Team collaboration is an essential component of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) services that directly impacts outcomes for students in special schools. Given the central role of the Special Education Teacher (SET) in the AAC team, there is a need to explore and understand SETs' perceptions to support effective team collaboration.…

Literature pertaining to open disclosure predominantly refers to acute care settings; this is the case in, for example, the UK, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Korea and the USA. There is, however, a dearth of literature regarding open disclosure related to people with intellectual disabilities. A practice example of open disclosure is presented…

Parents' experiences of using Lámh, a key word signing approach used in Ireland, were captured through in-depth face-to-face interviews with parents of children with a range of intellectual disabilities. It emerged that Lámh provides child users with one of the rudiments of inclusion, that is, a means of engaging with others. A number of factors…

Key word signing, an unaided augmentative, and alternative communication (AAC) system is commonly used by children with Down syndrome who attend mainstream primary schools. To ensure the successful use of key word signing within a mainstream environment, a meaningful, contextually appropriate sign vocabulary must be available to all communication…

Describing events may be challenging for any child, but children who use communication aids may face unique linguistic, pragmatic, and strategic challenges in conveying information with the communication means they have available. This study explores strategies used by young, aided communicators when describing the content of a video unknown to…

This study explores front-line staff knowledge and perceptions of how people with intellectual disability residing in residential services are supported to communicate effectively. Participants ("n" = 138) completed a self-report questionnaire adapted from an instrument developed by DeSimone & Cascella (2005) "Journal of…

In a previous study, the authors identified final plosive voicing contrast as the highest single error source in dysarthria associated with Friedreich's Ataxia in a group of Irish English-speaking participants. This study aimed to determine the acoustic features underlying misperceptions of voicing status and implications for clinical management.…