Words needed for sharing a story: Implications for vocabulary selectionin augmentative and alternative communication

Access to Justice: An SLP’s Guide to Helping Persons with Complex Communication Needs Voice Their Case

No AccessPerspectives on School-Based IssuesArticle1 Dec 2005SocialNetworks and Its Use in School-Based Settings Sarah W. Blackstone Sarah W. Blackstone Augmentative Communication, Inc.Monterey, CA Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.1044/sbi6.4.13 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationTrack Citations ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In References Albrecht, M. B., & Adelman, T. L. (1987). Communication networks as structure of social support..T. L Adelman & M. B Albrecht (Eds.), Communicating social support (pp. 40–64). London: SAGE Publications. Google Scholar Baxter, L. A. (2004). Relationships as dialogues..Personal Relationships, 11, 1–22. Google Scholar Beukelman, D. R., & Mirenda, P. (1998). Augmentative and alternative communication.. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes. Google Scholar Blackstone, S. W., & Hunt Berg, M. (2002). 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ASHAWireGoogle Scholar Additional Resources FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 6Issue 4December 2005Pages: 13-16 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in issue: Dec 1, 2005 Metrics Topicsasha-topicsasha-sigsasha-article-typesleader-topicsCopyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2005 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationPDF downloadLoading ...

The first year of primary school aims to be closely connected with early childhood education, yet this is often invisible in the curriculum of specific subjects. This paper sets out an approach that uses mathematical practices as a curriculum tool that reconceptualises school mathematics. Using the early childhood mathematics framework of Te Kākano, the strands of mathematical practices are important descriptors of mathematical activity for children. We describe examples of mathematical learning from both early childhood and the first year of school, and make a case for using mathematical practices as a conceptual tool for designing a mathematics curriculum in the first years of school.

A high percentage of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show elevated challenges in learning to read. We investigated longitudinal predictors of reading skills in 41 children diagnosed with ASD. All children completed measures of precursor literacy skills at the age of 4-5 years, including phonological awareness, letter sound knowledge, rapid automatic naming, name writing, and phonological memory (digit span), along with measures of word- and passage-level reading skills in their first year of formal schooling. Nonverbal cognition and letter sound knowledge accounted for 53.4% of the variance in regular single word reading at school age, with letter sound knowledge a significant individual predictor. Overall, 18 children showed reading ability scores in the average range on a standardized test of passage-level reading ability, whereas 23 children performed below expectations. These groups differed significantly on all precursor literacy measures (at ages 4-5), except autism symptoms based on parent report. Group membership was significantly predicted by preschool receptive vocabulary, name writing, and rapid automatic naming, with high sensitivity and specificity. These results are discussed in reference to the literature describing early literacy predictors for typically developing children, highlighting key areas for future intervention and support. Autism Res 2018, 11: 1332-1344. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Children with autism are at increased risk of persistent reading difficulties. We examined whether preschool reading-related skills linked to later reading ability. Performance on the following three tasks administered at preschool predicted children who showed early reading success versus below expectations in their first year of school: vocabulary, name writing, and rapid naming of familiar objects and shapes. These results can inform future interventions.

IntroductionThe first years of school are critical in establishing a foundation for positive long-term academic, social and well-being outcomes. Mindfulness-based interventions may help students transition well into school, but few...

Secondary school year advisors fulfil an important relationship-building, middle leadership position in schools. Although responsible for supporting the wellbeing of students with a range of academic, social, and emotional needs, there is limited research into year advisor’s role and the support provided for these educators. This qualitative study provides insight into year advisors’ perceptions of professional learning that prepared them to support student wellbeing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with secondary school year advisors in New South Wales, Australia, investigating their training experiences and views on navigating the expectations of their role. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis revealed key themes capturing the limited provision of formal training for year advisors and the perception that training was insufficient for responding to students’ mental health needs. Year advisors reported relying on self-sourced informal training methods including collaborative partnerships, practice-based learning and independent investigation, to manage situations encountered when supporting students. Findings reveal a disparity in formalised professional learning opportunities across schools and year advisors’ desire for systematic, role specific, formalised training, especially for supporting students’ mental health.

