Signs were used successfully with a blind 10-year-old autistic girl. After eight months of training, she was able to acquire a functional sign vocabulary relying primarily on the tactile-kinesthetic and the auditory modalities. This newly acquired skill had a beneficial impact on the child's general functioning. (Author)

The staff of an apartment-based residential support program was taught to use behavior interruption strategies to elicit requesting functions from two women with deaf-blindness and developmental disabilities. Results found the strategies to be both quickly assimilated by the staff and effective in increasing request rates from the subjects.…

A naturalistic time delay strategy and a carefully graded discrimination sequence were used to teach requesting of high interest leisure activities to a student with severe and multiple disabilities. Implications for programming and instruction in the cross-curriculum area of communication are discussed. (Author/DB)

Time delay was used to successfully teach two elementary aged children with severe mental retardation and significant concomitant handicapping conditions how to request food or drink. Suggestions for implementing time delay with students not able to generalize imitative responses or to wait for a prompt are offered. (Author/DB)

The purpose of this manual, the culmination of a graduate project begun at the University of Kansas, is to assist individuals with severe, multiple disabilities and their service providers in learning to utilize nonsymbolic behaviors in an expanded, facilitative manner that leads to more consistent and predictable communication functioning. The…

This project developed and evaluated an intervention program involving applications of technology to enhance the communication skills and behaviors of children with deaf blindness and other severe disabilities. Of interest were specific applications designed to increase attention, use of symbols, reception, expression of choice, awareness of…

This workbook for developing communication in learners with severe disabilities is from the Mississippi Early Education Program for Children with Multiple Disabilities, a program designed to train Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part H service coordinators and service providers to use family centered strategies. The objective of the…

Training modules are presented for speech-language pathologists developing communication programming for Kentucky students with severe, profound, and multiple handicaps. The modules were developed for use in 2-day workshops that specifically deal with communication strategies to enhance opportunities for increased participation and integration for…

An augmentative and alternative communication device was designed for a nonspeaking, blind, severely mentally retarded 11-year-old. The device consisted of a computer-supported expanded keyboard that produced synthetic speech output when tactile symbols were activated. Described are the assessment procedures, instructional procedures, and…

This training module on integrating communication skills into functional routines and activities is from the Mississippi Early Education Program for Children with Multiple Disabilities, a program designed to train Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part H service coordinators and service providers to use family centered strategies. The…

This curriculum provides a sequence of activities designed to help develop cognitive and communication skills in severely and profoundly multi-handicapped individuals who are functioning between 0 and 24 months. Based on the principles that communication begins at birth and that educational programming must begin at the point where the handicapped…

This training module on embedding intervention targets into caregiving routines and other activities of the families' choice is from the Mississippi Early Education Program for Children with Multiple Disabilities, a program designed to train Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part H service coordinators and service providers to use family…