Teaching Alphabet Recognition and Letter Sound Correspondence Using a 4 Blocks of Literacy Model for Children with Complex Communication Needs (CCN): Illustrated with a Single Case Study

There are numerous hurdles to literacy acquisition for students with severe and multiple disabilities, such as intellectual disability, complex communication needs including physical disability and autism. However, there is substantial body of research that suggests that these children can gain literacy skills, develop communication and language with effective literacy education, and with the support of assistive and augmentative alternative communication systems. The study describes an ongoing intervention for teaching alphabet recognition and letter-sound correspondence using the 4 blocks of literacy model with a 5.7 year old girl with multiple disabilities who use augmentative alternative communication systems for communication. Emergent literacy instruction for improving alphabet recognition and letter sound correspondence was taught applying the principles of the 4 blocks “Working with words” and “Shared book reading” over a period of eight months. Improvement noticed in alphabet recognition and letter sound correspondence was investigated. Emergent literacy instruction using 4 blocks of literacy model was proved to be an effective method in gaining the alphabet principles and phonics skills. The study provides insights to the rehabilitation professionals and budding therapists on how to implement emergent literacy instructions and strategies to be considered for children with complex communication needs. Key words: Emergent Literacy, Complex Communication Needs, Augmentative Alternative Communication, Multiple Disabilities, 4 Blocks of Literacy Model.

Communication and Competence

Many factors are important when planning and implementing strategies for teaching in the multiple disability/cross-categorical classroom. No two students' needs are alike; however, two areas are invariably a topic of discussion and lead many of the decisions being made in the individual's educational program: communication and presumed competence. The following chapter includes student narratives for a child with multiple disabilities as well as a child with autism spectrum disorder. Each child exhibits a significant communication delay and is considered to be non-verbal. The narratives along with strategies used to support the students have been included. Common misconceptions about augmentative and alternative communication use and presumed competence among students with significant communication needs are examined as well as research and theory concerning these areas.

Access Control and Security System Via Bluetooth Application on Android Smartphone

Smartphone technology can be applied not only to establish communication needs but also to support other purposes. One of them is related to personal safety and security functions. It is undeniable that criminal acts can occur anytime and anywhere. Even in a private or residential area, theft could happen. Smartphone and sensor technology can be used as a solution to encounter this problem. In this case, it can be utilized to improve the security control system of the gate or garage door at home. This research presents a prototype of a gate and garage door control and security system that operates through an application on an android smartphone. The application of HC-05 Bluetooth is used to send signals from the smartphone to the Arduino Uno microcontroller, while the micro servo acts as a locking mechanism on the gate itself. The buzzer function is presented to notify homeowners when the gate or garage door is open for more than 15 seconds. This prototype can control gates and garage doors with an average connection time of only about 5 seconds. Thus, this prototype is feasible to use as an alternative to control and improve housing security systems.

Promote Assistive and AAC technologies during Covid-19

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.

A Survey on AAC Fringe Vocabulary to Support Personal Assistance Service

Objectives: There are increasing demands for personal assistance services which help the disabled to carry out their daily life. To use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) approaches more effectively in daily communication, it is essential to include the appropriate core and fringe vocabulary in the AAC system. Considering the fact that there are few studies in Korea which have reported fringe vocabulary compared to core vocabulary, this study is aimed to develop a noun list that can be used to promote interactive communication between the disabled and their assistants in each communication situation.Methods: A literature review was conducted to elicit frequently used nouns in each communication situation. Then, a survey was carried out to identify nouns with high word commonality across 105 personal assistants.Results: Sixty-three nouns with more than 50% of word commonality across personal assistants were identified from the 244 fringe vocabulary; consisting of 112 nouns in the area of going out, 29 in cleaning, 27 in personal hygiene, 26 in cooking, 20 in meal supporting, 20 in other service areas, and 10 in commuting.Conclusion: The identified nouns are expected to help people with complex communication needs to express their needs and wants more clearly and effectively using those nouns embedded in their AAC systems. The list of nouns can be used not only for people who receive personal assistance services, but also for people who rely on AAC systems to express their daily needs.

