Children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) often demonstrate pragmatic language difficulties which can impact academic and social outcomes. This randomized control trial for DHH children, ages 3-12 years, explored the Technology-Assisted Language Intervention (TALI), incorporating augmentative and alternative communication technology (AAC)…

This meta-analysis examined communication outcomes in single-case design studies of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions and their relationship to participant characteristics. Variables addressed included chronological age, pre-intervention communication mode, productive repertoire, and pre-intervention imitation skills.…

Visual scene displays (VSDs) are becoming an increasingly popular method of message representation within augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) supports; however, design factors can influence the effectiveness of these images as communication supports. One issue that has come to light in recent years is the fact that selecting…

Children with intellectual disabilities experience well-documented challenges in the development of problem-solving, particularly related to mathematical word-problem solving. Such challenges are related to both linguistic and conceptual skills. While interventions to assist children in developing conceptual skills are well reported, linguistic…

Purpose: This study is aimed to identify the high-frequency vocabulary (HFV), otherwise termed "core vocabulary" for adults with complex communication needs. Method: Three major characteristics of the HFV--a relatively small number of different words (NDW), a relatively high word frequency, and a high word commonality across…

Autism is currently one of the most prominent and widely discussed human conditions. Its increased prevalence has intensified the demand for effective educational and therapeutic services, and intervention science is providing mounting evidence about practices that positively impact outcomes. The purpose of this report is to describe a set of…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who cannot speak at all or not intelligibly are frequently taught to use aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The majority of the research on the use of AAC with individuals with ASD has been single-case research studies. This investigation involved a meta-analysis of the…

The "Picture Exchange Communication System" (PECS) has emerged as the augmentative communication intervention of choice for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with a supporting body of single-participant studies. This report describes a meta-analysis of 16 single-participant studies on PECS with percentage of nonoverlapping data…

The primary purpose of this study was to establish whether contrasting teaching methods had an effect on performance accuracy in the recall of graphic symbols. The secondary purpose was to establish whether the iconicity of symbols had an effect on performance accuracy. A direct symbol-teaching method and a contextual symbol-teaching method were…