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Comprehension of spoken language skills are often taken for granted in research concerning early childhood language acquisition in typically developing children. While the onset of early word comprehension arguably precedes word production, traditional research has focused on language production rather than comprehension. A similar trend of focussing on expression is evident in the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Traditionally, the role of AAC systems for individuals with little or no functional speech (LNFS) has been as an output mode for expressing messages. While this is an essential role and final outcome of AAC intervention strategies, the role of listeners is equally important. The comprehension of spoken language provides an essential foundation upon which language production competence can be built. AAC users' ability to comprehend spoken language is varied from age equivalent comprehension of spoken language to minimal comprehension. Some AAC users comprehend spoken language and therefore come to the AAC acquisition task with an established knowledge of spoken language. Others who experience difficulty comprehending spoken language require AAC as both input (receptive) and output (expressive) mode. Graphic symbols play a role in facilitating comprehension of messages either through facilitating the comprehension of the spoken language or the AAC symbols. The use of augmented input strategies like aided language stimulation is one type of instructional technique used in teaching graphic symbols to AAC users. Aided language stimulation refers to a technique in which a facilitator or communication partner combines the use of AAC with natural speech through simultaneously pointing to graphic symbols and speaking. The aim of this study was therefore to determine the impact of a three week long aided language stimulation program on the receptive language skills of children with LNFS. Four children participated in this multiple probe study. The aided language stimulation programme comprised three activities viz. arts and crafts, food preparation and story time activity. Each activity was repeated over duration of five subsequent sessions. Eight target vocabulary items were taught within each activity. The acquisition of all 24 target items were probed throughout the duration of the three week intervention period. The results indicated that all the participants acquired the target receptive vocabulary items. There were, however, variations in terms of the rate of acquisition. There was no statistically significant improvement in the general receptive language abilities of the participants. / Thesis (PhD (Augmentative and Alternative Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / unrestricted

People with disabilities are at high risk of becoming victims of crimes. Those individuals with little or no functional speech (LNFS) are even more at risk of being victims of crime. One way of reducing the risk of being a victim of crime is facing the alleged perpetrator in court as a witness; therefore it is important for people with LNFS who have been victims of crimes to have the relevant vocabulary needed to testify in court. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the legal core vocabulary required by illiterate victims of crime, who have little or no functional speech, to testify in court as witness/witnesses. A mixed method, exploratory sequential design consisting of two different phases was used to address the aim of the research. The first phase was qualitative and included two different data sources, namely in-depth semi-structured interviews (n=3) and focus groups (n=22). The overall aim of this phase was to develop a measurement instrument. Results from Phase 1 were used in Phase 2, the quantitative phase, in which the measurement instrument (a custom designed questionnaire) was socially validated by 31 participants. The results produced six distinct categories which represented the core legal vocabulary and 99 words that represented the fringe legal vocabulary. The findings suggested that each communication board should be individualized to the individual and the specific crime. Recommendations were made to develop an AAC Resource Tool Kit to assist professionals involved with a person with LNFS who had been a victim of crime. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / MA / Unrestricted

The structure of graphic symbol utterance constructed by children with typical development and also children with little or no functional speech often differs considerably from spoken utterances. Whether the structure of graphic symbol utterances constructed by these two groups is influenced by similar factors is as yet unknown, as a systematic comparison between the two groups of children has not been conducted. This study aimed to investigate and compare the graphic symbol utterances arranged by children with little or no functional speech with those arranged by their typically developing peers when they were matched according to receptive language age. The utterances were analysed in terms of three variables, namely content, order and intelligibility. The results indicated that children with little or no functional speech do not differ significantly to children with typical development on tasks of graphic symbol utterance construction. The results also indicated that children with higher receptive language age start to use the spoken language word order as a model when arranging graphic symbol utterances more than children with lower receptive language age. The findings suggest that receptive language age plays a role in graphic symbol utterance constructions. The use of structures that do not follow spoken language may be explained by effects of the visual modality. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / unrestricted

