No description available.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching a picture communication system to students with moderate to severe disabilities using the PECS Phase III application. A multiple probe across participants design was used to conduct the study and evaluate the effectiveness of the training on the PECS Phase III application. The results of the study demonstrated that teaching a picture communication system on an augmentative and alternative communication device is effective in the school setting with young adults with moderate and severe disabilities.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2009. / Title from screen (viewed on January 13, 2010). School of Nursing, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Marsha L. Ellet, Rebecca S. Sloan, Lynne A. Sturm, Melinda M. Swenson. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-123).

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / There are children in this world who are silenced by disability. The struggles of these children as they attempt to find a voice are difficult and often considered insurmountable. With advances in computer technology, devices are available to assist the child to have a voice. This voice is not found easily or acquired without difficulty. Even after finding and acquiring the necessary device, the child requires education and support to learn to use the device effectively. Challenges may be specific to the child’s disability, the support systems involved with the child, or even the technology itself. It is the adults in the child’s life, and the child’s family in particular, who provide needed support and assistance in helping him/her find an effective way of expressing his/her ideas. Families are an essential component in assisting their children to learn to use the device. My pilot study examined parents’ likes and dislikes of their child’s communication device. The preliminary data from that study illuminated several factors that increased the struggles of these children and their families as they work together to learn the device. These factors include financial, emotional, and developmental costs; as well as the lack of appropriately trained professionals; and excessive time lapses from evaluation to receipt of the device. The purpose of this study was to give a voice to the experiences of families around a child’s use of one type of augmentative and alternative (AAC), a speech generating device (SGD), by analyzing family’s experiences of the child’s use of a SGD as seen through the lens of the child’s primary caregiver. Interpretive phenomenologic methods for data collection and interpretation were used to elucidate the experience of families who have a child who is currently using or who has previously used a SGD as a method of communication. One cannot learn about the lived experience of the family without first listening to their story and allowing the family to share how their child’s use of a SGD affected the life of their family.

When an individual’s ability to communicate with speech does not function as expected, in many cases, augmentative and alternative communication, (AAC), can serve as a support interaction with other persons. The purpose of this study is to investigate how a specific child’s communicative possibilities and abilities develop during the first months after introducing a speech generating device. The study’s main participant Alex is 6 years old and has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. Alex also has confirmed limitations regarding gross and fine motor skills and further investigation will examine the presence of childhood apraxia of speech. Two play situations were videotaped at approximately four months intervals and then analysed via conversation analysis and multimodal interaction analysis. At the study’s initial recording session Alex’ communication consisted of gestures and body language together with isolated vocalisations. There were no observed occurrences of spoken words. At the start of the study Alex had been using their speech generating device, SGD, for approximately six weeks. At the end of the study the SGD is found to have been integrated in Alex’ communication during the observed play situations. Its role as a communicative resource has developed from being primarily a device which the child presses in order to answer direct questions, into being used to organise, for example, turn taking, initiate new play rounds or asking questions, by way of other types of manipulation. In addition, Alex’ use of vocalisations has increased and become more situation specific. Baseline measurements were not conducted in this study, wherefore it is not possible to indicate the implementation of an SGD as the reason for Alex’ communicative development. Continued research is needed in order to achieve individual and optimum solutions for all who are dependent on support in their communication. / När en individs möjligheter att kommunicera med tal av någon anledning inte fungerar som förväntat kan i många fall alternativ och kompletterande kommunikation, förkortat AKK, fungera som ett stöd i interaktionen med andra människor. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur ett specifikt barns kommunikativa möjligheter och förmågor utvecklas under de första månaderna efter att ett högteknologiskt AKK introducerats. Studiens huvuddeltagare Alex är 6 år och har diagnoserna autism i barndomen och ADHD. Alex har även konstaterade grov- och finmotoriska begränsningar och vidare undersökningar kommer att undersöka förekomst av verbal dyspraxi. Två leksituationer videofilmades med cirka fyra månaders mellanrum och analyserades sedan med samtalsanalys och multimodal interaktionsanalys. Vid studiens inledande inspelning utgjordes Alex kommunikation av gester och kroppsspråk samt enstaka vokaliseringar. Inga talade ord förekom. Vid studiens slut konstateras att hAKK vid den observerade leksituationen integrerats i Alex kommunikation. Dess roll som kommunikativ resurs har utvecklats från att främst vara en apparat som barnet trycker på för att svara på direkta frågor, till att genom annan typ av manipulering exempelvis organisera turtagning, initiera en ny lekomgång och ställa frågor. Även Alex användning av vokaliseringar i leksituationen har ökat och blivit mer situationsspecifika. Alex mamma och en av hens förskollärare intervjuades och besvarade skattningsfrågor. Resultaten visar att de båda noterat en generellt ökad vilja till kommunikation hos Alex samt lyfter frågan om vilka begränsningar som fortfarande finns gällande Alex kommunikativa möjligheter vid studiens slut. Baselinemätningar saknas i denna studie, varför det inte är möjligt att ange implementeringen av hAKK som orsak till Alex kommunikativa utveckling. Fortsatt forskning behövs för att kunna uppnå individuella och optimala lösningar för alla som är beroende av stöd i sin kommunikation.