Young children with complex communication needs are often severely restricted in their ability to communicate and develop language skills. A major barrier preventing these children from accessing communication is a lack of appropriate means to communicate. The present study investigated the implementation of nonelectronic visual scene displays…

Parental support is an important part of introducing an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system to a child. Professionals providing AAC services to children with complex communication needs should practice family-centered service provision. The aim of this study was to explore Sri Lankan parents' perspectives on AAC and their lived…

Currently, a small number of studies discuss augmentative and alternative (AAC) interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The primary purpose of this scoping review was to summarize the current evidence base on communication-based interventions and partner training in LMICs, to explore and identify gaps in the AAC evidence base…

Background: The current study investigated the impact of an intervention that included aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies on the frequency of symbolic communication turns of school-age children, adolescents, and young adults with severe disability. Method: Nine students ages 8-20 were engaged in interactive…

Purpose: Many computer-based augmentative and alternative communication systems in use by children have speech output. This article (a) provides a scoping review of the literature addressing the intelligibility and listener comprehension of synthesized speech output with children and (b) discusses future research directions. Method: Studies…

A qualitative interview methodology was used to investigate the perspectives of 10 Hungarian parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) concerning their decision-making processes undertaken to make communication intervention decisions for their children. Six themes were identified from the data: (a) sources of information, (b)…

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of an instructional procedure called "aided language modeling" (ALM) on symbol comprehension and expression in 2 preschool children with autism who used few words functionally. ALM consists of engaging the child in interactive play activities and providing models of use of…

This study investigated whether discourse context affected the intelligibility of synthesized sentences for young adult and older adult listeners. Findings indicated a significant facilitating effect of context wherein previous words and sentences are related to later sentences for both listener groups. Results have direct implications for…

Thirty children (age 2) were assigned to three system approaches: vocabulary in a grid format organized taxonomically; vocabulary in a grid format organized schematically; and vocabulary in an integrated scene organized schematically. Children performed poorly in all conditions but were able to locate more items in the schematic scene condition.…