This study examined the changes in the communication skills of preschool students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that resulted from an intervention that featured three evidence-based, transactional approaches to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention: (a) attributing communicative meaning to student behaviours; (b)…

In this empirical study, the appropriation of a symbolic skill by a five-year old child is analysed. His evolving production and understanding are investigated through his sign-making and his explanations of these when speaking with a researcher. The child is studied in his home. A contrasting case of another child of the same age also making…

Children with Down syndrome (DS) and cerebral palsy (CP) are at risk of remaining pre-symbolic in their communication and play for prolonged periods. The aim of this study was to explore the early communication and play of children with DS and with CP who communicated at the pre-symbolic stage, and to determine the association between these…

Evaluation of questionnaires on the expressive communication skills of 211 individuals with severe mental retardation (including both children and adults in a variety of residential settings) revealed a wide range of communication abilities, with a significantly larger percentage of adults than children communicating at symbolic levels. (Author/DB)

This study evaluated ease of learning 5 visual symbol sets (photopictorial, rebus, Blissymbolics, orthography, and Premack-type tokens) with 4 autistic students (ages 7-13). A second article describes the development of instructional procedures for the students, noting the contribution of behavioral, cognitive developmental, and information…

The word-learning ability of 12 school-age subjects with moderate or severe mental retardation was assessed. Subjects used the System for Augmenting Language with visual-graphic symbols for communication. Ability to fast map novel symbols was found to relate to symbol achievement status. Implications for vocabulary acquisition by youth with mental…

Teachers (N=39), administrators (N=9), and a speech therapist working with deaf students rated 240 competencies for teaching English as a symbol system. The top 38 competencies involved practical teaching skills and techniques. Competencies related to the oral-aural method, theory, and background information about deafness were not given high…

Three of four severely retarded adolescents and young adults learned to use computer-based lexigrams to request foods and, subsequently, objects. Additional request experience with lexigrams resulted in consistent improvement on labeling and comprehension tasks, emergence of subject-initiated lexigram communications, and facilitation of spoken…