Anxiety has been identified as one of the most severe and long-lasting symptoms experi-enced by hospitalized children with cancer. Self-reports are especially important for documenting emotional and abstract concepts, such as anxiety. Children may not always be able to communicate their symptoms due to language difficulties, a lack of develop-mental language skills, or the severity of their illness. Instruments with sufficient psy-chometric quality and pictorial support may address this communication challenge. The purpose of this review was to systematically search the published literature and identify validated and reliable self-report instruments available for children aged 5–18 years to use in the assessment of their anxiety to ensure they receive appropriate anxie-ty-relief intervention in hospital. What validated self-report instruments can children with cancer use to self-report anxiety in the hospital setting? Which of these instruments offer pictorial support? Eight instruments were identified, but most of the instruments lacked pictorial sup-port. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Pediatric Quality of Life (PedsQLTM) 3.0 Brain Tumor Module and Cancer Module proved to be useful in hospitalized children with cancer, as they provide pictorial support. It is recommended that faces or symbols be used along with the VAS, as pictures are easily understood by younger children. Future studies could include the adaptation of existing instruments in digital e-health tools. / Mini Dissertation (MA (AAC))--University of Pretoria 2021. / University of Pretoria Bursary fund / 2022/12/31 / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / MA (AAC) / Unrestricted

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilka former av Alternativ kompletterande kommunikation, AKK, som erbjuds i förskolan, samt hur förskollärare arbetar med dessa. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med sex förskollärare. Därtill genomfördes sex miljöobservationer. Materialet analyserades utifrån två teoretiska utgångspunkter, det sociokulturella perspektivet samt en modell över kommunikation som innefattar brukare, redskap samt omgivning, BRO-modellen. Informanterna i studien ansåg att alla barn bör ha rätten till kommunikation. Analysen visar även att AKK är en väg in i kommunikationen. En slutsats är att en kommunikativ miljö och kompetent personal är en förutsättning för att AKK ska fungera på bästa möjliga sätt.

PUPRPOSE: Individuals with disabilities, who do not have reliable motor control to manipulate a standard computer mouse, require alternate access methods for complete computer access and for communication as well. The Camera Mouse system visually tracks the movement of selected facial features using a camera to directly control the mouse pointer of a computer. Current research suggests that this system can successfully provide a means of computer access and communication for individuals with motor impairments. However, there are no existing data on the efficacy of the software’s communication output capabilities. The goal of this case study is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of Camera Mouse as a computer access method for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for an individual with cerebral palsy, who prefers to use her unintelligible dysarthric speech to communicate her desires and thoughts despite having access to a traditional AAC system. METHOD: The current study compared the Camera Mouse system, the Tobii PCEye Mini (a popular commercially available eye tracking device) paired with speech generating technology, and natural speech using a variety of tasks in a single dysarthric speaker. Tasks consisted of two questionnaires designed to measure psychosocial impact and satisfaction with assistive technology, two sentence intelligibility tasks that were judged by 4 unfamiliar listeners, and two language samples designed to measure expressive language. Each task was completed three times—once for each communication modality in question: natural speech, Camera Mouse-to-speech system, and Tobii eye tracker-to- speech system. Participant responses were recorded and transcribed. RESULTS: Data were analyzed in terms of psychosocial effects, user satisfaction, communication efficiency (using intelligibility and rate), and various measures of expressive output ability, to determine which modality offered the highest communicative aptitude. Measures showed that when paired with an orthographic selection interface and speech-generating device, the Camera Mouse and Tobii eye tracker resulted in greatly increased intelligibility. However, natural speech was superior to assistive technology options in all other measures, including psychosocial impact, satisfaction, communication efficiency, and several expressive language components. Though results indicate that use of the Tobii eye tracker resulted in a slightly higher rate and intelligibility, the participant reported increased satisfaction and psychosocial impact when using the novel Camera Mouse access system. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to provide quantitative information regarding the efficiency, psychosocial impact, user satisfaction, and expressive language capabilities of Camera Mouse as a computer access system for AAC. This study shows promising results for Camera Mouse as a functional access system for individuals with disabilities and for future AAC applications as well. / 2018-08-28T00:00:00Z

Research has shown that using Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and Speech Generating Devices (SGD) helps in the increase of verbal communication in those with limited verbal communication. The purpose of this study was to 1.) Investigate the impact of various low-technology and high-technology on the increase in social-communicative behavior in individuals with limited verbal communication and 2.) Create a resource of PECS and SGD, and their uses, to guide teachers and other educators to determine which device best fits the student’s communication needs. Qualitative and quantitative research design, surveying educators from four Northeast Indiana schools, was used in this study. The survey, which included force-choice and open-ended questions, was distributed to educators, including specials teachers, paraprofessionals, and speech language pathologist, in the general and special education setting. Seven educators completed the survey. Research showed that based on the devices used within the school, teachers agreed that augmentative and alternative communication devices were beneficial for various aspects of communication for students with limited verbal communication within the classroom. <br>

No description available.

