scholarly journals Promote Assistive and AAC technologies during Covid-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-229
Author(s):  
Michela Galdieri ◽  
Michele Domenico Todino

The Covid-19 health emergency has produced a rethinking of education and training systems based on open and flexible physical spaces and remote communication channels; however, socialization processes and virtual relational exchanges are still possible and at the same time authentic. Moreover, the use of telecommunication technologies augment efforts to find a new way to organize educational spaces when it is not possible to share physical space and virtual spaces must be used. Starting from the role of assistive technologies in European policies, this work presents a case study about the inclusive perspective of corporeality and action in teaching-learning process and described an experience done in a third grade class of a primary school in Rome where a teacher used an eye communicator with GRID3 software and tools of Augmentative Alternative Communication with a student with complex communication needs, main goal of this activity was to create an inclusive and sharing path for each scholar done in distance education.   Promuovere le tecnologie assistive e la CAA al tempo del Covid-19.   L’emergenza sanitaria da Covid-19 ha sollecitato un ripensamento dei sistemi educativi e formativi quali dimensioni aperte e flessibili in cui formarsi, spazi nei quali i canali di comunicazione a distanza hanno reso possibile processi di socializzazione e scambi relazionali virtuali ma non per questo meno autentici, luoghi della didattica in cui favorire gli apprendimenti mediante l’uso di tecnologie che hanno consentito di raggiungere risultati anche in assenza di condivisione di uno spazio fisico. Il lavoro presenta una riflessione sul ruolo delle tecnologie assistive nelle politiche europee, sul potenziale inclusivo della corporeità e dell’azione nei percorsi di insegnamento-apprendimento e propone la descrizione di un’esperienza svoltasi nella classe terza di una scuola primaria romana dove, in presenza di un’alunna con gravi difficoltà comunicative, la didattica ha previsto l’uso del comunicatore oculare con software GRID3 coniugato alle pratiche e agli strumenti propri della Comunicazione Aumentativa Alternativa, con l’obiettivo di creare un percorso inclusivo e partecipativo per ciascun alunno, seppure a distanza.

2016 ◽  
pp. 79-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konrad Matyjaszek

The rules of the reservation. On the book Jewish Poland Revisited by Erica Lehrer The paper offers a review of Erica Lehrer’s Jewish Poland Revisited, a publication presenting outcomes of an anthropological research on Jewish-Polish memory projects in Cracow's former Jewish district of Kazimierz. In a discussion of the book's theses, the author critically analyses Lehrer's postulate of 'ethnography of possibility' and the resultant strategy of approval for contemporary Kazimierz as a 'space of encounter' alongside with its rules of participation, imposed by the Polish proprietors of the district on its visitors.The article focuses on two such rules that condition a visitor’s possibility of participation in shrinking public spaces of Kazimierz. First of these laws is discussed as an imperative of abandoning the immediacy of district's physical space and its histories signified by the surviving built environment. Instead, Lehrer introduces a conceptual division of "social" and "physical" spaces, which leads to silencing of otherwise immediately present evidence of the violent past. The second rule is analyzed as a requirement of accepting the contemporary Polish owners’ role of 'brokers" and "purveyors" of Jewish heritage, consequential with an approval of a doubtful legal and moral title to the appropriated spaces.Through focusing on these rules of participation that determine and perpetuate the conditionality of Jewish presence in the space of Kazimierz, the author argues for a necessity of questioning and re-defining the traditional divisions of disciplines that establish conceptual separations of "social" and "built" spaces, as well as for a necessity of a critical outlook on contemporary Central European understandings of "heritage". Such an inquiry is discussed as conditional for overcoming the largely avoided yet still present "heritages" in the history of Polish-Jewish relations: the traditions of violence and exclusion, either social and spatial. Regulamin rezerwatu. O książce Jewish Poland Revisited Eriki LehrerArtykuł stanowi recenzję książki Jewish Poland Revisited Eriki Lehrer, prezentującej wyniki antropologicznych badań na temat żydowsko-polskich projektów pamięci realizowanych w byłej dzielnicy żydowskiej na krakowskim Kazimierzu. Omawiając tezy pracy, autor poddaje krytycznej analizie proponowany przez Lehrer projekt etnografii możliwości i wynikającą z niego strategię akceptacji współczesnego Kazimierza jako przestrzeni spotkania, za którą idzie akceptacja zasad uczestnictwa narzuconych gościom przez polskich zarządców Kazimierza.W artykule rozpatrywane są dwie takie zasady, warunkujące możliwość uczestnictwa gościa w kurczącej się przestrzeni publicznej Kazimierza. Pierwszą z nich autor opisuje jako nakaz porzucenia bezpośrednio dostępnej, fizycznej przestrzeni dzielnicy i niesionych przez nią historii, których znakiem jest ocalała zabudowa. W to miejsce Lehrer wprowadza podział na przestrzeń społeczną i fizyczną, skutkiem czego stłumione zostają ślady brutalnej przeszłości, w przeciwnym razie bezpośrednio obecne. Drugą zasadę autor odtwarza jako wymóg akceptacji roli współczesnych polskich właścicieli jako brokerów i pośredników żydowskiego dziedzictwa, co w konsekwencji pociąga za sobą akceptację ich wątpliwych prawnie i moralnie roszczeń do zawłaszczonej przestrzeni.Skupienie uwagi na regulaminie uczestnictwa, który ustanawia i utrzymuje warunkowy charakter żydowskiej obecności w przestrzeni Kazimierza, prowadzi autora do wniosku o konieczności rewaluacji i redefinicji tradycyjnego rozdziału dyscyplin, który tworzy konceptualny podział na społeczne przestrzenie i architektoniczne obiekty, oraz do krytycznego namysłu nad obowiązującym obecnie w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej rozumieniem pojęcia „dziedzictwo”. Tego rodzaju poszukiwanie uznaje autor za warunek przezwyciężenia ignorowanego zwykle, choć mimo wszystko obecnego w polsko-żydowskich stosunkach „dziedzictwa”: tradycji przemocy i wykluczenia, tak społecznego, jak i przestrzennego. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-56
Author(s):  
Schea N. Fissel ◽  
Pamela R. Mitchell ◽  
Robin L. Alvares

