The South Metropolitan Association Communication Development Program in Flossmoor, Illinois, developed a language-oriented program that improved reading and writing proficiency of students with communication disorders. The program involves development and reading of language experience stories, role playing, vocabulary development, and other…

The validity of facilitated communication's effects are viewed from three perspectives, labeled as the plausible perspective, which is unexpected literacy; the skeptical perspective, which claims that social-communicative variables unintentionally influence intervention outcomes; and the enigmatic perspective, which neither rejects outright the…

In this study, functional communication training alone and combined with extinction and/or punishment was evaluated for four clients with severe retardation, behavior problems, and communication deficits. Results showed that the combination of training plus punishment produced the largest and most consistent reductions in target behavior problems.…

This article describes techniques, used in a family-centered early intervention project, that both assist in accomplishing the goals of the Individualized Family Service Plan process and create opportunities for families to display their present competencies and acquire new ones to meet the needs of their children with communication disorders.…

Issues are addressed concerning the speech-language assessment, management, and consultancy role of public school speech-language specialists to multicultural clients. Discussed are the reliability, validity, and relevance of assessment data; the replacement of substandard utterances; cooperation with teachers of English-as-a-Second-Language; and…

This article describes an environmental inventory, "Analyzing the Communication Environment," which allows the evaluator to analyze the extent to which specific activities encourage functional communication for particular students with severe communication impairments. The inventory may be used to compare different activities across the student's…

Provides communication-disorders specialists with a basic introduction to the ethnographic method as a way to serve clients and students from diverse cultures with complex disabilities. Gives suggestions for its use as a clinical tool to study culture, context, and communication from a client-centered perspective. (Author/CR)

A study tested the differences between eight children (ages 6 through 11) who stutter and typical children on measures of narrative complexity and cohesion use in two narrative tasks and in stuttering frequency produced across tasks. No significant differences were found on measures of narrative complexity or cohesion use. (Author/CR)

This paper translates research findings on systematic preference assessment with individuals with nonsymbolic or limited symbolic communication skills into guidelines for planning such assessments to reduce the risk of missing or misinterpreting the person's preferences. It offers four questions for guiding the planning of preference assessments,…

A study examined the educational and behavioral characteristics of 35 children (ages 6-15) with autism in the United Arab Emirates. Student characteristics included hyperactivity, social withdrawal, stereotyping, distraction, and communication problems. The results also may reflect the failure of existing educational centers in meeting the…

Using a qualitative cross-case methodology over three years, this study investigated how two gifted students with cerebral palsy and no speech exhibited their cognitive abilities. Findings indicated such traits as maturity, goal orientation, persistence/determination, patience, recognition of limitations, desire for independence from aids and…

Descriptive information was analyzed for maltreated and nonmaltreated runaways from hospital (N=39,352, 255 runaways) and school (N=40,211, 562 runaways) populations. Children and youth with disabilities (especially those with behavior disorders, mental retardation, and communication disorders) were at increased risk to become runaways in both…

This article describes a classroom data based, total immersion, augmentative communication intervention with a nonverbal and behaviorally and cognitively challenged adolescent with autism. The use of a natural aided language approach and picture communication boards resulted in increases in communication and positive behaviors and participation in…

Daily communication journals are a powerful tool to promote communication development in children with severe disabilities. Each page of the daily journal features three parts: a print or braille label, a recording device, and a tangible symbol. Children should participate in both the preparation of the daily journal and its review, thus gaining…

Educational and behavioural psychologists have made major contributions to the field of communication intervention for individuals with developmental and physical disabilities. A brief personal perspective is provided on some of the major works and contributors that have shaped the field over the past 25 years. Major contributions and personal…