficult to understand. Parents may be offered training to help recognise and interpret their child's signals and to stimulate their children's development of new communication skills.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of parent-mediated communication interventions, compared to no intervention, treatment as usual or clinician-mediated interventions, for improving the communication skills of preschool children up to five years of age who have non-progressive motor disorders.

A systematic review and classification of interventions for speech-sound disorder in preschool children.

Background: Multiple interventions have been developed to address speech sound disorder (SSD) in children. Many of these have been evaluated but the evidence for these has not been considered within a model which categorizes types of intervention. The opportunity to carry out a systematic review of interventions for SSD arose as part of a larger scale study of interventions for primary speech and language impairment in preschool children.

The Language and Communication Characteristics of Communication Aids - A Systematic Review.

A systematic review of the language and communication characteristics of communication aids considered in identifying the appropriate aid for a child is introduced. The aim is to improve the decision-making around the provision of symbol communication aids to children.

A grounded theory of Internet and social media use by young people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

Purpose: This paper presents a conceptual grounded theory for how young people with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), perceive using the Internet and social media. The aims of the research were to understand and contextualise their perceptions of access and use and explore implications for self-representation and social participation; to date literature on this topic is limited.

Method: A constructivist grounded theory research approach concurrently collected and analysed interview data from 25 participants (aged 14-24 years) who use AAC and additional sources.

Speech and language therapists' approaches to communication intervention with children and adults with profound and multiple learning disability.

Background: People with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PMLD) have communication impairments as one defining characteristic.

Aims: To explore speech and language therapists' (SLTs) decision making in communication interventions for people with PMLD, in terms of the intervention approaches used, the factors informing the decisions to use specific interventions and the extent to which the rationales underpinning these decisions related to the components of evidence based practice (EBP), namely empirical evidence, clinical experience and client/carer views and values.

Methods & Procedures: A questionnaire on communication assessment and intervention for people with PMLD was sent to SLTs in the UK to elicit information on: the communication intervention approaches they used; their rationales for their intervention choices; their use of published evidence to inform decision making.

The strengths and weaknesses in verbal short-term memory and visual working memory in children with hearing impairment and additional language learning difficulties.

Objectives: To compare verbal short-term memory and visual working memory abilities of six children with congenital hearing-impairment identified as having significant language learning difficulties with normative data from typically hearing children using standardized memory assessments.

Methods: Six children with hearing loss aged 8-15 years were assessed on measures of verbal short-term memory (Non-word and word recall) and visual working memory annually over a two year period. All children had cognitive abilities within normal limits and used spoken language as the primary mode of communication.

A case study template to support experimental design in Augmentative and Alternative Communication and Assistive Technology.

Purpose: The field of Augmentative and Alternative Communication/Assistive Technology (AAC/AT) has an extensive literature of non-experimental case descriptions. This limits the generalisation of findings. The current study aimed to develop a template to contribute to single case experimental design specifically for the field of enquiry.