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Effects of Interaction Approaches and Added High-Tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication on Prelinguistic and
Nicolette Sammarco Caldwell1, Christine Holyfield1, Tara O'Neill Zimmerman1
1Department of Rehabilitation, Human Resources, and Communication Disorders, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA.
Introduction:
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention research is rarely focused on school-age beginning communicators, despite the urgent need to ensure individuals in this population have access to the fundamental human right of communication.
Methods:
Four school-age children with multiple disabilities who were primarily prelinguistic communicators participated in the current study. The study used a single-subject research design to explore the effects of two interaction approaches - a social routine approach and a directive approach - on prelinguistic communication, compared to independent play and to one another. This study then evaluated the added effects of high-tech AAC within the most effective interaction approach for each participant.
Results:
All participants demonstrated prelinguistic communication indicating positive affect most frequently when interacting within a social routine. Furthermore, all participants increased linguistic communication while either maintaining or increasing prelinguistic communication when high-tech AAC was added to the social routine interaction.
Conclusions:
Clinicians should consider building accessible, predictable, engaging, and age-respectful social routines into leisure contexts to promote prelinguistic communication from school-age beginning communicators. Clinicians should also provide access to linguistic communication through high-tech AAC while continuing to honor and promote prelinguistic communication.
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