This applied dissertation was designed to provide online multimedia training materials for parents of children, ages 2-11, with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), who use or need Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Many children with ASD have communication difficulties, and the best path to communication competence is through some form of AAC. Parents can have an enormous impact on their children’s ability to learn and use AAC effectively. By implementing a few supportive strategies, they can help their children become successful communicators. Implementing strategies in a home-based learning environment is important to provide generalization of skills across settings. Typically, parents do not have access to AAC learning materials to facilitate their child’s AAC learning and language growth. Barriers to accessing this material may be time, accessibility, stress, transportation, or financial constraints. Online education is becoming increasingly more popular and is looked upon as a means to obtain information in an efficient manner. Using specific AAC strategies to enhance receptive and expressive language, parents will be taught how to increase their child’s language skills during this natural routine. Along with input from content-area experts, training materials have been created to help parents better understand ways to support AAC learning at home. Parent participation allows for the materials, which focus on two key strategies, Aided Language Stimulation (ALgS) and Communication Temptations, to be field tested. The information provided by the content experts resulted in changes to the online multimedia training materials in order to determine content validity, evaluate the design, and assess the feasibility. The results indicated that the participant’s knowledge and self-efficacy did significantly increase from the pretest to the posttest after completing the online multimedia training materials. Additionally, the participant’s self-efficacy from The Usage Rating Profile – Intervention Revised (URP-IR) significantly increased after viewing the online multimedia training materials and the URP-IR is a reliable assessment to utilize when measuring self-efficacy.

No description available.

Purpose and objective: A good life includes opportunities to practice self-determination, to participate in and contribute to society, to have meaningful relationships, and opportunities for self-development as well as physical, emotional, and financial health and security (Verdugo et al., 2012). People labelled with an intellectual disability (PLWID) have had limited opportunities to experience these good things in life and to share their own perspectives about a good life. The purpose of this study was to learn from PLWID who face significant barriers to communication about what they most value as part of a good life. My research was situated within the sociohistorical context of the province of Ontario. My main research questions were: (1) What is a good life from the perspectives of PLWID who use various forms of augmentative and alternative forms of communication (AAC)? (2) What can we learn from past advocacy efforts? (3) What are the possibilities and limitations of participatory audio/visual methods for enabling PLWID to articulate their vision of a good life? Methods: To explore these research questions, I conducted three separate but related studies. The first study consists of six narratives of intellectual disability advocacy that has taken place in Ontario. A focus group session advised me regarding the choice of narratives to be included in the study. To conduct the second study, I adopted various research methods, including participatory audio/visual methods, inclusive research methods and narrative approaches. I facilitated a series of five workshops for five participants labelled as having an intellectual or developmental disability and facing significant barriers to communication and six supporters living in the Ottawa Region. Combining audio/visual and inclusive methods and drawing from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), supported decision-making (SDM) and Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia (SCA™), participants received assistance to think about a good life. A total of 34 video vignettes communicate participants’ perspectives. Finally, to conduct the third study, I used audio/visual methods to document the participatory process of exploring a good life with participants and their supporters. Results: The results reveal that the desire for assistance to practice autonomy and the desire to contribute to shaping supports and services has been at the heart of intellectual disability advocacy efforts. Further, PLWID value participation and relationships as part of a good life. Participation in arts and sports is especially important as are relationships with family and friends. Results demonstrate that using participatory audio/visual methods combined with strategies drawn from SDM, AAC and SCA™ provide practical assistance to PLWID when thinking about and communicating their visions and ideas of the good. Conclusion and implications: The findings of this research indicate the need to continue exploring methodological approaches that facilitate the participation of PLWID and others who face barriers to communication and cognition in research and beyond. The three studies support a radically individual and relational conceptualization of autonomy and decision-making. As such, they suggest the need to rethink accepted ideas about self-determination, including reasoning and decision-making. Finally, the results support the need for individualized assistance that accommodates each person’s cognitive and communication abilities to enable meaningful participation. They also suggest the need for fundamental systemic changes that begin with practicing equality and forms of radically inclusive democracy in all our relations.

SammanfattningSyfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka pedagogernas användning utav TAKK i deras undervisning i grundsärskolan. Mina frågeställningar är: 1.På vilket sätt använder pedagogerna TAKK och i så fall varför?2.Vilka TAKK kunskaper har pedagogerna?3.Vilka andra kommunikationssätt använder pedagogerna?Metod: Datainsamlingen i studien genomfördes utifrån kvalitativa intervjuer med fem pedagoger på en grundsärskola i södra Sverige. Utöver intervjuer genomfördes under två dagar observationer, både i en träningsklass och i en särskoleklass. Intervjuerna transkriberades och en analys gjordes utifrån tematisering av materialet. Intervjuerna tolkades sedan hermeneutiskt. Under de två observationstillfällena genomfördes fria anteckningar i direkt anslutning till observationerna. Teori: Den teoretiska förankringen i studien är ur ett symboliskt interaktionistiskt perspektiv. Detta perspektiv fokuserar på hur en individ handlar i samspel med andra och hur hen tolkar vardagliga händelser med symboliska handlingar som t.ex. tal, gester och ansiktsuttryck (Trost och Levin, 2010).Resultat: Utifrån intervjuer samt observationer har det framkommit att pedagoger som arbetar i träningsklasser använder betydligt mer TAKK än pedagoger som arbetar i särskoleklass. Pedagoger som arbetar i särskoleklass använder sig inte utav TAKK i sin undervisning trots att observationen har visat att behovet finns. Pedagogerna använder sig mer utav olika datorprogram som stöd till sina elever. Pedagogerna som arbetar i träningsklasserna använder sig utav TAKK i betydligt mer utsträckning men även här har resultatet visat att det finns situationer som pedagogerna inte använder sig utav TAKK. Dessa situationer är bland annat raster och lunchraster. Resultatet har även visat att inte alla pedagoger som arbetar i träningsklasser använder TAKK i lika stor utsträckning som sina andra kollegor. Skolan har erbjudit all personal att delta i grundkurser i TAKK och alla intervjupersoner har deltagit i dessa kurser.

This study examined teacher characteristics and practices identified as effective through current research for teaching students with complex communication needs. For this population, communication issues are more complex than those typically encountered in other settings. Specifically, the researcher asked: what are the desired characteristics and practices for this population, and are the desired characteristics and practices present in current settings? Working with six teachers in a large urban school district, this study utilized a multiple case study design. Criteria for participation included the teacher as the primary reading/language arts instructor for a student who used an augmentative and alternative communication system (AAC). This study builds on prior research and fills a gap in current research through a focus on the teacher. This study was conducted through three phases: a survey of teacher characteristics, observations of teacher practices, and a semi-structured interview. Four instruments were utilized to ensure validity. Results suggest that teachers for this population require knowledge on language and literacy specific to the non-verbal child. AAC training is critical in regard to programming and navigation. The use of other technology supports which offer auditory, visual, and access options are essential. Strong collaborative teams (school and district) are also important. However, one of the most significant findings documents that success may lie with the teacher's 'choice' to embrace challenges with this population. This issue of 'choice' questions the teacher's willingness (personally or professionally) to accept this commitment. This finding also questions the degree to which teachers are willing to pursue opportunities. Recommendations include the need for: training (teachers and paraprofessionals), pursuit of opportunities for supports, addressing parent issues, a district-based liaison between home and school, and to examine issues which prevent the recommended instructional time (90 minutes of reading instruction plus 45 minutes of supplemental instruction). Conclusions indicated that participants ranged from effective to ineffective. The identification of 'highly qualified' teachers through level of education and amount of experience did not correlate with participants' level of effectiveness. Given the limited research available, this study addresses a need in the field and lays the foundation for future research with this population.

This study surveyed speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working in medical settings in the state of Florida in order to: (a) assess the availability of AAC devices, related materials, and services in acute, sub-acute, long-term care, and outpatient medical facilities, (b) examine barriers and supports in providing AAC services to patients with complex communication needs (CCN) in the aforementioned settings, and (c) determine perceived levels of AAC knowledge of health care practitioners. One of the study's major findings was that 97.59% of SLPs served at least one patient they identified as having CCNs, and 94.1% of respondents indicated that their patients could benefit from increased access to AAC devices and service delivery. A notable finding relating to the need for increased AAC-related communication partner instruction (CPI) is as follows: 97% and 100% of respondents indicated that increased CPI for medical practitioners/staff and family members, respectively, were important elements in order to ensure functional communication for individuals with AAC needs in the medical setting. Major barriers to providing AAC services related to device access (i.e., lack of AAC supports / devices, lack of funding for equipment, length of time of device funding). Other barriers were related to the nature of medical settings (i.e., frequently changing caseloads, limited time with patients) and demands of the job (i.e., lack of time to prepare AAC materials / devices). Supports to providing AAC services included low-tech AAC options and mobile technologies. In terms of practitioner knowledge, 57.6% of respondents rated themselves not at all or somewhat knowledgeable regarding AAC. Physicians, nurses, and other rehabilitation professionals were rated as less than knowledgeable by 95%, 97%, and 84.3% of participants, respectively. Overall, the findings of this study suggests there is a high prevalence of patients in medical settings with AAC needs, and some face unmet communication needs resulting from barriers related to the setting itself, lack of access to AAC devices and materials, and limited time spent on AAC service delivery.