Children with complex communication needs (CCN) exhibit multiple needs in a variety of domains, including language, literacy, and speech. Children with CCN often require augmentative/alternative communication (AAC), a mode of communication designed to compensate for the communication and related disability patterns of individuals with CCN (Light, Beukelman, & Reichle, 2003). Given the diverse needs of this population, service provision presents challenges to teachers and therapists alike. Telepractice service provision offers solutions to guide service delivery for children with CCN, who may be located in remote settings with limited access to AAC specialists. The tele-AAC working group of the International Society on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) 2012 Research Symposium highlighted a need for increased information on telepractice service delivery for children with CCN in the area of literacy. To date, evidence-based practices for assessment of literacy skills in children with CCN are limited. In addition, literacy assessment for children with CCN via telepractice presents challenges requiring adaptation for telepractice service delivery. This paper summarizes existing literature examining literacy assessment and intervention, and applies these principles to development and implementation of adapted literacy assessment methods conducted via telepractice for a child with CCN.


Author(s):  
Mary Ann Lowe

Portfolios are widely used in many professional and academic areas; however there is minimal documentation for the use of portfolios by Assistive Technology / Augmentative Alternative Communication (AT/AAC) specialists. Assessment of AT/AAC progress is often difficult to document due to the limited capabilities of the written output. Specific AT/AAC systems are tailored to individual clients and may range from a low-tech communication book to a sophisticated hi-tech device/computer with specialized access techniques. As individuals transition to new opportunities, it is difficult to show documentation of progress or visually capture specific device/computer set-ups for replication. This chapter encourages service providers to develop electronic portfolios to assist families, future educators, and therapists to become familiar with the best practice AT techniques and strategies used for individuals with complex physical and communication needs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Barton-Hulsey ◽  
Jane Wegner ◽  
Nancy C. Brady ◽  
Betty H. Bunce ◽  
Rose A. Sevcik

Purpose Three children ages 3;6 to 5;3 with developmental and language delays were provided experience with a traditional grid-based display and a contextually organized visual scene display on a speech-generating device to illustrate considerations for practice and future research in augmentative and alternative communication assessment and intervention. Method Twelve symbols were taught in a grid display and visual scene display using aided input during dramatic play routines. Teaching sessions were 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 3 weeks. Symbol comprehension and use was assessed pre and post 3 weeks of experience. Results Comprehension of symbol vocabulary on both displays increased after 3 weeks of experience. Participants 1 and 2 used both displays largely for initiation. Participant 3 had limited expressive use of either display. Conclusions The methods used in this study demonstrate one way to inform individual differences in learning and preference for speech-generating device displays when making clinical decisions regarding augmentative and alternative communication supports for a child and their family. Future research should systematically examine the role of extant comprehension, symbol experience, functional communication needs, and the role of vocabulary type in the learning and use of grid displays versus visual scene displays.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 513-517
Author(s):  
Cynthia La Manna ◽  
Isabella Prina ◽  
Michele Cavalleri ◽  
Patrizia Conti ◽  
Angelo Selicorni

Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) is an area of clinical practice that tries to compensate for the temporary or permanent disability of individuals with complex communication needs. It uses gestures or signs and images and utilises a double communicative input, both visual and auditory. It is Augmentative because its main purpose is to enhance and expand ("augmentative" 1983 ISAAC) communication and language, supporting all the communicative potential of the person. It is Alternative because it uses an alternative method to traditional communication: it utilises gestures, signs, aids for communication and advanced technology, falling within Assistive Technology (AT). AAC users are mainly those with complex (cognitive and communicative) disabilities. Moreover, it is also used in all those temporary situations in which communication is hindered by traumatic factors (intensive care, first aid) or linked to the issue of integration / inclusion. For example, foreign people can benefit from the use of AAC in order to reduce discomfort in social relations and language learning. The Authors highlight the potential of AAC both on the basis of scientific and clinical evidence and describe the evolution of two clinical cases followed at the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit in Como (Italy).


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Zubow ◽  
Richard Hurtig

Abstract In 2012, the Joint Commission issued a mandate that accredited hospitals must take into consideration the needs of patients with complex communication needs. Stemming from this mandate came recommendations for hospitals to collect baseline data of the number of individuals in their care with complex communication needs. This is a demographic study in response to their recommendation. Researchers at the University of Iowa sampled the electronic medical records of patients across 7 days to determine the number of patients who met candidacy requirements for augmentative alternative communication or assistive technology. Our census data indicate there is a significant need for patients in acute care settings to have access to alternative communication and the nurse call systems. The need appears to be greater in the intensive care units, but is not limited to this patient population. Overall, patients had greater AT needs than AAC needs in all locations. We recommend future research to investigate service delivery models to improve communication barriers that may exist between hospital staff and patients.


Author(s):  
Eugenia Treglia ◽  
Angela Magnanini ◽  
Gianni Caione ◽  
Monica Alina Lungu

This article aims to investigate the relationship between technologies and disabilities in the field of special education. In particular, this article discusses the role of aiding technologies, such as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), in the learning and integration processes of people with disabilities, with a focus on autistic spectrum disorders. To facilitate the accessibility of tools and IT products, various types of aiding technologies are now available, namely a set of hardware and software technical solutions that provide working configurations suitable for the special needs of users, allowing them to overcome the disadvantage gap resulting from a specific disability. The AAC, as an aiding technology, in addition to fostering communication processes, allows the user with autism spectrum disorders to interface in a more functional way with the computer tool, and thus to implement its digital literacy and consequent learning possibilities.


Author(s):  
Laura Forlano

This chapter introduces the role of community wireless networks (CWNs) in reconfiguring people, places and information in cities. CWNs are important for leading users and innovators of mobile and wireless technologies in their communities. Their identities are geographically-bounded and their networks are imbued with social, political and economic values. While there has been much discussion of the networked, virtual and online implications of the Internet, the material implications in physical spaces have been overlooked. By analyzing the work of CWNs in New York and Berlin, this chapter reconceptualizes the interaction between technologies, spaces and forms of organizing. This chapter introduces the concept of codespaces in order to capture the integration of digital information, networks and interfaces with physical space.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1058-1091
Author(s):  
Leroy Gonsalves

Despite the great potential for flexible work policies to increase worker temporal flexibility—the extent to which workers control when and where their work tasks are completed—organizational scholars have found that employees rarely use them for fear of career penalties. This study sheds light on this flexibility paradox by drawing attention to the overlooked yet crucial role of physical space. Using 14 months of field research during an office redesign at a large professional sales organization, I find that a reconfiguration of physical space intended to reduce costs had the unintended consequence of disrupting taken-for-granted greeting practices, noticing practices, and evaluative beliefs. Changes to social practices led employees to feel less concern about trait inferences of dependability and commitment arising from their physical presence and to experience greater temporal flexibility. The findings contribute to a model in which the relationship between flexible work policies and temporal flexibility is moderated by the physical space. By identifying the physical space as a novel determinant of temporal flexibility, the study reveals the structural underpinnings of the flexibility paradox and more generally contributes to our understanding of how physical spaces structure social life in organizations.


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