The Effects of Parent Education on Perceptions of Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Objectives: Parents’ incomplete knowledge of AAC is apt to make them believe in misconceptions about AAC, which hinders them from having the appropriate interventions for their children. Considering the fact that parents’ perception of AAC has a large impact on AAC intervention, this study aims to examine the effects of parent education on the perception of AAC.Methods: Twenty-five mothers of children with complex communication needs participated in the study. Parent Education is designed as a 40-minute program consisting of (1) introduction to AAC, (2) exploring AAC systems, (3) developing linguistic competence using AAC, (4) tips for using AAC at home, and (5) policies and financial support. Extra time for question-and-answers was provided to each participant. To measure the effect of parent education on parents’ AAC perception and the relationship of participants’ change in perception with their satisfaction with the education program, two types of survey questionnaires were developed.Results: The repeated measured ANCOVA showed that the difference between the total scores of pre-and post-surveys was significant. The Spearman’s rho was .443, indicating a moderate positive correlation between the degree of satisfaction and the change in AAC perception.Conclusion: This study showed that parent education had a positive effect on parents’ perceptions of AAC overall. In particular, there was a significant change of opinion in the misconception that children must have intact cognitive skills to use speech-generating devices, the idea which showed the lowest scores in the pre-survey. It seems that the education program which focused on correcting misconceptions about AAC and providing relevant information and opportunities to use AAC devices helped to lead to these positive effects.

Communication Vulnerability within Singapore’s Healthcare Environment

Communication difficulties can, and often do, create barriers between patients and healthcare workers (HCWs). We examined the perceptual differences between patients and caregivers; and HCWs with regards to their perceived communication vulnerabilities and identified communication needs in a tertiary hospital. A survey was conducted in selected outpatient settings among patients, their caregivers and HCWs, in a cross-sectional study. Respondents rated the reasons and frequency of encountering the communication difficulties during a hospital visit. Fifty-four percent of patients and caregivers cited poor hearing in the presence of noise, while HCWs cited patient’s poor vision (87%) as their primary communication barrier that requires improvement. Majority of HCWs (90%) had encountered patients who presented multiple communication barriers a quarter of the time. A third of HCWs felt that such encounters were especially challenging during communication, with very limited strategies available to deal with such communication vulnerable individuals. Patients, caregivers and HCWs universally experience communication challenges, even if their perceived barriers to communication happen to differ. Such perceptual difference between patients and HCWs may lead to inconsistent use of communication strategies by HCWs, potentially compromising patient’s healthcare needs. Nonetheless, the onus is on healthcare providers to bridge this communication gap to improve patient care.

Mothers' perspective on the functioning of a family with a child with special communication needs – preliminary research

This article presents the results of preliminary research on the mothers’ perspective on the functioning of a family with a child with special communication needs. The goal was to gain an insight into the experiences of mothers of children with special communication needs in different areas of life and to understand the factors that influence their experiences. The following areas of the mothers’ experiences in the functioning of a family were identified: the doing everyday activities, spending free time, relationships between family members and mothers' ideas about the future of a family with a child with special communication needs. The research employed individual case studies and the in-depth interview technique.

Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum: Music Therapists’ Work with Speech-Language Pathologists

Adolescents on the autism spectrum may experience challenges with multiple domains of communication that impact their quality of life. Both music therapists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) implement activities to address these challenges. Empirical evidence suggests that incorporating music into treatment can be an effective way to improve communication. The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions for music therapists assisting adolescents on the autism spectrum to improve their communication skills and ways to collaborate with SLPs in doing so. In this paper, we discuss interprofessional collaborative models (e.g., interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary) and competencies (e.g., coordination, adaptability), as well as music-based clinical experiences that appeal to adolescents, and target improvement of communication skills for learners with complex communication needs.

Who Speaks with My Synthesized Voice? Some Roles of Other-initiated Repair in Augmented Intaraction

As conversation analysis shows, all talk is highly collaborative, and meaning is created dialogically and sequentially, via the concerted actions of all the participants involved. In the case of people with communication impairments, the collaborative character of talk is even more manifest. A speaker with dysarthria, for example, may communicate through typing their messages to a text-to-speech communication app or device, using a communication (alphabet) board, or gazing at objects. This article focuses on one type of co-construction effort aimed at helping an augmented speaker to communicate, a process that can be called other-initiated repair. Although this practice is a common way of achieving understanding with people who have communication needs, in some cases repair initiation is used to do more than that. In this paper, I conduct conversation analysis of a video-recording of naturalistic interactions inside a Russian-speaking family involving a 10-year-old girl with dysarthria who communicates with her parents through an eyetracker-controlled computer interface. In this case, her parents use the structural position of repair initiation on the girl’s words not only to clarify the meaning of her message but to continue the preceding polemics over the mom’s birthday present. I argue that although this is just one instance of the use of other-repair in playful communication between family members, The potentiality of providing the type of guessing which aligns with the guesser’s interests is present in other repair sequences. This can be consequential for lives of people with communication needs when done in more official settings. Studying similar repair sequences can help better delineate 'good' scaffolding strategies in co-construction of speech of someone with communication needs.