Successful intervention outcomes and comprehensive assessment is important for people who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). However, the literature surrounding AAC assessment remains sparse. The purposes of this project were to describe the AAC assessment process followed by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and to…

A lack of functional communication negatively impacts a student's academic and social-emotional success. Schools are in the position to create systems and protocols that would allow students to be taught a method to communicate functionally. This dissertation project sought to answer the question: How can early childhood students with no verbal…

Eye tracking research technologies are often used to study how individuals attend visually to different types of AAC displays (e.g. visual scene displays, grid displays). The assumption is that efficiency of visual search may relate to efficiency of motor selection necessary for communication via aided AAC; however, this assumption has not…

Purpose: The application of Chinese Mandarin electrolaryngeal (EL) speech for laryngectomees has been limited by its drawbacks such as single fundamental frequency, mechanical sound, and large radiation noise. To improve the intelligibility of Chinese Mandarin EL speech, a new perspective using the automatic speech recognition (ASR) system was…

This research examined an evidence based dialogic shared reading strategy which incorporated aided language modelling and increased communication partner responsiveness with two children with complex physical, cognitive, and sensory needs (CPCSN) who use auditory plus visual partner assisted scanning (PAS) to access a Pragmatic Organised Dynamic…

Many students with autism have complex communication needs and benefit from the use of aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), which can include picture symbols, communication boards or books, or speech-generating devices. However, many of the challenges to high-quality AAC intervention are amplified by inadequate collaboration.…

The educational inclusion of deaf students in England is usually interpreted as placement in mainstream settings alongside hearing students, creating unintended pressure for assimilation to the communicative needs of hearing people. In this context, it is deaf students and their communication support staff who are left to deal with communicative…

The use of program quality indicators (QIs) for teaching students with an intellectual disability (ID) is essential in meeting student needs and accessing curriculum. Principals who oversee and evaluate teachers of students with ID play a critical role in the implementation of QIs. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to investigate rural school…

Purpose: As is the case with children who rely on spoken language, speech-language pathologists must support and track the expressive language development of children with complex communication needs who use graphic symbols to communicate. This research note presents a framework of the progression of expressive English sentence development using…

Robust vocabulary instruction is an important part of comprehensive English language arts (ELA) instruction. Vocabulary instruction supports students in learning the meaning of words to build a receptive vocabulary that they can rely on to comprehend the words they read and hear. Many students with significant cognitive disabilities (SCD) and…

Telepractice offers speech-language pathologists (SLPs) increased flexibility to support language development, including emergent literacy in clients with complex communication needs. However, clinicians may feel uncertain how to pair books with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) over telepractice. Following an overview of…

A qualitative study was conducted to identify the beliefs and attitudes of preservice special education teachers regarding teaching use of tangible symbols for students with multiple disabilities. Using tangible symbols is a promising practice with an emerging evidence base that supports communication development for students with complex…

The present study evaluated the effects of online training on educators' knowledge and use of system of least prompts (SLP) to support the communication of individuals with autism who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). A pre/posttest group design with switching replications was utilized. Three dependent variables: (a) knowledge…

Mental health and wellbeing are foundational in human interaction and life satisfaction. Persons with complex communication needs are at risk of reduced mental health and wellbeing. The aim of this project was to identify the facilitators and barriers that individuals with complex communication needs experience when attending to their mental…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an embedded naturalistic intervention for teaching augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) application responses to three preschool-aged males with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parents were taught to embed opportunities for their child to communicate with a grid-based AAC application during…