Communication partner strategies in negotiation for meaning in interactions involving aided communication.

Co-constructing meaning is acommon feature of all conversationsbut may have amore specific role in interactions where one of the participants uses aided communication. The present study applies qualitative descriptive analysis supported by quantitative measures in exploring meaning-negotiation strategies of speaking communication partners in task-related aided conversations. The study focuses on identifying and exploring strategies that the communication partners utilise when attempting to interpret the meaning and resolve potential ambiguities of aided utterances in the context of event descriptions.

Aided communication, mind understanding and co-construction of meaning.

Mind 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.

Oral language comprehension interventions in school-age children and adolescents with developmental language disorder: A systematic scoping review.

Background & Aims: Difficulties understanding spoken language are associated with several social and academic risks in school-age children and adolescents with developmental language disorder (DLD). Still, interventions for this group have received little attention, and there are no reviews focusing on oral language comprehension interventions in school-age children and adolescents. The objective of this systematic scoping review was to identify interventions targeting oral language comprehension in school-age children and adolescents with DLD.

Oral language comprehension interventions in 1-8-year-old children with language disorders or difficulties: A systematic scoping review.

Background And Aims: The most severe problems in language manifest as difficulties in comprehending oral language. These difficulties are persistent and expose individuals to several risk factors. There is a lack of intervention research in the area of oral language comprehension, and no reviews have focused solely on oral language comprehension interventions in young children.

The structure of participants' turn-transition practices in aided conversations that use speech-output technologies.

Using the concepts and principles of conversation analysis (CA), this paper examines the everyday, unscripted, spontaneous conversations between 4 males who communicated with the aid of speech-output technologies and their mothers. The analyses focused on describing the conversationalists' various actions in aided turn-transition processes, resulting in a 3-part turn-transition structure used to accomplish aided turn initiation. Despite the challenges to conversational progress, the participants did not consider the conversational speed a challenge.

Communication aid provision and use among children and adolescents developing aided communication: an international survey.

A fundamental requirement of a supportive language development for young children who need aided communication is that an aided communication system is made available and its use is supported. There is limited information about the age at which children are typically provided with a communication aid or about how aided communication is used in everyday situations. Using questionnaire-based interview data, this study investigated (a) the pattern of provision of communication aids to 84 children and adolescents, (b) parents' and professionals' evaluation of the quality of communication across contexts, and (c) availability and use of aided communication in these contexts.

Use of language tests when identifying specific language impairment in primary health care.

Objective: To evaluate the ability of language tests to identify children with specific language impairment (SLI) in primary health care. All the language tests presently in clinical use in Finland were applied.

Method: All the children with SLI living in one city in Finland constituted the cohort.

Assessing the communication skills of carers working with multiple learning disabilities: a case study.

Background: Speech and language therapists (SLTs) working with adults who have multiple learning disabilities and complex communication needs often deliver their care via indirect therapy where SLTs train carers to communicate with their clients. Yet, very little is known about how SLTs assess the carers' communication skills prior to the training even though the assessment should be the basis of this indirect therapy.

Aims: To explore the level of agreement between Finnish SLTs' assessments of carers as skilful communication partners for adults who have multiple learning disabilities and complex communication needs.

Staff members' understandings about communication with individuals who have multiple learning disabilities: a case of Finnish OIVA communication training.

Background: Often communication training has been directed at the communication practices of staff members working with people with multiple learning disabilities. To date, the thinking habits of staff members, which also influence interactions, have not been addressed. We identified the issues staff members perceived as important for their development as communication partners after participating in a communication training program.

Increasing prevalence of specific language impairment (SLI) in primary healthcare of a Finnish town, 1989-99.

Background: The increasing prevalence of specific language impairment (SLI) is a matter of current debate.

Aims: Speech and language therapists and other authorities in Finland have discussed the prevalence of SLI since the 1990s. This discussion has been based on international studies because of the lack of national studies.

Size and composition of the lexicon in prematurely born very-low-birth-weight and full-term Finnish children at two years of age.

This paper focuses on the aspects of the lexicon in 66 prematurely born very-low-birth-weight and 87 full-term Finnish children at 2;0, studied using the Finnish version of the MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventory. The groups did not differ in vocabulary size. Furthermore, the female advantage in vocabulary size was not seen in preterm children.