Syftet med min undersökning var att lyfta fram hur förskollärare förhåller sig till användandet av Tecken som Alternativ och Kompletterande Kommunikation, TAKK, som komplement till talet i samlingssituationer. Metoden som användes var kvalitativa intervjuer, dessa har gjorts med fyra pedagoger, två som arbetar på yngrebarnsavdelning och två som arbetar på äldrebarnsavdelning.Sammanfattningsvis visar undersökningen att användningen av TAKK skiljer sig åt i många avseenden, inte enbart mellan yngre och äldrebarnsavdelningarna utan även förskollärare sinsemellan, men att det även finns många gemensamma tankar och erfarenheter hos respondenterna. Något som de har gemensamt är att alla fyra är positivt inställda till användandet av TAKK och de anser att det är ett roligt och utmanande arbetssätt. Det har framkommit under intervjuerna att TAKK anses av respondenterna vara är ett bra sätt att stimulera kommunikationen hos alla barn på deras avdelningar, och inte enbart de barn som har någon form av språkstörning. Något som skiljer dem åt är erfarenheten av TAKK och även mängden av tillfällen då TAKK används i samlingarna. / The purpose of this study was to show how preschool teachers relate to the use of AAC in gathering situation. Qualitative interviews have been used on four preschool teachers, two who work with younger children and two who work with older children to see if ACC uses different depending on the children's ages.The conclusion is at the use of AAC differs in many aspects, not only between the work with AAC in younger and older children departments but also among the preschool teachers experience. Similar thoughts and experiences emerged during the interviews with the respondents. They all have in common that all four have positive opinion about the use of ACC and they think it’s an interesting and challenging approach. AAC is considered by respondents to be a good way to stimulate communication among all children in their departments, not just the children who have language impairment. The respondents differentiate in their experience of AAC and in the amount of times which AAC is used in the gatherings.

Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) is a lightweight cellular building material. In Spring 2008, an experimental study was conducted at The University of Texas at Austin to evaluate the load-deflection behavior and capacity of six different factory-reinforced AAC lintel groups. The results the test program are used to evaluate the shear design provisions of ACI 523.4R “Guide for Design and Construction with AAC Panels”. / text

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which PECS would generalise from the training setting to other familiar settings as a function of properties of the settings. It was predicted that PECS would generalise better to the setting where PECS use facilitated was by having the same communicative partners and items available. Three preschool children all with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were trained to use the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to a minimum proficiency level of Phase 3. The experiment employed an ABA single case design with multiple target measures, replicated across participants, acknowledging that observations in the first baseline would be zero. Transfer of PECS across settings varied for each participant. One participant generalised PECS to the facilitated environment more than the non-facilitated environment as predicted. Another participant transferred PECS better to the non-facilitated environment compared to the facilitated environment contrary to the research prediction. The final participant did not generalise PECS to either environment, switching to functional verbal communication instead.

This study compared the acquisition and maintenance of an Augmentative and Alternative device (iPad application, LAMP), and American Sign Language when teaching a 6th-grade student with an intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) and limited functional vocal verbal speech to make a request. A single-case alternating treatment design was applied to compare the acquisition rate between the two strategies. The system of least prompts was used to teach the student how to perform the request using the AAC device and ASL (American Sign Language). Results showed the student required fewer sessions to reach mastery when making a request using the AAC device. This study showed the system of least prompts paired with AAC was an effective and efficient strategy for the acquisition of a targeted communication request. This study provides additional evidence of an effective strategy that could be used when identifying a priority communication system for learners with limited functional speech and IDD.

Design of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) masonry in the United States is currently based on Appendix A of the 2008 Masonry Standards Joint Committee (MSJC) Code. Those provisions include the design of lap splices, and equations for the nominal capacity in interface shear transfer between grout and AAC. The provisions for lap splices are an extension of the provisions for concrete or clay masonry, modified to neglect the contribution of AAC to splice capacity. This thesis describes a testing program aimed at verifying the current provisions using tests of lap splices in grouted AAC masonry. Based on the results of those tests, the provisions are shown to be appropriate. The provisions on interface shear transfer between grout and AAC require that the transferred shear be checked against a nominal capacity based on limited test results. This thesis describes a testing program aimed at verifying and refining this nominal capacity using pullout tests of grout cores in AAC masonry units. Based on the results of those tests, the currently used nominal capacity is shown to be conservative, and a recommendation is made to increase it. / text