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.

Go to Fight! parents' experiences in caring for their disabled child / Ir à Luta! vivências dos pais nos cuidados do filho com deficiência

The objective was to understand the experience of parents in caring for children with disabilities. The Grounded Theory was adopted as a methodological framework, 9 parents of children and adults with intellectual or multiple disabilities were interviewed, between August/2015 and June/2016. The categories were obtained: Pre, peri, post-natal aspects, Posture assumed by the professional, Go to Fight! and Another world. It is, therefore, a parenting that is configured as these parents enter the Another world, which leads them to adjust their practices and beliefs about their child, about themselves and the universe of disability, sometimes under a perception of disability as a social disadvantage and incapacity, having as an intervening factor the Posture assumed by the professional, thus knowing these experiences from the GT allows: the improvement of care practices for these parents and their children, the planning of actions psychoeducational from a social perspective of disability in order to empower them and guide them about aspects of their children's development, enabling a look beyond the diagnosis and a more positive family adaptation.

On Using Multiple Disabilities Profiles to Adapt Multimedia Documents

Currently, advanced technological hardware can offer mobile devices which fits in the hand with a capacity to consult documents at anytime and anywhere. Multiple user context constraints as well as mobile device capabilities may involve the adaptation of multimedia content. In this article, the authors propose a new graph-based method for adapting multimedia documents in complex situations. Each contextual situation could correspond to a physical handicap and therefore triggers an adaptation action using ontological reasoning. Consequently, when several contextual situations are identified, this leads to multiple disabilities and may give rise to inconsistency between triggered actions. Their method allows modeling relations between adaptation-actions to select the compatible triggerable ones. In order to evaluate the feasibility and the performance of their proposal, an experimental study has been made on some real scenarios. When tested and compared with some existing approaches, their proposal showed improvements according to various criteria.

Instructional Strategies for People With Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities

Educating people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD)creates a number of challenges. One general challenge relates to identifying and successfully implementing instructional programs for developing and enhancing the person's adaptive behavior, such as teaching communication and social skills and increasing their overall level of engagement. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of three main instructional approaches that have been applied to enhance engagement and adaptive behavior functioning among people with PIMD. These approaches are (1) intensive interaction, (2) systematic instruction, and (3) assistive technology. Two case studies are included to illustrate the use of assistive technology—specifically augmentative and alternative communication devices and micro-switches—with two adolescents with PIMD. This overview and the case studies suggest that the use of systematic instructional tactics to establish functional use of assistive technology can be an effective instructional approach for people with PIMD.

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.

Intervention Services for a Child With Multiple Disabilities

This chapter will focus on providing intervention services for an eight-year-old African-American female, Dawn, with multiple disabilities. Dawn has been diagnosed with Down syndrome, a comorbid diagnosis of an intellectual disability, and exhibits behavior problems at home and school. In this scenario, she has been evaluated within the school system to determine eligibility for services, and the speech-language pathologist needs to develop intervention goals and select therapy strategies to provide appropriate services. While both parents are involved in the child's care, the family does not have permanent housing and moves frequently. Information from actual cases has been incorporated into this chapter.

Case Study Analysis of an Adaptive Academic School Service Delivery Model With Multiple Disabilities/Handicapped Students

This chapter focuses on multiple disability (MD) or multiple handicapped (MH) students. Being considered equal to their grade- and age-level peers is essential for MD/MH students. Thus, in this chapter, use of the adaptive academic service delivery model with MD/MH students is examined through a case study within a junior and high school setting. This chapter includes a discussion about the causes and characteristics, the educational placement and instructional strategies, and the eligibility criteria for students with multiple disabilities or multiple handicaps. The chapter concludes with a discussion about future trends for MD/MH students and service providers.