No description available.

La suppléance à la communication (SC) est un moyen qui permet aux personnes qui ne peuvent pas communiquer par la parole de transmettre des informations à leur environnement et d'interagir de manière fonctionnelle avec lui. Le développement de la SC connaît des avancées importantes depuis quelques années, surtout avec l'avènement de nouvelles technologies. Toujours est-il qu'une compréhension plus approfondie des mécanismes qui sous-tendent l'utilisation de la SC reste primordiale. De plus, les relations qui existent entre l'utilisation du langage oral et de symboles graphiques sont peu explorées à ce jour. La présente étude fait partie d'un projet plus large visant donc à mieux explorer la nature des compétences nécessaires à une utilisation optimale de symboles graphiques dans la SC. Ainsi, et afin de mieux comprendre cette relation entre le langage oral et l'utilisation de symboles graphiques aussi bien en production qu'en compréhension, ainsi que pour mieux explorer l'effet d'âge et de genre, nous avons recruté 79 enfants (37 filles et 42 garçons), âgés entre 4;1 ans et 9;11ans, et qui présentent un développement typique du langage. L'étude du développement typique nous permet d'étudier certaines habiletés qui peuvent être difficiles à évaluer chez des enfants présentant des déficits sévères. Les sujets ont été répartis en 3 groupes selon leur âge: groupe 4-5 ans (n=26), groupe 6-7 ans (n=35) et groupe 8-9 ans (n=18). Plusieurs tâches ont été crées; celles-ci comprenaient des tâches de compréhension et de production, avec comme matériel des symboles graphiques, des objets ou des mots, qui étaient répartis au sein d'énoncés formés de trois, quatre, six ou huit éléments. Les résultats montrent tout d'abord deux profils distincts: chez les jeunes enfants, on observe une meilleure performance aux tâches d'interprétation par rapport aux tâches de production. Cependant, cette différence n'est plus évidente pour les groupes des plus âgés, et la distinction principale se situe alors au niveau de la différence de performance entre les tâches orales et les tâches symboliques au profit des premières. Par ailleurs, et conformément aux observations sur le développement du langage oral, la performance des filles est supérieure à celle des garçons à toutes les tâches, et cette différence semble disparaître avec l'âge. Enfin, nos résultats ont permis de montrer une amélioration plus marquée de la maîtrise du langage oral avec l'âge par comparaison à la maîtrise du traitement du symbole graphique. Par contre, l'interprétation et la production semblent être maîtrisées de manière similaire. Notre étude vient appuyer certains résultats rapportés dans la littérature, ainsi qu'élargir les connaissances surtout au niveau des liens qui existent entre la production et l'interprétation orale et symbolique en fonction de l'âge et du genre. / Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is used by people who cannot communicate through speech to transmit information to their environment and interact functionally with it. AAC has seen significant advances in recent years, especially with the advent of new technologies. Nevertheless, a more thorough understanding of the mechanisms underlying the use of AAC remains crucial. In addition, the relationships between the use of oral language and graphic symbols are little explored to date. This study is part of a larger project aiming to explore the nature of skills underlying the optimal use of graphic symbols in AAC. Accordingly, and in order to better understand this relationship between spoken language and the use of graphic symbols both in production and in comprehension, as well as to explore the effect of age and gender on this relationship, we recruited 79 children (37 girls and 42 boys) aged between 4:1 and 9:11 years, with typical language development. The study of typical development allows us to explore certain skills that can be difficult to evaluate in children with severe deficits. Participants were divided into 3 groups according to age: 4-5 years (n = 26), 6-7 years (n = 35) and 8-9 years (n = 18). Several tasks were created; these included comprehension and production tasks, using graphic symbols, objects or words, in utterances consisting of three, four, six or eight elements. First, the results showed two distinct profiles: in young children, the main distinction fell on the interpretation-production axis, regardless of the task. However, this difference is less obvious for the older age groups, with the distinction falling on the oral-graphic symbols axis. In addition, and in accordance with observations made for oral language development, the performance of girls was higher than the performance of boys in all tasks, and this difference seemed to become less significant with age. Finally, our results showed that oral language is better mastered than graphic symbols with age, whereas the difference between the interpretation and production tends to disappear. Our study supports results reported in the literature, and widens our knowledge on the relationship between oral and symbolic production and interpretation according to age and gender.

