Reinhard Schuller

Research priorities in augmentative and alternative communication as identified by people who use AAC and their facilitators

Two focus groups comprised of adults who used AAC and two focus groups comprised of adult AAC facilitators in Ontario, Canada were asked to identify their own AAC research priorities and to state their levels of agreement with previously identified research priorities in AAC. Members of the focus group who used AAC had physical disabilities since birth except one participant who became disabled at age 2 years. Using focus group methodology and analysis, the participants were asked to generate their own AAC research priorities. A questionnaire and Likert-type scale was used to determine their levels of agreement with six research priorities set a decade earlier by a group of AAC researchers sponsored by the United States-based National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Focus group members stressed the importance of (a) preparing people who use AAC to succeed in situations such as maintaining friendships, dating, and finding jobs; (b) improving service delivery of their AAC devices; (c) improving technology in high tech and low tech devices; (d) increasing public awareness of people who use AAC; (e) improving methods of teaching reading skills to people who use AAC; and (f) improving AAC communications training for all healthcare professionals.

Evaluation of a computer-based program for remediation of cognitive-communication skills

This study evaluated a computer-based program (TEACHware™) for remediating cognitive-communication skills in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TIM). TEACHware™ consists of a screening module (pretest/ /posttest measure) and six interlinked remediation modules. A randomized controlled experimental design was employed using two groups of six subjects with TBI. The remediation group made significantly more gains than the control group on both the screening module and standardized assessment measures. Results suggest that TEACHware™ is an effective enhancement to traditional rehabilitation and special education programs. Further Investigations will seek to establish its usefulness in assisting individuals with TBI to achieve greater success in academic, vocational, and interpersonal activities.

Outcomes measurement of assistive technologies: an institutional case study.

The assistive technology (AT) community has been challenged to effectively measure the outcomes of AT services. There has been much discussion recently in the literature about how to conceptualize and respond to this challenge. In this paper, we suggest that these objectives are best accomplished when AT services are understood within the contexts of the total rehabilitation of AT users and the institutional culture in which services are delivered. We provide examples of outcome priorities we have identified and the tools and approaches we have used. These include projects in the areas of clinical, functional, and psychosocial outcomes assessment of ATs.

Identification and Rankings of Communication Aid Features by Five Groups

Five groups of participants (communication aid users, familiar partners of communication aid users, service providers, manufacturers of communication aids, and individuals unfamiliar with communication aids) identified and rated the desirable features of communication aids via interviews and the completion of the 186-item Communications Aid Protocol. Major differences among the rankings of many individual features and feature categories across the five groups were revealed. Recommendations and clinical implications are offered.

An Interface to Enhance Mobility for People with Hemispatial Neglect

The objective was to develop and test a control interface to enable people with hemispatial neglect to maneuver a powered wheelchair with increased attention to their environment. A single case study was conducted using a female (aged 72 years) who had a right cerebro vascular accident five years earlier. She drove a powered wheelchair through 20 different test courses (mazes) while a computer recorded frequency of looking to the left (left checks) and an observer recorded visual targets missed and wheelchair collisions with walls and obstacles. The Mann-Whitney test was used to determine significant differences in left checks, left collisions, right collisions, and percent left checks targets missed between baseline and strategy phases. With the interface strategy, the subject significantly increased the number of left checks and missed fewer left targets in the test course. These results indicate that a powered-wheelchair control interface shows promise in enabling people with mild hemispatial neglect to maneuver a powered chair with greater environmental awareness and ease.

Database for the identification of AAC users for participation in research, product development, and service delivery

A nonprofit, self-sustaining database that contains the names of individuals, age 16 or over, with cerebral palsy who do not speak or are unable to speak successfully in at least some situations that are important to them has been established. The database is available on a cost basis to researchers, market researchers, and leaders of disability advocacy groups. Persons with disabilities operate the DIREL™ database.