This case study explores the use of the In-the-Picture approach to engage with the views and experiences of very young children and people with whom typical communication approaches are not effective. It describes this qualitative grounded method which enables the researcher to consider the child's perspective, through the use of first-person…

Friendships are central to children's development and well-being, but children with intellectual and developmental disabilities who have complex communication needs are at risk of social isolation. This qualitative study used methods informed by grounded theory to investigate the nature of how elementary-age children without disabilities described…

In the present study, we aimed to make an evaluation, conduct comprehensive descriptive analyses, and calculate the effect sizes of studies which compare AAC applications designed according to single-subject research designs and conducted for individuals with ASD. Within the scope of this aim, 21 studies meeting the inclusion criteria were…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which extracurricular activities are included in Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) of secondary age students with intellectual disability (ID). Student characteristics (grade, disability, use of augmentative and alternative communication) were examined to explore potential group…

Smartwatches may provide a natural, portable, and unobtrusive strategy by which to support directive-following for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A mentor can send visual supports (e.g., photographs, videos, text) "just-in-time" (JIT) to a learner's smartwatch. This may reduce the need for extraneous face-to-face…

Purpose: Families and professionals often consider augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) a "last resort" for persons with communication challenges; however, speaking autistic adults have reported that they would have benefited from access to AAC as children. This tutorial discusses the history of this "last resort"…

Families play an important role in ensuring their child with a disability has access to the educational materials they need to learn and succeed. This guide is designed for parents and caregivers of children who require accessible educational materials (AEM) for learning. It will provide you with information about what AEM are, how they can…

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…

In 2004, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act outlined specific considerations for students with individual education programs in relation to their needs and application of assistive technology (AT) devices and services used to access school curriculum. Teachers will interact with a variety of assistive technologies during their career…

Purpose: This study explored the practices and experiences of teachers who teach students using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), more specifically, speech-generating devices (SGDs). Method: Nine teachers (one general education, eight special education) from four countries participated in semistructured interviews. A generic…

This article describes effective ways for elementary general music educators to serve their special education students with autism spectrum disorder in the self-contained music classroom. It includes educational, social, and scientific rationales for selecting musical repertoire to support the development of joint attention communication skills…

This practice report presents the study of a young girl named Laura, with ASD and visual impairment who was taught basic requesting skills through an adapted augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system, which is an evidence-based practice for addressing communication with children who have ASD but has limited research efficacy for…

Adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who also possess limited speech capabilities often display poor language and academic skills in adolescence. However, as with all adolescents, they have personal goals and should have equal access to participation across facets of life including but not limited to education.…

Roughly 50 percent of students participating in the alternate assessment who are pre-symbolic or emergent communicators do not have access to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). The Systematic Processes for Enhancing and Assessing Communication Supports (SPEACS) Initiative was created more than 6 years ago to address the lack of…

This study presents a systematic literature review focusing on the Interrelationship of Language and the Brain and Language Disorders in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) based on a number of published researches in several refereed international journals available in various online databases. A repertory grid was utilized to plot…