Liora Ballin

Older disabled workers’ perceptions of volunteering

The activity of volunteering is readily available to, and undertaken by, able‐bodied people in Australia and is recognized as a valuable social pursuit, particularly among citizens of retirement age. Despite the known benefits of volunteering, however, there are few reports of disabled people participating as volunteers and little is understood of their experiences or perceptions of volunteering. The aim of this study was to explore how older workers within supported employment settings perceived the opportunities for and barriers to volunteering. Fourteen people with long‐standing impairments participated in this small qualitative study. Overall the participants were positive about volunteering, but noted they might require support to volunteer successfully. Drawing upon the participants’ views, recommendations are made for developing training. Disabled workers facing retirement need to be supported to have opportunities for active participation in the community as volunteers if so desired.

Learning to Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): Is There a Mentoring Role for Adults Experienced in Using AAC?.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), including speech generating devices (SGDs), offer people with complex communication needs the potential for improved communication and participation in society (McNaughton et al., 2008). Despite rapid and ongoing development in AAC technology, its potential is not being fully realised (Hodge, 2007). The number of people with complex communication needs who use an SGD remains low (Hodge, 2007), and for those who do use SGDs, recent research has highlighted high rates of device abandonment (Johnson, Inglebret, Jones, & Ray, 2006). This situation may be explained by the challenges that people new to using SGDs encounter, including difficulties in obtaining therapy services, barriers to AAC-based communication in the community, and communication partners who lack skills in supporting successful communication (McNaughton et al., 2008; Rackensperger, Krezman, McNaughton, Williams, & D’Silva, 2005). Indeed, learning to use AAC competently, and in particular an SGD, requires both instruction and practice (McNaughton et al., 2008). Rackensperger et al. (2005) noted the learning time needed to effectively use a device can approach two years. Those new to SGDs must learn to make use of sophisticated communication technology and at the same time to successfully participate in communicative interactions with others (Rackensperger et al., 2005). People experienced in using SGDs may be well placed to mentor others who are learning to use a new device, as they have previously undergone the process and challenges of learning to use these technologies. Additionally, preliminary investigations indicate that those who use AAC believe there are benefits to learning from other individuals who communicate using AAC systems (McNaughton et al., 2008; Rackensperger et al., 2005). These benefits include having the opportunity to view successful device use.

The Speech-Generating Device (SGD) Mentoring Program: Training Adults who use an SGD to Mentor

Mentoring in speech-generating device (SGD) use by adults who use SGDs offers the potential to improve new device learners’ linguistic competence. This paper forms part of a larger study of mentoring among people who use SGDs. This paper investigates the effects of training adults who use SGDs in interaction strategies to enable them to fulfil a mentoring role. Mentors were taught to use open-ended questions, expansions, and recast sentences. Three mentors, aged 23-, 31-, and 54-years-old; and three mentees, aged 13-, 14-, and 32-years-old, participated in this study. A nonconcurrent multiple-baseline-across-participants design was used to assess the outcomes. Following the interaction strategies training, an increase in the number of strategies used in mentoring sessions occurred across all three mentors. These results provide preliminary evidence of SGD mentor training success. The SGD mentors learned the strategies and used them in mentoring sessions.

The speech generating device (SGD) mentoring programme: an evaluation by participants

Purpose: In this paper the perceptions of three mentors and three mentees who took part in a speech generating device (SGD) mentoring programme are presented. The aims of the study were to investigate the participants’ views on taking part in the mentoring programme and their satisfaction with the outcomes. Method: Information was gathered through semi-structured interviews with the six mentoring programme participants. Interview data were analysed for content themes. Results: Thematic analysis revealed six themes. Of these themes, five were identified in both the mentor and mentee’s data. These themes were: satisfaction with the SGD mentoring programme, mentee improvement in SGD use, the importance of a role model of SGD use, the SGD mentoring relationship as a helping relationship, and SGD mentoring contributes to mentor self-esteem. The remaining theme, mentors who use an SGD learn from the mentoring experience, was generated from the mentor’s data only. Conclusions: The results of this study provide initial evidence in support of mentoring among people who use an SGD. A total of five of the six participants perceived that people learning an SGD can benefit from SGD mentoring by experienced users of SGDs and agreed on a need for such mentoring programmes to improve SGD use. Implications for Rehabilitation A mentoring programme involving experienced and new users of speech generating devices (SGDs) has the potential to improve learners’ SGD use. The results of this study provide preliminary evidence in support of mentoring from the perspective of people who took part in an SGD mentoring programme. Five of the six participants perceived that learners can benefit and agreed on a need for such programmes to improve SGD use. Participation in mentoring can contribute to the personal growth of adult mentors and enable them to make a positive contribution to the AAC community.

Views of people who use speech generating devices (SGDs) on mentoring new learners

Amendments to the Queensland (Australian state jurisdiction) Disability Services Act 2006 were enacted in July 2007. The Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities Volume 6 Number 2 June 2009 IASSID Asia-Pacific Program Committee • Abstracts for the 2nd IASSID Asia-Pacific Conference 111 amendments are aimed at both improving the quality of life and enhancing the human rights of adults who have an intellectual or cognitive disability and have challenging behavior. A central tenet to the amendments is the specification of a legally enforceable practice framework for the management of restrictive practices that are associated with challenging behavior. A key principle underpinning this practice framework is the requirement for an assessment of the adult with the outcomes of the assessment informing the design and implementation of a positive behavior support plan. For chemical, mechanical, and physical restraint the legislation requires at least one appropriately qualified person to complete the assessment. For the purpose of the legislation a person is considered appropriately qualified “if the person has the qualifications or experience appropriate to conduct the assessment” (s.123K). The use of the words “or experienced” has the potential for a diverse scope of interpretation. The Centre of Excellence for Behavior Support (CEBS) identified the requirement for a common approach to describing this concept of “or experienced” person who may not have an academic qualification. Method Through the use of nominal group research, CEBS has developed a competency standard for the “or experienced” person. Two nominal groups were conducted to describe the competency required to undertake an assessment of an adult with challenging behavior. Groups were representative of a range of allied health professionals and direct support staff. Group one provided initial qualitative descriptors of the knowledge and skill required to complete an assessment, while group two validated the knowledge and skill descriptors developed by group one. Results The competency standard represents a best practice approach to the assessment of an adult with challenging behavior. The target cohort for the assessment is an adult with challenging behavior and who is managed through the use of chemical, mechanical, or physical restraint. Conclusions The use of the competency standard is intended to build confidence in the relevant decision makers for the adult in both the quality of the assessment and the development of the subsequent positive behavior support plan.