Multilingual children often become biliterate, which means reading and writing in two or more languages, before or during the first years in school. It is shown that bilingual children can learn, compare and distinguish between two writing systems at the same time. However, when learning a second language, a crosslinguistic transfer at different linguistic levels is common between the learners’ first and second language. The aim of this study is to analyse written texts made by multilingual children in their first and second year of schooling with a focus on phonological transfer in order to understand if their spelling mistakes are influenced by their accent and the phonological structure of their first language. The results indicate that there is a phonological transfer depending on differences between Swedish and the child’s first language, but also spelling mistakes that are common for all Swedish children in the early stages of learning to write. All children in this study use more than one language on a daily basis in different social contexts. They have different language backgrounds, but teaching in school is only in Swedish.

An alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) device replaces or supplements a person’s natural speech. Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) collaborate with a team of healthcare professionals in the process of identification and use of the right AAC device for a person with complex communication needs (CCN). In the Philippines, occupational therapists (OTs) and SLPs are more likely to collaborate in the treatment of their clients due to their interprofessional education (IPE) experience. However, most Filipino SLPs do not engage in interprofessional collaboration (IPC) when rendering AAC services. Thus, there is a need to identify existing literature that tackles collaborative practices to raise the quality of service and care. Hence, this study aimed to identify and discuss existing literature that documented IPE and IPC strategies between OTs and SLPs in the field of AAC. The structure of this literature review was guided and adapted from the topics outlined in the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA). Literature archived in two databases (Pubmed and Scopus) were reviewed. Two articles out of five studies were included in this review. Strategies found were “case based learning approach” for post-graduate students and the “Beyond Access model” in supporting practitioners. In conclusion, there is a dearth of literature on IPC practices among OTs and SLPs in the field of AAC. There is a need to report IPE and IPC efforts in the Philippines to provide applicable strategies to the local healthcare landscape.

BackgroundSimulation, as an activity in speech-language pathology training, can increase opportunities for students to gain required skills and competencies. One area that has received little attention in the simulation literature, yet is a growing area of clinical practice, is alternative and augmentative communication (AAC). Also growing, is the use of telepractice to deliver services. This exploratory study investigated graduate entry speech-language pathology student perceptions of a simulation learning experience working with an adult with complex communication needs via telepractice.MethodsFirst year Master of Speech Pathology students completed a 1-day simulation using a videoconferencing delivery platform with an actor portraying an adult client with motor neurone disease requiring AAC. Quantitative and qualitative survey measures were completed pre- and post-simulation to explore students’ confidence, perceived impact on clinical performance, and perceived extent of learning, specifically, their interest, competence, and tension. Further, students’ perceptions about the telepractice system useability were explored. Fifty-two responses were received and analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis.ResultsPost-simulation, students reported increased confidence and perceived positive impacts on their confidence and clinical skills across communication, assessment, and management domains. They felt better prepared to manage a client with a progressive neurological condition and to make AAC recommendations. For telepractice delivery, technology limitations were identified as impacting its use, including infrastructure (e.g., weak internet connection). In addition, some students reported feeling disconnected from the client.ConclusionThis study supports the use of simulation in AAC through telepractice as a means of supporting Masters-level speech pathology student learning in this area of practice.

Background Participation in society is the cornerstone to living a meaningful, connected, and healthy life. Persons with complex communication needs, however, often have restricted opportunities to participate in everyday contexts and situations. Reasons for this include societal attitudinal barriers, as well as limited knowledge and skills about augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to enhance participation. Enhancing participation of persons with complex communication needs requires a holistic and multi-faceted approach. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their disability-inclusive agenda provide an impetus for shaping the approach of the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) in enhancing participation of persons with complex communication needs in South Africa. Purpose This paper aims to provide a reflective description and application of the work conducted by the CAAC in addressing the SDGs in South Africa. Result Research and training conducted by the CAAC is shown to be aligned to five SDGs, namely zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and well-being (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) and peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16), with a focus on reaching these goals in order to benefit persons with complex communication needs. Conclusion The paper demonstrates that, despite some gains in addressing the SDGs, research and clinical practice still needs to be on these and the remaining SDGs. Furthermore, there is a need to also find ways to integrate the SDGs to ensure participation of persons with complex communication needs in major life activities and society.

