Stephen N. Calculator

Promoting the acquisition and generalization of conversational skills by individuals with severe disabilities

This paper examines various issues related to the problems of acquisition and generalization experienced by people with severe disabilities who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. Many of these individuals experience difficulties using newly acquired communication skills in settings, and with conversational partners, that differ from those introduced in the instructional context. Methods of promoting functional communication skills are addressed, with particular emphasis placed on the need to incorporate environmental variables into the instructional process. Implications for future clinical-educational and research endeavors are discussed.

Integrating AAC instruction into regular education settings: Expounding on best practices

This article begins with a brief review of the special communication needs of children with severe disabilities. Next, practices that have been found to optimize these childrens interaction skills in their natural settings are elucidated. Implications for the content and delivery of AAC services are discussed relative to our present understanding of best practices for promoting communication skills in typical as well as severely disabled children. The article concludes with a discussion of future research needs.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and inclusive education for students with the most severe disabilities

This paper examines the role of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in fostering the successful inclusion of students with the most severe disabilities in general education. Best practices in AAC are identified and multiple examples of their implementation are presented. Particular emphasis is placed on the need to integrate AAC into daily school life as a means of fostering all students’ access to and participation in the general education curriculum. A primary premise is that inclusion must be more than just a place; it must constitute a context in which meaningful learning occurs. It is demonstrated that when administered appropriately, interventions involving uses of AAC can foster students’ access to the general education curriculum and acquisition of skills tailored to their individual and diverse needs.

Training functional communication board use: a pragmatic approach

A modified A-B design was used to train two nonspeaking physically handicapped children to increase the frequency with which they initiated requests for objects using their communication boards. This communicative intent was trained using highly motivating toy objects and corresponding vocabulary symbols. Following training, the children generalized their use of this intent to additional untrained vocabulary symbols. Generalization also occurred across listeners. While spontaneous initiated requests for objects increased, there was no generalization to other communicative initiation skills. Implications of these findings to the design of treatment programs for nonspeaking children are discussed.

Fostering early language acquisition and AAC use: exploring reciprocal influences between children and their environments

This paper proposes future directions for research examining the communicative environments of young children who are potential candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and those who are already using AAC systems. The efficacy and dilemma in applying various candidacy criteria are examined, with recommendations for alternate procedures that can be used to predict the extent to which AAC systems will be used successfully. Next, needs and methods for examining present communicative environments are discussed. Arguments are presented in support of delineating environmental variables that foster and impede early language acquisition and AAC use. Finally, investigators are encouraged to develop replicable and generalizable procedures for optimizing childrens early language and AAC experiences.

Requests and Responses in Peer-directed Reading Groups

The purpose of the present study is to investigate first-grade children’s use of requests and responses in their homogeneous reading groups. Thirty students in six groups of varying reading ability were studied in the fall and spring. Standardized reading readiness achievement tests, and assessments of language competence were administered. Eight samples of peer-directed, group activity were audio- and videotaped. The results showed that: (a) ability groups differed in reading achievement, and those differences remained stable over the year; (b) groups differed in their use of requests and responses, and these differences also remained stable; (c) particular aspects of requests predicted obtaining appropriate responses, which were almost always “on-task.” Implications of these findings for opportunities to develop skills in peer-directed reading groups are discussed.

AAC outcomes for children and youths with severe disabilities: when seeing is believing

This paper highlights several issues related to the concept of efficacy, particularly with respect to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) outcomes for children and youths with severe disabilities. The author recounts examples of his past and present research interests, using these to operationalize constructs such as treatment efficiency and interaction effects. The pitfalls of naturalistic research are discussed, along with some specific protocols and considerations that may be helpful in appraising AAC outcomes without compromising validity.

Including Students with Severe Disabilities in Schools: Fostering Communication, Interaction, and Participation

CONTENTSThe Evolution of Best Practices in Educating Students with Severe Disabilities. Developing Individualized Inclusive Educational Programs. Modifying the Curriculum and Short-Term Objectives to Foster Inclusion. Designing and Implementing Communicative Assessments in Inclusive Settings. Communicative Intervention as a Means to Successful Inclusion. Transitions to Adult Living. Index.

Some perspectives on intervention strategies for persons with developmental disorders

We present a view of language that crosses modal considerations (e.g.,speech vs. augmentative systems) and places language within an interaction framework. We emphasize the need to consider normal social, cognitive, and linguistic development in selecting program guidelines for developmentally delayed persons. We address the childs linguistic code not as a set of phonetic, syntactic, and semantic features that can be trained in isolation, but as a means by which he can exercise the various pragmatic uses of communication. In effect, our interest has thus expanded from the child alone to the child as one member of a communicating dyad. Programming in the areas of mothers verbal input, expanding childrens language skills, training in augmentative systems — all reflect an overriding objective of optimizing the language-users ability to successfully participate in interactions with other persons in his/her environment.

Use and Acceptance of AAC Systems by Children with Angelman Syndrome.

BACKGROUND This investigation of children with Angelman syndrome (AS) examined reported uses of electronic augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices (i.e., VOCAs), including speech generating devices, in relation to other aided and unaided methods of communication. MATERIALS AND METHOD A total of 122 parents of children with AS, mostly from the USA self-administered a survey over the Internet. Qualitative methods based primarily on thematic analysis were used to organize and examine data. RESULTS Children relied heavily on unaided methods of communication such as natural gestures, regardless of their experiences with electronic communication devices. Parents cited various reasons for childrens acceptance or rejection of their most advanced devices. DISCUSSION Clinical implications are discussed in relation to childrens needs for multimodal methods of communication, including accurately matching childrens capabilities to AAC device characteristics. Practitioners are encouraged to consider reasons that parents cited for childrens acceptance versus rejection of devices when implementing AAC programs.