The use of microswitches has been considered a crucial strategy to help individuals with extensive multiple disabilities overcome passivity and achieve control of environmental stimulation (Crawford & Schuster, 1993; Gutowski, 1996; Ko, McConachie, & Jolleff, 1998). In recent years, considerable efforts have been made to extend the evaluation of…

A qualitative study of group therapy for aphasia was undertaken in order to discover interaction patterns and discourse management strategies that help define "social" or "conversation" group therapy for aphasia. Specifically, an analysis of the discourse of clients and therapists was conducted to identify patterns across therapists and settings.…

Communication can be difficult for children with conditions such as cerebral palsy because of speech and physical impairments. For this group of children, choice-making is often limited to choices of personal preferences; however, preferences do not reveal intellectual abilities. Therefore, choice-making should be presented to these children in…

Many children with severe or multiple disabilities, including those with visual impairment, are limited in their ability to communicate. "Communication" is defined as how a person exchanges information about his or her desires, needs, knowledge, and perceptions with another person. Communication can be verbal, written, or nonverbal, such…

Background: The computational grammatical complexity (CGC) hypothesis claims that children with G(rammatical)-specific language impairment (SLI) have a domain-specific deficit in the computational system affecting syntactic dependencies involving 'movement'. One type of such syntactic dependencies is filler-gap dependencies. In contrast, the…

This article describes the formation and content of a required library and information research course for graduate and professional students enrolled in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Master of Arts degree program at Western Washington University. The course was created as a result of library assessment, student feedback, and faculty…

Professionals in the field of special education are constantly being asked about efficacy and outcome-based practice. The tragic event that took place at Virginia Tech shocked the world. This article uses the Virginia Tech tragedy as a base to discuss the need for all professionals to develop cultural competence. Furthermore, it discusses the…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the relationship between functional communication and executive function ability in aphasia. Twenty-five participants with aphasia underwent examination with an extensive test battery including measures of functional communication, executive function ability, and language impairment.…

Stuttering is a complex condition, and, in the past, there was not significant evidence to prove any one theory as to its cause. Most researchers now agree that stuttering is mainly a genetic disorder that is sometimes aggravated or brought on by developmental and environmental factors. In genetic research there have been studies on families in…

This annotated bibliography on the use of facilitated communication with people unable to express themselves was developed as part of a statewide training and technical assistance project in Maine. The 75 citations are listed alphabetically by author and date from 1986 through 1993. The items listed report on the use of facilitated communication…

This paper summarizes research efforts of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and identifies research priorities. The NIDCD is responsible for research and research training related to both normal and disordered hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, and language. The paper notes that 59 percent of…

The report describes activities and results of a project to identify communication characteristics that would help match augmentative communication system (ACS) capabilities to the needs of nonoral children. Ss had a variety of handicapping conditions, including cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities. Introductory sections cover the…

A bibliography on American Indians contains almost 200 citations of articles, papers, monographs, and books in seven categories: culture (language and customs); normal speech and language acquisition (mother-child interaction, language community, form, content, usage, cognitive development); sociolinguistics (issues, dialect features, attitudes,…

A bibliography on Asian Americans contains over 100 citations of articles, papers, monographs, and books in seven categories: culture (language and customs); normal speech and language acquisition (mother-child interaction, form, content, usage, second language acquisition, cognitive development); sociolinguistics (issues, features, language…

A bibliography on Hispanic Americans contains over 200 citations of articles, papers, monographs, and books in seven categories: culture (language and customs); normal speech and language acquisition (theoretical framework, mother-child interaction, language community, form, content, usage, second language acquisition, cognitive development);…