La maladie d'Alzheimer (MA) – la forme la plus courante de trouble neurocognitif majeur – se caractérise typiquement par des troubles progressifs et insidieux de la mémoire épisodique. Des déficits langagiers font également partie du portrait clinique de la maladie, et sont déjà présents au stade préclinique du trouble neurocognitif léger (TNCL). Des difficultés sur le plan de la production du langage ont été rapportées dans la MA et même le TNCL, ce qui suggère que son évaluation pourrait représenter une opportunité unique de détection précoce du déclin cognitif. Un consensus croissant propose d’ailleurs que le langage spontané (LS) pourrait permettre une évaluation écologiquement valide des capacités de production langagière. Toutefois, les résultats d’études s’étant penchées sur l’évaluation du LS ne convergent pas tous pour dresser un portrait clair de l’impact du déclin cognitif sur la production langagière dans la MA, et moindrement encore dans le TNCL. La première partie de la thèse visait ainsi à décrire de façon exhaustive l’étendue de la recherche dans le domaine de l'évaluation du LS dans les populations MA et TNCL, en réalisant un examen de la portée (étude 1). Les résultats ont révélé que l’évaluation traditionnelle du LS consistait le plus souvent en une analyse quantitative d’une sélection de variables microlinguistiques de LS obtenu à l’aide d’une mesure descriptive standardisée. Ayant répliqué le patron des déficits langagiers largement répandu dans les écrits scientifiques, les résultats de l’examen de la portée soulignent l’apport complémentaire de l’évaluation du LS à l’évaluation globale du langage dans les populations MA et TNCL. Toutefois, l’examen de la portée a également souligné d’importantes lacunes dans le domaine de recherche, notamment le très peu d’études s’étant intéressées au TNCL comparativement à la MA, ainsi que le très peu d’approches écologiques à l’évaluation du LS. Prenant en compte ces lacunes, la deuxième partie de la thèse visait à examiner l’apport d’une évaluation écologique du LS auprès de participants TNCL et de contrôles, dans un contexte expérimental se rapprochant de la vraie vie (étude 2). Plus précisément, une évaluation fonctionnelle des actes de langage produits par ces deux groupes lors de la réalisation, dans un appartement-test, de tâches écologiques inspirées d'activités de la vie quotidienne a été réalisée. La description qualitative des actes de langage spontanément produits pendant la planification et l'exécution de ces tâches complexes a permis d'extraire des stratégies, des barrières et des réactions distinctes en réponse aux demandes des tâches ainsi qu'aux difficultés rencontrées chez les participants TNCL et contrôles. Ainsi, les résultats ont montré que les participants TNCL mettaient en place moins de stratégies proactives avant d’entamer l’expérimentation, puis davantage de stratégies compensatoires pour supporter leur organisation des tâches pendant leur exécution. Plus distraits et moins portés à tenir compte de l’assistance offerte, ils validaient et justifiaient davantage leur performance de façon défensive et étaient plus réactifs à leurs difficultés que les sujets contrôles. Les résultats de la deuxième étude de la thèse soulignent ainsi l’apport novateur d’une évaluation fonctionnelle du LS comme outil d'exploration de l'impact du déclin cognitif lors de tâches écologiques complexes se rapprochant d'activités de la vie quotidienne. Ensemble, les études de la thèse convergent pour appuyer l’apport complémentaire d'une évaluation fonctionnelle du LS à son évaluation traditionnelle dans l’avancement des connaissances au sujet de l’impact du déclin cognitif dans les populations TNCL et MA sur la production langagière. / Alzheimer's disease (AD) – the most common form of major neurocognitive disorder – is typically characterized by progressive and insidious impairment of episodic memory. Language deficits are also part of the clinical picture of the disease, and are already present in the preclinical stage of mild neurocognitive disorder (mild NCD). Difficulties in language production have been reported in AD and even in mild NCD, suggesting that its assessment may represent a unique opportunity for early detection of cognitive decline. There is a growing consensus that connected speech (CS) may provide an ecologically valid assessment of language production abilities. However, the results of studies that have examined CS assessment do not all converge to provide a clear picture of the impact of cognitive decline on language production in AD, and even less so in mild NCD. The first part of the thesis thus aimed to comprehensively describe the extent of research in the area of CS assessment in AD and mild NCD populations, by conducting a scoping review (study 1). The results revealed that traditional CS assessment most often consisted of quantitative analysis of a selection of microlinguistic variables of CS, obtained using a standardized descriptive measure. Having replicated the pattern of language deficits widely found in the scientific literature, the results of the scoping review highlight the complementary contribution of CS assessment to the overall assessment of language in AD and mild NCD populations. However, the scoping review also highlighted important gaps in the research field, including the very few studies that have focused on mild NCD in comparison to AD, as well as the very few ecological approaches to CS assessment. Taking these gaps into account, the second part of the thesis thus aimed to examine the contribution of a functional assessment of CS that is closer to the context of real life, with mild NCD participants and controls (study #2). More precisely, a functional assessment of the speech acts produced by these two groups during the performance of ecological tasks inspired by activities of daily living in a laboratory-apartment was carried out. Qualitative description of the speech acts spontaneously produced by these participants while performing complex tasks allowed for the extraction of distinct strategies, barriers and reactions in response to task demands as well as to the difficulties encountered by the mild NCD participants and controls. Thus, results showed that mild NCD participants implemented fewer proactive strategies before beginning the experiment, and then more compensatory strategies to support their task organization during task execution. More distracted and less likely to take into account the assistance offered, they validated and justified their performance more defensively and were more reactive to their difficulties than the control subjects. The results of the second article of the thesis thus highlight the innovative contribution of a functional assessment of CS as a tool for exploring the impact of cognitive decline in complex, ecological tasks that are similar to activities of daily living. Together, the studies in this thesis converge to support the complementary contribution of a functional assessment of CS to its traditional assessment in advancing knowledge about the impact of cognitive decline on language production in the mild NCD and AD populations.