Název: Augmentativní a alternativní komunikace u jedinců s pervazivní vývojovou poruchou Autor: Markéta Kohoutková Katedra: Katedra Speciální Pedagogiky Vedoucí práce: PhDr., PaedDr. Jaroslava Zemková, Ph.D Abstrakt: Monografie přináší přehled aktuálních přístupů k jedincům s pervazivní vývojovou poruchou (PVP). Nejprve jsou zde analyzovány obtíže, se kterými se tato diagnóza pojí, poté autorka objasňuje možné příčiny, možnosti intervence a prognózu. Zdůrazněn je rozdíl mezi intervencemi založenými na kognitivně behaviorální terapii a intervencemi založenými na přístupu zaměřeném na člověka. Dále práce seznamuje s novými metodami alternativní a augmentativní komunikace (AAK), které lze využít při komunikaci s jedinci s narušenou komunikační schopností. Teoretické texty doplňují praktické výsledky z longitudinálního výzkumného šetření - případové studie. Během tohoto šetření byl jedinec s pervazivní vývojovou poruchou nespecifikovanou (PVP-NOS) podroben intervenci vycházející z přístupu zaměřeného na člověka. Následně jeho verbální komunikace byla podpořena prostřednictvím metody AAK - počítačového programu s hlasovým výstupem. Získané informace jsou určeny pro využití jak odborné veřejnosti, tak rodičů k zefektivnění práce, a především komunikace, s výše uvedenými jedinci.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T18:12:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marisa Claudia Feital da Silva.pdf: 929604 bytes, checksum: 859e23b0a71b090d177d241323705067 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-02-02 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The aim of this work, was to verify how the AAC can affect the life of two adults with a non articulated speech, due to the cerebral palsy, on both, considering the fact that they are living as internals in an Institution. It was chosen as method the case study with observation evolved by a six months period of time. It has been made reports and pictures (movies) during the sessions of speech therapy, with the two patients. Along with the sessions, it was made by the therapist and the two patients, low technology boards using P.C.S. (Picture Communication Symbols). During that same period of time, the therapist too has been included as an observer in the institute routine, on the purpose to acquire data, about the overall environment. It was followed and reported the effect over the lives of the two patients due to the interaction, provided by the P.C.S. system application, from the point of view of their subjectivities, and daily routine of life. Therefore as a result the data showed that from the beginning of the use of low technology boards construction process, the two patients have developed conditions that contributed for their autonomy with regards to their people. Their new behavior were noticed inside the institution and an unfamiliar feeling was observed. By the analysis of the data acquired, the Institution people arrived to the conclusion that the work was good for the patient s subjectivities, with an overall positive effect on their behavior. So they started to be noticed and respected in the Institution / O Objetivo desse trabalho foi verificar o impacto que a Comunicação Suplementar e/ou Alternativa pode ter na vida de dois adultos, sem fala oralmente articulada, portadores de Paralisia Cerebral, que se encontram internos em uma instituição. O Método utilizado foi de estudo de caso envolvendo observação. Por um período de seis meses, filmou - se e registrou -se, por escrito, as sessões de fonoaudiologia com dois sujeitos, nas quais se construíram pranchas de comunicação de baixa tecnologia, usando o Sistema Picture Communication Symbols (P.C.S.). Durante o mesmo período a pesquisadora também permaneceu como observadora da rotina da instituição, a fim de obter dados sobre o contexto. Foram observados os efeitos da interação com o uso do P.C.S. na vida desses sujeitos, do ponto de vista de suas subjetividades e de sua vivência no cotidiano da instituição. Como resultado, os dados mostraram que, a partir do processo de construção das pranchas, os sujeitos geraram condições para se colocarem de forma mais autônoma perante os outros, o que provocou uma sensação de "estranhamento" na instituição. Concluiu-se que o trabalho teve efeito positivo para a subjetividade dos participantes, visto que começaram a ser olhados e respeitados como sujeitos dentro da instituição