Virtual Community Engagement Studio (V-CES): Engaging Mothers With Mental Health and Substance Use Conditions in Research.

Active engagement of community stakeholders is increasingly encouraged in behavioral health research, often described as a co-production approach. Community stakeholders (e.g.

Virtual Engagement in a Social Media Community of Mothers With Substance Use Disorders: Content Analysis.

Background: Co-occurring substance use disorder is common among pregnant and parenting women with mental illness, but their engagement with and utilization of relevant services and treatment is low. Social media has the potential to convey benefits and facilitate engagement among this target group.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the reach and engagement of specific social media posts among pregnant women and mothers with substance use disorders.

Order out of chaos? Autism spectrum disorder coordinators' impact on service delivery in New Zealand.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) coordinators (ASDCs) on key aspects of the experience of obtaining an ASD diagnosis and post-diagnostic supports in New Zealand.

Method: Members of New Zealand ASD parent support groups were surveyed.

Results: Of 516 parents, 41.

17 Ways to Say Yes: Toward Nuanced Tone of Voice in AAC and Speech Technology.

People with complex communication needs who use speech-generating devices have very little expressive control over their tone of voice. Despite its importance in human interaction, the issue of tone of voice remains all but absent from AAC research and development however. In this paper, we describe three interdisciplinary projects, past, present and future: The critical design collection Six Speaking Chairs has provoked deeper discussion and inspired a social model of tone of voice; the speculative concept Speech Hedge illustrates challenges and opportunities in designing more expressive user interfaces; the pilot project Tonetable could enable participatory research and seed a research network around tone of voice.

The state of research and practice in augmentative and alternative communication for children with developmental/intellectual disabilities.

Augmentative and alternative communication is a compilation of methods and technology designed to supplement spoken communication for people with limited speech or language skills, including children with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The field of AAC has evolved rapidly within the last 10 years, due to a combination of empirical advances from research as well as rapid changes in technology. This article reviews some of the most significant aspects of this growth as it relates to children with developmental disabilities.