There are a number of different approaches and therapies available for children, young people and adults on the autistic spectrum, and the amount of information available on each one can be daunting for professionals and parents alike. "Autism, Educational and Theoretical Approaches" offers concise and clear explanations of a variety of…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who cannot speak at all or not intelligibly are frequently taught to use aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The majority of the research on the use of AAC with individuals with ASD has been single-case research studies. This investigation involved a meta-analysis of the…

Providing effective interventions for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities (ID) continues to challenge educators, speech-language pathologists, and other allied health professionals. This article reviews recommended intervention practices that have emerged over the past 30 years and illustrates their use through an evidenced-based…

Background: This study explores the psychometric qualities of the Scenario Test, a new test to assess daily-life communication in severe aphasia. The test is innovative in that it: (1) examines the effectiveness of verbal and non-verbal communication; and (2) assesses patients' communication in an interactive setting, with a supportive…

Background: Many individuals with Huntington's disease experience reduced functioning in cognition, language and communication. Talking Mats is a visually based low technological augmentative communication framework that supports communication in people with different cognitive and communicative disabilities. Aims: To evaluate Talking Mats as a…

This study evaluated whether two persons with developmental disabilities would be able to improve their pointing performance through a Dual Cursor Automatic Pointing Assistive Program (DCAPAP) with a newly developed mouse driver (i.e., a new mouse driver replaces standard mouse driver, and is able to intercept/detect mouse movement action). First,…

A randomized control trial comparing two social-communication interventions in young children with autism examined far-transfer of the use of picture exchange to communicate. Thirty-six children were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions, one of which was the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). All children had access to…

This study grew from a need identified by professionals working in the same community to explore interagency support for augmentative and alternative communication device implementation with students, families, and professionals involving the local school system and university. A case study was used to document intervention with a second-grade…

Background: To enhance communicative ability and thereby the possibility of increased participation of persons with aphasia, the use of communication strategies has been proposed. However, little is known about how persons with aphasia experience having conversations and how they perceive their own and their conversation partner's use of…

Many individuals with autism cannot speak or cannot speak intelligibly. A variety of aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) approaches have been investigated. Most of the research on these approaches has been single-case research, with small numbers of participants. The purpose of this investigation was to meta-analyze the single…

A mix of technologies and human dynamics can make good communication a workplace reality when workers cannot take for granted that they'll be understood. As more people using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) because of significant speech impairment pursue traditional paid, volunteer, and self-employment, their concerns reflect…

The first of these two studies assessed whether 11 participants with multiple disabilities of 5.3-18.2 (M = 10.7) years of age would succeed in combining a microswitch for accessing preferred environmental stimuli and a Voice Output Communication Aid (VOCA) for requesting social contact. The second study conducted a social validation assessment of…

This issue of "FOCUS" describes the results from a series of comparative case studies exploring how selected national organizations, representing different stakeholder groups, can play an important role in communicating new research findings to diverse audiences. Knowledge value mapping helps understand the context of each organization's…

Objective: This article examines the form and function of spontaneous communication and outcome predictors in nonverbal children with autism following classroom-based intervention (Picture Exchange Communication System [PECS] training). Method: 84 children from 15 schools participated in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of PECS (P. Howlin, R.…

This study examined the effects of mother-implemented Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) training on the independent communication of three young children with autism spectrum disorders. Three mothers were trained to teach their child PECS Phases 1 through 3B, which they did with high integrity. Moreover, all three children successfully…