SUMMARY Early childhood professionals planning transition programmes for children commencing the first year of school need to be aware of factors that influence children's early adjustment to school. Transition programmes should create an appropriate degree of continuity between preschool and school experiences and develop strategies to help children adjust to school. In addressing these issues, this paper will present findings of a recent study of factors influencing the adjustment of children to the first year of school. Results indicate statistically significant associations between children's adjustment to the first year of school, personal and background factors, transition activities conducted by schools, children's preschool and early school experiences, the absence or presence of a friend, and a number of other factors. Implications for promoting children's adjustment to school will be addressed.

Background: It is common the idea that the responsibility for learning mathematics worked in the first years of schooling rests solely with the teacher at this stage. This is a mistake since these contents run throughout basic education, and it is important that teachers at other levels understand the mathematics of the early years of elementary school. Objectives: The article aims to discuss the knowledge of mathematics undergraduate students about mathematics in the early years of elementary school. Design: The theoretical and methodological support is based on the assumptions of cultural-historical theory (CHT), which shows that the subject develops and impacts the reality where he/she lives by interactions with others through the acquired knowledge. Setting and participants: The study space consisted of workshops on the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, carried out in the project “Knowing the mathematics taught in the early years” and the participants were seven undergraduates from the mathematics degree course. Data collection and analysis: The empirical data were systematised by the organization of the episode "Understanding the teaching of basic mathematics", composed of four scenes. Results: They reveal that when it comes to teaching mathematics in the early years, students show a weakness in relation to basic mathematical knowledge and didactic knowledge to teach them. Conclusions: Although the results come from a specific context, we concluded that it is important for mathematics undergraduates to be able to discuss mathematics teaching in all stages of basic education.

The purpose of the present study was to examine kindergarten student performance on a story retell task across at-risk and typically achieving groups (Intervention, Control, Reference) and language status (English-only, English-language learners). Additionally, the current study examined the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and the quality of production on a Story Retell task. Kindergarten students (n = 540) from twenty-two schools across Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Oregon completed a vocabulary program approximately 20 weeks in duration, including an additional vocabulary intervention for students in the Intervention group. Each student was assessed on vocabulary knowledge measures before and after completion of the vocabulary program, using both standardized and experimenter-developed formats: PPVT-4, Receptive Target Word, and Expressive Target Word. In addition, a Story Retell measure was completed with all students at the end of the school year. Results showed that language status had no impact when considering Story Retell performance across different groups of students within the course of an academic program. The students in the Intervention group performed better on the Story Retell task than the students in the Control group and the students in the Reference group performed better than both Intervention and Control groups. Further, the current study demonstrated that all vocabulary measures were positively correlated with the Story Retell comprehension measure and that PPVT-4 growth accounted for more unique variance in Story Retell performance than initial PPVT-4 scores. It was also established that student performance on the Expressive Target Word measure was the best predictor of the quality of Story Retell.

With the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), people with complex communication needs could participate in social situations even if they had severe speech impairments. Even though speech-language therapists in Thailand are aware of AAC, they still mainly teach young children with complex communication needs to mainly use speech as a means to communicate. This could lead to fewer opportunities for people with complex communication needs to use AAC systems. Therefore, this article aimed to analyze and classify the items related to communication success, as a guideline to generate a screening checklist for determining whether individuals with a communication impairment would benefit from using AAC. Three previously available screening checklists pertaining to communication success were analyzed to identify the 3 domains: 1) verbal communication intelligibility, 2) verbal functional communication, and 3) verbal communication comprehension. These 3 domains were divided into 2 aspects: 1) familiar/unfamiliar communication partners, and 2) familiar/unfamiliar settings. To create a standard screening checklist that speech-language pathologists in Thailand could utilize, more research would need to be done in the future.

Beginning School With Asthma Independently Predicts Low Achievement in a Prospective Cohort of Children