Increasing Reciprocal Social Interactions Between Children Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication and...

Area of Science:

• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
• Child Psychology
• Social Interaction Research

Background:

• Children with complex communication needs often struggle with peer interactions.
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) strategies are essential for these children's expression.
• Peer interaction is crucial for social development in children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, implement, and evaluate a collaborative photography intervention.
• To increase reciprocal social interaction between children using AAC and their same-age peers.
• To explore the effectiveness of a novel intervention for children with complex communication needs.

Main Methods:

• A single-subject, ABAB withdrawal design was employed.
• Four dyads of children (one using AAC, one typically developing peer) participated.
• Partial-interval time sampling was used to measure reciprocal social interactions.

Main Results:

• All four dyads showed increased reciprocal social interactions during the intervention phases.
• Dyads 1 and 4 demonstrated very large effect sizes with 100% nonoverlapping data.
• Dyads 2 and 3 showed moderate effect sizes with 70% nonoverlapping data.

Conclusions:

• Collaborative learning frameworks, like the photography intervention, can enhance peer interactions for AAC users.
• Speech-language pathologists can integrate collaborative learning into AAC interventions.
• Further research is recommended to explore collaborative learning for AAC interventions.